“I don’t want to hide anymore. How much I love you… I can’t bear to keep it unspoken any longer.”

Kasallin, still burying her face in his embrace, slowly closed and opened her eyelids.

His tense words, unmistakable to anyone listening, pierced into her ears. And as she began to grasp their meaning, Kasallin couldn’t help but widen her eyes.

“Wait…”

It felt exactly like being caught off guard. Kasallin tried to pull away from his embrace, wanting him to say it just once more.

But his large hand pressed firmly against her head and back, holding her so tightly she couldn’t move an inch. The sound of a heartbeat—whether hers or his, she couldn’t tell—echoed in her ears.

He acted like someone who couldn’t bear to be apart from her for even a moment. Kasallin couldn’t focus, overwhelmed by the heat rising from his skin through the thin layer of her clothing.

He continued his confession, whispering into her ear.

“I was so afraid that loving you too much would make us too close. Like my parents, I feared I might end up ruining you. So I thought I needed something to restrain myself.”

“…”

“But watching you these past few days, I realized I was wrong. You’re far stronger than someone like me could ever compare to, and I know you’ll always remain the Kasallin I know, unchanging.”

Kasallin, enveloped in a strange sensation as if floating on clouds, listened to his words in a daze.

Parnes loosened his arms from around her and took a slow step back.

His face, which had always been stoic and composed through any ordeal, was now uncontrollably flushed.

Though his lightly clenched fists trembled pitifully, he gazed at Kasallin steadily with his beautiful, sunset-colored eyes, as he always did.

“I want to be with you forever. Not as emperor and empress, but as Kasallin and Parnes.”

“…”

“Of course, I know the feelings I have for you and the way you think of me are different. Still, I’ll say it. How much I…”

“Why do you think they’re different?”

Kasallin asked in a voice genuinely filled with confusion.

Parnes swallowed his next words, his expression mirroring hers.

“What?”

“I was the one thinking that. I love Your Majesty, but I thought you only saw me as an empress you had to treat kindly. I was afraid of being disappointed, of our relationship becoming awkward and worse than before, so I couldn’t say it…”

Kasallin and Parnes stared at each other, lost in a trance for a while. Parnes blinked, as if doubting his ears.

“Kasallin, what did you just say?”

“That I couldn’t say it.”

“No, before that.”

His hands grabbed her shoulders. He gazed at her fiercely, his eyes gleaming with an intensity that seemed ready to consume her.

His breath was too close. Now that they knew each other’s true feelings, his touch on her body felt like more than mere contact.

Kasallin tried to respond calmly, as she usually would, but it was impossible. Her lips trembled almost comically.

Parnes seemed to sense what was passing through her mind. With a face overflowing with indescribable emotions, he spoke.

“It’s okay. You don’t have to answer right now. Your silence is enough.”

“Your Majesty.”

A strange tension filled the grip of his hands on her shoulders. Kasallin hesitantly raised her head, and Parnes no longer wavered.

Without either taking the lead, they fiercely embraced and kissed each other.

Unlike their hearts, which pounded as if they might burst through their skin, they could do no more than press their lips together like novices.

They feared that crossing a certain line would make them forget where they were, endlessly consumed by each other.

“There’s so much I want to say, but I don’t know what to say.”

Parnes’ lips slowly moved along Kasallin’s jaw, reaching the hollow beneath her ear.

Startled, Kasallin rose onto her toes. Parnes held her waist firmly to keep her from stumbling, yet refused to let go.

Clinging desperately to his clothing, Kasallin struggled to calm the overwhelming emotion—whether joy or something else—surging within her.

Though all the lights in the room were off, moonlight streamed through the window, making it not too dark.

Kasallin, in a languid mood, gazed blankly at the beautiful night sky, then turned her head at the touch of his hand on her hair.

Parnes, leaning against the headboard, gently stroked Kasallin’s hair. When their eyes met, his curved slightly.

“Aren’t you tired?”

At his question, Kasallin started to say she was fine out of habit, but nodded slightly, admitting she was a bit tired.

“Your Majesty, may I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Kasallin, half-burying her face in the pillow, looked up at him and asked.

“When did you start liking me?”

Parnes gave a subtle smile, as if slightly troubled.

“That’s a very hard question to answer. Even I don’t know exactly when I started liking you. At some point, without realizing it, I was following you.”

“Come to think of it, you tried to kill me at first, didn’t you?”

He let out a soft groan.

“I’d really appreciate it if you’d forget that. If I could go back to that time, I’d never treat you so harshly.”

“I was joking.”

“I just enjoyed watching you. I didn’t realize it then, but looking back, that’s how it was. Back then, I believed I could never truly love someone.”

He continued in a low voice, as if telling a lullaby.

“Every time we met, you showed a different side. Sometimes you were the impeccable daughter of a noble family, allowing not a single flaw, and other times you were an honest, ordinary girl. I wanted to know you more. Even now.”

“Didn’t you ever see anything disappointing as you got to know me?”

“Not at all.”

He answered without a moment’s hesitation.

“You’re lovely.”

Kasallin slowly repeated his honest words in her mind, hiding her flushed face in the blankets.

Parnes gently embraced her from behind, pressing his lips to her shoulder.

“And you?”

“Hm?”

“When did you start liking me?”

“Well…”

Kasallin fidgeted with her fingers, delaying her answer. As if he couldn’t wait long, he placed his hand over hers on the blanket.

“Tell me.”

Kasallin recalled the moment they first met.

In the middle of a garden where petals from an ancient tree fluttered like snowflakes, a man lay there, covered in scratches big and small.

If she hadn’t gone for a walk and gotten lost that day, if she hadn’t been the one to find him, would they have passed each other without knowing who the other was?

Living their lives, one as the mysterious emperor of a neighboring kingdom with a fearsome reputation, the other as a mere lady-in-waiting to a queen whose name he didn’t even know?

Kasallin didn’t usually believe in fate, but somehow she felt that she and Parnes were destined to cross paths, no matter the circumstances.

“Honestly, I don’t know either. Maybe I liked you from the start. It’s true that I couldn’t help but be drawn to your dazzlingly handsome face.”

Kasallin said it half-jokingly. The corner of his lips curled up charmingly.

“Am I handsome?”

It wasn’t as if he was fishing for confirmation, but as if he genuinely wondered if he was handsome.

Kasallin nodded, but turned to him with a puzzled expression.

His silver hair, like a scene from an unreal painting, framed perfectly balanced and harmonious features.

“Don’t you know how your appearance affects those around you?”

“I’m not unaware. I just wanted to know what you think.”

“D-don’t misunderstand. I definitely didn’t fall for you just because of your face.”

Flustered, Kasallin added an explanation, and Parnes let out the most genuine laugh she’d ever heard, gently pinching her cheek.

“I know.”

“…Honestly, I couldn’t help but like you. You’re kinder and more considerate than anyone, even if you act gruff to hide it. And the way you quietly stayed by my side whenever I was struggling.”

She felt his breath catch slightly in the air. He closed his eyes briefly, as if regaining his composure.

“I’m truly surprised you thought that way. All I can remember is not treating you well.”

“That’s not true. Your Majesty… you’re a really good person.”

Kasallin mumbled, lowering her gaze. Parnes shook his head lightly.

“The truly good person is you, Kasallin.”

Parnes silently patted her back for a while.

The clock’s hands raced toward dawn, but neither of them wanted this moment to end quickly.

Kasallin and Parnes, like people desperate to hold onto fleeting time, gazed at each other and whispered through the deepening night.

Perhaps because they knew that when the sun rose, they’d have to face harsh realities again.

Kasallin was seized by an anxious desire for this moment, facing him, to last forever.

And it seemed Parnes felt much the same.

To Kasallin, it felt like a miracle that she and Parnes, who once seemed destined to live with an invisible wall between them, shared the same thoughts.