Kneeling on one knee, Parnes carefully wrapped his arm around Kasalyn’s slender shoulder.

In a half-awake state, Kasalyn slowly opened and closed her feather-like lashes, looking up at Parnes meekly.

Her innocent gaze slightly disrupted Parnes’ breathing.

He grasped the slipping edge of Kasalyn’s garment but then slowly let go.

“……You can manage that much on your own, can’t you?”

“I’m too sleepy and heavy. Please do it, Your Majesty.”

“Do you even understand what you’re asking?”

“Maybe.”

“You don’t understand at all.”

Parnes leaned against the wall, sighing deeply as if confronting a grave decision.

Rationally, it was a trivial matter.

A human body is just that, nothing more.

He wasn’t the type to be flustered in front of a woman, nor was he of an age to be so.

So why was he so conflicted over such a trivial matter, trying to calm his nearly bursting heart?

Why did her slightly flushed cheeks and innocent eyes turn a sensible man into a fool?

“……Just manage somehow.”

“Why?”

“Because I just realized something, thanks to you.”

That I can no longer view you with pure eyes.

Parnes swallowed his harsh words and went to the cave entrance to look outside.

“What did you realize?”

There was no answer.

While his back was turned, Kasalyn, feeling as if her arms were weighed down, managed to remove her wet clothes and wrapped herself in his cloak.

The soft touch of the fur felt as if she was enveloped in his embrace, slightly improving her mood.

“Why didn’t you go straight to the lodge?”

After a while, he asked, his tone like interrogating a criminal.

“I had sent several knights to escort you.”

“I slipped and rolled down. When I came to, I was in a strange place. I tried to find my way up, but it got dark.”

“Are you saying that’s an excuse? Do you know how long you’ve been missing?”

Parnes continued in a restrained voice, trying to contain his emotions.

“Four hours, Kasalyn. You’ve been wandering in the forest for four hours with your condition.”

“That’s impossible.”

“Yes, it’s unbelievable. That’s why I can’t believe your story.”

“But aren’t you cold?”

Kasalyn shivered with chills.

Despite the fire and cloak, her body, once chilled, was slow to recover warmth.

Parnes watched her from a distance.

“So, what do you expect me to do─”

“Your Majesty. You even gave me your cloak, you might catch a cold. Come here.”

Parnes, still not taking his eyes off her, took a deep breath, as if it were a ritual, and slowly let it out.

After repeating this several times, he finally moved towards her.

Kasalyn, her head buried in the cloak, felt his arms gently wrapping around her.

“You foolish girl, worrying about others even now.”

As Parnes pulled her head to his chest and tightly embraced her, the warmth from his body seeped through the cloak, gradually stabilizing her trembling frame.

Especially when she buried her face in the warm nape of his neck and smiled faintly, his gaze slid down to her delicate lips.

“Why are you smiling?”

“I don’t know. Just… it feels nice.”

“Making the king of a nation spend a cold night on the ground and you’re at ease.”

Kasalyn laughed softly.
“Right, I really am a terrible maid. Will you punish me when we return to the palace?”

“It’s not out of the question. Considering all the crimes you’ve committed so far.”

“Then I guess I deserve the death penalty.”

“You sure talk bravely about scary things. At most, it would be exile.”

“Exile? Where would you send me?”

“Let’s see.”

Parnes shifted his gaze to the cave ceiling, trying not to look too closely at Kasalyn, who leaned against him.

In a voice almost too low to hear, he continued, “Perhaps, to my palace.”

No sooner had he uttered these words than he snapped to his senses, as if awakening from a dream.

What nonsensical thing had he just blurted out? He couldn’t understand his own confusion and lowered his head.

He was about to hastily offer some excuse and forget this slip of the tongue, but Kasalyn had already fallen into a deep sleep, comfortably nestled in the arms of the emperor, notorious for being a tyrant.

Her faint smile and colorful breaths made her look like a small angel abandoned on the street.

“What should I do with you?”

Parnes murmured softly, cooling down his inexplicable fever.

The seemingly endless night appeared to be receding sooner than expected, as dawn began to break outside the cave.

The intense summer shower, unusual for early summer, had finally ceased by dawn.

The forest, which should have been lively on the second day of the hunting contest, bore a somber air.

Emperor Parnes of the Rernel Empire and Kasalyn, the chief maid of Khan Kingdom, had been missing all night.

Despite the full mobilization of the imperial knights, searching the mountain like hunting mice, no substantial results were found.

“Duke, are you sure we shouldn’t call for more search parties?”

Vincent, a guard knight who had returned to the lodge after a round of searching, asked Duke Rudwik, who shook his head leisurely.