Parnes watched over her silently for the duration of the minute hand’s full rotation around the clock, then quietly left the room.

“Sweet dreams.”

As Parnes stepped out into the corridor, he unexpectedly encountered someone.

It was Chalen.

It was unclear how long he had been there, but as soon as Parnes emerged from the room, Chalen moved towards Casaline’s room.

Parnes halted him with a single sentence.

“Don’t think of going in. She’s fast asleep.”

“I just want to see her face and leave.”

“That’s not going to work.”

Parnes slowly crossed his arms, blocking the way to the room.

Chalen’s brow furrowed slightly.

“What right do you have to prevent me from seeing her?”

“And what right do you have to enter a sleeping woman’s bedroom?”

“You seem to have forgotten that the sleeping woman is my wife’s maid.”

“It appears you’re missing the point. Do you think it’s normal for a king to enter a sleeping maid’s room?”

“It seems you’re the one with impure thoughts. I’m simply concerned about her and want to pay a visit. Please don’t tarnish my pure friendship with Casaline.”

Pure friendship?

Parnes scoffed lightly, leaning against the door.

“The very person who reduced that maid to her current state is you.”

Parnes elongated his words mockingly, and Chalen, seemingly having at least a shred of conscience, fell silent.

However, his eyes revealed an impatient resolve that couldn’t be contained any longer.

“Out of curiosity, do you like Casaline?”

“…”

Faced with Chalen’s direct question, Parnes responded with silence.

“If you feel even a slight interest in her, it’s better to give up now. I told you in the hunting ground. Casaline is not a clean woman.”

“Are we back to that again?”

“It’s truly regrettable to say this, but Casaline and I were once in a serious relationship with the premise of marriage.”

“I know.”
Parnes, responding indifferently, caused Chalen, who had been leisurely until now, to suddenly open his eyes wide in surprise.

“What did you say?”

“I know. If an emperor can’t even notice that much, he should step down, shouldn’t he?”

Far from being surprised, Chalen couldn’t comprehend Parnes’s nonchalant reaction, as if he had already anticipated it.

“You seem to be misunderstanding something. Casaline and I were in a relationship for a good 10 years. We spent most of our youth together, sharing passionate love. In short, I was the first for everything in her life!”

“Aren’t you ashamed as a man?”

Parnes, seemingly troubled by the conversation, slowly brushed his fallen bangs aside.

Then, he glanced at Chalen with eyes that seemed to see the worst kind of person, or trash.

“If you were in a relationship for 10 years with marriage in mind, that’s no ordinary emotion. If you genuinely loved her that much, you should have cherished her until the end. What’s this about being the first? Do you see her as a territory to be conquered?”

Chalen inhaled sharply.

Only then did he realize his lack of decorum as a king, but his pride couldn’t concede defeat to Parnes at that moment.

Chalen wanted to see Parnes’s face filled with powerlessness.

He strongly desired to claim victory by asserting that he had already possessed Casaline, whom Parnes couldn’t have.

Having never regretted or felt sorrow over anything in his life, Chalen didn’t consider that his words and actions might lead to regrettable consequences.

But why?

Why couldn’t he utter a word?

‘Say something, Chalen Riche. Prove to him that you’re right.’

Chalen only managed to move his lips, but the tumultuous words boiling inside him never turned into sound.

On the other hand, Parnes, having a lot to say but choosing not to, stepped forward and whispered into Chalen’s ear.

“Do you know how your words sound to me?”

“…”

“You’re basically saying you and Casaline are nothing now. It’s all over, and there’s nothing between you, yet you’re going on about some strange ‘regret.'”

Chalen’s eyes widened, visibly pulsating with red veins.

“Regret? That’s absurd!”

“Come to your senses. You have a wife. As a man born, you should be faithful to your family.”

“Well, I don’t think a man rumored to have dozens of hidden mistresses is in any position to lecture me.”

Parnes narrowed his eyebrows as if genuinely perplexed, then soon laughed scornfully.

“Ah, I remember such rumors. People do love sensational stories, don’t they?”

“Well, there’s no smoke without fire.”

“Let’s assume that’s true. That I have dozens or even hundreds of nonexistent mistresses. It doesn’t matter. In contrast, the rumor of your unparalleled devotion as a husband must be an absolute truth without a shred of falsehood.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I’m reaching my limit.”

Parnes continued, looking down at Chalen with an arrogant gaze.

“The reality of that girl wasting her precious life under your care is something I might not tolerate beyond today.”