The moment her soft lips were pressed, her heart thumped and fell to the floor, even though she had done it willingly.

It was different from the feeling that young Asela or Blake had blabbered about.

Her heart sank and her hands and feet trembled slightly. Regret or exhilaration, she couldn’t tell what filled her body, making her stomach churn. It felt as if all the blood flowing in her body had rushed to the tip of her lips.

The only thing that was clear was that this mixed emotion was a first in her life.

The moment their lips parted, Axel hurriedly stepped back.

She couldn’t perfectly tell the emotion he was revealing because of the large hand covering his mouth. However, the surprise in his wide-open eyes was clear.

Jade hid her slightly trembling fingertips behind her back and tried to smile.

“How is it now that you know the reason.”

He still looked dumbfounded, with only his eyes visible.

“Are you sure?”

Only then did Axel slowly lower his hand.

The revealed lips were at a very subtle angle, still ambiguous. Fortunately, he didn’t look unpleasantly as if he had been assaulted. No, maybe he just couldn’t grasp his still staggering mind.

“You….”

She didn’t really want to hear what he was going to say. Because she was shamelessly regretting kissing his cheek.

Damn it, you should have lost bigger since you were going to lose anyway. You should have at least gone near the lips! What are you, a ten-year-old kid? What the hell is a cheek!

With that thought, Jade hurriedly interrupted him.

“I’ll get going now. You’ll understand all my actions, so this is the end. I can’t live as honestly as I did in the Atanase Forest. The me here will be much worse than the me you know. It will be the worst, but that’s why this is the end. Bye then!”

However, her movement of half-turning to run away was blocked.

His large hand gripped both of Jade’s wrists in a circular motion. It wasn’t a strong force. But it clearly had the intention of pulling her towards him.

The spinning movement felt like a hundred years and also felt like a very brief moment. Perhaps the truth was somewhere in between.

In that short gap, she somehow felt like she was dancing. The tune coming from far away at the right time was lively and refreshing.

The moment she faced him again, a shadow fell over Jade’s face.

The expression on the face she met was difficult to read. He seemed angry and also seemed to be smiling. The only thing that was clear was that the tips of their noses were getting closer and closer.

Jade couldn’t say anything or make any movement. Her head was spinning.

His large hands cupped her cheeks. The hands of a knight who had held a sword all his life had no softness at all, but they slightly returned the warmth that had been cooled by the cold wind.

Axel tilted his head slightly. Intersecting faces.

And he kissed her.

Once, twice, three times. The moist flesh interlocked several times. The continued movement of nibbling and biting, and Axel’s small, satisfied sigh.

Jade floundered in the air and barely grabbed his waist. Her whole body trembled.

It was different from when she kissed his cheek. At that time, she thought she could just taste it once and run away. She could enjoy the trembling while hiding behind the shield of it being the first and last time. Because it was my own one-sided love.

But this, you too….

“Don’t run away.”

He warned in a low voice after briefly parting.

“Uh, well, what.”

The stammering words didn’t become words or sentences.

Axel stared at her wet lips. He already knew that soft sensation. He could give up on what he didn’t know, but once he knew, he couldn’t do that.

“Yeah, what. Do as you please.”

Because I’ll do as I please too.

Axel, who spoke briskly, overlapped his lips again. This time, he completely tilted his head for a deeper kiss.

Something crept through the open gap. It tasted the sweet mucous membrane and took away all the useless thoughts.

The sensation was much softer and damper than she had expected.

Jade finally closed her eyes. And she wrapped her arms around his neck. Without any thought.

When she came to her senses, a song had already ended. But his parted lips were pressing down on every visible place. As if stamping.

Forehead, near the eyebrows, the corners of the eyes, cheeks, ears….

The affectionate feeling was so sweet that it felt like it was burning wherever it touched. Jade became worried that the sound of her rapidly beating heart might be heard by him.

“St, stop it.”

The trembling end of the sentence was embarrassing, but Axel’s face was as if it was covered with an iron plate, he only frowned.

“I don’t want to.”

“What don’t you want to do. It’s my face…?”

“You also do as you please every day. So I have to do as I please too.”

Then, the action of pretending to sort out her mind on her own and the action of kissing his cheek and trying to quickly run away came to mind at the same time. She had nothing to say even if she had a hundred mouths.

The moment she tried to lower her head, he brushed her lips with his thumb. The sensation of the callused finger passing over the soft flesh was vivid. The surprised Jade flinched.

“Wh, why!”

“I wiped it because it was wet.”

The stupid brain didn’t immediately understand what the lips were wet with, and the moment she realized, Jade felt like her whole body was going to explode.

“I’ll wipe it myself!”

At the shouting voice, Axel raised his eyebrows crookedly with a dumbfounded face.

“Then do it.”

Jade rubbed her lips like crazy with the back of her hand. But the place where the sensation of touching him remained the most was inside her mouth, so there was nothing she could do. She just had to endure the burning sensation.

Is this how it originally is? Was everyone living with this feeling every day? They must have enjoyed living in this rush of emotions among themselves!

“Stop. If you keep rubbing, it will swell.”

It’s already swollen. As Axel removed her hand and closely observed near her lips, Jade felt like screaming again at the face that had come close once more.

Because in the midst of the confusion, she realized that she had bitten his lips. The redness was definitely a teeth mark no matter how she looked at it.

When she hurriedly wiped his lips with trembling hands, Axel smiled, raising the corners of his mouth. He looked very satisfied.

She wanted to pick a fight with that face that seemed to be full of contentment, but with a stammering voice like now, she would only lose.

With a face that still had a trace of a smile, Axel gently asked.

“Jade. Are you going to run away?”

She wanted to avert her gaze, but he kept preventing her face from facing the ground. His firm fingers brushed the corners of her eyes and swept her cheeks.

That gentle warmth. But….

“I don’t know.”

I really don’t know. I don’t know anything.

Contrary to the thought that it was a one-sided love, what he gave back to her wasn’t awkward. Maybe it was because she already knew deep down that he was treating her differently.

Rather, when she realized, she noticed that she had been deliberately ignoring his feelings.

She closed her eyes in a situation where she couldn’t not know. Because a one-sided love that couldn’t be fulfilled in her situation was more comfortable.

So the worries didn’t lessen.

If I’m away from you, I’ll probably be unhappy even if I win the position of the family head. Because I already know and have tasted it. Forgetting that sensation will probably be impossible.

But being with you doesn’t necessarily make me happy. Because my family might harass you. Just like how our mother criticized you for not having anything.

What if you become unhappy? What if I give up the position of the family head and blame it on you? So what if you later want to go back to the Atanase Forest?

The worries that she couldn’t bring herself to say out loud filled her mouth.

At that moment, there was a rustling sound of grass being trampled from behind. It was a very small sound, not far away, but it sounded like thunder thanks to the surrounding silence.

The startled Jade jumped on the spot, and Axel pulled her into his arms and hid her.

“Quiet.”

At the low whisper, Jade completely buried her face in his chest. Strangely, she felt a sense of stability even though the situation was frightening. It felt comfortable as if it fit perfectly.

Thump, thump. Thump, thump. The aftereffects of the kiss were still continuing. The heart was still beating fast… Wait. Isn’t this the sound coming from Axel?

She slightly raised her head, but only his jawline was visible, not his face.

He definitely looked very relaxed. Could it be that he felt the same way as me?

Axel, who was stroking the fidgeting Jade with his hand, listened to the presence that had come earlier.

Fortunately, the people who seemed to be getting closer for a while stopped at some point. It was clear that they had found a suitable bush and were engrossed in other things there. The sound of branches brushing was noisy.

“They’re not coming?”

At the mumbling touching his chest, Axel laughed lowly.

“Yeah. It seems so. But it’s not definitely safe.”

At those words, Jade came to her senses. Getting caught in a situation where nothing had been decided was really the worst-case scenario. The rumor might spread faster than making up her mind.

“I’ll go fir, first. Come out after an hour.”

“An hour?”

Is she telling me to freeze to death? The moment Axel tilted his head, someone’s coquettish moan cut through the darkness.

Only then did Jade realize what the approaching people had come to do and turned her face bright red.

Crazy. Is this what the night garden originally is?

“No, no! Half an hour. Just wait half an hour!”

Jade, who was rambling, pushed Axel away. Fortunately, he willingly released the arms that were embracing her.

Seeing the gaze that was quietly coming down, it was awkward to just turn her body and leave. However, Axel laughed and said.

“See you tomorrow.”

Jade, who nodded, hurriedly turned around and walked away, continuously pressing her lips with the palm of her hand. As if recalling the earlier sensation, or as if trying to erase the earlier memory.

She quickly pretended not to notice the bushes that were shaking like crazy as she walked.