It was not a thoughtout action. Her body just moved. As if trying to protect those behind her, Rasilia tightly grabbed the Emperor’s arm.

“Have you lost control again?”

“… …No.”

It was fortunate. The Emperor was conscious enough to speak.

“Then why all of a sudden,”

“You disappeared.”

The Emperor embraced Rasilia’s waist with his untransformed right hand.

“I had to find you.”

In Rascal’s words, “I had to find you,” there was more to the situation than Rasilia could comprehend.

Frantically, he washed, changed clothes, and ran to the Empress’s palace only to find that the Empress had disappeared again. The guards assigned to protect the Empress’s palace said they hadn’t seen her leave the room.

The thought of finding her whitened his mind. When he regained his senses, the transformation was underway.

His senses, keener than a human’s, followed the scent of the Empress, his feet faster than human’s ran towards the north tower, and his sharperthanhuman nails tore the door hiding the Empress.

Such a transformation was a first for Rascal.

He had summoned the demonic blood that had previously been nothing more than an innate pain and burden.

Because he had to find the Empress.

When Rascal tightened the arm wrapped around her waist, there was a rustling sound of crumpled fabric.

“That’s… …I apologize for leaving my post without notice, Your Majesty.”

Rasilia apologized with an embarrassed expression.

It was her fault. She shouldn’t have forgotten that it was still the time of the Bluemoon.

Relying so much on the Empress, whom he didn’t even like usually, meant that the Emperor was desperate.

Rasilia was sorry for not realizing his feelings and for making him suffer the pain of transformation again.

“It seems I can’t take my eyes off you even for a moment.”

The Emperor mumbled as he pressed his body closer.

At some point, his left hand had embraced her back. The Emperor’s softly murmuring breath touched her nape, and the hand embracing her back subtly caressed her skin.

Rasilia’s cheeks flushed slightly.

‘Sorry as I am… …it feels a bit strange.’

The sneaky kiss on her cheek by the Emperor reminded her of the passionate kiss they had shared in bed.

How a light kiss on the cheek had turned into a wicked kiss that completely messed her up, Rasilia remembered clearly.

Her patience had reached its limit at that moment.

“Your Majesty, I think you can let go now.”

Rascal stiffened.

“…Why?”

“Your body seems to have fully recovered.”

“No.”

“It must be.”

Rasilia twisted her shoulder to look at the Emperor’s left arm.

It was now a perfect human form, unlike the scaly appearance before.

Rascal closed his mouth for a moment before answering.

“…My body might be fine, but my heart still feels the shock of your disappearance.”

“I believe your heart will stabilize soon now that your body has returned.”

“Maybe someday. Not yet.”

Was his heart too fragile? No matter how much it was Bluemoon.

Rasilia swallowed a soft sigh that had slipped out.

“Then what should we do?”
“Stay like this until I find peace of mind.”

“When will that be?”

“I don’t know. All I know is that you disappeared without a word again, and I was quite shocked. Not once, but twice already.”

“…….”

“Yes. Twice already.”

The guilt from leaving twice began to be diluted with those words.

‘This person doesn’t know the limit.’

It was like the temple’s front yard dog. If a line was drawn saying that it was okay to come this far, it was ignored as if it couldn’t be seen.

‘So it’s been tough a lot of times.’

The deputy probably felt the same way.

Although he wanted to kick out, he couldn’t kick out a life that had come in on its own feet since it was the temple, and it must have been annoying to watch it one by one. If he could, wouldn’t he try to mix poison in the food?

Anyway, Rasilia had one principle in dealing with dogs.

Once a line was drawn, it had to be kept somehow. Otherwise, it became more and more difficult to handle.

“Then give me a punishment. For the crime of startling you.”

At Rasilia’s words, Rascal raised his head.

“A punishment?”

“Yes. It seems appropriate for the incident that occurred because I left without a word. I will fast in my bedroom.”

His eyes slowly rolled around.

“I had no intention of punishing, but… fasting doesn’t sound bad. I will join you,”

“No. There’s no reason for you to be punished when I’m the one who committed the wrong. I will fast alone.”

Rasilia’s principle was clear. But unfortunately, Rascal was not a dog.

“You’re trying to push me away under the pretext of being punished.”

“Did it sound like that? To me, it seemed like you were trying to break a promise using my mistake.”

“You misunderstood. I had no intention of breaking the promise.”

“Did you? The lips touched the bowl.”

“You,”

Rascal glanced at Rasilia’s lips.

“I still you…,”

It was then.

“Your Majesty!”

Thump thump, unlike usual, the shadow knights ran up the tower with rough footsteps.

“Ah, ha. You finally found it.”

“Whew, fortunately.”

Riyan and Serben were both soaked in sweat.

While Serben wiped his sweat by pulling down his sleeve, Riyan, who caught his breath, scanned Rascal.

“And you’ve recovered.”

“Ah…? That’s right.”

Serben, who wiped his sweat, sighed in relief.

“Once again, I tell you, it’s really fortunate, Your Majesty. When you suddenly underwent a transformation earlier, it was really thrilling……. …uh, but?”

Serben interrupted his words and furrowed his brow.

“There was a problem. There’s someone here without permission.”

He pointed to Rasilia’s back with the tip of his sword.

“Gasp! Is, is that me you’re talking about?”

Ivette, who had been holding her breath and suppressing her hiccup since Rascal appeared, was surprised and opened her mouth.