Oh, oh… What a cruel, callous, cold-hearted, indifferent, heartless, merciless, resolute, and ruthless woman. Does she even know how shocking her declaration is to her husband?

“Actually, I was thinking of leaving Kai with the nanny and going on a trip with just the two of us, but I guess I’ll have to give up on that too. For a while, I don’t think I’ll be able to do anything but think about the child.”

Chloe spoke with her eyebrows lowered as if she truly regretted it, then lightly kissed the forehead of the sleeping Kai. As if Kai was the only one who could fill her emptiness now.

Crack. Without even realizing it, the sound of his knuckles cracking came from his fist.

“Ah! Don’t worry about the trip talk. You’re busy anyway, I was just thinking about it because I wanted you all to myself, so it’s better this way. I think I’ll be fine with just Kai.”

Chloe smiled brightly. As if it really worked out well. Then she lowered her head and kissed Kai’s forehead once more. It was a gesture as if showing who would be receiving her kisses from now on.

Seeing her smile and the following kiss, Hugrey suddenly had a thunderbolt of realization.

The sudden talk of travel, and this. Chloe used to not even breathe close to Kai when he was sleeping, let alone kiss him. But now she kisses the sleeping child twice in a row?

Chloe Ulpaz, you cunning schemer.

Chloe wasn’t unaware of her husband’s state and feelings. Rather, she was doing this on purpose, knowing his inner thoughts and physical condition. What she wanted was to get a second child.

The problem was that even though her clumsy scheme was clearly visible, there was no sharp way to resist it.

Chloe was a woman who could dominate him from head to toe with just a faint smile, a look in her eyes, and a small touch. No matter how much he struggled to resist her, this woman, too lovable to hate even for a moment, wielded absolute power over him. Threatening him sweetly yet brutally.

He felt a deep sense of defeat towards the tigress before him. Basically, wolves hated tigers beyond dislike and treated them as detestable demons because they couldn’t win against tigers, but this instinctive emotion didn’t activate at all in front of Chloe. Rather, she looked like an angel to him. However, at this moment, he had to admit that he had lost his sense of tigers and clouded his judgment, blinded by love. What angel, this woman was the most unbeatable witch-like tiger.

“Besides, if we go on a trip and are alone together… we might unexpectedly have a child. It’s better to be safe, right?”

What’s that? You’re just teasing me now. Why are you doing this to me? Safe? Is the bed some kind of battlefield?

“Chloe, such extreme and hasty conclusions are not good. The baby needs to learn to sleep alone at night too. If you always hold and suckle him to satisfy your own desires, when will the child develop independence and prepare for self-reliance?”

You should be biting and sucking me. That little one sleeps well even without you. I don’t.

“Oh my, didn’t you see earlier? Kai facing off against the pack of coyotes? Kai is already growing up bravely and independently enough.”

“I’m saying this because I saw it. How long are you going to keep sleeping with a child who’s already grown that much?”

“…”

Chloe’s face became strangely blank. She seemed surprised by his contradictory argument.

Yes, I know. I know I’m making inconsistent arguments. But if you suffer from unfulfilled desires for nearly a year like me, you’d lose your logic and reason like this too. Moreover, if you can’t even resist the tyranny of the absolute being who holds and shakes your leash.

“And since we’re talking about trips, did you know? We never went on our honeymoon.”

He quickly brought up something he had been thinking about for a long time before Chloe could point out his contradiction.

“Honeymoon?”

Her face looked as if she was asking, “What’s that?”

“A honeymoon is what you go on after getting married. But you and I went to Hound Plains for our honeymoon.”

“Hound…”

“Yes, the battlefield next to the Santal Mine.”

“Ah, that…”

Chloe’s face clouded over.

If you attack so ruthlessly to get what you want, I have no choice. I don’t have many cards, so I have to throw them all out.

Chloe had been sorry all along for dragging him into that war. She thought he participated in the war because of her, and that she had used him in various ways. In fact, he probably wouldn’t have participated in the war if it weren’t for Chloe, as he had no desire to help Calcus. But killing Tuscan Staxton, who had been like a source of anxiety, was ultimately a good decision.

Anyway, until now, he had never thought of using her uncomfortable feelings, but if she threatens him with ‘bed’, what can he do? Because he has to win this war with her more than any other war.

“Besides, after that, you became the King of Tigrium and were busy going back and forth between the two countries. Meanwhile, I gave up the honeymoon that I could only go on once in my life.”

A honeymoon once in a lifetime. It was such an exaggeration that even his own face reddened as he spoke. In fact, as long as he was alone with her, the place didn’t matter. Even if they went to another continent, even if it was inside the bedroom of the Ulpaz mansion. But he knew how much he suffered every time she went to Tigrium, so these words would work well on her.

“Hugrey, I didn’t know you placed such great importance on something like a honeymoon. I’m sorry.”

“No need to be sorry. We can go now.”

“Hmm… Okay, let’s go!”

Hugrey snapped to attention. This easily?

“Kai has grown up a lot now, as you said, so I think he can handle a long-distance trip just fine. In fact, we don’t even have to go that far.”

Ha! I thought it was too easy.

“Duchess Chloe Ulpaz.”

“…Yes?”

“A honeymoon is a tradition passed down through generations in the Ulpaz duchy where only the husband and wife go.”

“…There can’t be such a tradition.”

“There is.”

There isn’t. There’s no such tradition in the world. But where are there couples who take their child on their honeymoon? So even if it didn’t exist until now, from today on, there is such a tradition.

“Hugrey.”

Chloe’s eyes narrowed. Her judgment, which had been clouded by guilt for a moment, seemed to have returned, realizing that her husband was making unreasonable excuses to have her all to himself.

“From now on, the current head of the Ulpaz duchy is going to create such a tradition. So I’d like the duchess to cooperate with the head who’s trying to establish the tradition.”

Chloe let out a long sigh.

“Do you really not want a second child?”

Chloe finally asked outright.

“I don’t.”

Echoing Chloe’s words, Hugrey also stopped the ridiculous tug-of-war and revealed his honest thoughts. From now on, it was a real fight where true feelings collided.

“Why? You said you wanted to have a tiger shifter child who takes after me.”

“I did say that, I thought that would be better if we had to have one. But now I’m not so sure. Is it really good if they take after you? If they take after you, they’d be even more lovable and cute than Kai. But would that only be in my eyes? How much prettier would that child be in your eyes? Then how much more time would you spend with that child? I’d lose you again to that pretty, lovable, and cute child.”

“Why would you lose me? When did I ever…”

“Always, constantly, all the time I’m losing you. Look now, you’re holding Kai, and I’m sitting here across from you, separated from you.”

“That’s because Kai is a baby and…”

“What about me?”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m your husband. A husband who needs your touch and gaze. A husband who, unlike Kai who sleeps well anytime, has trouble sleeping without you. Unlike that kid who spends nearly half the day with his eyes closed sleeping, I spend most of my time waiting for you to look at me. You’re wasting your time looking at Kai, who has his eyes closed and doesn’t care about your face.”

“…I didn’t know you had so many complaints about Kai.”

“I have no complaints about Kai. I’m dissatisfied with the situation where you only look at Kai.”

Yes, what fault does Kai have? He’s just a baby. A cute, cute, damnably cute baby.

But he swallowed the words that if this situation continues, even the cuteness of that kid might become a source of dissatisfaction. Because that might really upset Chloe.

“Hugrey, let’s do this then.”

Chloe, who had been silent for a while looking alternately at him and Kai, finally opened her mouth.

What is she going to say after such a long pause?

“I’ll get what I want, and you’ll get what you want.”

Is that possible? Hugrey’s head tilted to one side.

“Let’s go on that honeymoon you’ve wanted so badly. There, I’ll only look at you and only hold you. And after we come back from that trip, let’s try to have our second child. Pregnancy isn’t something that happens right away just because we want it anyway. It might not happen, so let’s at least try.”

What kind of nonsensical proposal is this?

“How is that what we both want? The honeymoon will be short, but once a second child comes into the world, they’ll be with us forever.”