The coronation ceremony and the banquet that followed were quite exhausting. Perhaps she could skip the first night then? They could choose another day, or tell a little lie.

Mercedes thought this to herself as she returned to her room from the banquet, which had ended not too late for their first night together.

Her feet and legs actually hurt from standing all day.

“…That. If we don’t spend the first night on the day of the coronation, what happens?”

She already knew the answer, but she asked the maids who were undressing her, grasping at straws.

They giggled as if they had heard something strange.

“Hm? You won’t be recognized as a married couple. It’s essential, you know. Lady Mercedes. You know that.”

She had wanted to postpone it somehow, but of course it would be like this…

Mercedes felt a little despair. No, excitement. No, fear! She couldn’t grasp what emotion it was.

Her face grew more and more stiff. Rhonda asked worriedly.

“Do you have some trauma, or are you worried about something? Are you alright?”

“Ah. Yes. I’m fine. Rhonda.”

“Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes, that’s right. So we must spend the first night today.”

“Well… Yes. Do you dislike it very much?”

Patricia looked worried too, following Rhonda.

“No! I’m just tired from standing in this dress all day.”

Patricia and Rhonda were noble ladies befitting the imperial palace.

Their families were just impoverished quasi-nobility who rarely received invitations to banquets, so they served Mercedes, a criminal, and even did some maidservant tasks.

But they were still noble ladies. Being unmarried, they surely knew even less about the first night than Mercedes did.

She couldn’t bear to confess to them that she was so embarrassed thinking about doing ‘this and that’.

Anyway, these days she got nervous just passing by Carlos from afar. And now she had to do such things with him.

At the same time, she found it a bit strange that she had started to care about him so much.

Even though she had changed day by day, noticing and smiling more, she was still clumsy at examining her own feelings. Having been suppressed for so long, she didn’t know how to define emotions.

So she just hoped it wouldn’t be obvious that she cared about him, that her strange feelings wouldn’t grow any more.

“You must be very tired. We’ll help you relax well.”

Rhonda spoke kindly to the stiff-faced Mercedes.

Mercedes steeled herself.

Right. After going through with the coronation, she couldn’t avoid the first night just because she couldn’t control her emotions. It was unthinkable.

Afterwards, Rhonda and Patricia worked very hard to relieve her fatigue. They bathed her in water infused with muscle-relaxing herbs and gave her a massage.

And then…

“Isn’t it a bit too masculine?”

“Hm? It’s your first night. You should wear at least this much!”

They dressed her in a deep v-neck, pale pink slip and robe. They didn’t forget to lightly apply rose water to her hair.

It looked more comfortable and elegant to move in than the long, flowy dresses Richard preferred, but it was a bit more revealing instead.

No. Was the amount of exposure similar?

Thinking back, the slips she had been forced to wear before seemed to have a similar design.

But why did it seem so much more revealing now?

If she stood before Carlos wearing these clothes tonight, she would feel naked just standing there.

‘I’ve already… shown myself to him wearing such clothes before.’

She remembered the time at the shame festival when he had suggested moon-viewing to her.

Back then, she hadn’t cared what she was wearing or how she looked.

Now why did all the clothes seem excessively revealing?!

“Don’t you have anything less revealing and more modest?”

“Ah. It’s not to your taste! We have others.”

“Then show me those.”

“Yes! Oh. It’s a shame since this one is the prettiest… But it can’t be helped!”

“…This one… is the prettiest?”

“Yes! Rhonda and I put our heads together and chose it!”

Mercedes looked back and forth between the proudly speaking Rhonda and the gently smiling Patricia, then stood in front of the mirror.

No matter how she looked at it, it was too revealing.

However…

‘They really said it’s the prettiest?’

She was caught by their words that it was pretty. After hesitating, unable to decide, she finally:

“…Since you two thoughtfully picked it out for me, I’ll wear it.”

She used them as an excuse and put on the outer robe. The maids laughed with glee.

The place they would spend the night was the Emperor’s bedchamber. She thoroughly covered her body with the outer robe and crossed her arms as she headed to the bedroom.

* * *

Wrapped in her outer robe with arms crossed, Mercedes was like a frightened herbivore entering a predator’s den, believing the robe would protect her.

“…You’re here, Mercedes?”

Seeing Mercedes like that, Carlos barely held back from bursting into laughter, greeting her a beat late.

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

The Emperor’s bedchamber was neat. Except for the lit candles everywhere and the red cloth draped over the bed, that is.

Carlos gestured to Mercedes, who was looking around the room with its peculiar atmosphere.

“Come here, Mercedes. Let’s have a drink first. You’re either tense or cold, clutching your robe so tightly. Plus, we were the only ones who didn’t get to drink the fruit wine I painstakingly procured, being busy at the banquet.”

“Ah, yes…”

Mercedes pulled her robe even tighter and approached him. Carlos was sitting on the sofa wearing only a robe.

“Are you nervous?”

He asked while pouring the fruit wine for her.

Mercedes was about to honestly say she was nervous, but closed her mouth. Her pride was strangely hurt. It was because Carlos looked endlessly at ease.

In the end, Mercedes shook her head.

“Then you must be cold. May I come closer and share body heat with you?”

“Pardon?”

Carlos was wearing only a robe. His wet hair, as if he had bathed not long ago, created a peculiar atmosphere.

In that state, his face in the red light was so beautiful, and his chest and abs were exposed between the robe, making it impossible to know where to look.

“Ah, no. I’m hot. It’s hot. You don’t need to come.”

Mercedes’s heart was pounding too hard. That made her quickly feel hot. Enough to want to take off the outer robe.

“Then will you take off the robe? You said it’s hot.”

“I also feel a bit cold, so it’s fine, Your Majesty.”

Mercedes was so tense that she contradicted herself. Her flustered state was refreshing to Carlos. He had to suppress his laughter again.

“Then you mean don’t come closer?”

“No. That’s not it… No. Let’s just stay like this for a bit. Us.”

Mercedes answered hastily, unlike herself. She must be quite nervous.

‘If it goes well, I wonder if I can hear a confession today.’

Is a confession really the condition for ‘love’ in the curse?

Carlos, who had been frequently thinking about the standards for love in the curse these days, looked at her and had a premonition that he would gain something today.

He also didn’t have much experience with nights like this, but he had picked up a thing or two, so he thought it would be alright.

Of course, if she refused, he wouldn’t force it. Even for the sake of his affection.

‘I hope it goes well.’

He thought of the sharp edge of the sword hanging on one wall of the bedroom, then closed his eyes for a moment.

He felt unwell.

‘I need to shake off these strange thoughts.’

Survive.

After death, he could fall into hell.

The demons in hell were already calling for him. The vitality of the living humans within his stiffening body was trying to kill him somehow.

To not forget, he pressed his numb fingertips hard with his nails. He could hardly feel any sensation.

Carlos raised his head and examined her.

She was still tense, only looking down.

“Mercedes. Call me Carl today. Actually, I’d like you to always call me that.”

He began to soften the atmosphere.

“What? How could I dare to call Your Majesty-”

“You’re now my publicly acknowledged Empress. And I’m already sick of being called ‘Your Majesty’. I have a name, you know. I’d like someone to call me Carl again.”

Somehow, that sounded like his usual casual jokes, so Mercedes looked up at Carlos.

“I’ll, try.”

“And that title you only allowed for the antler merchant guild master. I mean-”

“Mel, you mean?”

“Did you know that word means marriage partner in another language? That it’s a very sweet word implying dear, beloved.”

Mercedes’s eyes widened in surprise at Carlos’s words.

“What? I didn’t know. If I had known, I would’ve looked for a different nickname.”

“How about permitting me that title today?”

“…Pardon?”

“You only allowed love for the guild master, so I was quite jealous.”

“Cough, cough.”

Mercedes, who had been drinking the fruit wine thinking the atmosphere had gotten a bit more comfortable and her heart kept fluttering, suddenly choked and began coughing violently.

“Oh dear.”

The startled Carlos came to Mercedes’s side, patting her back and handing her water.

Mercedes drank the water and steadied her breathing.

“Use whatever title you like. I… don’t mind.”

“Really? Then… Mel.”

“…Yes. Mhm.”

When she had chosen the nickname, she did so calculatingly, but hearing this man call her that made her heart tickle. Even more so after learning it was a word filled with affectionate meaning.

“Don’t worry. If you’re so nervous and hate it, we won’t do anything all night. I can sleep on the sofa.”

Mercedes glared at Carlos a little at those words.

“You asked if I was cold, or hot. You knew I was nervous.”

There was a hint of resentment in her voice.

“You came in clutching your robe so tightly and taking a protective stance.”

Carlos chuckled. Mercedes’s gaze grew even sharper.

“Are you teasing me?”

“How could I? I could never tease you.”

They could banter as usual. Mercedes smiled, relieved by that, and Carlos smiled, finding her cute.

Then suddenly their gazes met in midair. It was the first time they had made eye contact since entering this room, with Mercedes constantly averting her gaze.

“If I said, I don’t dislike it… what happens after?”

Mel asked him in a slightly trembling voice, almost a whisper. Carlos thought his ears, his heart, tickled because of her voice. At the same time, the nape of his neck seemed to grow hot.

“That…”

Carlos also lowered his voice and whispered to her.

“You’ll find out once the night passes.”

At his voice-

She thought her heart would burst.

And she finally realized.

“I don’t, dislike it.”

No, I like it.

It seems I want to be by your side.

The rest went unspoken. Because Carlos’s lips had captured hers.