In a way, she thought it was for the better. The way Carlos had been acting lately was driving her insane with confusion.

“Why are you avoiding me? Distancing yourself from me? Looking at me with those eyes? What do you want from me? After spending our first night together, you say we can sleep separately if I don’t like sharing a bed, and that we should just set a date? What exactly do you want me to do?”

As Carlos listened to her outpouring of words, he suddenly felt a strong, constricting pain in his chest.

A hurt light passed through her eyes. It was faint, but Carlos could see it. He had been observing her so closely.

Ah.

It’s because I didn’t do it right.

Both of us, no, Mercedes was more hurt. Because her confession didn’t reach him, he had tried to wait. But in the meantime, his heart had become a mess.

He shouldn’t have waited for the confession.

He should have poured his heart out to her and drawn it out from her.

He was afraid that if he spoke of love with his own mouth, it would become real, that he would have to acknowledge it.

The only wound he was supposed to inflict on her was death… But he had ended up like this, just because he couldn’t handle his emotions.

“…Mel.”

Carlos looked at Mercedes, whose face had become expressionless, just like in the beginning.

She appeared expressionless, but it seemed like she was suppressing pain. It wasn’t like this at first.

If so, then even though she could now express her emotions, she must be forcibly suppressing them out of habit.

He had thought that her love would be realized if he healed her emotions. And before he knew it, she had improved a lot.

It was he who had left that state alone and hurt her.

He finally realized his mistake. He also realized his cowardice in foolishly hesitating.

‘…I can’t let this go on any longer.’

He decided that he needed to come to his senses. So he kissed her blood-spattered ankle, wiped his mouth, and then kissed her forehead as well.

Then he slowly whispered.

“I love you.”

Having made his confession of love, Carlos thought.

If she responds to these words.

If she does respond.

Then both she and I will be set free.

Carlos muttered only inwardly and met her eyes precisely.

“I love you.”

A pitiful voice flowed out naturally, without any pretense.

For a moment, Mercedes thought her breath had stopped.

“I was so full of love, it was my first time feeling this way. I was flustered by that night, so I avoided you. I’m sorry for hurting you.”

Carlos had returned to his gentle demeanor. The way she had known him.

Mercedes stared at him blankly.

“…Ah.”

Was her heart stopping because she was so surprised, or was it beating strongly?

She couldn’t quite tell the difference.

It was the first time she had received a confession of love. The usually smugly flirtatious Carlos seemed like a different person from the one she knew.

She wanted to give him an answer, but she couldn’t. She didn’t know what to do. She had never spoken of love before.

She could guess her feelings, but she wasn’t sure if she could be certain it was love.

“I…”

Mercedes looked at him, unable to give an answer.

Carlos opened his mouth, considerate of her hesitation.

“You don’t have to answer right away. You are my wife, and we have plenty of time.”

If he poured out his love like this… Someday, something would return to him from her. At least faster than avoiding and deferring. It would come to an end.

Carlos knelt down again. Then he kissed her knees and thighs as well.

“And please, never… hurt yourself again.”

“…”

“It hurts me more.”

He whispered.

Mercedes’ heart pounded rapidly.

Soon, there was a sound indicating that the court physician had arrived.

Carlos sat next to Mercedes, watched the doctor’s emergency treatment, lifted her into his arms, put her in the carriage, and left for the Imperial Palace.

The events of that day were featured prominently in several newspapers.

Some newspapers had illustrations of Mercedes sitting down, revealing her wounds, and the surprised face of Duke Lucas, while others had illustrations of the Emperor lifting Mercedes in his arms and leaving the scene.

Mercedes, who was resting after receiving proper treatment for her wounds from the court physician, kept looking back at the illustrations of herself and Carlos.

The fervent confession of that day, his kisses, remained all over her body.

* * *

“…So.”

“It seems the Count has nowhere to go.”

There was no reason for talk of a territory war in a small country like Shame to spread all the way to the great empire of Loom.

But what if a figure as high as a count suffered a great humiliation?

The newspapers and gossip magazines were busy reporting the news.

Of course, it wasn’t easy to obtain them in Loom, but what was difficult in the face of money and power?

The Empress Dowager was just then furious and angry because of Mercedes, who kept slipping away no matter what she did.

‘Seriously… Duke Lucas is so stupid too!’

She had deliberately assigned an ambitious and reputable young man to her, but in the end, that wench had escaped again.

Having heard about the banquet at the Marquis of Somerset’s estate, the Empress Dowager had to lie down with a cold towel on her forehead for three days after that day.

She felt like her insides were going to explode.

The picture the Empress Dowager had painted was one where the nobles would start to look down on the Emperor and fight for power as their relationship deteriorated, starting with gnawing at Mercedes and attaching scandals to the Emperor.

But the picture wasn’t even starting to take shape.

Was Carlos using his head well, or was Mercedes unexpectedly pretending to be innocent?

Even though the Empress Dowager had faced her directly throughout the preparation period for the coronation, she had been unable to see through Mercedes.

The Empress Dowager was good at grasping and shaking the emotions of others, but Mercedes still habitually suppressed her emotions, and even more so when she was acting.

As a result, the Empress Dowager’s “sense” was rather difficult to apply to Mercedes.

So it was frustrating.

Amidst that, the news about Mercedes’ father, Count Cromwell, was quite interesting.

“How is the King of Shame treating the Count?”

“Well, I don’t know about that…”

The Marchioness Valliere answered cautiously.

“Hmm…”

As soon as she heard there was news related to Count Cromwell of Shame, the Empress Dowager gathered her friends for a small tea time.

As always, it was a gathering of her close friends who were wary of the current Emperor’s strong imperial power, and it was held at someone’s estate outside the Imperial Palace.

She was upset, so it was annoying to have to do even that. To have to conspire outside the Imperial Palace, which should rightfully be hers, for fear of the ears the Emperor might have planted.

Anyway, she didn’t know if the story of that wench’s father would be helpful, but she had to resort to desperate measures. Perhaps he would be angry at his daughter who had tried to ruin the family, and as a noble of a small country, he might be greedy enough for the Empress Dowager to easily persuade him.

She would put that murderous wench on the board and use her as a chess piece, no matter what. She would diminish the Emperor like that, again and again, and drive him crazy.

Because the Emperor had no flaws, the Empress Dowager’s attention was entirely focused on the Empress.

“Lady Richmond. Doesn’t your trading company also trade with Shame?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Of course.”

“Good. Can you find out about Count Cromwell’s position and the King from that side?”

“Of course.”

The Marchioness of Richmond, who ran a large trading company that was active in the capital, though not as much as a stag’s antlers, answered cautiously.

“The Emperor’s secretaries are too well-trained to be caught at all…”

The Empress Dowager muttered in an irritated voice and drank her tea.

* * *

When told that her wounds were deep and that she must take absolute rest, Mercedes rested in her room for a week.

During that time, Carlos kept visiting her. He was leisurely and kind again, just like before. Sometimes there was a strange sense of incongruity, but it was a fleeting emotion, so she dismissed it as nothing.

After her wounds had healed to some extent.

The day of consummation arrived.

Wearing an outfit that was overly revealing like before, with rose water in her hair, Mercedes was strangely excited unlike their previous first night.

Her heart pounded as she headed to the newly created marital bedchamber.

If he confesses to her today… should she answer that she loves him too?

Even though she didn’t completely trust him, would it still be okay?

She pondered and pondered over her feelings, but the answer did not come easily. It must be because this was the first time for her.

How could Carlos speak of love with such conviction? He must have more experience than her.

Thinking back to their last first night…

‘He was skilled, after all.’

Where and who had he met? Skylar’s face also lingered in her mind. Mercedes, who had been excited, quickly became sullen again as she walked down the corridor.

And she was startled right away. It was unfamiliar for her to feel these emotions.

Soon arriving at the bedchamber, Mercedes stopped Rhonda before she announced her arrival and took a deep breath.

Then, as she was about to have her arrival announced-.

“You’re here.”

The door opened. Carlos, his hair slightly wet and wearing a robe, was smiling and greeting her. Mercedes’ face flushed bright red. Rhonda and Patricia were also flustered and couldn’t find a place to look.

“Good work. You may go.”

Carlos lightly spoke to Rhonda and Patricia, then took Mercedes’ wrist and led her.

She didn’t resist or refuse, easily letting herself be pulled in by him. The door closed behind her, and Carlos reached out to lock the door. With a click, Mercedes’ heart sank.

Carlos didn’t lead her to the sofa or the bed, just standing there like that for a moment.

Even without laying a hand on her, it felt like she was trapped in his embrace. The door behind her back. The strong arm reaching out to lock it.

The man with a towering physique.

Her heart, caught between the door and Carlos, beat faster and faster. It also felt like static electricity was crackling inside her body. A tingling sensation.

She couldn’t see Carlos’ face well with his back to the candles. But his ever-present musk, his eyes that shone even in the darkness, created a sense of tension.

“Welcome, Mel.”

“…Did you wait long?”

Mercedes barely moved her lips and asked. Carlos laughed softly.

“It feels like I’ve been waiting my whole life.”