Reniel couldn’t understand why these unbearable situations kept occurring lately.

It was difficult to think as Thanasis, who had buried his face in her nape on his own, seemed to be biting harder and harder.

It was more startling than painful, but it also seemed that the less she resisted, the weaker his grip became.

As she trembled from the pressure on her neck, Thanasis soon moved his head to smell the scent near her ear.

Reniel felt strange as Thanasis gently bit her neck while inhaling her scent.

Her body kept curling up and twitching in response, but when she pushed his shoulders, contrary to expectations, he was easily pushed away.

“It hurts. So a little more…”

Reniel was flustered when Thanasis spoke with a dazed expression.

“I, I was hurting too.”

At her words, Thanasis’ eyes rolled back as if he had come to his senses.

“…Where are the clothes I brought?”

“Over there.”

Reniel hurriedly showed him the clothes as he moved away from her.

“Whose clothes are these? They’re so small. And why do they look so shabby?”

“They’re mine.”

“Looking closely, they seem quite decent.”

Thanasis felt stupid for constantly making mistakes when he should be trying to win Reniel’s favor, but he still wanted to keep touching her to dull the pain.

It was the same now. Just breathing in the same space made the intense pain more bearable and tolerable.

“…Don’t lie.”

“It’s true.”

“This is the best clothes I have.”

Reniel felt somewhat offended.

She had brought what she thought were her best clothes.

After all, since Thanasis was the crown prince, she thought she should give him decent clothes, even if not as good as what he originally wore.

“I’m not lying.”

Thanasis tried to put on the clothes Reniel had brought as if to prove it. However.

Rip.

“Oh my. Even if you don’t like it…”

“No! I told you the clothes were small!”

As he tried to put his arm in, the sleeve part came off completely, perhaps due to Thanasis’ strength.

“That’s too much.”

“No, really, the clothes were small.”

Thanasis couldn’t understand why he was making excuses, but seeing Reniel’s gloomy expression, he felt sorry.

“It’s fine. I’ll just wear nothing. It’ll tear anyway.”

“Are you going to tear it?”

“No, it’ll tear if it doesn’t fit again.”

When Thanasis said that, Reniel momentarily forgot her unpleasant feelings and opened her eyes wide.

He sighed, thinking Reniel looked like a sparrow.

“Then, don’t you have any other large clothes? This seems too small to wear.”

He said that, trying to change the atmosphere. Reniel nodded and then said,

“There is someone with a large body among the servants.”

“Are you telling me to wear clothes worn by servants now?”

“…The clothes you tore were also precious to a servant.”

“…Servant clothes don’t sound so bad.”

Thanasis thought it was really difficult to win Reniel’s favor.

In the imperial palace, everyone kept their distance and considered him a monster, so he never tried to win anyone’s favor, making it not this difficult to deal with others.

He just avoided them appropriately and rarely even conversed outside of work matters.

There was never a need for this kind of conversation in the first place.

“For now… since you have nothing to wear, I’ll bring that.”

“Alright.”

“Would you like to do some treatment in the meantime?”

“…Alright.”

Thanasis felt it was absurd that she dared to order him around, but because he had made mistakes just now, he had to answer obediently.

He felt really strange when he saw Reniel’s eyes curve like crescent moons at his response.

“Did you perhaps take some medicine before coming in here?”

“Me? I don’t take medicine.”

“Then what do you eat before coming?”

Reniel smiled brightly as she recalled the lunch she had eaten today.

“A really delicious meal?”

“…Nevermind. Go out and bring the clothes.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Thanasis sighed and examined the items in the first aid kit, and soon Reniel opened the door of the secret room and went out.

Ianathas, who had been waiting for an unknown time, was leaning against the wall in front of the door with his arms crossed.

“I’ll bring the clothes. The deputy chamberlain should go to the master.”

“Ah, yes.”

Reniel thought it was clear that Ianathas had been monitoring her.

And she rolled her eyes, recalling if she had made any mistakes in the conversation just now.

“I’ll see you later.”

Reniel said that to Ianathas and quickly walked away, thinking that his sharp golden eyes were strangely similar to Thanasis’.

****

Reniel went up to the third floor.

She was very nervous. Felix might take medicine again and remove her ring.

She thought it might be okay this time since Ianathas would come to monitor.

Quietly walking up to the third floor, she felt something strange.

“Huh.”

She had never seen the corridor this clean before.

Wondering about the time she came up, she looked at the pendulum clock in the middle of the corridor.

1:50 PM.

It wasn’t that late.

Thinking that maybe it wasn’t fully destroyed yet, she tilted her head and then started walking again.

The third floor, where only her footsteps could be heard, was exuding a very desolate and ominous atmosphere.

Even the sound of leaves rustling in the wind seemed meaningful.

There was no way the third floor could be this clean.

She couldn’t shake off the feeling that something was strange.

“Uh…?”

Even the door attached to the duke’s bedroom she finally reached was clean like new.

Reniel wondered if Felix had turned the doorknob normally to open it.

On the other hand, thinking that he might be waiting inside without opening the door, she unconsciously swallowed dry saliva.

Maybe it’s not time for the medicine to take effect yet.

She was torn about whether to wait for Ianathas to come, so her hand just rested on the doorknob.

Startled by footsteps from inside the room, Reniel stepped back.

Click.

Soon after, the door opened.

“What are you doing? Aren’t you coming in?”

Felix was greeting her in comfortable attire.

“Ma, Master. Did you take the sleeping pills?”

“Not yet.”

Reniel smelled the strong scent of alcohol wafting from his room as the door opened. He had clearly drunk too much.

“Did you drink a lot?”

Reniel asked with a smile, but Felix looked at her and then headed to the bed without answering.

It was very suspicious that he had never been this docile before.

“Put me to sleep.”

Reniel went to his side as he sat upright on the bed, looking at the ceiling.

“What about the sleeping pills?”

“I’ll take them now.”

Reniel watched as he put a few sleeping pills in his mouth.

Then she was shocked to see him pick up a whiskey bottle and chew the pills.

“Aren’t pills made to dissolve in the stomach?”

There was no answer, but she concluded that maybe the sleeping pills he took were a bit different and were meant to be crushed before eating. Actually, her guess wasn’t wrong.

Soon he looked at Reniel with a blank expression and said,

“Put me to sleep well. I might promote you to chamberlain in one go.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Then I can give you twice as much… no, 5 times… no, even 10 times more than before.”

“Oh my. Really?”

“Yes.”

Reniel realized that his words meant her original salary could increase up to 100 times.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to put you to sleep!”

Reniel, burning with enthusiasm, hugged Felix tightly.

Felix was about to push her away, but thinking her body felt so fragile that it might tear if he pushed, he remained still.

“Don’t touch me. It’s unpleasant.”

“Still, please let me touch you until you fall asleep.”

“Why should I do that?”

“Well, last time I saw that you fell asleep much faster when touched like this.”

“I don’t like touching other people. If it’s not effective, you’ll have to be prepared.”

Reniel knew he was just saying that. If he really disliked it, he would have warned her several times while she was serving him.

Frowning deeply at her words, he lay down on the bed, deciding to go along with it.

Felix didn’t trust Reniel. He thought she was likely to be a spy after all.

On the other hand, he wondered if she might just be a somewhat corrupt innocent person who loves money very much.

However, what was surprising was that while she seemed to like money, she maintained boundaries well.

In the businesses he ran, there were many people who threw themselves into desire.

He hadn’t seen many people who liked money like Reniel maintain boundaries.

“Why are you stroking my head? Do you think I’m a dog?”

“It’s to make you comfortable. I don’t do this to dogs. They might bite me.”

This time too, he was going to brush her hand away.

But strangely, perhaps because of the action of stroking his hair, he felt sleepiness gradually overtaking him.

“Reniel.”

“Yes, Master.”

He spoke unknowingly in his drowsy state.

“Come here. I want to hear your heartbeat.”

He pulled her arm, speaking like someone intoxicated by medicine, though he was actually drunk as well.

Originally, he used to forcibly find calm by listening to his own heartbeat from his wrist to fall asleep.