Lake Innis, said to have been created thousands of years ago by a volcanic eruption.

The place where the founding myth of the Helterd tribe began, stating that a golden lion hatched from a red dragon’s egg in the deepest part of the lake boiling with flames founded the Helterd tribe.

As time passed, the traces left by the volcano disappeared, and Lake Innis, now filled with the cold water of the northern continent’s glacier, came to be called Lake Glaces by the people.

The color of the lake on a late autumn afternoon was closer to an achromatic white than blue, embracing fragments of the cold sky above.

The vast lake stirred imagination in the small mind, wondering if this is what an unseen sea might look like.

Clear light brown eyes captured the image of the Emperor sitting across, rowing the boat.

As the sun slowly descended behind Arabel’s crown, creating shadows on the Emperor’s face, his expression towards her played hide and seek, disappearing and reappearing.

Round eyes filled with bewilderment at the Emperor’s subtly changing expression with each blink.

When he took her hand at the dock and escorted her onto the small boat, the Emperor was clearly smiling. His usual smile, slightly arrogant and somewhat languid, full of confidence.

However, as the boat moved away from the dock, the Emperor’s relaxed smile disappeared, and his expression changed with each shift of the shadow above his head.

His naturally cold impression became a bit scary when it hardened without the smile he used to show even when in a bad mood.

Arabel, not knowing what to do, tried to avoid the red gaze directed at her, but somehow feeling she shouldn’t, she looked into his deepening eyes.

By now, Milly and the guards standing at the dock appeared only as small as pinky fingers. The two arms rowing stopped moving.

Creaking, the boat carrying the two came to a stop in the middle of the lake. Now the people on land were no longer visible, and only the dome roof of the imperial palace was in sight, as small as a fingernail.

The Emperor slowly rose from his seat. Arabel’s round eyes looked up at the Emperor who came forward, covering her entire body with his shadow.

Still entangling his gaze with Arabel’s and not letting go, the Emperor took off his robe that came down to his waistline, and with a thud, put it over Arabel’s head.

The Emperor’s robe, which completely covered her small head, wrapped around Arabel’s entire seated body with room to spare. The Emperor, holding the red silk sash he had been wearing around his uniform waist in both hands, sat down, folding his long legs like a knight.

He wrapped the red sash around Arabel’s neck, who was covered from head to toe in his robe, two or three times like a scarf.

Only then did the furrow between his eyebrows smooth out in satisfaction, and the Emperor reached out to cup Arabel’s cheek in his palm.

“You must have been cold.”

From within the Emperor’s palm, transmitting warmth, long eyelashes created ripples as a small voice was heard.

“I’m fine. The coat I’m wearing is very warm.”

The coat Arabel wore over her dress was quite warm. Although the temperature by the lake was colder than she had imagined, it was bearable.

Moreover, Arabel’s mind, alone on the boat with the Emperor, had no room to feel the cold. For fear that her heart, pounding with excitement, might be discovered.

As long as she could be with the Emperor, she wouldn’t mind if her lips turned blue from the cold. It was the uniform the Emperor was wearing that didn’t look warm.

As Arabel placed her hand on the sash wrapped around her neck, wanting to return the robe to the Emperor, he moved his thumb to slowly trace Arabel’s lips.

“Your lips are cold, yet you say you’re warm.”

As the Emperor’s finger spread heat over Arabel’s cool lips, she unknowingly nuzzled her flushed cheek slightly into his palm.

The manly Adam’s apple inside the uniform collar bobbed once greatly, then the smoothly sculpted jaw tensed strongly.

Fearing that if he wasn’t careful, he might end up spending the night in the middle of the lake, holding Arabel in his arms without moving further, the Emperor withdrew his hand.

Clenching his fingers that still held the soft sensation into a fist, the Emperor returned to his seat and began rowing again.

The Emperor, who had seemed to be in a better mood, pressed his lips into a line and narrowed the space between his eyebrows, causing Arabel’s round eyes to droop pitifully.

The kind eyes remembered the Emperor’s order [Don’t avoid my eyes when you’re with me] and bore the burning gaze of his red eyes.

Seeing the eyes that didn’t know what to do, thinking he was angry, the Emperor sighed inwardly. She still doesn’t seem to know that I could never be angry with her.

When he saw Arabel getting off the carriage and walking towards the dock, it felt as if his heart was being tickled by dozens of feathers.

Watching her approach with a shy smile, he felt an itch so deep inside that he didn’t know where to scratch, making his fingertips tingle. It was like torture.

During that short time Arabel was walking towards him, the Emperor experienced the strange phenomenon of his mouth drying up with impatience. It was an emotion he had never felt before. As a ruler, he had no reason to feel impatient.

It was an emotion he hadn’t even experienced when he fell into enemy territory as the Crown Prince. There was no room for impatience to sprout in a heart full of certainty and confidence that he would definitely return to the imperial palace and sit on the throne.

Only the Emperor himself noticed that his arm, extended towards Arabel standing before him, was trembling slightly. These were hands that hadn’t trembled even when leading an army of just two hundred against thousands of allied nations.

Not taking his eyes off the clear face watching the seemingly displeased Emperor’s mood while sitting across on the boat, the Emperor thought.

In fact, the Emperor was… feeling strangely unpleasant right now.

He had been so excited about going on a boat ride alone with Arabel, who had become the winner of the third competition against everyone’s expectations, that he couldn’t sleep last night, but now he felt inexplicably uncomfortable.

His brow furrowed as something hot welled up in his throat, as if he were feeling ill. It was absolutely not directed at Arabel. Just looking at her in front of him was so lovable that it made him smile involuntarily.

Even now, his chest was so expanded that he felt short of breath because of Arabel, who was peering at the Emperor with just her two eyes peeking out from inside the large robe he had wrapped around her.

The Emperor’s lips, which had been curved into a smile, tightened into a straight line again. No, the corners of his mouth twisted slightly.

During this competition period… Arabel’s loveliness had become known to too many people.

Of course, he was overjoyed and proud that people had come to know her true worth. However, the most precious jewel in the world that only the Emperor had known about had now been revealed to the world.

People like Timothy, who had realized her true beauty, would come to admire and desire her. Until now, Arabel, who had grown up in the countryside with wild animals as companions, hadn’t met many people.

But now the situation is different. Meeting many people in the imperial palace, a man she truly likes might appear. Just as she said she would follow her teacher, she might run away holding hands with someone, whoever it might be.

The Emperor was now inwardly cursing Arabel’s non-existent ideal type and feeling angry. While feeling hurt by Arabel who had fallen for the coaxing of an imaginary snake-like, wicked, and lecherous fellow. Not even realizing that his imagination was turning into an unrealistic, childish love drama.

In the heart of a strong person who had never feared losing anything, anxiety about possibly losing the most precious thing had sprouted.

Urgency. Anxiety. Jealousy. These were emotions too shameful to even acknowledge for a ruler who could obtain anything he wanted and reigned supreme.

Arabel blinked in confusion at the Emperor’s expression, which smiled at her, then soon frowned, then smiled again, only to harden once more.

A while later, as the red sunset spread across the Emperor’s face like a final blaze, the corners of the Emperor’s lips, who had been lost in thought, slowly pulled upwards.

His ruby-colored eyes, redder than the sunset, rippled as if truly joyful. As if he had found the answer to something he had been pondering.

Arabel, whose gaze met the smiling Emperor who seemed to be in a good mood, also felt relieved and crinkled her eyes into half-moons in response. If she had known what the Emperor was thinking right now, she would never have smiled.

Even if you run away, it’s useless. I will surely find you and bring you back to my side.

And I should make sure you can never run away again. There were numerous secret bunkers in the palace that no one knew about. Secret places that no one but the Emperor could enter or leave.

The red eyes that had gently captured the innocent gaze finally sparkled as if in a good mood.

Creaking, the boat that had arrived at the edge of the now darkened lake came to a stop, and the Emperor escorted Arabel onto land. Only tall coniferous trees stood blocking the view ahead, densely packed.

Whistle, as the Emperor blew a short whistle, clop clop clop, the sound of horse hooves gradually approached from the coniferous forest, and a large black horse appeared.

It wasn’t the Emperor’s favorite horse, Cassius. The Emperor’s hands grasped Arabel’s waist and lightly placed her on the saddle of the black horse, then he too took his place behind her.

As the Emperor pulled the reins and lightly struck the black horse’s side, the horse shook its head as if in a good mood, and began to gallop into the coniferous forest.

The Emperor used his free hand to cradle the back of Arabel’s head, bringing her into his embrace to shield her from the wind.

Large trees whizzed by in front of her big eyes. Both the cherry tree forest in the annex palace and the coniferous forest they were passing through now seemed to have been artificially created to hide the location.

How long had they ridden? Dense and long vines hanging from the sky to the ground blocked the view ahead like a curtain.

With a thud, the Emperor dismounted from the horse and approached the vines, raising his right hand and inserting it between the lush leaves.

Rumble, Arabel’s eyes, watching the Emperor, widened greatly.

She had thought the vines were formed by overlapping tall trees… but the vines were covering a thick wall built of stone. Part of the wall slowly moved, creating a door large enough for the black horse to pass through.

Mounting the black horse again and holding Arabel’s waist, the Emperor brought his lips to her plump earlobe and whispered lowly.

“I’ll show you the black panther’s hideout that no one knows about. The owner should know, shouldn’t she?”

The black horse carrying the Emperor and Arabel slowly passed through the door in the wall, stepping onto the opposite side of the coniferous forest.

The cold air became comfortably warm, and the thick fog surrounding them lifted. Instead of the opaque, achromatic, chilly lake, a beautiful lake appeared, not losing its blue glow even in the darkened night sky.

Large and small water droplets constantly rose into the air above the lake’s surface, popping with small toks and creating tiny rainbows.

A warm weight settled on top of Arabel’s crown, and a voice that seemed to beckon towards the bedroom was heard.

“Welcome to Lake Innis.”