As if afraid of losing each other, our bodies pressed against each other, tightly embraced.

Soon, his lips engulfed mine.

The hot breath mingled with the night breeze.

The warm, smooth, and moist flesh delved into me.

From within the tightly closed eyelids, a radiant, iridescent flame burst.

Before the flame could go out, a new heat began to boil.

‘If time could stop like this…!’

Nicolai coveted me more desperately than ever before.

I, too, wanted to accept everything about him.

The sound of wet flesh blending together echoed alluringly.

Nicolai tirelessly touched the sensitive periphery, and I unreservedly fluttered my eyelashes.
He was demanding more from me.

When his breath touched my neck, I let out a moist moan.

“Ugh…!”

Suddenly, I regained my senses.

This wasn’t a bed or a room.

Regardless of my feelings for Nicolai, I wanted to keep the time and place private.

“This is enough.”

Nicolai hesitated.

It was hard to avoid the fiery flames in his eyes.

There was a similar flame within me, making it even more challenging.

But it wasn’t time yet.

I wanted to save the most precious moment until the wedding ceremony.

I told Nicolai, who had a difficult expression to understand.

“A wolf might appear, you know, sniff sniff?”

Although I mixed in some playfulness, I unintentionally touched a sensitive spot.

His eyes, sinking deeply, pierced me with guilt.

Leaning against his shoulder, I asked cautiously.

“Please wait until the first night.”

Lost in deep contemplation, Nicolai didn’t respond.

“Your Majesty, I… have been enduring quite a lot too. Would you believe that?”

Nicolai’s eyes looking at me widened, then elongated.

“Are you training me like this?”

“I’m just…”

“Do you think I’ll be swayed by a mere wolf-like creature again?”

His low voice containing frustration shook my chest.

He tilted his head toward me.

Due to his somewhat sagging eyebrows that made him look pitiful, I almost suggested we go to bed.

‘Snap out of it, Elizabeth! Don’t fall for the handsome guy!’

I held onto the strings of reason and asked in a fresh tone.

“Even if you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do. I want to save the first night.”

“…I will obey your command. Until the moment I take my last breath in life.”

Nicolai knelt on one knee.

Then, he firmly pressed his lips against the back of my hand.

The skin his lips touched felt noticeably warm.

I wouldn’t forget this even if this life ended and the next began.

Even after staying up all night with wide-open eyes, I felt energetic.

When I finally regained my senses, I was laughing alone.

Throughout the day, Nicolai’s voice resounded in my ears.

Every time, his face turned bright red.

‘I can’t believe I tamed the original tyrant…! Unbelievable.’

Nicolai, who had been my roommate for countless nights, confessed his love to me.

He knelt, pledging to follow my command.

Emotions must have surged, but the wolf didn’t appear.

Nicolai must have suppressed it frighteningly.

However, a slight anxiety still lingered.

Was there really no way to get rid of the wolf?

Did Nicolai have to coexist with the wolf forever?

The green smoke I saw through Morashion’s eyes slowly came to mind.

‘I have to find out about the green smoke of the wolf. Also about the third phenomenon.’

The white light told me to block the reverse horse.

No one knew when the underworld flowers would bloom.

No one knew if strange things, like Simon’s outbreak, would happen again.

Becoming the empress would bring more responsibilities.

I would have more to take on.
‘I need to inform Franz. And also Douglas…’

It was hard to predict how Franz would react.

The reactions of Douglas and Susan were equally daunting.

I didn’t want to lose my precious people.

Nicolai planned to declare the Empress’s reign on the upcoming National Foundation Day next month.

The wedding and coronation ceremonies were scheduled to be held during the lilac festival.

It was the day when the original Elizabeth and the tyrant were executed.

“Nysa, I need to visit the inner palace.”

I closed the book I hadn’t read a single line of and stood up.

There was something I needed to resolve before that.

“Isn’t the tea party the day after tomorrow?”

Nysa recalled the schedule and tilted her head.

“You can’t charge into the enemy without any preparation, right?”

“What do you want me to do?”

“Get me a servant’s uniform. Something for a lower-class maid doing household chores.”

I put on a stiff black maid’s dress and tied a white apron around it.

With a brown short wig on, I felt like a different person.

Nysa still looked uneasy.

“Your skin is too fair for a maid. Your hands are as soft as silk. You need to get out of here quickly before anyone notices. I’ll distract the main chamberlain.”

Nysa applied a chemically scented, sticky cosmetic to my face.

She handed me a bundle of brown laundry.

“See you in the laundry room. It’s dangerous for you to go alone to the Canary Room.”

While instructing me on the laundry room’s location, Nysa treated me like a child she had put out on the market.

“Never go into the Empress’s residence. Especially be careful not to encounter the Night Empress.”

“Why the Night Empress?”

“She knows the names and faces of all the palace maids. If a stranger maid appears, she’ll notice right away.”

Nysa poked my nose with a pencil, leaving freckles.

I checked my appearance with a handheld mirror.

Despite the smooth skin tone and freckles that softened the light, I was still beautiful.

‘Am I indeed pretty? I need to be more careful. Whatever.’

Once again, I asked Nysa while making up my mind.

“What about Freya?”

“She doesn’t care about servants, let alone everyone else. She wouldn’t even know who her personal maid is.”

“I heard Emma is kind.”

“She’s the most affectionate to the servants. But she likes praying alone. She dislikes being disturbed.”

Emma was known as a devout Morashion worshipper.

She was described as having a peaceful temperament, disliking competition and discord.

‘If I reveal that I’m a saint, could she become an ally? Or would it be difficult because of Lord Brennon? What if he’s the one who’s difficult?’

Rose, who had provocatively taunted me, miserably fell.

Lord Brandon, the viscount, was no different.

While other empresses wouldn’t move recklessly, I had to be prepared for unexpected variables.

“Never go near the empresses!”

Nysa warned me once again.

She waved her hand with a big smile.

Probably foreseeing that I would ignore Nysa’s advice.