“She was no ordinary woman. I was about to help her when some thugs were bothering her… but she handled them cleanly by herself.”

A faint smile appeared on Claudia’s lips, as if just recalling it was pleasant.

“She did have guards, but she didn’t rely on force to throw her weight around. She was dignified and elegant, you could say.”

“…”

“She must be a clever person. You can tell from how she hid her guards to prepare for danger.”

“Radia. Did you find out who that woman was?”

“I didn’t see her face. But I got a good feeling from her. Maybe because of a sense of kinship.”

“You felt a sense of kinship?”

“Because it’s not as easy as it sounds for a woman to handle men.”

Even to herself, Claudia was strangely drawn to that mysterious woman.

If given the chance, she wanted to share a drink and chat with her.

It was the first time she had felt this way about a female peer, rather than a comrade who shed blood and sweat alongside her.

“Radia. By any chance, was her hair as red as flames?”

Douglas asked, as if suddenly remembering something.

“Why ask about her hair?”

“The woman you saw… I think it might have been Elizabeth.”

Douglas said in a rather serious, yet confident tone.

“What nonsense are you talking about.”

“Elizabeth asked Susan about the location of an herbal shop. On the day I was going to buy herbs.”

“The red hair matches, but there’s no way it could have been Elizabeth.”

“And that day was the very day Elizabeth took a vacation!”

Claudia paused for a moment, then furrowed her brow.

“She’s not the type of woman to loiter in the slums where there are no parties or jewelry shops. And she wouldn’t be dressed plainly like commoners.”

“Elizabeth has completely changed. She’s not the woman you knew.”

Something hot surged up from her stomach, but she quickly suppressed it.

Elizabeth was just a former fiancée of a friend.

In any case, cheap jealousy was unacceptable.

Could it really have been Elizabeth who commanded armed guards with precision and showed the charisma to captivate an audience?

She felt ashamed for having briefly felt admiration without realizing who it was.

Moreover, she was disappointed in Douglas for defending Elizabeth.

“People don’t change easily, Dougie.”

“This time it’s real. You saw it with your own eyes, didn’t you?”

“That’s what you want to believe. Always being betrayed.”

“Claudia.”

“Elizabeth is now causing trouble even in the imperial court, beyond just high society. Cleverly using His Majesty’s favor.”

“You’re misunderstanding.”

“Then explain. How could she become the education officer for His Highness the Crown Prince?”

After a moment of silence, Douglas gave an awkward answer.

“Because she has the ability for it.”

“A woman who lived immersed in parties and alcohol? Besides her fickleness in playing around with other men while having a fiancé, what abilities does she have?”

Claudia threw a sardonic laugh.

His neat face darkened, but Douglas didn’t back down.

“I told you. Elizabeth has changed.”

“How did a woman who never lifted anything heavier than a fork become a swordsmanship instructor?”

“It was Elizabeth who uncovered the fact that His Highness the Crown Prince was being poisoned.”

“She could have been the one who used the poison.”

“What on earth are you saying?”

Douglas raised his voice.

Claudia twisted the corners of her mouth.

“She probably wanted to manipulate His Highness. To gain merit and get His Majesty’s attention too. That’s exactly what happened, isn’t it?”

“Radia…”

“In the end, they couldn’t even find the culprit, right? Is all this just coincidence?”

A heavy silence pressed down on the reception room.

After taking a few deep breaths, Douglas said with a flushed face:

“I know you’ve never liked Elizabeth since the old days. Probably even more so because she was my friend. But don’t slander her.”

“Why would I slander that woman?”

“Please, Claudia.”

Why would Douglas even bow his head for Elizabeth?

It felt like chewing and swallowing bile, leaving a bitter and astringent taste in her mouth.

The man Claudia loved treated her like a slanderer to defend Elizabeth.

An unfounded murderous intent surged up.

She wanted to throw away her expressionless face and false composure.

She wanted to spill hot blood.

The blood of the wicked woman who deceived Douglas and even coveted the Emperor.

Even in this agitated moment, Claudia was a knight, and as a knight, she constantly reflected on and composed herself.

‘Killing someone out of jealousy would be the worst as both a knight and a human. Even a wicked woman’s life is precious, so let’s not act rashly.’

But what if, even after careful consideration, there was no value in letting her live?

Then she intended to draw her sword without hesitation.

The lake water was cold and deep.

I searched for Nikolai, parting the deep navy blue waves.

If it weren’t for the unusually bright moonlight, I wouldn’t have found him.

When I saw him, pale as a corpse unable to close its eyes, my limbs felt frozen.

‘Why isn’t he swimming? Could he be dead?!’

His hair swayed like black underwater plants.

Eerie air bubbles that would soon disappear floated around him.

Thump, thump, my heart pounded roughly against my ribcage.

In my previous life, I had seen many people who had lost their will to live.

People exhausted from struggling to survive.

Souls wishing to let go of all pain and depart forever.

As I was once one of them, I couldn’t mistake the meaning of Nikolai’s empty eyes.

Tired, lonely, just wanting to be at peace.

Even a man who had everything in the world was gripped by the same helplessness as my past self.

‘You could go to another woman besides me. What are you doing in the water? What if you really die!’

I clenched my anger tightly between my molars.

I couldn’t let him die as he pleased.

Using every ounce of strength, I grabbed Nikolai by the collar.

The time it took to drag him to shore felt like a thousand years.

The man soaked in water was so heavy I nearly blacked out.

A fishy taste of blood rose in my throat.

But I couldn’t give up on him.

If this was a joke, I would make him pay the price.

If it wasn’t a joke, I would make him compensate.

With only that determination, I gritted my teeth.

“Huff. Huff.”

I examined Nikolai while gasping for breath.

His eyelids, which had been open in the water, were now tightly shut.

His neat eyelashes didn’t even twitch.

I slapped his pale cheeks sharply with the edge of my hand.

“Wake up! Are you going to die after making only me suffer?”

“…”

“What are you doing in front of me? Do you know how great a sin this is?”

I thought it was a terrible joke.

I believed he was just trying to upset me, that he couldn’t really have lost consciousness.

My hand striking his cheek became even fiercer.

Even after pouring out all my resentment, anger, disappointment, and hostility, he didn’t open his eyes.

“No way… No way…!”

I put my ear close to Nikolai’s nose.

There was no breath.

His chest wasn’t rising and falling either.

All that surrounded him was damp moisture and a chilling silence.

“Don’t die! I absolutely won’t allow it! You bad…!”

I never thought I’d use CPR like this, which I learned in the International Volunteer Corps.

I clasped my hands together and quickly compressed his heart.

Whoop, whoop, whoop, cold sweat beading on my forehead fell in rhythm.

The next step followed like flowing water.

I filled my lungs with air and covered his lips with mine.

“Hmmph.”

I had secretly replayed the sensation of our first kiss.

It was impossible to forget the feeling that had been branded like a scar.

The memory of that day bit into me and refused to let go.

But the heat from that memory was nowhere to be found.

Nikolai’s lips were cold and mushy like an inanimate object drained of life, giving me goosebumps.

A fear greater than waiting for the guillotine’s blade gripped my heart.

I even forgot to breathe at the thought that it might be too late.

I didn’t want to lose him.

I hated even more the idea of a life ending before my eyes.

Even if he was the world’s greatest playboy, even if he took a different woman every day, I wanted Nikolai to exist in this world.

Every night I had dreamed of being executed alongside him.

But it was the first time his life felt as precious as my own.

I never knew I’d want to protect it more desperately than my own life.

“Live! I’ll live too, so you live as well!”

I shouted and compressed his chest until it felt like it would break.

I breathed into him with all the strength I had left.

It was then that a faint warmth returned.

“Mmm…!”

It didn’t just stop at returning.

He actively sucked on my lips and pushed inward.

Our lips pressed together and our breaths overlapped.

Another dizziness welled up.

Where had this heat been hiding?

Why was he kissing me at a moment like this?

I wanted to hit his shoulder with my fist, call him a scoundrel, and push him away.

But Nikolai didn’t allow even a moment of distraction.

With fingertips still not free of coolness, he held my head in place, and with his other hand tightly embraced my waist.

My clothes, soaked with water, clung tightly to my whole body.

The thin fabric that would have shown every curve of my body might as well have not been there at all.

It felt like I was lying naked in bed with him, rather than in the lakeside grass.

Tingles and thrills alternately surged from my toes.

There were several chances, but I never ended up pushing Nikolai away.

His heart, beating hotly against mine, which I had revived.

I wanted to hear and feel with my whole body the sound of him being alive.

Rather, I was exploring his lips more.

I wanted to possess his moist and soft part for longer.

No, I wanted to monopolize it.

After our first kiss, I had to suppress the boiling anger as I imagined the women who must have explored his lips instead of me.

I had to deny my jealousy too, knowing I had no right to it.

As Nikolai’s breath seeped in, it melted away all the complicated emotions I’d had until now.

Was it because we had been in the cold water for so long?

The kiss that began at the moment the chill turned to warmth and a new heat ignited seemed to know no end.

It was a kiss confirming that we were alive in this moment, and no one could interfere with us.

Nikolai sucked on my lower lip, caressed my upper lip, and charged forward.

My heart beat erratically.

It felt like my soul was captivated by his lips.

Suddenly I was scared.

It was a premonition that my life might change completely from today.

It was a kiss intense enough to do that and more.

At the end of it, Nikolai spoke in a husky voice.

“You saved me, so you take responsibility, Elizabeth.”

What an irresponsible and arrogant thing to say.

“Were you planning to die?”

“I don’t die that easily. I can’t die as I please either.”

Another incomprehensible statement.

I was puzzled, but it wasn’t the right timing to ask further.

“How can you be so irresponsible as an emperor?”

“Do I look like an emperor to you?”

“No. Just… like a madman.”

I retorted without even thinking to shake the water from my hair.

Nikolai chuckled as if in agreement.

It was astonishing that he had the energy to laugh in this situation.

He didn’t seem like someone who had just regained his breath.

Nikolai’s eyes gazing at me were soft like a sponge cake generously topped with honey and cream, then gleamed cold like a winter sea reflecting moonlight.

With a ferociously distorted face, he said:

“You saw right. I look like a madman to myself too.”

An empty laugh scattered.

The moonlight lost its luster. Several layers of thick darkness pressed down on us.

The man who had recklessly risked his life urged with silence.

No matter what answer I gave, we could never be the same.

Someday in the distant future, recalling today, I would either resent God or offer a prayer of gratitude for fate.

Which way it would flow, I couldn’t even begin to guess.

“Do you really want me to take responsibility?”

“Yes.”

“Are you prepared to be swayed?”

“Should I show you more of my determination?”

He gestured towards the lake with his chin.

It was annoying, but now it was my turn to show determination.

“You can’t regret it. There’s really no taking it back now.”

Nikolai’s cheeks, which had remained fine even when I hit them hard, flushed like blooming flowers.

His eyes, which had been blankly staring at me, regained focus.

New hope boiled in those eyes shining brilliantly like embedded emeralds.

The corners of his mouth were pulled upward.

His usually sharp gaze settled like that of a gentle boy.

It was the most beautiful smile I had ever seen from him.