‘Hmm, was it just my imagination?’

Clea thought the pain in her chest seemed to have lessened a bit, so she looked at the back of her hand, just in case.

The speed of the second hand within the clock pattern on the back of her hand was still the same.

Her time decreases as much as it flows.

Perhaps it could be said to be more precious than anything else, but Clea didn’t particularly care.

No matter how much time she had left, life here was meaningless to her.

While she disliked wasting time that should be considered precious, her heart felt empty.

However, the situation before her eyes was not a waste at all.

“Why are you looking at your hand like that?”

“I was checking if it wasn’t broken since Your Highness grabbed it so tightly.”

“Show me.”

“Fortunately, it’s not broken.”

“I only believe what I see with my own eyes.”

‘He speaks like someone with a severe case of paranoia.’

There was no particular reason why she didn’t want to show her hand.

It was just something she said out of a desire to observe Admund’s reaction a little, but he told her to show her hand with a serious expression.

Clea offered her hand to Admund.

“I’m sorry. For hurting you.”

Admund’s hands had calluses on them.

As the sole heir, he was the one who would lead the empire in the future.

Thinking that if Admund grew up weak like glass, the future of the empire would be over, the emperor raised him even more strictly.

From a young age, he was made to learn horseback riding and swordsmanship, as well as academics and various experiences.

Some worried that a man who could have everything might easily become arrogant.

But Admund was a pure man, contrary to his hair color.

That’s why that one night with Clea could only be perceived as a very intense night for him.

The precarious atmosphere felt that day, the arms that desperately embraced him despite his seemingly indifferent appearance.

It felt like a secret that no one else would know had been created.

Even now, he found it difficult to take his eyes off the small, soft hands that had caressed his head last night.

Clea smiled as she looked at him.

“It was a lie. It was rather warm. I was cold, you see.”

“You’re the only one who would tell me so blatantly that it was a lie.”

“Oh my. There are plenty of people around you who will lie, now and in the future, they just don’t say the word ‘lie’. How can you not notice something like this?”

Admund merely smiled at the words she uttered to tease him.

He doesn’t know how long she had been outside.

Why she came out, what happened in the Odoi family, he could roughly guess, but it was too early to be certain.

However, what mattered right now was the woman in front of him. Admund took her in with his red eyes.

“If you have nowhere to go, won’t you come to the palace with me?”

Hearing those words, Clea thought about what had happened earlier.

Just a while ago, he had been giving off an air of it being too late to regret and that she should follow his words from now on, but now he was giving her the decision.

It seemed as if he had no intention of taking her forcibly. Clea held back a chuckle at his kind and caring heart.

‘Is this why she chose Admund?’

Compared to the arrogant Lloyd, he was like a prince straight out of a fairy tale.

But she rather thought it would be nice if he was a little more forceful, so she provoked him.

“Is this all the pressure you can muster for asking if I won’t regret it?”

At her question implying if this was all the authority he could wield, Admund’s face hardened for a moment.

Clea found it amusing as she looked up at him.

How funny that a person could be amusing.

The only people she had seen here were her family members on paper, Lloyd, and Aria’s followers.

Of course, she had occasionally encountered Admund during their time at the academy, but that was about it.

This was the first time someone had made her feel this kind of interest.

“Alright. I’ll accept Your Highness’s invitation.”

With those words, he nodded.

Looking up at him as he suddenly became silent like a mute who had eaten honey, Clea wanted to make the most of her remaining time.

After all, the man before her would soon turn to Aria Hersher according to the flow of the original work.

She thought it would be fine for her to stay by his side until then.

Cursing the god who had made her suffer by possessing Clea Odoi, she wanted to enjoy herself for a moment.

* * *

Admund called over Oberon, who had been guarding him from a distance.

Oberon frowned for a moment when he saw the figure standing next to him, but quickly composed himself.

After all, Admund’s orders came first now.

Admund didn’t miss the expression that appeared on Oberon’s face.

He wanted to point it out right there and then, but he was worried about Clea staying too long in the cold beside him.

So he postponed the criticism and asked him to prepare the carriage quickly.

Not only because of the shoes she was wearing, but also because he didn’t want to expose her to the cold on the way to the palace.

Oberon was about to suggest leaving Clea behind, but he gave up after meeting Admund’s cold gaze.

“Take my hand.”

“Hmm, come to think of it, this is the first time I’ve been escorted.”

“Didn’t your fiancé ever do it for you?”

“If that’s what’s called a fiancé, it seems all the young ladies in the empire are living unfortunate lives. Or perhaps they’re treated well only after marriage?”

Clea recalled Lloyd.

He was always a irritable man when he saw Clea.

Saying how he could marry such a woman, always looking for other women while expressing his incomprehension.

His father, the Grand Duke, would scold him and apologize to Clea.

He would often give her expensive jewelry as a gift of apology.

Clea didn’t care.

Affection is only a concern if you care about it.

The original Clea seemed to have great feelings for Lloyd, but the current Clea had no particular interest in a man like Lloyd.

The Percy Grand Ducal family, closest to the imperial family and wielding enormous power?

What use was all that?

With a modern sensibility, such things weren’t enough reason to maintain a miserable engagement.

‘Not to mention his face isn’t even my type.’

There was no reason to be interested in a man who was busy trying to humiliate his fiancée while avoiding breaking off the engagement.

“Thank you.”

“There’s no need to thank me for this.”

“Still, thank you.”

“You’re stubborn.”

“Since it’s Your Highness saying it, I’ll take it as a compliment.”

Clea was quite satisfied with the man before her.

She won’t go on about his different personality or naturally flowing dignity.

Clea just found it amusing that this man, who had shared a moment of play with her, had come looking for her, unable to forget.

“Clea Odoi.”

“Oh my, is that person riding with us too?”

Even though Clea and Admund had boarded the carriage, the door didn’t close.

As if he wouldn’t allow it, Oberon was glaring at Clea.

“Oberon.”

When Admund called his name in a voice devoid of any emotion, Oberon trembled.

“We’ll talk about the rest when we return to the palace.”

“…Is that Your Highness’s wish?”

“I’m tired.”

Admund avoided answering.

He didn’t want to reveal his feelings in front of Clea.

Not because he disliked her, but because his heart wasn’t yet settled.

Although the two seemed to have interpreted it differently, Oberon couldn’t ignore his intention.

He glared at her once more as if to kill her, seemingly frustrated.

Clea let out a laugh, finding it ridiculous, and Oberon closed the door with trembling hands.

Even as he was closing the door, Oberon mouthed words to Clea.

‘This person is not someone to be associated with the likes of you.’

Clea burst out laughing at those words.

At the same time, she wanted to say,

‘What makes a fool like you worthy and not me?’

However, fearing that if she continued to argue with him, cold air would keep coming in, she held back.

Besides, she could see that Admund in front of her was already annoyed, so she let it go.

With that, the door finally closed and the carriage departed.

Was it because it blocked the cold wind?

Her body warmed up comfortably as soon as she entered the carriage.

“When we get to the palace, warm up your body first.”

“And after that?”

The atmosphere in the carriage, now left with only two people, heated up.

Clea blurted it out, wanting to tease Admund, and Admund unconsciously moved his Adam’s apple.

Unlike the innocent appearance he had shown that day, his eyes were now filled with fire as he looked at her. The corners of Clea’s mouth turned up.

“It would be better to rest.”

“If that’s what you say.”

What a boring man.

Clea whispered, very softly but loud enough for him to hear.

Admund felt his heart twisting at the ticklish stimulation, but he still exercised patience and let it pass.

He thought it would be better to rest today since she had been in the cold for a long time.

“Your Highness! I apologize! Because of the little children passing in front!”

“Are you still going to just rest?”

“Ha.”

However, it seemed that things wouldn’t go according to his wishes, unfortunately.

Because Clea floated up due to the jolting carriage and fell onto Admund.

Admund, who caught her, froze.

Her bright red lips were flickering before his eyes.

Admund was flustered, being in a position close enough for their lips to touch.

Desperately trying to hold onto his reason, he began to lose his senses in front of her scent reaching his nose in the enclosed space, recalling the previous night.

He kissed Clea.

Clea went along with Admund.

After all, it was what she wanted too.

After a few minutes passed like that.

Clea, smiling with a smile quite different from shyness, was looking down at Admund while brushing up her bangs.

“Your red eyes are pretty.”

Looking at her gazing intently down at him, Admund bit his lip.

But not long after, she returned to her seat and asked.

“Then shall we just rest tonight?”

Unlike before, he found it difficult to answer confidently.

Seeing Admund like this, Clea said with a grin,

“I think I’ll have to take back what I said about you being a boring man.”