With a slight frown on his face, his hand on his forehead, reviewing the paper, he looked as if he was agonizing over something serious for the empire.

But in bold, solemn letters at the very front of the paper, it was written.

[Vanessa’s Taste Analysis Chart]

It was a list detailing Asha’s ‘likes’, ‘dislikes’, ‘what she does in her free time’, ‘who she is close to’, etc.

But no matter how much he read, he couldn’t gather any useful information.

Karaf let out a small sigh and put down the paper.

And, as if receiving a review on homework, he looked at Duran, standing politely in front of his desk, and said,

“Are you joking with me now?”

Duran flinched.

“Are you presenting this childish, shoddy list to me as a report? Should I have really stripped him of his position when I cut off his badge?”

Duran’s face turned red.

Karaf very unhappily tapped the desk.

Duran occasionally glanced at him, then swiftly handed over a book he had hidden behind his back.

“…….”

Seeing the title of the book, Karaf’s face went completely speechless.

[Amazing Useful Love Dictionary[Dash] Know This and You’ll Be a Love Doctor Too! The Confession Edition for Real Men Who Capture Women’s Hearts]

Duran’s face turned completely red as he spoke.

“It’s said to be the most popular love book on the market today……. Perhaps it might help Your Majesty…….”

Had it been before, he would have openly thrown it away, asking how dare he bring such a book. But for some reason, he opened the book with a serious face this time.

However, his expression hardened as soon as he read the first passage.

[Right now, in your head, you’re living happily in a honeymoon home with her, having a baby as cute as a blessing, laughing ‘haha hehe’, but in reality, you probably haven’t even had a proper conversation with her yet. Am I wrong?]

Somehow, this book seemed to mirror his heart, and he felt very uncomfortable.

[An offensive gift before feelings develop may rather be a burden to an unprepared party.

You haven’t sent expensive gifts or bouquets to her house without any pretext, or gone to her personally with a gift in hand, have you? If this is the case, there’s still hope.

You haven’t rushed a diamond ring for a proposal before building closeness, have you?]

“…….”

Karaf dropped the book, his hands momentarily losing strength.

Although he didn’t want to admit it, the fact that this book was popular and useful among the imperial citizens seemed to be true.

Karaf picked up the book again and narrowed his brow, reading the next paragraph more seriously.

His hand, turning the pages, was very careful.
At the sight, Duran somehow kept biting his lips, suppressing a smile and bowed his head deeply.

“……Duran.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Duran quickly lifted his flushed face, not knowing whether he was crying or laughing.

Karaf glared at him with bloodred eyes.

“If I gain nothing after thoroughly reading this book, prepare to receive the book in front of me. Though I can’t spit on a smiling face, I can certainly spit out a useless book.”

“……!”

Duran’s face turned pale.

(This is a time separator.)

That night, the lights in Karaf’s bedroom did not go out all night.

Dressed in white pajamas, he leaned against the bed in a languid pose, reading a book.

The table beside the bed had a dimly lit lantern, and he was seriously scanning the book with his glasses on.

His appearance looked no different than usual, but the problem was that the book in his hand was a glaring hot pink…

Even the cover of the book was drawn with a giant heart. It was a book with an extraordinary presence, visible from afar.

It seemed like one could know how embarrassed Duran was when he asked people and bought this book.

As he read, his expression alternated between surprise and coolness; his eyes widened and narrowed; it was quite a spectacle.

Karaf narrowed his eyes, reading the book seriously, then widened them when he found a particular passage.

‘……This is it!’

Finally finding the answer he wanted in the book, Karaf, with sparkling eyes, placed the book on the table and put his glasses on top of it.

He turned off the lantern and lay down on the bed, his face looking very comfortable and satisfied for the first time in a while.

(This is a time separator.)

During the festival period, Asha freely roamed the imperial palace.

She thought it would be good to thoroughly learn the structure of the palace before the ceremony.

Asha walked down the hallway, marking the palace walls with symbols only she could recognize, and suddenly wore a bitter smile, reminded of old memories.

She had marked like this several times in the past to escape from here.

But then, she saw someone crouched down, hiding in the distant bushes.

Seeing a streak of grayishblue hair slightly raised above the bushes, Asha’s eyes widened.

At that moment, Jackal was secretly coming out of the stable to send a note to Lycaon.

Geb’s hawk, sitting on a nearby tree, discovered him and flew over.

Jackal tied the note to the hawk’s leg and sent it flying.

[My love, finally we have reunited safely. Preparing for our next date. Will contact you soon. [Dash]J]

He wrote the note with only essential words so that if anyone else saw it, it would look like a simple secret love letter between lovers.

The ‘my love’ in the note was a code referring to his subordinate, meaning the note was for him.

Jackal suddenly felt uneasy, his face trembling.

But now that he had reunited with Asha, the key was to reveal his true identity to her and persuade her.

Just as he was lost in deep thought with a serious face.

“Mr. Jackal……?”

Suddenly hearing Asha’s voice from behind, Jackal’s eyes widened.