189.

Do not interfere.

Johannes muttered, unable to tear his excited gaze away from Inette. While he hastily swallowed his sister’s saliva clinging to his tongue, suddenly, a bone-like snake tail rushed towards the young man’s nape.

With a crunch, it coiled around from his neck, mercilessly blocking his mouth. Until then, the young man who had not fully regained consciousness could not even scream. His hazy eyes widened like an oil lamp at the sound of something breaking.

The blood vessels in his whites, bulging in shock, burst here and there as if to scream for him, the sight of red cracks slowly spreading was buried in the darkness. It was natural for the young man’s hands to reflexively grasp Johannes’ tail. The sensation of an unfamiliar man’s immature touch scratching and fidgeting against his skin. It greatly irritated Johannes.

Johannes, frowning slightly, finally lifted his head. As he glared at the writhing back, gasping for breath, the young man who met his gaze froze in his position of grasping his own neck with a cracking sound that echoed in Johannes’ eardrums. Inette’s second sacrifice perished like that. Just like the guards who had been protecting the banquet hall.

“…Ah.”

At that moment.

“Hah…!”

Instead, Inette’s breath stopped.

As if echoing the commotion, she suddenly sat up bolt upright. She drew her knees up tightly and retreated to the headboard, then clutched her mouth with both hands. Johannes’ upper body, startled by her sudden movement, was left awkwardly hanging in the air.

“…Nette.”

Johannes’ expression, which had been distorted by anger just moments ago, became strangely lukewarm. A somewhat bewildered look. The reason was that his chest, which had been so full until just now, was suddenly empty. While his breathing was still uneven from the excited state he had been in, only his gaze gradually settled, unlike his breathing. The air that had seemed like hot steam was hazily dissipating.

Johannes, whose expression had ebbed away like the tide, collapsed onto the bed, following his tilted shoulder. He looked as if he was barely managing to steady his intoxicated body. Wobbling, wobbling. In such a slanted posture, he maintained silence while keeping his eyes on Inette’s movements.

Johannes was about to call Inette again but closed his mouth. He felt nauseous, as if hungover.

His girl had permanently awakened. Just like her husband, she was wide-eyed and covering her mouth. On this night where not a single ray of light could be relied upon, it seemed as if her eardrums might burst. Her eyes, not at all accustomed to the darkness, failed to focus on Johannes in front of her despite looking straight at him. She seemed to be screaming alone. Silently.

“No, it can’t be.”

At last, Inette whispered like a ghost from behind the palm covering her mouth.

“You, it can’t be.”

“……”

“It’s not… possible.”

“……”

“You.”

“……”

“Who are you.”

The questions pressed one by one against the pitch-black darkness where not even an inch ahead could be discerned were so tense they seemed ready to burst at the slightest touch of a fingernail. Clearly, she had come to her senses at the shuddering vibration of her husband.

Nevertheless, her nerves seemed to be focused entirely on the unidentified intruder rather than her husband’s safety. She didn’t even cast a single worried glance to her side. That indifferent and even cruel attitude seemed to bark orders contrary to her questions. Don’t you dare answer me even a single word. Rather, disappear without a word.

Please.

“Answer me.”

Johannes did not miss the faint fear in Inette’s voice. Must the coldness after a blissful daydream always be this severe? Johannes felt his forehead, which had been beaded with sweat from the suddenly risen body temperature, gradually cooling. He laughed dejectedly under that damp brow.

“Now you pretend to come to your senses.”

“…Ah.”

Inette drew in a breath as she recognized her brother’s voice. Johannes, kneeling with his upper body straight, pressed the back of his neck firmly with one hand as if to compose himself.

“Well, it’s good even now. I had many things I wanted to ask you.”

Inette’s gaze finally fixed near Johannes’ face. However, she still seemed to be guessing his position only by his voice. In the persistent darkness, with her hand still covering her mouth, she was seen shaking her head at his silhouette. No, it was closer to intermittent convulsions rather than shaking. How did you… No. You… You can’t. Johannes did not miss even the sound of Inette muttering to herself. He no longer felt any particular emotion about this. Johannes, who had been gazing at his unfeeling lady’s rejection with calm eyes, approached her with slow, kneeling steps.

“…How are you feeling?”

Inette didn’t seem to understand his question right away.

“Feeling?”

“Yes. You looked quite pained.”

As he gently pressed his chest against Inette’s knees, which were drawn up straight, her shoulders flinched. He rested his forehead on the side of her neck. In that position, he lowered both hands to her sides below the ribs. He gently caressed near her hips, which were not yet very wide, as if to soothe them.

“Since I can’t empathize with such pain myself… I can’t help but be more concerned, don’t you think?”

“…Ah.”

“It must have been difficult, no doubt.”

“No. No. I’m… fine…”

His casual and nonchalant attitude in this situation seemed to confuse her even more. Was it even possible to receive concern from her brother at close quarters in the dead of night while sharing a bed with her husband? Inette’s voice, which had been unable to hide her wavering gaze, suddenly stopped.

Her hips, held by Johannes’ hands, slid down the blanket…

“Wait…!”

They were pulled down between his legs.

She tried to cry out something but covered her mouth again. This time, she hurriedly glanced aside to check on her husband lying on the other side of the bed. However, the young man who had already crossed death’s door and become stiff all over would have been nothing more than a shadow lying there. Unaware of this fact, Inette could not hide her anxious look.

“Stop it. What are you doing? Stop, Jo…”

She urgently called out to Johannes, who now had his forehead pressed against her lower abdomen in an almost prostrating posture, but bit her lip as if startled by her own words. Johannes did not heed her refusal. Like a deaf beast, he rubbed her stomach and repeatedly stroked from her slender sides down to her hips below her pelvis.

Haa… With each touch, he exhaled a long breath from deep in his chest. How could such a slight touch be so dizzying? He was bewildered at himself. Even though he had spent so many nights with this child and there had been so many contacts, this was the first time he had felt a sensation that penetrated so deeply.

His insides trembled incessantly.

“Why are you doing this…?”

Inette, who had gathered herself up, grabbed his head. His head, which had been lying face down, was also pushed up against Inette’s stomach. A dizzying gaze poured down over his eyebrows as if she couldn’t understand at all. He closed his eyes below Inette’s chest. Without any particular awareness, his arm had risen to embrace Inette’s waist.

“Inette…”

“Shh.”

His mouth was covered by Inette’s hand that quickly came up.

“Go back quickly. No one will know… who you are yet. We can still cover this up. So hurry. Before something big happens… Ugh.”

A pained sound leaked between Inette’s lips. Because Johannes, tilting his head, had kissed deep inside her palm. Inette’s whole body shuddered, but her wrist, already caught, couldn’t escape from him.

“Stop.”

“……”

“Please. St, op…”

“Why did you run away and invite trouble?”

Johannes whispered into her sweet palm that was pleading.

“Run, away…?”

“You.”

“……”

“You ran away, didn’t you?”

“What do you…”

“You’re always like that.”

“……”

“Abandoning me…”

The last monologue seemed to tear out his voice.

For some reason, Inette’s hand, held in his grasp and receiving a shower of kisses, trembled at that moment. Johannes heard the tendons in her wrist tense and pulse wildly. It was a sharp high note similar to when the two had explored each other as if in a dream. He couldn’t help but moan as if licking.

However.

“You… You’re not in your right mind now.”

Between the fingers he was caressing with his lips. Inette’s sharp gaze intruded. When Johannes narrowly opened his eyes, the girl’s icy blue eyes pierced between his brows. Inette’s face was as white and cold as her straightened reason. She soon declared like a judge hiding anger under a stern robe, with her back straight.

“You’re… drunk. Completely drunk. How much did you drink today?”

“Drunk…? Me?”

Johannes smiled faintly. It was because he could see right through her, trying hard to feign cold reason. Ah, you’re angry at me for exposing your shame.

“Even if it’s a celebratory occasion, you drank whatever was given and ended up showing such a disheveled state. You didn’t even touch the food at the banquet, did you? You should have filled your stomach even if you had no appetite. Mmm. Don’t try to deny it, I saw everything. How can you not know better than me that drinking on an empty stomach makes you drunk quickly? It’s fortunate that it’s just in front of me, what would the vassals say if they saw this disgraceful behavior?”

Inette whispered rapidly, occasionally glancing sideways at her husband’s place, lest he might hear. Johannes let go of her hand. His gaze suddenly drifted downwards. Disgraceful behavior. Disgraceful behavior, she says.

“Some disgraceful behaviors can be proof of power.”

He took a long sigh to compose himself and continued.

“Even if… one were to truly lose half their mind to intoxication and perform clownish acts naked in front of the public, it wouldn’t be even a single point of shame for a monarch. A born king doesn’t even care. Even if they cry, get angry, and laugh uncontrollably like a child naturally drifting through the world, there are always loyal subjects who are fascinated by that free and arrogant freedom, truly serving and comforting them. Even if they take a life for the absurd reason of being in a bad mood due to inclement weather, the bloodshed will pass in an instant. The tip of the sword that beheaded a person will soon be adorned with flower crowns and wine cups again, and poets will sing like blind men.”

How long had he been envisioning this? His words, poured out vigorously, trembled a little at the end. His eyes, meticulously tracing his past desires with the heart of a brush-wielding servant, were dark with despair.

His sister would not understand. The one to be beheaded by her sword, the one to offer abundant flower crowns and hot wine cups at her feet with a headless body, the one to sing praises like a blind man with a bleeding neck, all should have been Johannes himself.

“Don’t you think so?”

Even if it was a delusion, it was as desperate as religion to him.

Inette looked quite perplexed. With her large eyes fixed slightly off from Johannes’ eyes, she began to pant.

“What… What are you saying suddenly? No… You’re wrong. Power is not a myth. It’s solidified by restraint, duty, and convention.”

“No. A monarch obsessed with such things would rather be closer to a self-made merchant. One who bought the throne with an attitude to gain attention. Those who are always insecure at heart because they are not born to be king material. Look at our deep-rooted and great father. Have you ever seen him minding his own posture? You should feel this more deeply than I do…”

Suddenly, Inette’s eyes sharpened.

“Don’t insult the head of Gustavus.”

“No. Now, the one insulting him would be you.”

Johannes slowly shook his head.

“Being the bloodline of such a man, yet always running away like this.”

“…Me?”

“Yes. Several times. Over and over again.”

“……”

“When you were younger.”

“……”

“You weren’t like this…”