“…Have you been drinking?”

Blair was the one to break the silence that hung between them. Herdin, seeing the slight furrow in her worried brows, responded with a smirk.

“Why? Are you here to lecture me?”

Although he didn’t answer Blair’s question, his relaxed gaze and leisurely approaching steps spoke volumes more than words.

Blair, getting closer to support him, replied, “It’s not a lecture; it’s concern.”

Herdin, watching Blair approach with unsteady steps, found it amusing how she tried to support a man slightly taller than her.

Without knowing anything, his fearless wife approached and wrapped her slender arms around his waist. Simultaneously, a sweet scent of whiskey wafted in the air.

In that moment, the once loosely tied strings of rationality that he had momentarily let go of tightened and finally snapped.

Herdin pushed the woman who entered his embrace against the wall, sealing her lips with his.

Blair, surprised, felt a shiver, but he wrapped his hand around her cheek, ensuring she couldn’t escape.

Forgetting the fact that they were standing in a corridor, they entangled their hot breaths, exploring each other.

Blair was the first to regain her senses.

“Herdin, to the room… let’s go to the room.”

As Blair, who had managed to push him away, spoke, Herdin embraced her again, sealing her lips.

It seemed pointless to worry about whether it was appropriate to embrace a drunk person like this. When he came to his senses, they were already lying on the bed.

Herdin tore apart Blair’s rumpled nightgown and continued the voracious kisses that seemed like he wanted to devour her. Startled, Blair trembled, but he paid no heed, touching her body.

The kisses and caresses were desperate, as if a person tormented by long thirst were finally savoring water.

Blair, realizing that the scene was subtly different from usual, briefly parted her lips when her breath was cut off and opened her eyes.

Looking at him while slightly lowering her gaze, their eyes met.

For some reason, his blue eyes that met mine… looked painfully distressed, like a person suffocating.

In my past life, I had thought that he was merely drunk when he acted differently from usual, immersed in my emotions.

One day, he suddenly distanced himself, and when I realized he started loving me again, a part of his emotions seemed greedy, making me happy for that moment.

I didn’t have the leisure to scrutinize his feelings.

I was afraid that tomorrow morning, when he sobered up, he would push me away again, or that this one-night dream would end.

But paradoxically, in this life where I no longer sought his love, his feelings were the first to show.

“…Herdin.”
Blair called him again as he attempted to overlap their lips.

“What happened?”

At her question, his approaching lips came to a halt. However, the response that soon followed was ambiguous.

“Nothing.”

Herdin, intertwining his fingers with Blair’s and clasping her hand, added casually, “Nothing at all.”

With that response, the conversation between the two came to an end.

He pulled Blair, whose body hadn’t completely relaxed yet, and overlapped their bodies.

“Ah!”

Even though her body was already somewhat heated from the thick kisses, Blair still found him burdensome.

He had always been burdensome, but today it felt even more so.

Herdin, determinedly, pulled her all the way towards him. However, even with no gap between them, the empty feeling born from a sudden realization of emotions remained unfulfilled.

As if needing to fill that emptiness, he delved into her embrace.

But the more he did, the emptier it became. In an attempt to fill the void, he tightly embraced the woman who looked up at him with intoxicated eyes.

Even though he felt burdensome, the woman who fully embraced him remained beautiful in this situation. Damn.

Why.

Why must you be that woman’s daughter? Why must you be the emperor’s sister?

No…

Why, of all things, did I fall in love with you?

There were countless reasons to let you go, but there seemed to be only one reason why I couldn’t let you go.

It felt like falling into an endless abyss beneath my feet.

Although my vision became distant due to the overwhelming emotions engulfing me, Herdin focused on the desire in front of him, ignoring it.

Now, no matter what happens, I won’t let you go.

“…Blair.”

Blair, entrusting her body to him, opened her eyes when she heard his rough voice whispering in her ear.

The moment her gaze met his lustful blue eyes.

Suddenly, she realized the forgotten fact. That today was the last night spent with this man.

Simultaneously, the roughness that resonated through his coldness seemed a bit melancholic.

He was still dressed in his outing clothes, and only she was in an unfinished state without a single layer of clothing.

It was heartbreaking even in her past life.

The night’s memory, where the sadness was swallowed up by fear that he might become distant, was still vivid.

But today, maybe it’s okay to be a bit more greedy.

Just for tonight.

“Herdin.”

Blair, cautiously holding onto his lapel, spoke.