“It hasn’t been even five minutes since I saw your face.”

“I thought it had been over ten minutes.”

“Wait a little longer. Okay?”

Since discovering that Mermem was weak to my playfulness, he had often acted cute like this.

I couldn’t beat that Mermem.

“Phaibel, prepare the report in writing and submit it.”

“Understood.”

“Let’s take a short walk, Mermem.”

Come to think of it, it’s been quite a while since the two of us walked together.

Lately, I’ve been trying not to be alone with Mermem.

His gaze has been becoming more overtly apparent.

He had clear expectations for me. He didn’t hide them at all.
The gaze that looks only at me, regardless of whoever I’m with, wasn’t sticky or threatening, but sometimes it would darken.

At those times, my heart would thump and drop. Maybe Mermem would say that he would also give me his heart.

Because love makes one irrationally devoted to the other.

“That’s the problem. I was betrayed by dedicating myself to Enrique, but I don’t want to stab a knife into Mermem’s heart, whom I raised with my own hands.”

The dilemma of having to kill when in love tortured me.

Someone you want to be with for a long time shouldn’t be loved for that reason. Since my love means death, not even candidates should be put forward.

Therefore, I tried harshly to love someone else.

Meeting men tirelessly at parties, bringing them to the palace, pretending to be pretty.

I thought that by showing such behavior, Mermem would get tired of me and give up.

“It all failed. There was no man better than Mermem. Not even a man better than Enrique.”

In a country where talents were scarce.

Rather than blaming my high standards or preferences, I simply sold it as the fault of those who were lacking.

“How did my sisters find Mermem and send him to me? No, why was it Mermem? Does it mean that only Mermem was suitable?”

I saw an orphaned beast with pitch-black hair.

Walking shoulder to shoulder with me, he felt my gaze and stopped abruptly.

“Leo?”

The sweetly calling voice felt oddly eerie, sending shivers down my spine.

“If you love, you must be able to kill without hesitation.”

But I probably can’t kill you. In that case, what should I do with these feelings…

Lost in thought, I bit into the tender flesh inside my cheek. Instead, I started thinking about something else.

Come to think of it, when did you start calling me by a nickname?

I couldn’t remember if I had overlooked it as unimportant.

But calling Mermem by a nickname must have a significant meaning.

Ah.

First, my chest became tight.

It was because I wondered what I was doing right now.

Three years ago, as Phaibel said, I am now opening the concubine selection tournament.

This was my last hope.

If I can’t find someone to love even here, then I am…

“The walk should end here.”

“Are you coming again?”

“Well, we’ll have to board the cruise soon, so it won’t be easy.”

He knew and I knew that this was just an excuse to wander around.

Mermem didn’t hold me back. He just stared at my back with a gaze like a sinking crescent moon, having been sucked into the sea.

In his eyes, which had become too heavy to be dismissed as mere attachment, I felt the need to walk faster for no reason.

“I’m out of breath.”

This stifling heat gripping my chest must be due to the weather.

The summer sun displayed by the now-adult him was too hot to pretend to ignore.

“Hear ye! Hear ye! Regardless of status! Regardless of nationality! The Empress’s Concubine Selection Tournament! A golden opportunity to receive the love of Her Majesty the Empress!”

“There’s only one condition. Beauty alone! Ah, the era where a pretty face is a talent has come!”

“The Empress and handsome men! Well, it’s all in the gazette. Check out the gazette!”

In the southern part of the continent, spanning half of Nix Empire and Quan, there has long been a terrain known as the ‘Heart Bay.’

This area, where waves don’t crash violently and there are no reefs or seaweed, was famous among commoners as well. The rumor that if you propose at Heart Bay at night, the engagement will last forever added to its renown.

And the took place on a luxurious cruise in the sea of Heart Bay.