“Haam… Is it… over?”

“Yeah.”

“You’re not hurt, are you?”

The empress, sensing movement, rubbed her eyes and regained consciousness.

Meremem, who wanted to see her sleeping a bit more, answered plainly, concealing his feelings. “…Yeah. It was nothing.”

The smell of blood permeated the entire room. Meremem, in need of ventilation, opened the terrace window wider and pulled a rope to summon someone.

To ensure that the bodies were not left until morning on the carpet, they had to be sent to the incinerator. Meremem, eager to maintain the image of his noble lady, hastened the post-processing.

“But tonight, it seems like you weren’t on guard.”

“I changed.”

“You must be tired too. You’ve only just returned from the expedition, and yet you train and continue working at night. You should rest.”

The affectionate voice sounded pleasant, but Meremem only listened to her elegant pronunciation without paying any attention to the content.

She probably wouldn’t know. She might be pretending not to know.

Every time he went on an expedition, Meremem felt anxious to return. Even while cutting the necks of demons for her, pulling out the cores embedded in their chests, and turning their bodily fluids upside down, Meremem had only one thought.

Hurry back and protect her.

Make sure she doesn’t die. Make it impossible for her to leave him by dying.

Even the rigorous training of elite knights was for that reason.

“The carpet is dirty. We should replace it with a new one.”

Meremem stood up from the bed and silently draped a gown over her shoulders. When his bare hand touched her, he hesitated.

Time had turned the boy into a man.

But it hadn’t taught him how to express longing.

Now, every time he saw her, Meremem felt something piercing inside him. It seemed like his stiff body was the problem, afraid he might accidentally hurt her due to a lack of control.

And before all those emotions, greed was youthful.

They say first love is puppy love.

If a short-lived love is called puppy love, what should we call a heart that lingers for so long?

Leaning against the terrace railing, Meremem silently watched her side profile facing the night breeze.

“A provocative scent.”

Once you smell it from her, you can’t forget it. It wasn’t the smell of flesh but the magical aroma emanating from her inner self.

Somewhere melting and intoxicating, similar to cinnamon sugar… If one were to be specific, it was a scent like cinnamon sugar.

As far as he could remember, it wasn’t like this initially. It used to be the fragrance of crushed jasmine or coconut-scented oil, the aroma of honey.

It emanated from her skin, not much different from other women.

But as she absorbed the core of the demon he brought back from the expedition, she changed gradually.
The skin radiated a glow, and occasionally, flashes sparkled deep in the pupils that once seemed lifeless. Though the silhouette still appeared slender, it was just the outline; the inside seemed to have become firm.

The enchanting scent had been captivating Meremem’s senses since he offered the Minotaur’s core. “Why are you like this?”

Feeling his persistent gaze, she eventually turned to him. Meremem casually spat out the most recent words that had accumulated inside him.

“Are you really going to use a spy?”

“That’s…”

“Don’t tell me it’s not my concern.”

She tried to distance herself from him. It was no secret.

Unlike a few years ago when they could see each other’s faces several times a day and have meals together, now, if he wanted to see her, he had to go on an expedition. On the days he left to subdue demons, she always made sure to come and encourage him in person.

After several victorious battles, she stopped coming to welcome him back, but it didn’t matter. She needed demon cores, and he was the one who could provide them.

That was enough. It should have been enough, he thought.

But.

“Assassins come even on peaceful days. An assassin might infiltrate the cruise ship tonight. Perhaps the man you chose could be a highly trained assassin.”

It was against the law for him to break into the bedroom, shared by her and the government.

If the spy, be it under the fingernails or anywhere, were to poison her and strangle her neck or scratch her, what would happen?

Humans are weaker than demons.

There are thousands more ways for a human to die, and that caused Meremem obsessive anxiety.

Simply blocking the airway with a pillow would result in suffocation and death… How could one suddenly bring in a stranger as a spy?

‘If necessary, I’ll do it, for myself.’

The sentence behind the subject didn’t continue.

It felt like his tongue was parched.

“Maybe, but now I can protect myself, so it’s okay.”

“If the opponent’s skills are beyond your expectations.”

“I’ll place knights in the corridor. How about that?”

The nonchalant remark pierced Meremem’s chest.

He couldn’t bear the thought even with just imagination.

She embraced by the arms of someone unknown. She kissed by someone. Showered with someone’s ardent love and admiration…