Unable to endure, Cryer covered her lips again.

Now, Olivia, who had regained some composure, tried to pull his wrist down with a bewildered and curious look, but the hand covering her lips didn’t budge.

It was a natural result, but Olivia, who didn’t let go of his wrist, looked up at him.

Having unconsciously turned his gaze away from her, he looked into the distance again, wondering if the servant was returning. For now, he decided to stay still.

How much time had passed? Olivia’s gaze, filled with meaning that conveyed the question of how long this would go on, made Cryer finally detach his palm without saying anything.

“Huaaa. What the hell is th…”

Olivia, about to say something, once again couldn’t finish her words. This time, she covered her own lips with her hand.

Close. Overly close.

If she hadn’t covered her lips with her hand, she would have felt his dry and warm breath entirely.

In that state, Cryer whispered, “Too close.”

A voice as if flowing from a deep well made Olivia’s fine hairs stand on end.

C… Close. Right. Too close.

If they got a little closer, her nose might have been squashed against his chest.

Why is it so close…

His closing and opening of eyes seemed painfully slow, and the act of him releasing his lips seemed even slower.

Then his voice smoothly slid across her ear at a measured pace.

“Almost got caught.”

How long did a second feel like a thousand moments? Olivia belatedly processed the meaning of his words and muttered with slightly parted lips.

No, she tried to say it, but her hand blocked her mouth.

Cryer, pulling up the corners of his mouth and lowering the hand that covered her lips, finally allowed Olivia’s voice to flow through, thinner than usual.

“C…aught?”

“Got through without being noticed.”

Her understanding of what he said was still a beat slow.

Got through? Not noticed? So, he means the servant with the different ribbon color, right? No, I mean, he’s saying it passed already.

It’s gone, but why is it still like this…

Her thoughts didn’t connect properly and scattered in pieces.

In the midst of the confusion, Crimson Cryer’s pupils spread into Olivia’s hazy blue eyes like drops contaminating a lake.

As each was wholly engrossed in the other, time seemed to pass without a blink.

Oh, it seems even closer. Maybe it’s just a feeling…

Before Olivia’s thoughts could conclude, her forehead and Cryer’s forehead touched.

Without realizing, Olivia, who had tightly closed her eyes, was looked down upon by Cryer, who opened his mouth.

“Olivia.”
When the voice calling her name settled, unable to endure, Olivia opened her eyes, which sparkled with brightness, and met Cryer’s smiling eyes, narrowing her eyes for a moment.

The moment she felt Cryer’s sharp nose as he smiled with narrowed eyes.

His breath settled right next to her lips, almost within the reach of a single extended finger.

“That servant returned to the dormitory because they weren’t feeling well, so shall we call it a day?”

Tickled by the warm breath, Olivia exclaimed spasmodically.

“End! It’s over!”

Perhaps due to raising her voice, her frozen body was now able to move, and she forcefully pushed Cryer away.

Of course, it wasn’t Cryer who would be pushed away just because Olivia pushed, but he obediently released her and stepped back.

“Let’s go back.”

As the distance widened appropriately, she passed Cryer without properly looking at him.

He followed her without saying anything, and Olivia walked a step ahead of Cryer.

No, teasing a bit more, she walked two steps ahead.

The sound of footsteps echoing in the palace corridor gradually accelerated.

It was an instinctive movement to distance herself from him.

In an extremely short time, Olivia was shaking uncontrollably in front of Cryer, unable to regain her composure.

Living four lives and starting the fifth.

In those lifetimes, she had never harbored such emotions.

As the empire’s only princess and the future empress, she had a clear conviction about marriage—not vague imaginations or wishes.

A marriage that would be politically beneficial.

She had never thought that love was important.

In fact, those who knew better than anyone about the beauty of love were the Bolsheviks.

But even if she didn’t love, choosing for the empire’s sake was the duty of one supporting the empire from below and ruling it from above. Olivia was sure about ‘marriage,’ but she had never thought about ‘love.’

She had read in the ancestors’ records that someone would appear like fate, or that someone would become the only person after accumulating trivial time.

And now.

If it’s fate, meeting him fatefully, the man who has accumulated even a short time…

Oh my. I’ve been thinking since last time, but is he really going crazy?

In all that time, Cryer was just a conqueror and a murderer to Olivia, someone who took her breath away.

When did it start? No, why? Really, why? Why of all people?

Following the questions, denial surged next.