“Are you still going to insist that you’re not drunk like this?”

Having narrowly avoided banging her face onto the table by relying on Cryer, Olivia leaned her chin on his shoulder and burst into laughter.

“No, really, I’m not drunk. It’s just a good mood. Isn’t it fortunate? When I drink, my mood sinks all the way to the ground, and all I do is regret.”

In an almost ‘someone said that’ tone, a momentary discomfort flashed in Cryer’s eyes.

He casually asked, as if making passing conversation.

“Have there been people who regret their past only by drinking alcohol?”

Of course, with the inclusion of the word ‘놈 (bastard)’ in the word selection, it was not just indifference; she was subtly expressing her displeasure at the fact that she mentioned someone.

However, unlike usual, Olivia’s mind wasn’t clear enough to feel discomfort with such a trivial word.

With a face still laughing brightly, she smoothly continued her story.

“Oh, there was. Among the imperial knights, oh, I wonder if he’s not a knight now? Anyway, there was someone like a youngest. After all the seniors disappeared, the only one left in the end was the youngest, and he stayed until the end of the war…”

“You said you drank with that guy.”

Before her words were finished, Cryer’s face suddenly came closer.

“Did you drink like this to become like this?”

“Uh…? I did drink… Isn’t this too close? Exactly, what happened?”

Already, the past, or rather, something that hasn’t happened yet, something that will never happen as long as he stays by her side.

Nevertheless, he wanted to grab the neck of the guy whose face and name he didn’t even know right now, twist it right away, and erase the memory of seeing her like this.

“No, isn’t it too close? How close? Too close…”

“Olivia.”

Calling her name repeatedly with a voice that kept repeating the same words with dull eyes, his voice crawled up as if crawling up from a deep hole, and the fibers of the part where his breath touched trembled for a moment in the air filled with the smell of alcohol.

He should have stepped back by now. He should have released the strength from the hand that was holding his arm behind his back by now.

He really should have pushed him away…

“Uh…”

The breath that flowed slightly through the slightly opened, thick, red
When Olivia blinked and opened her eyes, Cryer’s nose touched her nose, and their breaths became so close that they mixed.

Whether the sweet scent was due to the last whiskey mixed with honey or spread from his thick, red lips…

“Hah.”

As Olivia, heated by alcohol, exhaled, Cryer swallowed her breath without further thought.

“Ha… Huh!”

Her breath was as intense as the fragrance.

He devoured her breath as if he were to completely consume it, unsatisfied and thirsting like a person who hadn’t taken a sip of water for days and found an oasis for the first time, greedily swallowing her breath, drenched with the scent of her lips.

As Olivia’s head gradually tilted backward due to him wandering around her, Cryer’s large hand pulled her.

Olivia was out of her mind. No, she was out of her mind.

Even before mixing her breath with him, her head seemed to have served no purpose.

And now it felt like her brain was completely melting.

Despite the lack of breath, the touch of his lips against hers felt burning, as if swallowing lava, yet her limbs loosened languidly.

As Olivia, who was losing her balance, swayed in Cryer’s arms, blue veins surfaced on Cryer’s pulled arm.

What should this be called? Along with an indescribable sense of fullness, hunger rushed in.

Despite drinking, it was not enough; there was not enough to quench the burning thirst…

“Uh, ha… Hah.”

When Cryer pulled his lips away, Olivia, who had a moment to breathe, gasped for air.

Her round shoulders shook, and her chest, breathing heavily, swelled significantly.

At that moment, Cryer’s Adam’s apple rang low, which Olivia, reflexively looking up at him, caused round teardrops to form in her flu
Mixed with his scent and the aroma of alcohol, Olivia’s head spun around.

From top to bottom, and again from bottom to top.

As if riding a carriage with an uncomfortable suspension on a rough mountain road, her entire body trembled, and soon a thrilling sensation surged to her fingertips and toes.

Unconsciously, Olivia curled her toes, instinctively opened her mouth wider to breathe in the insufficient air, and, of course, Cryer did not miss that opportunity.

Delving greedily inside, he whispered, gazing at Olivia, who couldn’t hide her melted expression.

“Olivia.”

With that one word, feathers behind Olivia’s neck stood up, and her relaxed waist tensed.

Cryer, gently sweeping her back, called her again.

“Olivia.”

Once like that, and again.

The voice was so faint, calling her many times, making everything in front of her seem distant.

As if inscribing an indelible mark.

And as if enchanted, Olivia also called him.

“Cryer.”

“Call me a little more.”

“Cryer.”

If the name that flowed with a sweet smell and a scent between slightly parted lips was a seal.

He would willingly carve it into his heart.

Cryer looked into her blurry blue eyes and slowly stole her lips.

“If we stay like this a little longer,”

Cryer kept his mo

Sugar took a deep breath and repeated the inhaling and exhaling.

However, her stuffy feeling did not ease, and the tightness in her chest did not improve.

“But I can’t just keep spending time like this.”

Even as she uttered words that stabbed at herself, a deep shadow fell on Sugar’s face.

It had been quite some time since the person she reluctantly called ‘hyung’ had disappeared from her life.

Objectively, it might not have been such a long time, but for Sugar, each day, each hour, each second felt excessively long as they passed.

No one here, not the servants who catered to her needs, and none of the passing individuals bothered to pay attention to Sugar.

But Sugar noticed.

It was not a place she had chosen to stay, but wasn’t this the imperial palace?

Restlessly circling the room, Sugar, who was not behaving like a child, let out a sigh that was not befitting of a child.

She would have followed orders if the princess had commanded her to do something or go somewhere.

“What should I do?”

Sugar absentmindedly traced the imprint engraved on her ribcage out of habit.

What should she do now?

Only now did she fully understand the meaning of this imprint, what kind of position she was in, and why her deceased parents raised her like this.

Of course, in the process, she also learned the true nature of her bloodline, which she didn’t want to know.

“Sigh.”

Exhaling a heavy sigh, not at all childlike, Sugar squeezed her forehead, pondering for days and days, but the answer did not come easily.

Though still young and restricted by various constraints due to hiding and living, more precisely, avoiding the eyes of ancient gods, Sugar intuitively knew.

“I have to make a decision.”

That such a significant turning point in her short life would not come now, but if not now, it might never come in the future.