“You’re really mischievous.”

I grumbled, wiping off the splashes from my face, caused by Rinel’s flick.

“I thought you hadn’t washed your face yet.”

My eyes relaxed at his teasing, sexy smile.

“Everyone greets me in their perfect form. I wish there was at least one person who would greet me in such a defenseless state, Zelda, you…”

“A winner?”

“Is it an honor?”

“Well… It seems so, and it seems not…”

“Ah, no. If you think it’s an honor, I would be honored.”

Seeing him subtly tail down differently from his initial audacity, I smiled.

“It’s not. I’m more honored.”

“I’m glad you know.”

“…Pfft, yes.”

“Just think comfortably. You look quite comfortable right now.”

Rinel glanced at the bathtub water covered with rose petals.

“How long are you going to stand like that? As if you’ve dropped something in the bathtub.”

I told him to turn his gaze away.

He looked down at me with a more careful look, crossing his arms.

“I dropped it, my curiosity.”

“You’re not going to find that curiosity, are you?”

“A very, very provocative question?”

“Your gaze has been provocative since a while ago.”

“I heard that the women of Shatoneil Kingdom are straightforward in speech. It’s true. The women of the Raphion Empire are all coy and boring.”

“I’ll pass on exactly what you just said to your harem later.”

“I allow it.”

I couldn’t help laughing at him, who so naturally parried my mischief.

“Can I sit for a moment?”

He asked, pointing to the edge of the bathtub opposite to where I was sitting.

“You can’t!”

“I’m not saying I’m going to sit in the bathtub, you’re too strict.”

“There’s no place to sit. If you go out for a moment, I’ll finish my bath…”

“Fine, I’ll sit here for a bit and go.”

Rinel sat on the edge of the tub, swaying his hand.

“Ouch, there must’ve been water there?”

“…Zelda, you didn’t purposely tell me after I sat, did you?”

“I’m not such a mean woman.”

I said, seriously.

Actually, I knew it all along.

I had been watching whether Rinel would really sit at the end of the bathtub, where the water was full, cheering in my mind, ‘Please sit!’.

“Well, it’s obvious you’re a wife who is far from being petty, seeing that you’re calm when you’ve had four concubines just a few days after marriage.”

As Rinel dipped his finger in the bathtub and slowly moved his hand back and forth, a slight ripple spread in the water.

The rose petals floating on the water began to move at his gesture.

As the petals gathered at the front, I hurriedly spread them evenly with my hand.

He stared at my face for a while and said in a serious voice.

“You’re beautiful.”

“…I’m embarrassed because it’s my bare face.”

“Why are you embarrassed? You’re just pretty.”

His critique of my bare face was rather flattering.

“Stop looking at my face.”

When I spoke firmly, he frowned in disappointment.

“Zelda, I didn’t even touch you, just looking, aren’t you overdoing it?”

“I’m embarrassed to show a man my bare face for the first time…”

“I’m also seeing a woman’s bare face for the first time. You must be embarrassed to show, but I’m also embarrassed to see.”

What kind of logic is this.

“But, why do you look?”

“I like being embarrassed.”

Lie.

His expression was not embarrassed at all.

“It’s an emotion I’ve never experienced. What could make me, the emperor, embarrassed?”

“That… could be possible.”

“Ah, no. Come to think of it, there was one.”

He aroused my curiosity.

“Really? When was that?”

What could have made him, the emperor, embarrassed?

“It was during the war. I was aiming to cut off the enemy’s neck, but I mistimed my step and cut off his arm.”

Rinel lowered his head and covered his face with both hands as if remembering that day’s scene.

“I was really embarrassed about that mistake.”

“…Your analogy is a bit…”

“I know. It was a bit fiery?”

“?”

I lost my words to his unique interpretation.

“I didn’t know my hands were this big.”

Raising his head again, he muttered quietly.

“Huh?”

“I picked too many petals.”

He said, picking out some of the petals floating in the bathtub.

“What, what are you doing?”

Without realizing it, I had shielded myself with both arms at the sight of the rapidly disappearing petals.

He, without concern for my reaction, earnestly dumped the petals onto the floor.

If the petals disappear any further… it’s dangerous.

I promptly grabbed Rinel’s arm, which was tightly clutching the petals.

“Stop throwing them away, it’s going to cause a big problem!”

“Isn’t this a bigger problem?”

He indicated his arm that I was gripping.

“Dare to obstruct me.”

“Ah!”

I quickly released his arm.

However, the thin shirt he was wearing had become damp up to his elbows.

“II’m sorry, Your Majesty!”

“Zelda, you’re the first.”

“What?”

“The first person to soak me like this.”

“….”

I gulped down at his clear and moist eyes.

“Hahaha! Did you take my words literally and think otherwise? By the look of your surprised expression?”

I gave up arguing against Rinel’s claim.

“You seem to be having a great time?”

“I’m happy. Everything is.”