“What does that mean? This shawl, why… Ah!”

Suddenly, he tugged the shawl down, and I involuntarily flinched.

“If you hadn’t been wearing this shawl, I would have thrown one of the Duke’s eyes out the window.”

“You’re more generous than I thought. You spared one of his eyes.”

“Me? No way. I was thinking of sending the other one to the kingdom.”

Wow, the Duke should have heard this conversation! What a shame.

“It’s okay during the day, but I don’t like other men looking at you… No, I don’t like other men looking at your robust bare shoulders at night.”

“What? Do my shoulders look robust? I’ve never heard that before.”

I frowned, looked down at my shoulders in turn, and asked.

“No, I said the wrong part. Not your shoulders… where was it? Ah, that’s right. I don’t like other men looking at your delicate collarbone.”

Rinel’s words were taking a strange turn.

“But what kind of man is the Duke of Martins?”

I asked him, touching my collarbone line with my hand.

“If he’s not a man, what is he? Then dress the Duke in a dress and bring him in front of me. Then I’ll admit it.”

“… That’s a terrible image just to think about.”

“Um, anyway.”

He cleared his throat and changed the subject.

“When the Duke comes to the Queen’s palace at this late hour, do the Chateau Neil nobles take the royal family’s manners lightly?”

“I heard that as long as it’s not bedtime, it doesn’t matter if a minister or a nobleman requests an audience. Is that wrong?”

As far as I knew, it was.

I was sure because it was a story I heard from Raphael, the Emperor’s personal secretary.

“Really?”

“Really?”

“Oh, well, you wouldn’t know because the country is different. But that can’t happen in my country.”

For some reason, he was lying right now.

Whether he was slightly stung, his eyes began to wander left and right.

He’s a man who has no talent for lying.

“Is it… set by law?”

I asked, pretending not to know his lie.

“Law? Oh, yeah.”

“Oh, was it a law established a long time ago?”

“From tomorrow.”

“…… What do you mean?”

“Yes, it’s a law that will be implemented from tomorrow, so the Duke has not committed a crime. It’s a matter of congratulations.”

“Martin’s Duke almost became a criminal with just a day’s difference.”

I laughed, brushing off his nonsense.

Then he smirked, saying he was an emperor who always adheres to the law.

“By the way, what brings you here at this hour? You should be going to the concubine’s bedroom today, shouldn’t you?”

“Yes, but I ended up coming to the Queen’s palace.”

“Why……”

“You’re saying the same thing as me.”

Rinel laughed shortly and mumbled to himself.

“Excuse me?”

“All the way to the Queen’s palace, I was thinking the same thing to myself. ‘Why……’ That’s what I was thinking.”

There was a shy look in Rinel’s eyes.

“Um… but, do the priests come into the bedroom and sing the song of blessing on the first night with the concubines as well?”

“Were you curious about that?”

“A bit.”

I knew from him that priests do not attend the first night of a remarried queen.

But I was slightly curious as the first night with a concubine could be different.

Rinel’s one lip pouted.

“If you can… tell me that you were worried about this issue all day?”

“What difference does it make if I say that?”

I asked him a somewhat provocative question.

“Everything.”

There was strength in Rinel’s voice.

Everything would change?

Really?… I was curious.

Does it mean that I could opt not to spend the first night with the concubines?

That can’t be.

What does it mean to take in a concubine?

Surely he didn’t take in four concubines just to have meals together, walk together, and sit on the bed holding hands and having conversations.

“It bothered me.”

He suddenly said.

“…..”

All day, the fact that he would be in bed with another woman tonight tortured my mind.

It was an undeniable fact.

But I kept silent.

“No response. Making the emperor embarrassed.”

He smiled faintly.

I just looked up at him.

If I admit that it bothered me,

If I truly admit,

Like Rinel said, it felt like many things would change.

So I was afraid.

Suddenly, I was scared.

I should not hold onto him….

But I wanted to hold on. I started wanting to.

Such contradictory feelings changed multiple times even in a single second.

My heart kept wanting to go down a difficult path.

What should I do.

Rinel came up close to me.

As if waiting, I took a step back.

Then, his brows narrowed, and his lips parted.

“Tell me not to go.”

“…..Your Majesty!”

This time, I was the first to move, taking a big step back and distancing myself from him.

But regardless of the created distance, he came back to me.

Like that, we repeatedly narrowed and widened our distance.

My body, trying to avoid him and run, bumped against the bedpost.

Now, there was nowhere else to step back.

He slowly leaned his upper body towards me, like a cat cornering a mouse and enjoying it.

As I took in his perfect face that was hard to bear, I bent my waist back.

Seeing my waist bending flexibly like a bow, he seemed surprised.

“Why are you doing this…..”

“Is it difficult? To say that you don’t want me spending the night with my harem?”

He asked as if probing.

“Rinel.”

“Tell me you don’t want it. Then I……!”

As I simply called his name without saying anything else, he grabbed my shoulders and shook me.

At that moment, my left shoe, which I had been wearing, slipped on the marble floor and I lost my balance.

Instead of catching me as I fell, he quickly pulled his hands away and just watched me fall onto the bed.

Instead of catching me, Rinel tumbled onto the bed with me.

As I tried to sit up, he quickly took my place above me.

“Where are you going.”

Rinel grabbed my wrists and raised them above my head, then looked down at me.

“You haven’t answered yet.”

He looked like a beast starved for desire.