I was unable to move, entranced by Rinel’s gaze, which seemed to yearn for me.

“Zelda….”

As he called my name, I closed my eyes in gratitude for his affectionate voice.

His lips descended and settled upon my silent ones.

His kiss began to drive me as if it was angry at me for keeping my distance.

As if it was his rightful place from the start, it roamed freely, gently letting go, sorrowfully wandering, clinging and slackening again….

It felt as if Rinel was sucking out my very soul.

He let out a low sigh as he lifted his lips.

“Tell me. Ask me to stay with you just like this tonight.”

At his desperate command, my breath was caught again.

“Tell me you don’t want me to go to the harem’s chamber.”

“I don’t.”

I opened my eyes, which had been closed, and answered, regretting the magnificent sensation that would soon disappear.

“Ha, alright.”

He folded his lips onto mine again.

I felt a shiver run through my body, as if I were about to explode.

Without realizing it, I wrapped my arms around his wide, sturdy back.

My contradictory action felt strangely exhilarating.

He let out a deep breath that he had been barely holding back.

“Ha…. You move at my will here, but why do your words keep pushing me away….”

He whispered, touching my lips with his finger.

“Please, Zelda. If you have nothing to say, keep your mouth shut.”

Rinel whispered, pressing his cheek against mine.

“I want to stop myself from getting petulant.”

Rinel’s blue eyes shone like the Mediterranean Sea bathed in warm sunlight.

“Say it again….”

He spoke, burying his face in my neck.

“I don’t want you to stay in my bedroom tonight, Your Majesty.”

“….What?”

He suddenly lifted his head and looked down at me with a shocked expression.

A disappointed look.

Eyes dimmed from being hurt.

Lips frozen and lost for words.

His beautiful body slowly moving away from me.

I cursed the words I had just blurted out, watching Rinel’s devastated expression.

But it was an inevitable choice.

I turned my head to the side, unable to meet his eyes.

“Did you say that you didn’t want me to be with you tonight? Just now?”

As Rinel brought my head back to its place with his hand, he asked in a soothing tone.

I knew.

If I answered yes, he wouldn’t ask a second time and would leave the bedroom.

And maybe he wouldn’t come to the Queen’s palace anymore.

Fear and anxiety mingled with my blood, spreading quickly to my heart.

“Do you hate seeing me, Zelda, and answering me?”

Rinel got up completely.

A cold wind blew over my body that he had left.

“Are you angry because I interrupted your pleasant conversation with Duke Martins?”

He sought the reason for my rejection of him in an unexpected place.

Would that be better?

No, I didn’t like that.

“You know better that it’s not that, Your Majesty.”

I got up following him and retorted.

“But that’s not the same as telling me not to go. Isn’t it?”

Instead of answering, I laid my hand on his shoulder.

Then he dodged my touch and moved his body to the side.

It hurt my heart.

Rinel looked at me with a thoughtful expression for a moment.

Even now, his eyes seemed to ask me to hold him back.

As my gaze fell from his face, he turned around.

He opened the bedroom door wide and spoke, looking back at me.

“If that’s what the Queen wants, I’ll go to the harem’s bedroom right now.”

The words he left behind tormented me all night.

In the end, I stayed up all night.

My heart ached all night at the sorrowful look in his eyes as he left the bedroom.

I kept imagining what he might be doing at the harem residence every hour, which I didn’t want to think about.

Sharon told me a while ago that last night, Rinel and his attendants seemed to be heading towards the residence of Catherine, the first consort, when they left the Queen’s palace.

“But I’m not sure if His Majesty really went to Madam Catherine’s residence. That direction is also the course he usually enjoys for a night walk….”

Sharon hastily added, as if to console me.

“It’s okay. It’s inevitable.”

A bitter smile hung around my lips as I was drinking my tea.

What if I had held him back last night?

We would have had a good night, no doubt.

But this wasn’t such a simple problem.

The rage of Catherine, the first concubine who was abandoned on the first night, was bound to reach the ears of her father, Duke Ett Calleos, who owns the most powerful private army in the Raphion Empire.

Moreover, that fact would circulate among not only Duke Calleos, but all the dukes, leading to increased vigilance and resistance against me.

It was natural that the emperor, Rinel Gideon Edipa, would face difficulties.

So, it was a good thing.

“Yes, you did well.”

As the Empress from the Shatonil Kingdom before Princess Resilia remarried him, I shouldn’t create friction with the Raphion dukes.

But the reason I didn’t capture him yesterday was neither for Princess Resilia nor for the Shatonil Kingdom.

It was only for Emperor Rinel Gideon Edipa, just for him.