Pretending to be asleep, I had no way to avoid Rinel’s lips.

In fact, I didn’t want to avoid them.

I just let him explore my lips.

His kiss, gently caressing me, almost made me forget I was pretending to sleep and part my lips.

Perhaps because he heard I wasn’t feeling well, he just lingered on my lips.

The ticklish sensation made me open my eyes.

“Y-Your Majesty? When did you arrive?”

“Just now. Zelda, weren’t you awake?”

I felt caught off guard.

“…I just woke up, because I felt something wriggling on my lips…”

I replied, lightly biting my lower lip.

“But… why are you undressed?”

“You said you had a fever, so I thought I should cool you down.”

He spoke very seriously, like a royal physician.

“I’m fine now.”

I said, gently pushing away his firm chest that was dominating me with both hands.

“So, you want me to move?”

Rinel asked, deliberately pressing his body more onto me, as if annoyed.

“…Lie down comfortably beside me.”

I gestured to the space next to me.

But as expected, he didn’t budge an inch.

“You may be fine now, but I’m not fine anymore.”

“Pardon? Where… are you uncomfortable?”

At my words, he buried his face in my neck, laughed briefly, then raised his head again.

“Extremely.”

“Where are you going?”

I placed my hand on his forehead.

From this morning until late, he had been in meetings continuously. I wondered where he might be hurting from overexertion?

Fortunately, there was no fever.

“Where are you feeling unwell?”

“I’m not unwell because something’s wrong, but because something’s too right.”

“What… does that mean?”

“Ah, how can you be so dense.”

Rinel sighed as if lamenting.

“You’re calling me dense?”

I wanted to tell him how quickly I had run from the training grounds to this bedroom.

“Yes. Or are you just pretending not to know? Cunningly.”

He lightly pinched my cheek.

Seeing his smiling face, he didn’t seem to be in pain, but I had no idea why this man was smiling.

“I heard you had a fever and sweated a lot? It’s true.”

He said, wiping the beads of sweat on my forehead with his hand.

“Ah, yes… I should have at least taken a quick shower, but earlier I felt too unwell so I just… lay down. I’ll go to the bathroom for a moment.”

As I tried to get up, he pushed my forehead down with his large palm.

“No, stay as you are.”

“But my body is sweaty…”

“It’s fine. I’ll sweat too.”

“What will Your Majesty…?”

“Sweat. Zelda, don’t you think you’ll feel better if you sweat once more?”

His languid voice made me feel dreamy.

“I’m already fine now though?”

“What are you saying? Your body is still this hot.”

Rinel whispered, overlapping his body with mine again.

The light of desire was dwelling in his eyes as he looked at me.

My breath, which had just calmed down, rose again.

“I missed you all day. This.”

His affectionate lips parted mine and entered.

The soft sensation of him spreading sweetly in my mouth began to become persistent in an instant.

“Haa… I shouldn’t do this to someone who’s sick…”

I could sense guilt in Rinel’s voice.

“Sorry, I don’t want to stop.”

His honest confession was thrillingly sweet.

“Zelda, what should we do? Your husband is being so inconsiderate.”

His passion, unable to stop despite continuously blaming himself, was also incredibly sexy.

“I’m fine. So please…”

Ah, damn.

I was doing well but couldn’t think of a suitable last word.

What should I say?

He stared down at me.

He seemed to be subtly expecting my next words.

When I couldn’t continue speaking after a few seconds passed, he, tired of waiting, asked first.

“Please… what?”

“…”

As I just rolled my eyes around, stalling for time, Rinel opened his mouth again.

“Stay by my side tonight?”

He asked, twitching his cheek.

“Yes.”

“And cool down the remaining heat in your body?”

“What?”

“So please, start?”

“What?!”

“Isn’t that what you wanted to say?”

“No, that’s not it, I… Ah!”

Rinel rolled to the side while embracing me.

Our positions switched, and I ended up looking down at him.

“Do you know how beautiful you look when you gaze down at me like this?”

He was already in the process of gradually letting go of his reason.

And my reason was also willingly preparing to surrender to his instincts.

It was a fight I couldn’t resist or win from the start.

A submission that wasn’t humiliating at all.

I wanted to quickly submit to his desire.

“Rinel…”

“Do you know how unwell you make me feel right in front of my eyes?”

My senses suddenly became sensitive, and I finally realized what he meant.

“I know.”

“How?”

“Just, by feeling.”

I quietly replied, placing both hands on his rising and falling chest.

“Haa…”

Rinel’s chest swelled up greatly and then fell.

“By the way. If you start feeling unwell again, tell me. No, just bite me.”

“Why bite you?”

“Because I don’t think I’ll be able to stop with words.”

He said, as if earnestly requesting.

“But where should I bite?”

“Anywhere except a few places, I don’t mind.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“Aren’t you going to ask where?”

A mischievous look crept into Rinel’s expression.

“Do you want me to ask?”

I asked secretly, slowly lowering my upper body.

I could feel his brave muscles twitching here and there.

“Well, you can pretend not to know if you want.”

The two hands holding my waist were gaining strength.

“How can I pretend not to know? Right now, openly…”

“Openly what?”

He raised one eyebrow with a mischievous expression.

“I don’t like it, I won’t say.”

I spoke coyly while watching his reaction.

He laughed. And warm vitality began to circulate in that cold face.

Love could be felt in his breath, which was getting hotter and hotter.

“If you don’t want to say it, you can show me with actions.”

“Since it’s Your Majesty’s order, I should obey, right?”

At his slightly teasing tone, I boldly moved my body.

“Ugh…! Zelda?”

Rinel’s neat and solemn low voice became disheveled and seeped erotically into my ear.

It was deep in the night.

We too were becoming endlessly deeper.

Moments where we couldn’t escape from each other continued endlessly.

Even the moments of separation were just preparation for greater joy.

Every gaze, every breath, every movement was nothing but love.

As he said, Rinel sweated as much as I had, no, even more than that.

Only after pouring out all his energy did tranquility come.

I didn’t even have the energy to make a sound.

But he kept reaching out to me with seductive hands.

Later, as if he didn’t even have the strength to move his arms, he entangled my body with his two legs.

He tried to keep me in his embrace no matter what.

“You have meetings again from tomorrow morning, so go to sleep.”

“I will. I’m trying to.”

His body was already tired, but the blue eyes looking at me still seemed lively.

His gaze longing for me showed no signs of easily dimming.

“Has your fever really gone down now?”

Rinel asked, placing his hand on my forehead.

“Yes, I wasn’t as unwell as someone else.”

“That’s a relief. But I’m done for now. I think I’ll be unwell every day.”

“Hmm, then what should we do?”

I deliberately made a worried face.

He glanced at me, then stroked my back with his large hand and replied.

“What else? You’ll have to cure me every day.”

“I will.”

I want to.

As I answered him, I recalled the words of Grand Duke Martins.

‘If you can’t control your feelings for His Majesty, just don’t get caught. That’s enough.’

At least in a space where we’re alone, there are no watching eyes, so I don’t have to control my heart, right?

Thinking that way made me feel much lighter.

“Now that we’ve resolved my unwellness, it’s your turn.”

“My turn?”

“It’s my turn to treat where you’re hurting.”

Rinel got up from the bed.

“Where are you going?”

“Wait a moment.”

He put his clothes back on and opened the bedroom door to go outside.

[This is the timeline separator]

While he was gone, I put on the robe that had fallen to the floor and sat leaning against the headboard of the bed, waiting for him.

A moment later, he opened the bedroom door again, holding something in his hand.

What is that?

In his hand was a silver treatment box.

“Why suddenly…”

“Because someone suddenly got hurt.”

Rinel climbed onto the bed and quickly pulled up the blanket I was covering myself with.

“Oh my! What are you doing?”

In the blink of an eye, my two legs exposed outside the blanket were on top of his thighs.

“What have you been doing?”

“…Pardon?”

“Where on earth did you get this?”

“What do you mean?”

“Your knees.”

He said, holding my ankle with one hand and opening the lid of the treatment box with the other.

I looked down at my knees then.

“…Ah.”

It looked like wounds from when I fell in the middle of the field while running frantically.

Both knees were scraped in friendly agreement.

I had completely forgotten about it, but when did Rinel see these wounds?

“Not a commoner, but an empress of a country… I kept thinking what reason there could be for her knees to be scraped like this…”

He said, personally disinfecting the wounds.

“When did you think about that? Ah, it stings…”

“Throughout our lovemaking.”

“…”

The wound area stung, but his answer stung more.

“If you had fallen while wearing a dress, it wouldn’t have scraped this badly?”

His gaze fixed on my knees, then suddenly met my eyes as if interrogating me.

Should I say I went horseback riding?

No.

It would be dangerous to tell a lie that would be quickly exposed if he asked the servant managing the horses.

What should I make up?

“Did you fall in the bathroom?”

Ah, I hadn’t thought of that!

I quickly latched onto the question Rinel asked.

“That’s right! I slipped while getting out of the bathtub.”

“Didn’t you say earlier that you couldn’t even shower?”

“…Ah, that’s.”

Oops, I forgot.

Wait, is he deliberately testing me now?

I was at a loss for words at his surprise question.

It seemed like he had thrown out the bathroom as bait and was observing my reaction.

Had he already noticed that I was hiding something and was asking about it?

Should I say I fell down the stairs like Melanie?

“Rinel, actually earlier on the stairs…”

“That’s enough.”

Rinel interrupted me as he applied treatment medication to my knees.

“Hooo-.”

He put his lips close to my knees and kept blowing air to help the treatment medication dry quickly.

When his cool breath touched my wounded knees, it felt like new skin would grow right away.

“Zelda.”

“Yes…”

“When you need me, be in front of my eyes. That’s all.”

Looking at him speaking as if pleading, I just opened and closed my mouth.

Rinel put the treatment box on the bedside table and sat facing me again.

“Instead, don’t bring these back. It makes me angry.”

He said firmly, frowning deeply.

“Asking you to be in front of my eyes is a request, but not making such wounds on your body is an order.”

“I understand. From now on… I’ll be careful.”

“Good, that’s fine then.”

He smiled affectionately.

Before the smile disappeared from his face, I quietly opened my mouth.

“Rinel, I have a request too.”

“What is it?”