Fortunately, Prince Tessler quickly hid by leaning his back against the wall right next to the bedroom door, and I also walked right up to the bedroom door.

“What’s going on?”

My voice came out a bit sharp without me realizing it.

As Sharon was about to open the bedroom door and come in, she was startled to find me blocking the door and reported from where she stood.

“I received a report that His Majesty has just entered the entrance of the Empress’s Palace, Your Majesty the Empress……”

“H-His Majesty, why?!”

It hadn’t even been three hours since he left the Empress’s bedroom, why on earth did he come back?

“I don’t know either. There was no message that he was coming to the Empress’s Palace…… It seems he came suddenly. All the dresses are prepared, so you can change right now.”

Ah, right. I need to put on a dress……

But there was a problem that needed to be solved first.

“Sharon, today’s outfit is pretty, but the color seems a bit dark. I’d like to change to a different dress?”

“Ah, yes! Then while Sollie and Teresa do your hair and makeup, I’ll pick out another dress and bring it to the bedroom.”

“No, lay it out in the dressing room. I’ll go there myself. Tell Sollie and Teresa to come in a little later.”

“……Pardon?”

Sharon’s footsteps towards the dressing room halted, she turned to look at me with a puzzled expression.

“Just, for a moment…… I have something to do.”

“Ah…… Yes, Your Majesty the Empress. I will do so.”

Even after answering me, Sharon stood in place with a questioning look.

When I gestured for her to go to the dressing room now, Sharon finally turned back towards the dressing room.

I quickly closed the bedroom door.

Prince Tessler was leaning against the wall next to the door, silently laughing.

“Leave quickly.”

I urgently said to the prince.

“I wonder where Emperor Rinel is right now? The second floor stairs? Or has he just come up to the bedroom floor and is slowly walking down the corridor?”

Unlike me, who was feeling anxious, Prince Tessler quipped again with a carefree face.

“If you’re so curious, why don’t you stay here and ask him directly?”

Prince Tessler’s expression became more amused at my irritated tone.

“A prince from another country in the Empress’s bedroom….. It would be quite troublesome if we were caught.”

He pointed at me wearing only a bathrobe, moving one finger up and down.

“That’s why I’m telling you to leave now, it’s embarrassing for both of us!”

I glanced at the terrace door through which the prince must have secretly entered.

What’s wrong with my head since this morning that I’ve lost all sense of fear? I wanted to throw Prince Tessler, who was doing such a reckless thing, out onto the terrace right away.

If I wasted any more time here, I thought I might really grab the prince by the collar and throw him out onto the terrace.

“Even though I am a prince from Your Majesty the Empress’s home country, we are not close enough for you to greet me in just a bathrobe, are we? His Majesty would be quite surprised. Even I would feel quite offended.”

“So what exactly do you want me to do?”

You sneak in uninvited, and now you’re trying to pin this on someone else?

“Your Majesty the Empress doesn’t want to receive any unnecessary misunderstanding from His Majesty, right? I feel the same. Honey, if you just clear up my misunderstanding, I’ll disappear.”

“What misunderstanding of yours?”

Prince Tessler’s gaze went down to the pouch in my hand.

“What do you mean?”

I asked, but I had already figured out the prince’s intention.

The worst of the worst.

A vile and base bastard.

“Give me one vial of magic potion.”

Prince Tessler held out his palm to me.

If I give him one vial of magic potion, I’ll only have one left.

−”His Majesty the Emperor has arrived!”

To make matters worse, the voices of attendants were heard from far down the corridor.

It seemed Rinel had arrived.

There was no more time to waste.

But still, this can’t be done……

I couldn’t hand over the magic potion to Prince Tessler, even if it meant receiving misunderstanding from him.

Rinel would find this situation strange and be jealous, but he wouldn’t seriously doubt my relationship with the prince.

And for Prince Tessler, who was mindful of Emperor Raphion’s watchful eye, this situation wouldn’t be good either.

So I decided to take a strong stance. Hold on.

That was the conclusion I came to. However,

“I saw that you’re keeping the jewelry box I gave you behind the drawer compartment, not just the potion. Bonisse…… misses Your Majesty the Empress very much.”

“!”

“When I told her you were going to the Raphion Empire, she cried and begged to be taken along too.”

Prince Tessler furrowed his eyebrows. It was as if he was mimicking the pitiful expression Bonisse had shown.

I bit my lower lip hard.

“Don’t worry, I comforted her well. When I said she would be able to meet you in good health soon, she finally stopped crying.”

The prince held out his palm to me again.

I had no choice but to take out a vial of magic potion from my pocket and hand it over to Prince Tessler.

I deliberately didn’t look at the prince’s face.

If our eyes met, I knew I wouldn’t be able to send him away peacefully.

When I raised my head, I saw Prince Tessler’s back.

The prince, who was about to go out the terrace door, stopped his steps and turned to look at me, twitching one eyebrow.

I was about to turn my head away again, disgusted by that smug expression, when the prince opened the cork of the magic potion vial he was holding.

No way……!

I didn’t even have time to stop him.

Prince Tessler unhesitatingly poured the magic potion into the red rose in the flower vase as if watering it.

No, he wasted it.

After confirming my dumbfounded expression, the prince placed the empty magic potion vial next to the flower vase and disappeared out onto the terrace.

I was so shocked by what I had just seen that I went beyond anger and felt completely drained.

−”His Majesty the Emperor has arrived.”

Sharon’s voice was heard outside the bedroom door, and I forced myself to come to my senses.

I quickly put the pouch I was holding back into the dressing table drawer.

Rinel entered with a knock.

Seeing his affectionate smile, I felt like I was about to burst into tears.

“Ah, it seems I’ve come at just the right time?”

His eyes settled deeply as he saw me in my bathrobe.

“What brings you here? So suddenly……”

“Somehow I suddenly felt like coming. I didn’t expect to see you like this, though.”

It didn’t seem like he had come to the Empress’s Palace again with any particular business.

“Please sit for a moment. I was just about to go to the dressing room to change into a dress.”

As I hurriedly turned my body towards the bedroom door, he suddenly pulled me back and whirled me towards the bed.

“Then there would be no point in me coming here, would there?”

“The sun is up……”

“That’s right. And the terrace door is wide open too.”

He replied with a laugh.

It was probably an innocent remark on his part, but hearing those words sent a chill down my spine.

Rinel ended up throwing himself onto the bed while hugging me from behind.

“Aren’t you busy?”

“I was. And I’ll be busy again this afternoon. You have no idea how hastily I rushed through my morning work to make time for this before lunch.”

He said, kissing my forehead.

Seemingly quite pleased with his own joke, he burst into laughter as soon as he finished speaking, in a manner ill-fitting his usually serious tone.

“You’re being impulsive.”

“Nonsense. If I were being impulsive, I wouldn’t just be holding you like this. I’m usually a person who moves according to plan, you know.”

Rinel grabbed the tie of my bathrobe and twirled it around, putting on an aggrieved expression.

“Then what’s your plan from now on?”

I asked, burying my face in his chest.

I needed peace of mind.

Being held in his arms like this, my anger at what Prince Tessler had just done seemed to subside a little.

“My plan is this. To hold you like this until lunch with the royal siblings from Chatonille.”

Ah, was that today? The day I have to force food down my throat while looking at those two.

“Alright……”

I put my arms around his back and slipped my hands inside his uniform.

More than the soft touch of his silk shirt on my palms, I wanted to feel his bare skin.

So I grabbed his silk shirt with my thumb and forefinger and pulled it up, but it wasn’t as easy as I thought.

“What, you want me to take it off?”

Rinel asked in a deep voice.

“Just…… could you pull it up a bit?”

“Really just a bit?”

He said with a furrowed brow, as if reluctantly giving permission, then pulled his shirt out of his pants.

“As a service, shall I unbutton a few at the bottom too?”

“That’s not necessary.”

“What else…… is there anything more you want?”

He asked secretively while fiddling with his belt.

“No, this is enough.”

“Hah, our Empress is too undemanding.”

He took his hand off his belt and pulled his shirt up high, as if offering his upper body for me to use freely.

I smiled and pulled his clothes back down, then nestled into his arms.

Wrapping one arm around his waist, I slipped my hand inside his shirt.

Feeling the firm, smooth part of his lower back brought peace to my mind.

The reason I buried myself so deeply in his embrace was also because I didn’t have the courage to look him straight in the face.

I closed my eyes and thought quietly.

I’m such a hypocrite,

Unable to look him properly in the eye because of my guilty conscience…… yet still wanting comfort in his arms……

A self-deprecating laugh escaped me.

“I’ll go change into a dress now.”

I raised my upper body with difficulty, getting out of his embrace.

He looked up at me with disappointed eyes.

“Already?”

“There’s not much time left to change clothes, get ready, and go to the main palace dining hall.”

I replied, checking the time on the table clock.

“Stay and play a little longer.”

He grabbed my wrist firmly.

“It won’t work even if you order me.”

“I’m begging you.”

“It doesn’t suit you.”

“I know. That’s why I said it with a blank expression on purpose, so it would look less pathetic. So it’s fine.”

“……”

“Isn’t it?”

He muttered, watching my reaction.

I burst out laughing and kissed him.

He made me smile again like this.

I was the one who initiated the kiss, but Rinel was the first to part his lips, and I was the one who invaded that space again.

As our softness intertwined, everything except his gaze was becoming rough.

If I dragged this out any longer, I felt I might lose control of myself, not him.

“Haa, Rinel…… Stop, let me go. I really need to go get ready.”

“After getting your husband into this state, where do you think you’re going?”

He said in a voice full of resentment.

“Even if you go change clothes and come back, I’ll have to stay in bed for a while.”

“Why?”

“I can’t walk in this state……”

Rinel replied grumpily, spreading his arms and legs out wide.

“Then stay and calm down for a moment.”

I let out a quiet laugh as I placed both hands on the mattress.

It was the moment I was about to get up and leave the bed.

Not realizing I was pressing down on the bathrobe tie with one hand,

“Ah!”

As I straightened my waist, the tie came undone and the front of the bathrobe opened.

It was a mistake.

My face turned red as I quickly tried to close the bathrobe again, but Rinel grabbed both my hands.

“What’s the intention behind this now?”