Dietrich’s expression was indifferent as he uttered the shocking words, as if he were talking about someone else’s story.

“You were going to use me to warm your younger sister’s bed?”

“…Yes.”

A long silence settled between the two.

After a while, Celiya finally parted her lips.

“So, did you accept the offer?”

Even as she asked, Celiya thought there was no way Dietrich would accept such a ridiculous proposal from Ileon.

Instead of answering Celiya’s question, Dietrich leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed.

Unlike his usual habit of meticulously fastening each button, his loosened collar revealed a well-muscled upper body through the open shirt.

“Well. What do you think?”

In contrast to his disheveled appearance, Dietrich’s face was utterly dry as he asked her back.

“If you could guarantee your life in exchange for a moment of humiliation, it’s not such a bad deal, is it?”

“…”

“Now that Ileon has become the new emperor, we can pretend to go along with it and buy time to prepare accordingly.”

At his matter-of-fact tone, a sigh-like response flowed from between Celiya’s teeth.

“…I see.”

You can guarantee your life in exchange for enduring a moment of humiliation.

Celiya tried to think from Dietrich’s perspective, not her own.

If Dietrich had chosen to go to war in the previous options, Celiya would have been isolated alone in the imperial palace, and if he had chosen to abandon Celiya, the result would have been the same.

Dietrich’s choice, which seemed somewhat foolish, was both a desperate effort to protect Celiya and an unavoidable choice.

To sacrifice his own body for the sake of someone who was merely a collaborator.

Celiya knew better than anyone that she would never have done such a thing herself.

If Ileon had asked for her body in exchange for guaranteeing Dietrich’s life.

She would have died on the spot rather than ever do such a thing.

Celiya had become terminally ill from overusing her abilities to protect herself from men who desired her.

So, Celiya wasn’t grateful to Dietrich at all.

She had never forced Dietrich to sacrifice himself.

She had never pushed his back to roll around in bed with Ileon’s younger sister.

Yet, she felt as if she had become the bad person for no reason.

While doubting Dietrich, she didn’t know what to do when he acted like this.

Dietrich’s eyes narrowed as he looked at Celiya.

“What are you thinking?”

Celiya’s gaze, lost in thought, turned to Dietrich.

It was Celiya who wanted to ask Dietrich.

What on earth was he thinking to make such a decision?

Seeing him make important decisions on his own without any discussion with her, her mouth felt parched.

“I…”

Celiya, who was about to say something, firmly shut her mouth.

It was because the scene of Dietrich intertwining bodies with Ileon’s younger sister automatically played in her mind.

To think that he would kiss that woman with those lips that had kissed her.

To think that he would touch that woman with the hands that had fed her food.

Celiya felt anger boiling up from the soles of her feet.

She hoped that Dietrich wouldn’t make such a miserable sacrifice.

That he wouldn’t throw himself away carelessly, deceived by that snake-like Ileon.

But she also hated the thought of Dietrich discovering these feelings of hers.

It’s as if she were jealous, isn’t it?

Celiya’s eyes cooled as she looked at Dietrich.

Seeing Celiya’s unfavorable expression, Dietrich called out to her in a worried voice.

“…Celiya?”

Dietrich rose from his seat and placed his large hand on Celiya’s forehead.

Because the eyes looking down at her were so affectionate, because the hand covering her forehead was so warm, Celiya closed her eyes as if turning away from it, feeling as if she might completely surrender herself to that warmth.

“What did Ileon do to you while I was gone?”

Even at a time like this, he’s sitting there worrying about me.

The words “Worry about yourself” rose to Celiya’s throat.

“I left you at the mansion because I didn’t want to wake you from your deep sleep. If I had known you would look for me, I would have said something before leaving.”

Dietrich’s voice, belatedly making excuses, strangely didn’t feel unpleasant.

“I’m sorry. The conversation with Princess Reina took longer than expected and I ended up being very late.”

At Dietrich’s words, Celiya felt a prick in her chest.

Is that why he came back in such a disheveled state?

Had he been intimate with that ill-natured princess, Ileon’s younger sister, while she was sound asleep?

Celiya wanted to ask Dietrich what kind of conversation they had, but she didn’t ask anything.

She had tried so hard not to rely on Dietrich.

Constantly doubting him, testing him. While not being able to trust him completely, she still couldn’t let him go in the end.

Had she become too immersed in the role of fake lovers?

Celiya felt ridiculous even to herself.

There was no reason for her to feel upset whether Dietrich left the mansion or not, or who he met and what he did.

‘I’ve gotten used to it. Being with this man.’

Celiya slowly opened her eyes.

As she did so, Dietrich’s hand on her forehead fell away.

“You don’t have a fever. Do you have something worrying you?”

Celiya replied in a monotone voice to Dietrich’s concerned tone.

“I’m fine.”

In fact, she wasn’t fine at all.

“Worries? How could I have such things?”

In fact, I thought about you sleeping with another woman.

“I’m just tired from running around looking for you since morning.”

I hope you never know these feelings of mine.

Celiya lied, not wanting to admit that she had unknowingly become attached to Dietrich.

Celiya rose from her seat, rubbing her forehead.

“If we’re done talking, I’ll go to my room now.”

Celiya left the room without even looking at Dietrich’s expression.

Thud.

Only a quiet stillness lingered in the room Celiya had left.

Dietrich gazed with calm eyes at the spot where Celiya had just been.

−So, did you accept the offer?

He thought Celiya’s eyes, looking up at him as she asked, were just like the moon reflected on the surface of water.

Unlike her usual cheerful and playful self, Celiya looked at him with a worried face.

He liked that she was concerned about him.

As if he had become something precious to her.

So he pretended to be nonchalant, blurting out that it wouldn’t be bad to guarantee his life in exchange for a moment of humiliation.

−…I see.

A sigh-like response flowed from Celiya as she lowered her gaze.

As if about to say something, she firmly closed her mouth and became lost in her own thoughts.

Dietrich wondered what Celiya was thinking.

As the Captain of the Imperial Knights, would she think him foolish for not being able to do anything about Ileon right away?

Would she think him stupid and pathetic?

Would she be regretting joining hands with him belatedly?

Looking at Celiya lost in thought, he had various thoughts.

−I…

Belatedly, Celiya was about to say something in a thin voice, but she closed her mouth again.

Instead of speaking, Celiya stared at him with a face tangled with various complex emotions.

When he was talking with Princess Reina, Ileon’s younger sister, he had wished for time to pass quickly.

−In the end, if you were going to come to me, why did you drag it out for so long?

At first, he had thought of threatening Reina to do something about Ileon.

But Dietrich knew well that Ileon was not the kind of person who would bat an eye even if his younger sister was taken hostage.

The reason he remained still even as she unbuttoned his shirt was because he feared Celiya might be in danger.

−Go now and tell your lover you’re breaking up with her. If not, I’ll tell my elder brother to kill that woman.

Reina’s malicious smile as she said this resembled her elder brother Ileon exactly.

−I told you to listen when I was being nice. Why did you reject my confession and create this mess?

The hand caressing his cheek with a face stained with desire was extremely unpleasant.

−A few days after my elder brother’s coronation, there will be a ball. Escort me then. And tonight… you know?

Dietrich blinked slowly and tilted his head back.

−It’s okay.

Celiya’s words saying she was okay kept floating around in Dietrich’s mind.

‘Do you know that you said that with a face that wasn’t okay at all?’

Celiya’s sorrow-soaked appearance painfully pierced his heart.

Dietrich looked down at his hand that had touched Celiya’s forehead.

It’s annoying to develop an unwanted weakness.

‘It would have been better if I hadn’t met you from the beginning.’

She was a woman who laughed brightly in the emperor’s bedchamber while covered in blood.

She would act as if she had no attachment to life, but her eyes would sparkle when eating sweet foods.

Her eyelashes that trembled as she drank his saliva, and…

−It’s sweet.

The image of Celiya smiling broadly kept circling in Dietrich’s mind.

He forcibly erased the thoughts.

‘Meaningless assumptions are worse than not making them at all.’

Dietrich had to admit.

Without realizing it, he had gotten used to being with Celiya.