“Brother… saved me… right?”

It was because of those emerald eyes looking up at him, still hazy and dazed.

It was the first time.

Not a gaze seeing a dirty bastard, nor one seeing a murderous monster.

Just a look filled with pure trust.

It was the day his half-brothers struck the back of his neck to knock him out and threw him in the river.

When he regained consciousness, he found a girl also caught in the river current and pulled her out, but it didn’t seem like either of them would survive.

Nevertheless, he embraced the dying body and shared what little body heat he had.

One more time.

Because of just such a strange impulse… to see those innocent eyes looking at him like a savior one more time.

“Wake up, Ariana.”

Dante whispered, his head bowed.

“You’ve beautifully collected your debt from your enemies…”

His long fingertips touched the forehead that was rising and falling rhythmically.

“Now it’s your turn to repay me. …The price for saving you.”

The last words were so quiet as to be inaudible.

Rio appeared with a cautious presence.

“Um, Master.”

“Shh.”

“Our knights have caught an assassin at the border of the territory.”

“Good. Keep them detained.”

“Are you going to move now?”

“No.”

Dante slowly rested his chin on his hand.

His gaze lingered on the lips gently breathing as if in deep sleep.

“Later.”

“Yes, Master.”

Rio bowed his head and left the room. With careful, quiet footsteps.

* * *

I blinked hazily.

‘…A bedroom?’

A beat later, as I realized that what I was seeing was the ceiling of my room’s bedroom, memories slowly flooded in.

I recalled going out to the terrace to gather my thoughts after Edward and Elena were dragged away.

Then a sudden dizziness struck, making my vision sway wildly… and then.

“Ariana!”

I remembered collapsing onto Dante’s arms.

‘Oh my.’

I had been thinking I needed to relieve the long-accumulated fatigue, but I never imagined I’d crumble like that.

With such thoughts, I was about to hurriedly sit up when.

‘…Huh?’

Belatedly realizing that a shadow was cast over my body, I turned my head.

“…”

Dante was sitting there. With his eyes closed, bathed in the moonlight pouring through the window.

I blinked slowly.

Dante didn’t move a muscle. Sitting so still like that, he looked like a plaster statue carefully carved by a god.

Am I perhaps still dreaming?

Feeling a dreamy sense of unreality, I blankly stole glances at Dante’s face.

His eyelashes were surprisingly long and pretty for a man.

His nose bridge was admirably straight and high, and his lips…

“…”

I held my breath slightly.

I could see the lips that usually spewed harsh words when awake now parted defenseless.

As if enchanted by something, I slowly reached out my hand.

Still feeling as if I was floundering in a dream.

Soon, a soft sensation touched my fingertips.

Even a man with a firm body has soft lips. Such a strange realization soaked into my mind through my fingertips.

Thump, thump.

My heart started pounding as if it would burst.

With his eyes closed, Dante’s overall impression seemed somehow different.

Was it because his sharp gaze was hidden, he looked somewhat younger overall… like there was still a boyish aspect remaining.

The moment I thought that, a strange sense of déjà vu struck my mind.

It was an odd feeling. As if I had seen this face somewhere else, a very long time ago.

I was blankly blinking at that peculiar sensation when.

“What are you doing?”

A low voice pierced my ears.

Startled, I reflexively tried to pull back my body, but a strong force grabbed my wrist.

“Ugh…!”

My body, losing balance, tilted forward. I hurriedly tried to steady myself on the bed, but it seemed too late.

When I came to my senses, my body was already propped up with both hands on Dante’s chest.

“…”

A sensation more like touching stone than just firmness supported both my palms.

As if cursed to freeze time, I stiffened completely, unable to move even a little.

‘…What should I do.’

The drowsiness and sleepiness that had filled my mind until just moments ago cleanly vanished.

Dante slowly opened his eyelids.

Pomegranate-red eyes gazed at me with a languid light.

I hurriedly stammered an excuse.

“I’m sorry. I wasn’t fully awake, so without thinking…”

I tried to put strength in my body to get up, but it wasn’t an easy task.

Having completely fallen over, it seemed impossible to get up without using my hands on Dante’s body for support.

The corner of Dante’s mouth lifted crookedly.

“Why, go on.”

Thump, my heart pounded loudly once more.

The distance was too close. Feeling heat rush to my face, I made excuses.

“…No, it’s not like that.”

I needed to get up first. This proximity where I could touch him if I just lowered my head a little was most harmful to my heart.

But perhaps because I was too flustered.

The more I tried to get up, the more strength left my waist.

I tried to fix my posture somehow, but each time I only ended up fumbling over Dante’s chest.

Looking up at my floundering, Dante held back a faint laugh.

“This is quite bold.”

“I-I’m sorry. My body keeps losing strength… If you could maybe change your posture a bit—eek?”

My vision spun around once, and my back was pressed into the soft bed sheets.

I blankly opened my mouth and looked up at the ceiling, no, at Dante’s face.

“Change posture?”

Dante, who had flipped our positions in an instant, smiled above me.

“Like this?”

“…No!”

I reflexively shook my head.

My body was now trapped helplessly within Dante’s arms.

No matter where I turned my gaze, I could see nothing but the man before me, making me want to close my eyes instead.

Thump, thump. My heart, which had been racing wildly since earlier, was warning me.

That if I crossed some line here, I would never be able to go back.

After moistening the inside of my mouth, which kept drying up, I stammered an apology.

“Duke, I’m truly sorry about earlier. It was a mistake I made unconsciously because I wasn’t fully awake, so please forgive…”

“No. There’s no need to apologize.”

At the merciful response, I inadvertently opened my eyes and looked at him.

The lips positioned very close drew a graceful curve.

“You were curious, so you touched.”

The denial got stuck as if hitting a wall and wouldn’t come out.

Looking down at me, unable to say anything, Dante smiled more deeply.

“Check more, Ariana.”

“…”

“What’s the problem. We’re married, aren’t we?”

The words of denial didn’t flow out this time either.

He lowered his head towards me, who was stiffly frozen as if entranced.

What I had pressed with my fingertips earlier came crashing down.

Before I could be surprised, hot breath parted my lips and rushed in.

A strong arm tightly bound my waist.

Embraced without an inch of space, I breathed feverishly.

It feels like I’m being devoured.

A dazed yet thrilling feeling seized my entire body.

The sense of reality I had regained seemed to have gone extinct once again, plunging me into a distant dreamlike state.

Suddenly, the words I had heard while half-asleep came back to life at that moment.

“It’s your turn to repay me now. …The price for saving you.”

The voice that lingered in my mind like a heat haze.

That voice was not just a phantom from a dream.

A realization like lightning struck my mind.

Also finding it hard to breathe, I pounded on his back frantically. Perhaps sensing my urgency, Dante released me for a moment.

Bright red eyes stared at me.

Just as he was about to descend on me again after sighing deeply, I hurriedly opened my mouth.

“I, I…!”

Exhaling erratically tangled breaths, I shouted.

“I, I remember a little bit!”

Dante’s body stiffened abruptly.

I desperately unraveled my thoughts, tangled like a messy ball of thread, one by one.

“The performance we put on at the music festival, that forest there. Actually, that stage was a concretization of a place in my memory.”

His eyes, which had been clouded, widened slightly as if surprised.

Suppressing my heart that was beating so hard it might jump out of my mouth, I asked.

“Um… Duke.”

A stinging headache arrived, but I didn’t mind.

I felt certain that this time, I had approached the truth I had given up on long ago, but which the man before me had been urging me to recall.

“Please answer me. When was it… that we first met?”

Dante’s body stiffened.

His red eyes looking at me slowly expanded, then soon he curved the corners of his mouth long.

With a smile full of satisfaction, Dante whispered.

“I’ll give you a hint.”

Bringing his face close, he smiled even more deeply.

“My first kiss was you.”