When Erdene shouted loudly, Arkan made an expression of utter disbelief.

Even though he had experienced this several times already, he still couldn’t get used to it.

It wasn’t just because of her loud voice.

“What did you say? ‘Shut your mouth’?”

Erdene raised one finger, completely ignoring Arkan’s indignant question.

If the situation were reversed, would Erdene have been able to resist breaking his finger? That question proudly took the top spot on the list of ‘Unprecedented Concerns of This Era’ in Arkan’s mind.

Keeping her finger raised, Erdene took a slow breath and said,

“First, you mentioned a protest, right? Fine. You were correct about that. Yes, I did protest a bit.”

Arkan was so taken aback by Erdene’s brazen words that he didn’t even notice she had called him ‘you’ for the first time.

Of course, Erdene hadn’t noticed either.

Erdene continued,

“You probably know better than I do why I protested. You invited me to come read a book, and when I came obediently, you suddenly got angry and left. Leaving me behind. So I protested a bit. I admit it. And second, what did you say? That you should restrict my every move?”

“That’s right!”

“Go ahead and try. If you’re so confident.”

Arkan recalled the breathing technique he had learned as a child—there had been a teacher who taught him deep breathing before reading lessons—and slowly inhaled and exhaled repeatedly.

When he was young, doing this would clear his mind as clean air circulated through it, calming him down. But now, due to the bittersweet scent and fragrance emanating from Erdene, it only served to scatter his thoughts.

While he failed miserably in his attempt to calm himself, Erdene continued speaking.

“And lastly, what did you say? A tender relationship?”

At Erdene’s words, a vein throbbed in Arkan’s temple again. When he didn’t respond, Erdene pressed for an answer.

“Answer me. A tender relationship? Is that what you said?”

Arkan turned away abruptly, his face flushed red. Then, breathing heavily with his shoulders heaving, he turned back to face her.

“If you had someone else you liked, fine. I understand.”

Erdene let out a scornful laugh.

“You’re talking such nonsense that I don’t know if I should continue this conversation or just go back to my room and sleep. Tender relationship? Someone else I like? Who on earth are you talking about? What strange things have you heard to make such absurd delusions?”

“Absurd? Don’t lie. I clearly…”

Arkan’s reddened lips mumbled something. It seemed like he was saying something, but it was impossible to make out what.

“What did you say?”

Erdene exaggeratedly pretended to lean in to listen, furrowing her brow.

For a moment, Arkan thought she was pretending not to have heard, but judging by her expression, that didn’t seem to be the case.

Staring at the silent Arkan, Erdene asked again.

“I’m asking what you said.”

“…I saw it.”

“What? What did you see?”

Now Arkan’s face, as well as his chin, nape, and shoulders, were flushed red.

His complexion was mottled like someone who had drunk strong alcohol by mistake.

“…I saw you embracing! So don’t pretend you don’t know!”

Arkan shouted, and Erdene’s eyes widened as if they might pop out.

They say people think strange thoughts when they’re too shocked? At that moment, the same thing happened in her mind.

Despite the serious situation of discussing her past actions, Erdene was thinking of something completely irrelevant. And it was quite an absurd thought…

‘This is the first time I don’t want to beat someone up for bulging veins in their neck.’

The moment she realized this, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.

It was very brief. Just once. But Erdene would remember that sensation for a long time.

I see, Erdene thought. She now understood the reason for Arkan’s strange behavior since earlier in the day.

She recognized it, understood it, and accepted it.

Now all that was left was to burst into laughter.

“Ugh…”

Covering her mouth with both hands, Erdene’s body bent forward as if collapsing.

A sound like a sob escaped between her palms, and her tightly tensed, rounded shoulders trembled.

Now she understood. Now… Erdene felt like crying from laughter.

She thought she knew what Arkan had seen. She couldn’t not know.

He must have seen her hugging and encouraging Telma.

She didn’t know where or how he had managed to see just that scene, but in any case, Arkan had clearly misunderstood their relationship based on what he saw.

“What, what are you doing? Why are you like this?”

As Erdene remained bent over, trembling, Arkan quickly became flustered.

His fingertips, which had been awkwardly hovering in the air, carefully grasped her shoulders, feeling their warmth.

Seeing her bowed neck and fallen hair, hearing the faint sounds like sobs, Arkan felt a mix of anger—were they close enough to cry over?—and a rush of complicated emotions that made his chest feel like it was crumbling.

Anger, sadness, desire, jealousy.

All these emotions were mixed together in a mess. He almost said, “If you love him that much, I’ll let you go.”

If Erdene had raised her head even one second later, he might have.

“Ah, haha! Hic, embrace, hee… Tender relationship… Hic, uh, hee…”

Arkan, who had approached as if to embrace her shoulders, jumped back in surprise.

“Why, why are you like this?”

“Say, hee, say it again. What, what did you say? Hup, separately… Separately what? Like?”

Erdene seemed to have difficulty controlling her own body from laughing so hard.

She clutched her stomach, covered her face, grabbed her head frantically, and finally pressed her forehead against the back of the sofa, laughing like a madwoman.

“What on earth is this! It’s scary!”

Arkan cried out in confusion.

But he could vaguely sense that something was wrong, that he had made a big mistake.

The laughter gradually subsided.

It wasn’t that it was less funny, just that she seemed to have run out of energy…

Erdene raised her reddened face and carelessly brushed back her disheveled hair.

As her accessories tangled and made it even messier, she ended up removing everything attached to her hair.

Arkan was now looking down at her with a completely bewildered expression. His lower lip was protruding, and his handsome eyebrows were furrowed towards the center.

“Obsessive man.”

Erdene said, narrowing her eyes and placing her fists on her hips.

“What?”

“I said obsessive man. A man who’s obsessed. I just made it up. Your Majesty is an obsessive man. You’ve been spying on where I go, who I meet, and what I do, right? I should be the one saying it’s scary.”

“Spying? When did I ever? Who was the one embracing in broad daylight in an open place? Before giving me strange nicknames like obsessive… whatever, you should reflect on what you’ve done! If I’m an obsessive man, what are you! You’re so brazen and reckless that you’re hugging other men in broad daylight!”

“Just because I hugged Telma a little, you’ve been angry all day because of that? Now that I think about it, I shouldn’t call you an obsessive man. Maybe ‘narrow-minded man’ or ‘petty man’ would be more appropriate. If I had given him a kiss, would there have been a big scene today? Isn’t that right, Your Majesty? Would you have carved ‘Had an affair with another man’ on my forehead and hung me in the square?”

Arkan gaped at her with an expression of incredulity and reproach.

“Ki… What? Are you done talking? Say that ag…!”

Arkan, who had been about to breathe fire, suddenly froze like a statue.

For a moment, he thought his heart had stopped.

Only after thinking he was dying did he paradoxically realize he wasn’t dead yet.

But if he wasn’t dead, what was this fragrance, this warmth?

Arkan’s eyeballs moved stiffly.

Like tree branches bending at each joint, it seemed like you could hear a ‘crack, crack’ sound if you listened closely.

For a moment, his mind went blank, unable to comprehend whose head this round, black thing in his field of vision belonged to—soft, warm, and fragrant, yet also something he wanted to grab forcefully.

Regardless, Erdene had her cheek pressed against Arkan’s chest, hugging him tightly with her eyes closed.

His heart was beating so fast that she wondered if he might die—she even considered calling for a court physician—but she couldn’t easily loosen her arms.

Above all, Arkan smelled so good.

After hugging Arkan to her satisfaction, Erdene gently clenched her fist.

Then she lightly patted his still stiff back and raised her head slightly, resting her chin on his chest.

“Do well, you bastard. Understand?”

Arkan’s lips parted slightly as he looked down at her with his head bent vertically.