Chapter 2

“Cold.”

She took a seat on the empty terrace and stretched once. The air that passed through her nose was filled with the scent of fresh water from the fountain.

Although ‘Arhin’s First Kiss Operation’ failed……. Look at that large garden. How cool. I saw good things, ate only delicious food, and saw beautiful men, so that was enough.

A low hum came out of her mouth. The bushes over there sway slightly. Is it a person or an animal? Or are they people?

As she was looking at the large garden with her chin resting, she felt someone approaching from behind.

‘Who……?’

Maybe I forgot to close the curtains? It seemed that someone had entered, mistaking it for an empty terrace. 

Arhin hastily turned around. The person entering the room stopped walking as if it was an unexpected situation.

“I didn’t expect there to be anyone else.”

“…….”

A low voice echoed in the quiet and dim space. Arhin gave no answer. No, it would be more accurate to say that she couldn’t. She couldn’t help but blink her eyes in surprise.

The person who looked like a ‘gem that she could not have’ and who she had only been looked at from afar was smiling with a face shining flawlessly in the moonlight.

“Can I stay here for a minute?”

“Yes, no problem…….”

Please stay here as you please…….

The man smiled at Arhin’s permission. He came and leaned comfortably over the railing, and the scent of fragrant grass wafted from him. It was refreshing.

‘Oh my gosh. How could this person be next to me?’

Arhin held on to the terrace railing. Perhaps because of the alcohol, a fire flared up in her chest. To the point where she doesn’t know if it’s a dream or real life.

She turned her head and looked at the man. He gazed silently at Arhin as if he also felt her gaze. Gray eyes that looked like silver shimmered softly in the moonlight.

Arhin thought of several greetings in her mind, trying to come up with something.

Since we met like this, let’s do a trick to kiss each other. How about enjoying it openly?

But it was him, not Arhin, who spoke first.

“Young lady, have we met before?”

“…….”

Arhin’s head tilted over.

‘……is it a trick?’

“In the garden of the imperial palace…….”

She couldn’t hear what he was saying. There were just incomprehensible questions running through her head.

Is this man playing tricks on me right now? I was going to go first. If so, does he want to kiss me? I really hope so.

There are a lot of thoughts that are close to delusions beyond imagination.

Arhin, who tried to put on a calm expression on her face, carefully opened her mouth. “I don’t know……. I think I’ve never met you…….”

“Is that so?”

The man smiled graciously with a regretful expression. Arhin swallowed her saliva without her realizing it.

‘What should I do? Even his voice is my type.’

Arhin’s gaze carefully scanned him. From the delicately shaped face to the broad shoulders and the straight, solid body.

Within Arhin’s mind, which had been hazy due to drunkenness, an unknown desire arose.

Handsome. I want you. I want to kiss you.

Her body staggered a little as she tried to swallow the secret she couldn’t resist revealing.

So right now, Arhin had drunk ten glasses of alcohol, and she was in a state of being quite drunk, beyond moderation.

The man carefully grabbed Arhin’s shoulders and stood her up. It was a kind, but simple touch.

“Are you okay?”

‘No, I am not okay. I’m so drunk.’

Arhin closed her eyes as she listened to his voice. The urge to release the boiling desire kept overflowing.

If not now, there will never be an opportunity.

‘I will kiss you. I see nothing but you. I will definitely kiss this handsome guy!’

Arhin, who was muttering in her heart, bit her lip as if she had made up her mind.

“Excuse me…….”

“Yes, please tell me.”

‘……now!’

Arhin opened her eyes with a determined expression. Soon a very desperate shout rang out loud on the terrace.

“Would you like to kiss me once?”

“Yes……?”

It was a sudden request that was completely unexpected for the man. He was silent for a while as if he didn’t understand the meaning of Arhin’s words. It was a look full of bewilderment.

‘Did he allow it? I got his permission!’

Arhin was delighted. She thought when the man said ‘Yes……?’ just now, she got his permission.

Again, she’s pretty drunk now.

Arhin bit her lip to release the longing that was stirring inside her. With a reverent expression on her face, she quickly tiptoed and approached the man’s face.

‘I’m kissing you! Right now!’

But Arhin had never kissed. Therefore, she had no way of knowing that she needed to adjust her strength in order to meet his lips in a pleasant way.

In conclusion, she failed miserably on her first kiss.

Damn.

The man was very defenseless and received a kiss close to attack. As Arhin’s front teeth pressed against his lips, there was a strange sound; not a sipping but a cracking sound.

‘What? I don’t think it’s like this. Then one more time!’

Arhin grabbed the man’s face with both hands and pulled him in. He seemed very surprised, his eyes wide open.

She pressed her lips against his without hesitation. It was a gentler approach than before. Soon, the lips of the two of them softly overlapped.

‘……it’s warm.’

His lips touching were warm and soft. The two stayed still for a moment, holding their breath.

Arhin’s heart, which had been beating non-stop, began to thump violently. The lips that had been touching so quickly fell with a clicking sound.

The sound of grasshoppers rushed wildly in her ears. She couldn’t hear anything because of the tension, and she felt as if she had suddenly escaped from an ecstatic dream.

Arhin bent down with her hands on her pounding heart.

“Thank you so much for this grace!”

It was a greeting of gratitude that rang out like being thrown. After that short thank you, Arhin ran out of the terrace with excessively agile movements. She kept her head down as if she couldn’t bear to look at the man’s face.

‘Finally! I finally got my first kiss! With an extremely handsome man!’

Arhin thanked Deborah. ‘Deborah, thank you. I’ll never forget what happened today!’

She licked the corner of her mouth slightly, recalling his face.

‘Wonderful man! Please be happy!’

Meanwhile, the man left behind was standing on the terrace. He doesn’t know what the hell is going on.

He closed his eyes for a while and then opened them again. The cold night breeze passed behind his back.

Soon, he came to his senses in the cool air and hurriedly walked away from the terrace.

He searched for her in the party hall with sharp eyes, but she had already disappeared without a trace. Her tiny shoes, not even a strand of her hair to be seen anywhere.

On the empty staircase with no one but him there, the noise of his own birthday celebration party could be heard from behind him. The sound of music and the sound of people laughing flowed like waves. He stood blankly for a long time there.

“Haa…….”

He sighed. He gently rubbed his tingling lips with his thumb. Blood dripped from his lips, probably because that unknown woman did it too much.

I never thought I would see blood like this at a party instead of a battlefield. The man stared at the blood on his fingertip.

Today, the last night of February in the year 718 of the Imperial calendar, is the coming-of-age ceremony and birthday party of the 20-year-old Marquis Ludwig Berth.

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