CH 169

The door swung shut and the noise inside faded.

“Iona?”

“I…it’s nothing.”

He was silent for a moment. I glanced over to see what he was doing. He looked a little down. As I wondered what had happened, he spoke.

“Are you still mad at me?”

I blinked. “Pardon?”

“I don’t know why you’re mad at me, but please tell me what I did wrong. Don’t hold back what you want to say. I—I’m bad at figuring things like that out.”

As he stammered, I shook my hands.

“N-no,” I replied. “I’m not mad.”

“But you keep avoiding me. You avoided my gaze, and you hit off my hand. Are you sure you’re not mad at me? Please be honest with me.”

“It’s true! I’m not mad. The reason I avoided you was…well, it was a misunderstanding on my part.” I said.

“Misunderstanding?”

“D-don’t worry about it.”

“Was it about the kiss with the young Lady Deron you mentioned earlier?” At his question, my cheeks burned, and I suddenly wished I could become dust and fly away. I lowered my gaze, unable to answer, and felt him approach me.

He’s probably laughing. Ugh.

I covered my face with my hands. I just couldn’t look at him.

“Look at me, Iona.”

“N-no.”

“Really?”

I flinched. Was he laughing at me?

I hesitated. “No.”

Suddenly, something soft touched my neck. I froze, my mouth open in a silent scream. Those craving golden eyes were trained on me. Ridrian slowly wrapped his arms around my waist.

“In your eyes,” he said, “how was I kissing that woman?”

“Th-that’s, well—”

Honestly, I hadn’t even seen it properly because of Eris’s back. I’d just noticed the weird stance between them and assumed they’d shared a kiss. I was so embarrassed I couldn’t say it.

But no matter how you look at it, it looked like that!

I avoided his intense gaze, but he drew so close I could feel his breath. And then he whispered in my ear, so quietly only I could hear it.

“My kiss is like this.”

“Ridrian.”

“Shh.”

The moment my shaking hands grabbed his arm, his hot lips crashed against mine. It was a different sensation from playfully touching my neck or hand.

This is like…

It was soft and sweet, like biting into a sweet candy bar. The only difference was the way I felt. The fact that I was touching him had made me feel like I was surrounded by golden light.

Ridrian.

Just yesterday, looking at him had felt like my heart was being squeezed. The fact that he hadn’t given his heart to Eris and that I’d chosen to love him made all of this so sweet I wanted to cry. The entire world felt golden in that moment.

“Iona.”

His voice was addictive. Each time he licked the inside and outside of my lips, I was filled with amazement. Strongly, softly, tenaciously. Sometimes, he tasted me as though he was about to swallow me whole.

“Ha.”

In the end, I needed to take a breather, and he let me.

“Iona.”

“Ridrian. Ha.”

I figured this was his first kiss. But why was he so good? There were tears in my eyes, and it felt like I was suffocating. Smiling, Ridrian wiped the tears off my face.

“Was that the kiss you saw?”

“Uh, I’m sorry.”

As I continued to sob, he planted a bunch of kisses on my cheek. He hugged me and rubbed his chin on my head.

“This is my time kissing someone I like. I can’t handle it.”

My eyes widened.

***

“L-like?” I croaked.

“Ugh!”

I hit his chin hard, looking up at his surprising confession.

“Ah!” I exclaimed. “Are—are you okay?”

“My…my tongue is ok.”

“You can’t joke now!”

I hit his arm as he joked. As expected, it was my hand that hurt. As I clutched it, wincing silently, he grabbed my hand and kissed it, and every cell in my body wanted to run away.

“Is it that surprising?”

“S-since when?”

“Hm?”

“Since when did you…?”

He smiled and brushed my cheek, as though he could tell I was trying to hold back my embarrassment.

“It’s been a while. I only realized it recently. I’m so stupid.”

“What about Eris?”

He frowned. “Why…why is she part of this conversation?”

“What do you think about Eris?” I asked again.

“Why are you trying to get me with that woman? I really don’t want to be part of this.”

“What? Why? Eris is so pretty, skilled and kind.”

His expression turned weird as I talked. As though he was wondering what I was saying. “How?” He shook his head. “She’s a rather bold and insolent. You must be talking about yourself.”

He smiled as he spoke. It was the look I’d seen a few months after I entered the palace. I realized it was out of affection and felt my face about to burst.

“You must be playing!” I had no idea what to do. As I tried to get away from him, he hugged me.

“Don’t look at me like that. I want to eat you.”

“Y-you’re a human! W-why would you eat another person? I don’t taste good!”

I was so flustered I didn’t know what I was saying. He chuckled and leisurely brushed his hard hand down my back. It felt weird.

His voice filled my ear, a unique, husky whisper.

“Iona, you’re the only one for me. I still can’t sleep at night without you, but you’re trying to send me off to another woman after taming me?”

“W-what do you mean I tamed you!”

“Iona Lesprey, my important person.”

“Rian!” I exclaimed, unable to stand his confession.

His smile widened. “I like that name. Call me that from now on.”

He pecked my lips severally, and I clinched my eyes, trying not to run away. Suddenly, Ridrian let out a sigh.

“Going on a campaign at a time like this. Should I stop the war?”

He leaned his head against my shoulder as he spoke.

“You mean…invading Lucretia?”

“Ah.”

In the original novel, Ivant had declared war against Lucretia during the winter. And Ridrian had come back just after a month and met Eris at the victory party.

Eris doesn’t matter now. But…he must fight Lucretia.

That war was important in healing Ridrian’s trauma, but it was also very important to Lucretia. That rich country was showing signs of collapse now. They were rich because of natural resources, but the dynasty was so corrupted.

In the past, when the predecessor crown prince snuck out Lilianna, the prince of Lucretia had let it slide after receiving all kinds of special treatment. And since the royal family was monopolizing the country’s special product of silk, they were hoarding wealth, using it to act like tyrants in the continent’s economic situation.