Episode 48
Their lips met in a hot, soft clash.
Alicia flinched, startled, but Kaien’s big warm hand gently wrapped around the back of her neck, just as heated as his lips.
This wasn’t like before, when their lips had brushed by accident.
This time, Kaien bit her lower lip softly, then let it go, and invaded deeper where he could taste her sweet breath.
“Th–…”
For a split second, their lips parted, but before Alicia could even speak, his kiss came back harder and deeper, covering her whole being.
It was raw male instinct.
His hunger burrowed deep inside her, so strong that Alicia tried to escape.
But each time she pulled back, Kaien teased her lips—nipping gently, then letting go—only to drag her back into his hold again and again.
“….”
What words could she even find?
Kaien was lost in the intense desire ruling him, drunk on the feel of Alicia’s plump lips.
And Alicia, smothered by his overwhelming kiss, could barely find space just to breathe.
Her eyes slipped shut on their own.
Kaien, sensing it, slid his hand down from her nape to her delicate back, then pulled her waist tight into him.
She hadn’t expected this sudden kiss.
But what shocked her even more was herself—how her mind went blank and how easily her body leaned toward his warmth.
“Hah…”
A deep sigh slipped between their lips, Kaien’s breath trembling against her mouth.
By now, both their lips were wet, sliding smoothly whenever they touched, their hot breaths mixing.
A faint, indescribable sweetness lingered between them.
Kaien didn’t stop.
He couldn’t.
Now that he’d tasted her lips, he refused to let them go.
His hunger pressed her harder, until Alicia’s body tipped backward.
His arm around her waist gently pulled her down, but she was too dazed to notice.
“Ah!”
She lost balance completely and fell back onto the sofa.
Her eyes flew wide, lips parted, a gasp spilling out.
The endless kiss finally broke.
Kaien hovered over her, half on top, staring down with pitch-black eyes filled with raw desire—hotter even than the kiss itself.
“Please.”
His damp lips brushed her ear, his whisper husky.
“Don’t say a word.”
A man’s pride and his instincts don’t always agree.
He had promised to give Alicia the choice.
But right now, his body wanted nothing chosen.
“Hm?”
His lips grazed her cheek on purpose, then returned to her soft lips, brushing lightly, teasing.
Their breaths tangled until they couldn’t tell whose was whose.
“I want you.”
Every word vibrated against her lips, his mouth caressing her as he spoke.
“More than anything in this world.”
The sudden confession made Alicia’s blue eyes shake.
Her platinum hair spilled wildly over the sofa, her face vulnerable as she looked up at him.
It tested Kaien’s patience to the breaking point.
Especially those lips—half open, the very lips he’d owned just moments ago—they nearly drove him mad.
“Alicia…”
For the first time, his voice carried raw desperation.
Her heart still responded to his voice.
Her body still trembled from the kiss, leaving her dazed as if she were dreaming.
“Ka…ien.”
Without realizing it, she dropped the title Your Majesty and called him simply by name.
The moment Kaien heard his name from her lips, joy surged through him—something he’d trade for nothing.
“I never knew my name could sound so sweet.”
He brushed her messy hair off her forehead, then stroked her pale, slender neck with care, as though handling a precious instrument.
Alicia blinked up at him, realizing what she’d just called him.
Her snowy lashes trembled, as if this whole moment still felt unreal.
A whisper deep inside told her to surrender everything to Kaien.
But as her breath slowly steadied, reason tugged her back.
“Alicia, please…”
Her eyebrows curved with conflict, and Kaien pleaded, but the meaning in her eyes was clear.
Still, she didn’t push him away.
So Kaien leaned in again for another kiss—until she turned her head.
“Stop…”
At last, the words he least wanted to hear.
“Please… stop everything.”
Kaien froze.
He realized then that this fragile woman’s single whispered stop was enough to chain him down completely.
His body still burned with desire, but her word bound him tighter than iron.
“Alicia, I—”
“Stop.”
She repeated firmly, pushing his shoulder away.
Then she slipped free of his hold, sat up straight, and smoothed her messy hair.
“I can’t see you off tonight. Please go back.”
“…Not even a goodbye kiss?”
But Alicia turned her head away, firm.
She refused to show him her flushed, disheveled face.
Or maybe… she feared that if she looked at him again, she wouldn’t be able to resist.
“I don’t want to see Your Majesty’s face right now.”
Every word she spoke burned him more.
The heat of their kiss still lingered, yet now her cold voice only made him want her more.
“For the first time… I miss the power of being Emperor.”
Kaien muttered bitterly.
“Would you command me, then?”
“…No.”
He knew nothing of women.
But he knew how to protect something precious.
An Emperor’s command would only destroy it.
“I won’t order you now or ever. I promised.”
His calmer voice eased Alicia’s heart.
Kaien straightened his clothes, then leaned down to kiss the top of her head gently.
“This much of a goodbye should be fine.”
For a moment, he nearly pulled her back into his arms.
But her words still echoed, holding him back.
“So I’ll step away like you want. But tonight… think of me. That’s all I ask.”
With that strange request, Kaien walked to the door.
The door shut behind him, and Alicia collapsed onto the sofa, spent.
“You didn’t even need to say that…”
Her white fingers touched her lips—the lips he had devoured just moments ago.
Her golden hair spilled around her face, but she lacked the strength to move it away.
“Now who’s the strange one…”
Kaien had left, but his heat lingered.
The pinecone basket in her sight hadn’t moved either.
And whether he asked it or not, she already knew—tonight, tomorrow, maybe even the day after—her thoughts of him wouldn’t stop.
Meanwhile, Kaien returned to his palace.
Whenever he came back late from the Empress’s chambers, his face was grim and his steps urgent.
“Tell Glenn to meet me in the gardens.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
And so, once again, Glenn was dragged into midnight sword practice.
By now, everyone knew the real reason: Kaien’s burning desires had nowhere else to go.
Even clueless Glenn couldn’t miss it anymore.
Back in the Empress’s chambers, a similar scene unfolded.
“Madam, shall we bring Her Majesty’s nightgown?”
“No.”
Agnes shook her head, thinking of Alicia shut away in her room.
“I’ll tend to her alone tonight. You may all leave.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Alicia let Agnes guide her quietly, saying not a word.
She lay down without protest, but Agnes knew well—on nights like this, Alicia would toss and turn until dawn.
“You must be tired, Your Majesty. Don’t think too much, just rest.”
Agnes’s gentle words went unanswered.
Alicia only stared blankly into the air.
Agnes sighed softly, then closed the door.
“Late spring, perhaps…”
Her murmur puzzled the young maid Maren.
“But Madam, it’s winter.”
Agnes smiled faintly.
It was a season young girls couldn’t yet understand.
“Her Majesty will sleep late tomorrow. Make sure everyone keeps quiet.”
When Agnes checked the clock, it was well past midnight.
It had been over a year since the grand marriage between Emperor Kaien of Darius and the great sage’s daughter, Alicia, had taken place.
Yet the union had never been consummated.
Their marriage hung in limbo—neither complete, nor broken.
“Madam Emma’s efforts have gone to waste…”
On this, their first wedding anniversary—their last chance to fulfill the union—it hadn’t happened.
The Minister of Rites had even secured permission from the Pope to let the Archbishop preside.
Emma had even called the Archbishop to the palace under the pretext of prayer.
But in the end… none of it mattered.
How very tragic indeed.
