Chapter 26

Kwanach wriggled his hand in my grasp. Suddenly, he looked like an ordinary man, not an emperor.

Despite seeing the future, our marriage felt very normal for now. A marriage of the ordinary people. A relationship that was not interrupted by political gamesmanship. It was a normal way to share our hearts.

Kwanach was silent for a long time. I opened my mouth carefully, looking at his expression.

“You’re not okay with me holding your hand first?”

“…….”

“…… You’re quiet.”

“No, not at all… …I mean it’s good. I’m sorry. Please do it more often.”

Kwanach hung his head and blushed. I laughed quietly without realizing it.

Then he turned red up to the tips of his ears. Seeing that big man  was so shy made me want to tease him even more.

‘I think I’m going to get into a bad habit if I keep this up.’

It was the first time I felt like teasing someone. Kwanach’s lips quirk up at my laughter and said,

“Why are you laughing?”

“Because you’re cute.”

“If Oslin or anyone else hears it, they’ll pass out.”

“Really? They don’t think you’re cute?”

“You’re the only person in the world who thinks I’m cute. That’s because I only act like this in front of you.”

“This is how you act.”

Kwanach stared at me in silence for a moment, then grabbed my hand and lifted it up. He slowly placed his rough, hot lips on the back of my hand.

It was a slow, ticklish kiss.

Kwanach lifted his gaze and looked at me with his lips slightly parted.

“…… must be ticklish.”

“…….”

“…….”

This time it wasn’t Kwanach, but my ears that burned hot. Not only my ears but also my face and neck were burning.

I blinked quickly and wriggled my fingers in Kwanach’s hand. He squeezed my fingers tightly and said.

“Did you not like it?”

His voice was cracked.

“What ……?”

“The kiss.”

Kwanach answered shortly and leaned his upper body towards me. Close enough to touch my chest. His shadow fell on me.

I was teasing him earlier, but suddenly the tables were turned. I was driven to the corner of the bench and swallowed hard. It was like I had met a wild black bear, not a cute little one.

At any rate, I felt nervous that Kwanach would devour me. I grabbed my dress tightly with my empty hand.

Kwanach frowned and said,

“You must have hated it because you didn’t answer.”

“I don’t know ……”

“Did you get goosebumps when I kissed the back of your hand?”

“No.”

“Did you get chilled?”

“No, not really.”

“Then it was good.”

“Is that what you’re going to tell me….?”

Kwanach gently let go of my hand, and this time he held the tip of my chin.

I couldn’t help but turn my gaze to look around.

I didn’t know where those many attendants and knights had gone, but I didn’t see any of them. Perhaps they saw the mood we were in and excused themselves.

Kwanach let out a hot breath through his nose. He said, still holding my chin.

“If you don’t mind, can I do more? I want to kiss your lips.”

I almost hiccupped in surprise at the straightforwardness of his words. It would be strange not to be surprised when a man with a face like that comes up close and asks for a kiss.

I kept my composure and stared at Kwanach. I could count each of his long, dark eyelashes.

The heat was spreading near my chin where he had grabbed me.

“Are you asking for my permission?”

“Yes.”

Our faces were too close together already, but Kwanach controlled himself and stopped just before it touched. It was like an animal waiting for a decisive command.

I was somehow more embarrassed by his unbursting heat.

“Do you need to ask for permission? We had already done it…….kiss.”

“I didn’t like it much at the wedding.”

“…….”

“It was just one of the mandatory rituals.”

“That’s true….”

“I don’t think I’ve done a proper kiss yet. So I’ll ask you again, can I?”

He was a very clumsy and tough man, I thought.

With such a covetous look in his eyes, looking right at me and asking so proudly about such a phenomenal appearance, there was no way the word “no” was going to come out easily.

I grabbed my knees tightly with both hands. The lower part of my waist was numb. I was afraid of being eaten by Kwanach, but I nodded quietly without realizing it.

“Ugh….. “

Just as I gave my faintest sign of agreement, Kwanach turned his chin and kissed me.

A rough, unrelenting kiss.

Before I knew it, the hand that was supporting my chin had fallen, and was now firmly supporting my back. With a twist of his chin this way and that, Kwanach wrapped his lips around my lower lip and glided up to my upper lip.

His body scent gripped me intensely. I lost all strength in my body. If it hadn’t been for Kwanach supporting my back, my upper body would have gone straight backwards.

I closed my eyes so tightly that they tingled around my eyes, and I struggled to follow his kiss. When I felt suffocated, I breathed a few times through my nose.

At a certain moment, Kwanach started touching my lips with the tip of his tongue. I was surprised at how hot and damp it felt, and when I gently opened my lips, his tongue dug inside without any hesitation.

It was a hard, messy kiss, like a vow shared in this lifetime. Each time his tongue stirred inside me, I felt a little hotter.

‘He said it’s his first time.’

I thought to myself as I felt like I was flying white.

Kwanach said he didn’t have any sexual relations before, but how did he know how to kiss like this?

I could at least tell that he was a good kisser, even if there was no comparison.

His tongue naturally wrapped around my clenched tongue and tugged. Heat surged through my body as the kiss gained strength.

Just as my head was about to explode and I thought, “I’m going to collapse,” Kwanach parted his lips and gently stepped back.

‘Is it over?’

I opened my eyes, which had been closed stupidly tight. There, in a distance less than a finger’s length away, were Kwanach’s black eyes.

“Usphere.”

“…… Yes.

“Breathe.Your face is red.”

Kwanach gently stroked my cheek with the palm of his hand. The slightest touch was now so stimulating that my lower back was prickling.

“I don’t know how I’m supposed to breathe. I’m so out of my mind…”

“Do it every day and you’ll get used to it.”

“Every day?”

Kwanach only moved one eyebrow as if it was natural.

“I think I’d go crazy doing this every day.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know, but I feel dizzy and feverish……..”

“Do you hate it?”

It was my first unfamiliar sensation, but it seemed to be far from an unpleasant emotion.

I thought for a moment and shook my head.

“No, I don’t hate it.”

“That’s good. Let’s try it again.”

“What? ….Uh.”

Before I could say anything else, Kwanach turned his chin and came at me again. I was able to place my lips on his more naturally than before. I think I was getting a little used to the sensation of his tongue inside me.

Kwanach now gave me room to breathe, gently stroking my back from time to time. When I took a big breath through my nose, Kwanach’s scent entered deep into my body along with the smell of fresh grass.

My body felt heavy with rising heat, but at some point I felt like my body was going to soar upwards, fluffy as a feather.

The second kiss lasted much longer than the first. Kwanach I would improve, but it was because I endured longer than the first time.

But by the time we finished kissing, I was almost on the verge of falling down. I was so lost in my head that I couldn’t lift a finger.

“Let’s get some rest.”

I nodded, unable to respond to Kwanach’s words.

When he saw me wobbling, he must have decided that I wasn’t going to make it, because he quickly lifted me up in his arms.

“Kwanach…….”

I didn’t have the energy to say, “I want to get off, there are too many people.” So I just curled my shoulders and leaned against his chest.

I went straight to the bedroom with Kwanach holding me.

* * *

Diaquit glared at the artifact in frustration. He told Usphere to go to the Empire and contact him within a few days, but he hadn’t heard from Usphere yet.

After Usphere left, the Achaia Royal Court was in a flurry of activity and commotion.

Thanks to the Empire’s firm support of troops in exchange for the marriage alliance, there was no problem with border protection, but everyone missed Usphere, who had been their spiritual support.

“Everyone’s talking about Usphere, Usphere, Usphere. Ungrateful thing.”

No one supported him that much, who had regulated this country for several years in place of his sick father, they were only looking up to the little girl who was lucky enough to become an Awakener.

Diaquit clenched his fist. His gnarled fingernails pressed against the skin of his palm.

“Be patient, be patient. She’s the woman who’ll clean up later anyway.”

Actually, Diaquit wanted to go to war right now. But his ‘partners’ held him back, trying to use Usphere to make their preparations more thorough.

“Cowards. Is the First Emperor that scary?”

What is it with that lowly slave? It’s just that he had a bit of luck in building up the ‘myth of the undefeated’ this whole time.

Diaquit didn’t approve of Kwanach. He was so caught up in the ambivalence of inferiority and electability that he had lost all objectivity.

He was convinced that the Northern Alliance would win the war against the Empire. He believed that his ascension to the throne was a foreseen future, and at every turn he imagined himself as emperor.

“I can’t lose. I just made partners.”

Just then, the artifact lit up. Diaquit thought it was from Usphere, but it was from someone more familiar.

It was his partner, with whom he had made a plan to swallow the continent.

Diaquit raised a corner of his mouth in a grimace and picked up the artifact. Soon the artifact was glowing with a white light, and a welcome voice came out.

[It’s been a while.]

“Yes, how are you?”