Chapter 1 - Part 1
***
Oscar bowed his head, pulling Lelia’s back close to him with his big hand.
Their eyes met for a very short time.
It was very short.
“Hmm…”
His lips crashed onto hers. It was a kiss that seemed to eat her up.
He tilted his head, supporting Lelia’s back head with the other hand. And dug deeper and deeper.
At the sudden kiss, Lelia couldn’t think of anything. She was drunk on the scent and warmth she had missed all along.
However, his act of digging into the lips was too much. It was so intense that it was difficult to breathe.
He stirred and bit her lips at his will. Lelia eventually knocked on his shoulder with her fist because she was out of breath.
“Sigh…”
When their lips parted, Lelia barely breathed.
Now she knew it was not a dream.
She felt like her mind was starting to work properly because of the rough kiss.
“Lelia.”
“…”
“I missed you.”
A quiet voice whispered in her ear. Her heart pounded.
Their lips fell, but their bodies got closer. He bowed his head and buried his face in Lelia’s slender neck.
The cold cheeks rubbed against the back of the neck.
Lelia was embarrassed and tried to push his shoulder down, but paused and hugged him as he was.
She didn’t want to push him away.
“Lelia.”
“Yes.”
“I missed you so much.”
“…Me too, me too.”
Oscar fell after inhaling the scent for a long time rubbing his nose around Lelia’s ears and neck.
At that moment, the eyes of the two met.
Lelia felt like her heart was going to jump out of her chest.
“Why are you looking at me like this…?”
Lelia looked at Oscar’s eyes and questioned.
Oscar had very troubled eyes.
The red eyes were mostly wet. The emotion contained in the gaze was clearly “pain.”
Why?
“What happened, Oscar?”
“…Nothing.”
Oscar replied like that, but she felt like he was about to cry.
As expected, he can’t fool her.
It had been like that since he was young. When Oscar’s emotions changed, Lelia noticed them too easily.
So it was painful.
Oscar didn’t want to be caught, so he put his nose back on Lelia’s neck.
When he inhaled, a sweet scent filled his lungs.
If he could die like this, that would be nice.
It was that sweet.
He never forgot the night he spent with Lelia. He wanted to come back quickly, but he hesitated because he was afraid of doing it again.
Can he dare to do that to Lelia and receive that affection? He was afraid that he would be punished more.
However, the concern was short.
It was a body that committed an ugly crime anyway. If he could, he wanted to be next to Lelia even if he hid himself for the rest of his life.
Pretend he didn’t know anything and be abominable like that.
“It tickles.”
When Oscar rubbed his nose against Lelia’s neck, she shrugged.
He fell off for a while. Lelia took a step back, grabbed Oscar’s shoulder, and made him go around.
Looking up and down, she carefully checked if he was injured.
“You’re not hurt or sick, are you?”
“…I don’t have any.”
Despite Oscar’s answer, Lelia was not satisfied. This was because the painful appearance she saw last time was stuck in her head.
Oscar, who was watching Lelia closely, asked, “Should I take it off if I’m suspicious? I can check inside?”
“Huh? Huh?”
At Oscar’s provocative words, Lelia paused.
“Let me check instead.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I want to see if you’re really okay or hurt.”
Lelia’s face heated up. It was a relief that the room was dark. Otherwise, all the red ears would have been visible.
At that time, Oscar’s expression crumpled for a moment.
At the same time, they heard a knock on the door.
“Lady.”
Lelia’s eyes got bigger.
The voice from outside the room was Becky’s.
“Hide away! No, get out the window!”
Surprised, Lelia whispered and pushed Oscar’s back.
Oscar sighed low. He was so into Lelia that he noticed a sign approaching them too late.
He kissed Lelia’s cheek briefly and escaped through the window.
It was obvious who called the maid.
After confirming that Oscar had left, Lelia closed the window and walked toward the door.
Then she took a deep breath and opened the door.
“Lady, are you okay?”
“Yeah… But what brings you here at this hour?””
“No… Sir Griffith said he heard a strange noise in her room while taking a walk.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Yes. You might be having a nightmare, so he asked me to check it out. You’re okay, right?”
“Yes, I’m fine.”
“You don’t look so good. Oh my! Don’t you have a fever?”
Thanks to the lanterns in the hallway, he seemed to have noticed Lelia’s red cheeks.
Lelia shook her head.
“Oh, no!”
As she stepped back with noticeable embarrassment, Becky looked puzzled.
“Just… I had a nightmare. That’s why. It’s all right now. I’m going to sleep again.”
“Okay. I’ll come back later, lady.”
“Yeah… Thank you.””
After Becky went, Lelia closed the door and sighed with anticipation.
“Surprising…”
Did Griffith notice something?
He didn’t know Oscar was here.
Lelia walked to the window. Before she knew it, the sun began to rise, and the darkness was slowly clearing away.
She opened the window and checked below. Then she made eye contact with Oscar, who was looking up at her from below.
Oscar waved and smiled softly.
When she saw his smile, she was strangely shaken. Oscar’s smile was so pretty that she felt dizzy in her head.
***
The atmosphere at the breakfast was cold.
It was thanks to Oscar, who took a seat and sat down. It was even more so because it was next to Lelia.
The family glared at Oscar with cold eyes.
The friends didn’t seem to care if they knew Oscar’s arrival in advance…
“Cough cough.”
In a suffocating atmosphere, Lelia eventually coughed.
Oscar naturally offered her a glass of water. Lelia took it and looked around.
“…”
The family flashed their eyes and did not take their eyes off the two, as if he handed over a poisoned glass of water to Lelia.
‘I can’t do this.’
Lelia didn’t want Oscar to be hated by her family.
Of course… She couldn’t help it when she thought about the past.
“I have something to tell you.”
Lelia continued as soon as everyone’s eyes were on her.
“In fact, in the Imperial Castle… I once told myself that I wanted to run away. Oscar heard that and took me to the neutral zone.”
She spoke as if she were pouring out without breathing.
Her family…
Hmm…
They looked at Lelia with that look.
“You’re trying to make excuses.”’
At first glance, everyone seemed to be thinking that way.
It was time for Lelia to open her mouth again.
“Oh, that’s why you two came to the neutral zone?”
It was her mother who brought it up. Having regained stability, she looked comfortable.
Uncle Karius, who was taking care of his mother closely next to him, asked, “What do you mean?”
Her mother replied with a slight smile.
“If it weren’t for Oscar at the time, I would have been hanged and died a long time ago.”
The words calmed the atmosphere.
Everyone looked at her mother with surprised eyes.
Come to think of it, when explaining the process of meeting and saving her mother, she made that part clear.
Lelia opened her mouth as if adding.
“That’s right. If it weren’t for Oscar then… Even if we ran away, we would have been chased by the temple.”
It was shocking to think about it again. If they found her mother a little later then…
“Thanks to you, I met my family. Thank you, Oscar.”
“Please don’t say that…”
Oscar replied quietly to his mother’s words.
The expressions of the family watching Oscar became softer.
On the other hand, the eyes of the friends became colder.
***
After eating, Lelia went for a walk along with Oscar.
After a light walk, she was going to go to the greenhouse and drink tea with her friends.
During this time, Lelia asked Oscar this and that about the person who became emperor instead.
Oscar honestly confessed that it was a doll made of magic. Lelia was surprised. The way he rolled his eyes looked lovely.
“Then… Who’s going to work? Do dolls do that, too?”
Oscar answered the cute question affectionately.
“…The important issue will be handled by me.”
“Then really… We really don’t have to go back?”
“Yes.”
It was a confident answer. Lelia bit her lips.
She was confused by a mixture of guilt that she seemed to have blocked Oscar’s future and the joy of staying here together.
Lelia whispered quietly.
“…Let’s go together later.”
“Hraesvelg, the empire?”
She nodded her head. Oscar smiled quietly.
Not long ago, he was full of thoughts that he wanted to lock Lelia up in the Hraesvelg Fortress, but not now.
Such a cold and desolate place did not go well with Lelia.
Furthermore, after the emperor’s accession, Hraesvelg Fortress became like thin ice.
There was no servant who didn’t know that Oscar killed Emperor Seon and set up a fake display.
Nevertheless, no one raised an objection or thought of anything else.
If she said something wrong, her life would be lost, so she couldn’t help it.
If she had been locked up in a cold icy castle, Lelia would certainly not have made this warm face.
Oscar stopped walking and stroked Lelia’s cheek. Lelia held Oscar’s hand and put on her cheeks.
Oscar choked up at the lovely act.
He felt guilty.
He tried to make up an okay look.
Lelia looked at the expression and asked.
“What are you thinking?”
“I want to kiss you.”
It wasn’t wrong. Apart from guilt, he wanted to swallow her. Regardless of whether this place was outside or inside, he wanted to push in her like a beast.
Lelia looked around with a serious look. It was refreshing to see her cheeks red.
“I’m sorry, but we are outside.”
“…”
At Lelia’s answer, Oscar smiled, lifting the corners of his lips. As he said so, he had a bad urge to try more.
“I’ll do it on your hand instead.”
Lelia held his hand, which was touching her cheek, and kissed the back of his hand and palm once.
The sound that came from her lips was supremely lovely.
Then, she looked up and said, “Okay?”
Oscar was heartbroken by the cute behavior that he had never imagined before. He was painfully happy.
As expected, he thought it was a good thing he didn’t trap Lelia back home. However, the idea did not last long.
At that very moment…
“Hey, concubine.”
This was because Kalix came with a fluttering step from afar.
He sounded like a gangster arguing with a lover walking along the street.
***
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