Lee-Jae had woken at dawn and now sat cross-legged in meditation.
Roderick woke a little after her.
She could tell he had stirred—by the movement of the bed, by the shifting energy in the room.
But she remained perfectly still, immersed in meditation. She wanted to empty her mind.
Roderick, watching her with his chin in his hand, once again thought how incredibly clear her energy felt.
Lee-Jae always insisted it was because of her talismans and chants, but Roderick didn’t believe that was the whole story.
Even when she stripped down like a pale apricot fox, that same feeling remained.
He looked at her this way and that… then gently tapped her knee.
“Does that stuff do anything if you do it every day?”
Lee-Jae opened her eyes with a light chuckle.
“It just helps me find some inner peace. It clears my mind when things get complicated.”
“Yeah?”
“Want to try it, Your Majesty?”
“Thanks, but I’ll pass. I’d rather break a sweat—it suits me better.”
The King wasn’t exactly an impatient man, but the idea of sitting still with his eyes closed for an hour every day like his wife? Unthinkable.
It amazed him how she managed it so regularly.
Lee-Jae hadn’t really intended to recommend it anyway, so she simply nodded.
She straightened her back again and closed her eyes.
But Roderick nudged her once more.
Her earlier words made it clear—her mind was tangled.
“Can’t you do that later? Won’t you spend a little time with me?”
“Are you bored?”
It was still twilight outside.
The faint light before sunrise didn’t make one bored—it cast a quiet, strange mood.
Roderick just wanted to hold her tightly.
When Lee-Jae unfolded her legs, the King slipped his hands under her arms.
He lifted her effortlessly and sat her on his thigh, then began toying with her ring and pinky fingers.
The atmosphere was shifting into something more suggestive.
Wanting to take it further, Roderick said:
“Kiss me.”
Lee-Jae gave him a light kiss on the cheek, but he shook his head.
“Not there.”
The kiss she gave once was returned thrice.
He cupped both her cheeks and kissed her lips repeatedly.
Then he noticed the pale apricot fox was smiling.
Eyes half-closed, her expression was one of quiet contentment.
“Hey, fox. Can’t you lay your ears back?”
“What?”
“When foxes are happy, don’t their ears tilt back?”
“………”
“Should I make you happier? Is this not peaceful enough for you?”
He grinned wickedly. Lee-Jae shot him a look.
“How am I supposed to fold my ears? Now you’re really saying nonsense.”
Instead of replying, Roderick buried his face in her neck.
As always, he took a deep breath of her scent.
The cool, quiet air of dawn suited her fragrance perfectly.
But nestled in his arms, Lee-Jae gave a little shiver.
“That tickles.”
She used to think she’d get used to sensations like these over time.
But some feelings, it turned out, only became more delicate with repetition.
Instinctively gripping his hair, she made him lift his face.
“Does it tickle that much? Want me to bite it instead?”
“Isn’t this usually the part where you stop?”
“To keep both sides happy, compromise is everything in a marriage.”
“It’s not that I don’t like it… just that it tickles.”
“I know. I do too.”
He pulled her close again, pressing his face into her neck and shoulder.
Then he gently bit down on her soft skin.
Nibbling for a while, Roderick began to suck, slow and deliberate.
Lee-Jae clung to him tightly.
Overwhelmed, she rubbed her cheek against his shoulder several times.
Her behavior was almost like a soft whimper.
But from that alone, it was hard to tell—was she urging him on or asking him to slow down?
Roderick stroked her back again and again… then gently pushed her back.
He wanted to speak with his eyes.
And at that moment, he felt a heat rise sharply from deep within him.
His eyes had gone slightly red, but she was smiling softly, the corners of her eyes gently curved.
Why the hell was she smiling like that, all giddy? She was going to drive him insane.
Roderick covered his view with his large hand.
He stayed silent for a while.
Lee-Jae, not knowing what was going on, cautiously tried to pull his hand away.
He simply put it back again, covering his eyes once more.
Then he said, somewhat brusquely:
“Just give me a moment.”
“Why?”
“If you touch me now, I seriously might turn into a beast—even I can feel it.”
So you weren’t already? she thought, barely holding back a laugh.
She tried to climb off his thigh.
But Roderick wrapped his arm around her waist like lightning.
“Doesn’t mean you should get off.”
He took a deep breath, and Lee-Jae watched curiously.
She didn’t understand what he was fighting off, but it felt like he had just barely managed to restrain himself.
Then came another kiss—deep, and rougher than usual.
Lee-Jae’s chest rose and fell in quick bursts, but their tongues continued to entangle.
Before they knew it, their bodies were leaning sideways again.
This sort of thing was common whenever their kisses grew intense.
Roderick kept pushing forward until Lee-Jae looked like she couldn’t hold her head up anymore.
He quickly supported it and gently laid her down on the sheets.
When saliva started trickling from the corner of her mouth, he considered wiping it with his hand, but instead licked it away with his lips.
“Darling.”
“Yes.”
“Will you say my name? Just once.”
“…Your name?”
“Yeah.”
He waited. But strangely, no answer came right away.
The longer Lee-Jae stayed quiet, the more one of Roderick’s brows began to rise.
“Is this something to think so hard about?”
She gave a small, sly smile.
“I just… like this. It feels comfortable.”
“What?”
Roderick, who had been brimming with anticipation, found himself briefly speechless.
It had been a sudden request, sure—but this response had completely blindsided him.
He frowned and asked:
“Wait… You’re not going to give me that talk about ‘keeping a proper distance’ again, are you?”
“Would you believe me if I said yes?”
“Ah… so I’m getting rejected again.”
If that were the case, he’d genuinely feel a little hurt.
But Lee-Jae shook her head with a stifled laugh.
“It’s more that… I’m just used to calling you this way now.”
“That’s why I told you from the beginning of our marriage to start calling me by name. You’ll never grow a bean if you don’t plant one.”
He was half-joking, but strangely anxious.
Because she wasn’t saying yes or no—she just looked at him in silence.
And it gave him the uneasy feeling that she might never call him by name, even until the end.
“Come on, just this once.”
“Why are you suddenly so obsessed with it, Your Majesty?”
“Because I think it’d feel incredible to hear you say my name while we’re in bed. I mean, ‘Your Majesty, Your Majesty’ is nice and all, but…”
Lee-Jae gave him a sharp side glance, laughing in disbelief.
“That’s a pretty impure reason. Definitely a no.”
“…Hey, I was joking. Married couples can’t even say stuff like this now? What’s so impure about a husband wanting his wife to call his name?”
Lee-Jae looked as if she was seriously contemplating it.
“You know, I’ve thought about this before.”
“Yeah? What is it?”
“Whenever Your Majesty pushes me like this… I weirdly don’t feel like doing it.”
Since learning her real name, Roderick had never once called her Hailey.
He was probably being considerate—carefully reading her mood.
Lee-Jae knew that too.
Which is why saying “I don’t want to call you that now” at this point felt a bit petty.
But then again, people sometimes act childish without a real reason…
“I’ve thought about why I’m like this.”
“……”
“I think… it’s because you look cute when you beg.”
Lee-Jae gave a bashful smile, but Roderick rubbed his forehead in disbelief.
It wasn’t because he had the kind of build people typically called “cute.”
He had only just realized—belatedly—that his wife was trying to tease him back.
So this was her attempt at joking.
Had I really teased her that much? he wondered.
“Now that I think about it, you’re way more mischievous than I am.”
“Yeah, maybe I am.”
“Alright then, let’s see who wins this round. I’m not letting go until you say my name.”
He stripped off his clothes haphazardly and bent down, targeting his fox’s weak spot.
Lee-Jae burst into laughter, trying to push away his iron-like torso.
But in that moment, Roderick grabbed her right wrist and pinned it above her head.
He took her left arm too, crossing it over the other and holding them both with one hand.
It looked like she’d been captured—but this fox had already long since given her heart away.
She wasn’t scared in the slightest.
In truth, she could feel it.
He was only cutting off her escape—carefully controlling his strength to avoid hurting her.
“Darling, shall we test the effects of that good-for-your-body food we had?”
“Pretty sure I was the only one who ate it.”
Roderick grinned, mischief glinting in his eyes.
“They said it works differently on me.”
His hand slid once across her red lips, and his blue eyes flicked down briefly—then looked back up.
“You really do go all out for my health, don’t you?”
“…You’re seriously a pervert.”
Chuckling softly, Roderick once again bit down gently on her lips.
Lee-Jae parted her mouth slightly in response, accepting him.
Then, without her realizing it, he let go of her wrists and instead cupped her soft cheeks gently in his hands.
The faint light of dawn was slowly beginning to filter in through the window.
