“Stop.”
A low voice accompanied the arm that wrapped around Diana’s waist, pulling her back. A solid body pressed tightly against her back. Diana gasped and turned her head at the familiar scent.
“…Kayden?”
“Ha…”
Kayden was breathing heavily as if he had run there. His breath was hot against her ear, and his body burned with heat. Still holding Diana, he took a step back and glared coldly at Ludwig.
“I didn’t expect to see you here, Marquis Kadmond.”
“I was just greeting the Third Princess Consort. But where were you rushing off to, Your Highness the Third Prince?”
Kayden’s tension was palpable, while Ludwig responded with a smooth, mocking smile. Kayden’s body tensed slightly at the question, and Diana felt his movement clearly.
What is this? As she rolled her eyes, Ludwig shrugged and bowed politely.
“Well, since the Third Princess Consort is no longer alone, I’ll take my leave. Congratulations on your marriage.”
With a meaningful smile, Ludwig left surprisingly calmly. Although Diana found his behavior suspicious, she quickly dismissed it and turned to Kayden.
“Are you alright? Are you hurt? Did the marquis do anything to you?”
Kayden examined Diana thoroughly before she could answer, sighing in relief only when he confirmed she was unharmed.
“…He’s a close aide of the First Princess. Don’t be alone with him. It’s dangerous.”
“Nothing happened, but I understand. But you said you were going to your palace, so why…”
Diana pulled Kayden into the lounge. She closed the door tightly and turned to look at his face, abruptly stopping in shock. Despite the heat of his body, Kayden’s face was pale. Diana’s heart sank.
“Kayden?” She called out to him anxiously.
He blinked as if out of focus, then his large body swayed.
“What is th—!” Diana tried to support him, but his weight made her fall onto the sofa with him on top of her. She felt his magic raging more fiercely than before and bit her lip.
What on earth did he do? Diana tried to calm his magic by hugging him. But Kayden was faster, trapping her in his arms as if to hold her down.
“…Hey, uh.”
Diana tried to call his name but shivered at the hot breath on her neck. Every time his lips brushed her bare skin, a moan threatened to escape her lips. Damn. It’s a seizure…
Meanwhile, Kayden bit his lip, trying to suppress the pain. He had used the power of the high-level spirit of light, Elfand, excessively, causing his magic to flare up more violently than usual.
I need to get up. Kayden tried to push himself up, worried about Diana’s body beneath him. But his body betrayed him, seeking comfort and moving on its own. All he could do was to stop his hands from caressing her shoulders.
“Congratulations on your marriage. I’ve sent a gift to your palace, so open it when you get back.”
At the banquet, as soon as Rebecca mentioned a ‘gift,’ Kayden had clenched his fists, feeling a familiar chill run down his spine.
“I need to go to the palace. You should find a place to rest, perhaps the lounge.”
He had urgently sought out his aide, Patrasche, and returned to the Third Prince’s palace. As expected, he found the bedroom filled with ‘gifts.’
“Damn it.”
Upon entering, he had to fend off assassins dressed in black. His golden sword cut through the darkness.
The smell of blood thickened in the room, and he felt as if someone else was controlling his body. Then, he heard Elfand’s voice in his head.
“If you keep fighting longer than this, your body will suffer. You should end this quickly.”
“Of course that’s what I want…!”
The assassins were so skilled that he had no time to respond.
After barely killing the last one, he caught his breath. He confirmed that no blood had splashed on him and looked around.
“How many did I kill?”
Using Elfand’s power for a long time or extensively increased the likelihood of a magic seizure.
As Elfand counted the assassins and the power borrowed, Patrasche, who normally wouldn’t enter until the danger was cleared, rushed in.
“Master! The third princess consort just encountered the second prince…!”
“…What?”
The words hit him like a cold shower, clearing his head. He had run to the banquet hall, only to find the second prince gone and Ludwig about to kiss Diana’s hand. Unhappy with the sight, he quickly separated Diana from the Marquis.
“But where were you rushing off to, Your Highness the Third Prince?”
After Ludwig, with a mocking laugh, disappeared, confirming Diana’s safety, his magic went wild again.
Please, listen, to me…
Kayden gritted his teeth and exerted force on his arm, slightly distancing himself from Diana. As soon as their contact decreased, the pain intensified, making it hard to breathe. An unruly desire surfaced, wanting to relax his arm and savor the comfort by rubbing his nose against her skin. However, Kayden didn’t want to act irrationally toward Diana, using the excuse that he was not in his right mind due to the pain.
A grateful person who had accepted the somewhat absurd and dangerous act of a contract marriage for his sake…
“Kayden.”
At that moment, Diana, who softly called his name, reached out and tightly embraced his neck. Kayden, who was desperately enduring the pain, leaned helplessly into her embrace.
“No…!” He immediately tried to distance himself in alarm. But the moment their bodies touched, the excruciating pain noticeably subsided.
“…!”
It felt like taking a sudden breath of cool air while suffocating from the heat. Kayden paused at the sudden decrease in pain and the clarity that followed. Blinking blankly for a moment, he let out a hollow laugh.
“Again.”
This was already the second time he felt this way. Whenever the unbearable pain hit, just touching Diana felt like he could breathe again. By now, he wondered what kind of presence he considered Diana to be for him to feel this way. As he counted the heartbeats transmitted through their touching bodies, Kayden laughed wearily and relaxed his body.
Diana, who ended up completely lying on Kayden’s body, let out a small groan. “Are you still in a lot of pain?”
Diana, thinking Kayden’s body had lost strength due to pain, worriedly stroked his back. With each touch of her hand, the pain gradually subsided.
At this point, a rather reasonable doubt arose. Perhaps Diana knew about his seizures and was pretending not to. With a slightly skeptical heart, Kayden opened his mouth. “Diana.”
“Yes?”
“Can I hold you like this for a moment? Strangely, I feel better when I touch you. Ah, I’m not trying to pull anything. I mean it.” He hastily added at the end. Of course, as soon as he spoke, he despaired inwardly, feeling it sounded like a pathetic excuse.
Diana then chuckled softly and nodded. “Of course. It’s okay.”
“…Thank you.”
At that moment, Kayden vaguely realized that Diana knew about his seizures. And that she was comforting him by accepting his unreasonable demands.
Kayden felt a bit overwhelmed as he realized this and tried to change the subject while managing his fluttering heart, which was different from his seizures. “By the way… I apologize for ruining the wedding night, but we might have to stay at the Empress’s Palace tonight.”
“Why?”
“There’s a bit of an issue with the bedroom… It needs to be repaired.” Unable to say they had to clean up the assassin’s body and bloodstains, Kayden made a vague excuse.
Diana, still hugging him, looked suspiciously at the back of his head but decided to let it go for now. “Then wouldn’t it be better to go right away to the empress’s Palace and rest properly?”
“Just a little… Just a little longer.” Kayden mumbled with a sigh, burying his face in Diana’s neck.
Diana tried to suppress strange thoughts every time his breath landed on her bare skin. This man is sick. He’s a sick person. He’s not doing this with other intentions… Diana desperately repeated this thought and quietly embraced him.
Meanwhile, Kayden’s breathing gradually stabilized, and with his steady breaths, her eyes also began to blink slowly. Eventually, without knowing who first, they both fell asleep together on the lounge sofa.
Later, when Patrasche found them, he was startled and dropped his jaw, but the two of them remained unaware.
