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As she managed to catch her breath and order him to stop, Yulan could not hide his disappointment.
He stared at her intently, licking his own lips, which were glistening with their mingled saliva; it was clear that the fire of desire had been properly lit within him.
However, Yevgenia had something to say of her own.
“I’ve always thought this, but you’re too… clingy.”
“I can’t exactly kiss you dry, Princess.”
“That’s not what I meant…!”
“Or do you mean I should dry out the inside of my mouth before we kiss?”
It was obvious he understood her meaning, yet Yevgenia smacked his shoulder hard at the question, which was clearly intended to tease her.
At that, Yulan winced and let out a sharp "Ugh!" as if he had been struck by a meteorite.
Finding his reaction utterly irritating, Yevgenia gave him a couple more hits before standing up.
In the cramped space, her foot caught on the hem of her dress, and she nearly lost her balance and fell, but Yulan quickly caught her.
“Careful. If you fall while rushing to get up, you could get seriously hurt.”
“Who do you think made me want to rush up in the first place…?”
“Hmm. My fault for being too good at kissing.”
Yevgenia didn't bother answering and simply glared at him.
She had no idea who had instilled such delusional confidence in him.
Of course, she wasn't saying he was bad or that his skills were terrible.
If she had to be honest, he was on the skilled side, but…
‘Is he really that good? I have no other experience to compare it to.’
Pouting, Yevgenia shifted her body and escaped from Yulan's embrace.
Now that she could finally stand on her own, she felt a strange sense of liberation.
As she was roughly smoothing out the wrinkles in her dress, Yulan approached her and held something out.
“What is this?”
“The item you mentioned before. A usable prototype came out, so I brought it for you to try.”
The object he held out was a round tin can; judging by the size, it didn't seem to be the tinted glasses.
If so, it must be the peppermint candy—though he called it a stimulant—that they had discussed a long while ago. The familiar name just stuck better.
While it was good to receive a prototype to try early, the timing bothered her slightly.
Gently touching the tin can, Yevgenia asked while keeping her gaze fixed on it.
“…Did you give me this because I smelled bad when we were kissing…?”
“There's no way. Princess, what on earth do you take me for?”
“…….”
There are times when a void of silence is a better answer than a completed sentence.
Now was exactly that time.
Yulan spoke as if pleading with Yevgenia, who refused to believe in his innocence.
He would rather be falsely accused of murdering someone than be burdened by such a petty accusation.
“I swear on my honor as a gentleman. That was absolutely not my intention.”
“…Fine, I'll take your word for it.”
“This is driving me crazy…”
Yevgenia completely ignored the frustrated Yulan and opened the tin.
Inside, it was filled with opaque white candies.
Their shapes differed slightly, but it was a margin of error she could overlook.
As she popped one into her mouth, a familiar scent filled her senses.
It was the same scent as when she had kissed him moments ago, but far stronger.
‘Of course the original product would be stronger than something filtered through a person.’
It was strong enough to make her tongue tingle slightly, but she actually liked it.
The mixed sweetness neutralized the stinging sensation to some extent, creating a proper harmony of flavors.
Rolling the candy in her mouth as she evaluated it, Yevgenia looked up with her cheek slightly puffed out.
“This is decent. It would sell especially well at the Academy.”
“Right. I think so, too.”
Yulan's voice, answering obediently, sounded somewhat awkward.
He had been using every ounce of his strength to suppress a sudden urge to laugh, which made his pitch unstable, but Yevgenia didn't notice.
Looking down at Yevgenia, who was focusing on the taste of the candy again, he cautiously reached out.
Seeing her slightly tilted head and the disheveled strands of hair, he felt a sudden urge to tidy them.
Yulan carefully smoothed each strand with a very light touch so she wouldn't notice, but he suddenly froze.
That was when Yevgenia noticed his action.
Looking back and forth between her hair and his hand, she spoke.
“Why did you stop? Since you're at it, comb my hair for me.”
“…The Princess is certainly bold.”
“If it's bold to tell the culprit who messed up my perfectly groomed hair to fix it, then yes, I am very bold.”
As a result, Yulan had his own words thrown back at him and ended up serving Yevgenia, but for some reason, there was no sign of displeasure on his face.
His touch was incredibly awkward, as if he had never touched someone else's hair before, but she was grateful even for this.
‘As long as it's tidy enough that Madam won't imagine anything strange when she sees it, that's enough. I can leave the proper styling to Madam.’
Ultimately, the completion of her plan was to not be caught by Anna.
While receiving the gentle touch on her hair, Yevgenia drifted into thought and suddenly asked as if something had occurred to her.
“Where will you be on your birthday? Here? The Imperial Palace?”
“…I'll probably be here. Unless something comes up.”
At the firm answer, Yevgenia let out a low hum.
“Hmm, I thought so. You're not even coming to the Imperial Crown Prince's birthday banquet? You could come as Nox.”
“Do you know that ‘Nox’ is a commoner when you say that?”
“I said it because I thought someone like you could easily create a title to come under. Is it really that difficult?”
It was a pure question, but for some reason, Yulan deflected it with a bit of difficulty.
“…Not at all. Something like that isn't difficult. I just dislike it.”
“I figured as much….”
It was a predicted answer, but she couldn't help the lingering disappointment.
The Imperial Palace would have been the most convenient place to deliver his birthday present.
‘It would be too strange to bring the Rose of Light on the way to see Madam. But there are no auctions left in the remaining time to buy a new gift that wouldn't look odd to carry around….’
Should she completely give up on giving the Rose of Light as a gift?
But no matter what other gift she thought of, none had the impact of the Rose of Light.
In fact, until a moment ago, she thought that if she could just clear the mountain of misunderstandings piled atop the Rose of Light, she could use it for its original intended purpose.
The only problem was that the locations where she could hand it over were limited.
Among the few candidates, the most suitable place was indeed the Imperial Palace.
Bringing a precious artifact like the Rose of Light to the Imperial Palace would not look strange to others at all.
In that regard, it would also be easy to persuade Duke Martir.
She could use the excuse of offering it to the Imperial Crown Prince, or if necessary, claim she wanted to show it off to the nobles at the banquet.
Even if it were lost, as long as she kept her mouth shut, the Imperial Palace wouldn't bother making a fuss, making it easy to gloss over what happened after delivering the gift.
That was why she had hoped he would be at the Imperial Palace at least for the birthday of the Imperial Crown Prince, with whom he seemed to have a decent relationship, but that wasn't the case either.
‘Thinking about it, it makes sense. He couldn't possibly have good memories of the Imperial Palace.’
Recalling the unbelievable secret of the Imperial Family she had heard today, she felt her breath hitch.
While a third party would know best what actually happened, Yulan must have a clear reason for believing he had murdered the former Empress.
Whatever that reason was, it certainly wouldn't be pleasant.
‘Father might vaguely know about this. Damn, then I should give up on asking about the former Empress too.’
In a situation where she had promised never to meet Yulan again, there was nothing to be gained from prying into the former Empress.
If anything, she might just get scolded for not keeping her promise.
The only way to quietly find out about a secret that everyone is hushed about is…
‘I guess I have no choice but to recall the original novel. Yulan should be the male lead of Part 2.’
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