Riorem returned to the bedroom after dinner time had passed.
Because there was much to discuss, he had just roughly eaten during work, and the meeting itself ended up taking longer.
‘I thought it would end sooner than this.’
That was also why he hurriedly paid for Chernea’s dress and immediately called the meeting.
He wanted to finish work quickly and hold that fragrant body in his arms.
But due to the troublesome situations surrounding Dynamis, there were too many issues he had to decide on as a lord.
Since Riorem sided with the crown prince, the nobles who had only been waiting for a chance to get rid of him began to unite.
They desperately tried to send Riorem to the frontlines of the border where Alpheios had left.
In other words, they thought Riorem, who sided with the crown prince, was a bigger threat than the mad prince Alpheios, and wanted to eliminate him.
Ironically, if Riorem died, those nobles would not withstand the defense gap and would collapse.
He missed the meal time while talking about such complicated and boring matters.
He had wanted to talk about the dress that had especially caught Chernea’s eye.
She, who liked beautiful things, would surely have enjoyed the conversation.
…If time allowed, he had planned to have that talk once before leaving.
Choosing a dress for Chernea was both a joy and a torment.
He wanted to hold her and caress her soft, curving body as much as he wanted, but there were always too many people present.
To prepare all the clothes needed before summer, there had to be fittings almost every day.
So, although he was excited, he rarely had a chance to relieve it.
When Chernea appeared wearing a dress that looked like indoor wear she often wore when young, he nearly stood up from his seat.
He wanted to wrap his arms around her over the thick belt cinching her waist and sink deeply inside.
In conclusion, Riorem was in low spirits.
He could neither hold Chernea freely nor even drop a hint about the dress he liked, stuck in this dragging meeting.
If someone had provoked him with Chernea at such a mentally fragile time, he might have even performed a dance with a knife.
Fortunately or unfortunately, the person who could wield Riorem best in the world was in his bedroom.
Riorem strode into the room.
The woman sitting at the table reading a book looked back at him.
Riorem froze on the spot.
The woman who had completely dominated his childhood was waiting for him almost the same as back then.
While Riorem remained frozen and motionless, Chernea turned her gaze back to the book.
Slowly, the pages turned.
With each turn, her neatly combed long red hair flowed down her shoulders.
Perhaps because of the soft lighting, to Riorem, that thick hair somehow looked like vines wrapping around Chernea’s shoulders and arms.
The dress made of soft and thin fabric flowed down along the lines of her shoulders and arms.
Thanks to its simple design with almost no decorations, the prominent collarbone and the curves of her chest were clearly visible beneath the fabric.
Riorem swallowed dryly.
Chernea’s eyes slowly moved over the book’s pages, and her long eyelashes cast shadows as they settled down.
It was the exact image he had lost himself watching on his way back after discarding the water he had washed his feet with.
Riorem exhaled slowly.
He intuitively knew that she had noticed the dress he had been deeply absorbed in earlier.
It was clear she intended to use that to push something he did not want again. He had often been used like that.
But he did not feel unfair about it.
He had lived being manipulated by this woman all his life anyway.
Even after realizing he loved Chernea, he never gained trust in her.
There were more cases of being used under the pretext of that love.
That was not especially unfair.
He was simply thirsty now.
Feeling like the boy who had once spied on Chernea outside the window, barely able to breathe, Riorem slowly knelt before her.
Only then did her golden eyes look at him.
Although that had never happened once in Felbiche Palace, now they could meet eyes naturally.
That fact made his lower body ache painfully.
“What do you want from me again?”
Riorem asked in a calm voice.
What kind of story was she trying to corner him with this time? Judging by how she even adjusted the lighting in the room to recreate that time, it was clear she intended to bring up some uncomfortable topic.
“And how…”
Riorem paused his breath for a moment.
The fact that she could reenact that moment meant she knew the young Riorem was watching her back then.
So, did she also vividly remember the time they spent together under the pouring moonlight?
He had never imagined she would know he was watching.
That was why he often stood quietly holding the basin, killing time…
Chernea smiled as if reading the question mixed in his silence.
“Actually, I had no idea at all back then.”
“Then how did you prepare something like this?”
“When I thought about when you liked wearing that dress, I just remembered how you used to get hard every time I read a book.”
Riorem’s eyebrows twitched.
Seeing that, Chernea spoke playfully,
“If I had known, I would have read it with my shoulders bare. Then maybe you wouldn’t have been pleasuring yourself on my feet but on my shoulders instead.”
Riorem did not deny it.
He thought that would have been true.
Instead of answering, he slipped his hand between the soft fabric and grasped Chernea’s shin.
Starting from below, his touch slowly moved up her leg — to her knee, her thigh, and finally her waist.
The sensation of the soft, thin fabric wrapping over Chernea’s skin was arousing.
If he had been able to touch her body over a dress as delicate as butterfly wings like this when she was young… he might have rubbed himself against the dress instead of the towel used to wipe her feet.
Luckily, he didn’t need to hold back now.
Riorem pulled Chernea’s waist tightly and unbuttoned his pants with one hand.
His already hard member sprang up instantly as soon as the button was undone.
“So, what story did you want to tell me?”
Riorem buried his cheek into the soft fabric.
Feeling Chernea’s thigh pressing on his face, his member twitched.
He started gently stroking the shaft he was holding.
Watching him with satisfaction, Chernea spoke.
“I was thinking of temporarily moving our residence to the capital.”
“That’s not possible.”
“Isn’t there nothing wrong with that? I heard there’s a townhouse in the capital.”
“Still, no.”
A heavy whisper came from a man who sounded like a pervert pleasuring himself while burying his nose in a dress.
“It’s dangerous.”
“It’s not perfectly safe even now, is it? Besides, if we’re in the capital, more people will come into contact with us, and maybe enemies will compete with each other.”
Chernea pressed her bare foot hard against Riorem’s thigh — she wasn’t even wearing slippers.
Riorem gripped his root tightly.
“There are that many risk factors… It’s difficult to control entry like at Dynamis Castle, and more importantly…”
Riorem exhaled.
“Prince Alpheios can come to visit too easily.”
For some time now, Alpheios hadn’t appeared in front of Chernea.
But he still showed up well enough in front of Riorem after entering the castle.
Although he stopped begging the king for Chernea, he continued to irritate people relentlessly.
It was impossible to completely block the prince’s visits, so his access to Dynamis Castle was still allowed.
When the prince came to Dynamis Castle, they could at least stall by checking his identity.
But if they moved to the capital, they wouldn’t be able to stop even brief midnight visits.
‘She can’t be unaware of that.’
Yet there was only one reason she might want that.