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Chapter : 20
“I heard you were looking for me.”
As Zenaida arrived, Kaiden set aside his work and spoke.
“Yes. There’s something I wanted to say to you privately.”
Kaiden glanced at Laura, who had been standing behind him. Reading the cue, she stepped outside. Kaiden then rose from his seat and guided Zenaida toward the sofa.
A brief silence settled between the two as they faced each other.
Afraid of missing even the slightest change, Zenaida focused intently on the man before her. He parted his lips several times before finally speaking.
“I will come to your room tonight.”
To say he would come to her room was a roundabout way of saying he would fulfill his duty as her husband.
Zenaida blinked in surprise. The opportunity had come far sooner than she had expected.
Almost as if it had been planned.
Did he place someone to watch me?
Laura had appeared immediately after the Pope broke his teacup in the drawing room. And now, the very night she was ordered to kill Kaiden on their wedding night, he himself suggested spending it together.
Zenaida did not answer right away, instead quietly studying him. There was no sign of agitation on his face.
Is he acting?
Regardless of the process, Zenaida had no reason to refuse. She had been given a week, and within that time she had to deceive the Pope no matter what.
Parting her dry lips, she replied,
“Understood.”
That night.
Zenaida waited for Kaiden dressed plainly. Though it was their first night together, she had no intention of seducing him.
Her thoughts were tangled, and in the end, she opened a bottle of wine.
Normally, it was something a married couple shared together, but if she didn’t drink something now, she felt she wouldn’t be able to keep still.
She drank three glasses in quick succession. As the alcohol took effect, her body grew noticeably warmer.
Thanks to that, her tension eased, and she was able to relax more than before.
When her body began to feel sluggish, Zenaida set the glass down. Drinking any more and risking a mistake would be dangerous.
Just then, Kaiden entered the room through the secret passage.
Dressed lightly in a bathrobe, his hair still damp, he carried a faint scent of musk.
Seeing the wine in the glass, he murmured,
“Did you drink alone?”
Zenaida wiped her mouth with the back of her hand and replied casually,
“Yes. It was cold.”
Without responding, Kaiden approached and sat down beside her.
Though they were an officially recognized imperial couple and had even shared a tent before, the awkwardness between them did not fade.
The heavy silence continued until Kaiden broke it.
“How many glasses did you drink?”
“Three.”
“That wine is strong. Don’t drink any more.”
He smoothly took the glass from her hand, covering the back of her hand as he did so.
“Oh… all right.”
When she replied stiffly, Kaiden paused briefly before speaking again.
“Do you know what one usually does on the first night?”
At the question—spoken as if addressing a child—Zenaida frowned slightly.
How young does he think I am?
In the Papal States, once a person reached a certain age, they received sex education.
Priests, clerics, and even holy knights. Even those who served God were permitted to form families and have children.
In the past, vows of chastity had prevented official recognition, forcing people to form families in secret. But since the current Pope took power, many things had changed.
“I’ve received the education. I know.”
“Is that what you want?”
At his question, Zenaida hesitated, unable to answer immediately.
What had she done before her regression?
We slept together.
Back then, the Pope had not ordered her to kill Kaiden on their first night. They had needed to appear like a normal couple, so she had accepted it.
After regressing, the consequences of altering the past had accumulated and now stood right before her.
“No. I don’t want that.”
As if he had been waiting for her answer, Kaiden turned his body away.
“Then, since it is the first night, I’ll stay beside you.”
In the Arden Empire, couples usually consummated the marriage and then returned to their own rooms, but on the first night, they stayed together from night until morning.
It was due to a superstition that misfortune would befall the marriage otherwise.
As if meeting in the first place wasn’t already a misfortune.
Swallowing her bitterness, Zenaida pretended to sleep. Alone in the darkness, her thoughts continued endlessly.
Can I do this well?
The Pope was a cunning man.
If she lied and said she had failed to kill Kaiden on the first night, would he really believe her?
Zenaida bet everything on the slim possibility that the Pope was testing her.
No matter how close the Pope and the Emperor were, Felix would not tolerate overreach from the Papacy. From what she had seen while serving as a guard, he was obsessed with the throne and power.
To calm her anxiety, she repeated words silently to herself and slowly opened her eyes.
They were lying back to back, so she couldn’t see whether Kaiden was asleep, but his breathing was steady.
He’s asleep.
Carefully, so as not to wake him, Zenaida slipped out of bed.
Contrary to her expectations, the room was not very dark. Magic stones glowed faintly, allowing her to make out her surroundings.
She retrieved a dagger she had hidden beneath the bed.
The blade alone seemed to assert its presence.
Just a little is enough.
She didn’t want to do this. But if she didn’t, the people of Niveus would suffer.
For Zenaida, who had never wished harm on others because of herself, there was effectively no choice.
If an assassination attempt led to a struggle without even a drop of blood, that would be suspicious.
She bit down hard on her lip to keep from making a sound.
“…!”
Blood streamed down her arm, staining the floor.
Thinking it wasn’t enough, Zenaida switched hands and cut herself again.
Perhaps because she rushed it, it hurt more than before.
It hurts.
Tears gathered at the corners of her eyes.
Endure it.
Afraid a sound might escape, she bit her lip again and inflicted another wound.
Strangely, the more it hurt, the more relieved she felt. The more perfectly she deceived the Pope at the cost of this pain, the safer the people under her protection would be.
She waited until her trembling shoulders settled. After barely steadying her breathing, she slightly turned her head to deceive Kaiden as well.
But when she looked back, her body froze in shock.
“…What are you doing by yourself?”
Kaiden—whom she had thought was asleep—was fully awake, staring straight at her.
His gaze slowly traveled downward, stopping at her arm. Zenaida hurriedly tried to hide her wrist, but Kaiden did not let her.
He grabbed her wrist sharply.
“Don’t tell me you did this… to yourself.”
Trailing off, he grimaced.
He looked furious. Grinding his words out, he demanded,
“Why did you do this?”
The atmosphere was similar to when she had tried to injure herself at the banquet to summon a spirit.
But once again, she couldn’t tell the truth. To deceive the Pope, she had to deceive Kaiden completely as well.
Instead of answering, Zenaida tightly gripped the dagger and aimed it at him.
Seeing her threatening posture, Kaiden let out a hollow laugh.
“So you won’t answer… How willful.”
There was a trace of irritation in his voice.
That, at least, put her slightly at ease.
“Are you going to kill me?”
But at his final question, she flinched.
Deciding further conversation was pointless, Zenaida lunged toward him with the blade.
The dagger cut through the air, grazing his cheek.
With a fierce expression, Kaiden tried to restrain her, but it wasn’t enough to subdue Zenaida as she charged forward without hesitation.
Despite his expression, his movements were sloppy, and she exploited that weakness. Mounting him, Zenaida struck down relentlessly like an assassin intent on killing.
The pillow tore open, spilling the wool inside. Tufts of animal hair floated chaotically in the air.
By the time the wool settled back onto the bed, the two were staring at each other, breathing heavily after grappling back and forth.
This time, Kaiden was on top.
Blood flowed from various places on both of their bodies. With her wrist restrained, Zenaida deliberately let go of her weapon after seeing his ragged state.
The dagger fell onto the rug, its sound muffled.
Just like that time when everything had been buried under snow.
When things finally quieted, Kaiden released his hold and moved away.
Letting out the breath he had been holding, he roughly wiped his face with his hands.
Zenaida deliberately turned her back to him, refusing to look.
It’s over.
Now all that remained was for daylight to come and for others to witness the aftermath of the commotion.
Suppressing the urge to bite her nails, Zenaida hugged her arms to herself and curled inward.
Perhaps because of her wounds, or perhaps not—despite the warmth of the fireplace, she felt cold.
Then, from behind, Kaiden pulled her into his arms.
