Assad’s voice firmly captured the gaze of Cayden, who was quietly sitting at the edge of the wide bed. It filled the deep purple eyes that had been watching the rain cutting through the darkness of night with only Assad Mekerius.
“Your Highness…”
Cayden belatedly called out to Assad.
Assad was in a hurried state. He didn’t even have time to greet the surprised Cayden. Fearing Cayden might try to get up, he quickly claimed the spot next to him.
“I’ve been thinking.”
Assad began speaking with a rather solemn atmosphere.
“It definitely can’t go on.”
“What’s this suddenly…”
“Don’t take suppressants anymore from now on. You don’t need to take such things anymore.”
“…”
“Yes. According to the implicit law that the Crown Prince must not know about, we need to be careful not to conceive a child. But using suppressants isn’t the only method, right? So I called in doctors and magicians and pressured them. To come up with any method that wouldn’t harm your body… a way to avoid using suppressants.”
Facing Assad, whose cheeks were somehow flushed, Cayden repeatedly opened and closed his mouth. He was bewildered.
“It was so embarrassing, but… your body shouldn’t be in pain. I don’t want that. I’d rather be the one who’s embarrassed.”
After finishing his words, Assad was silent for a moment. Uncharacteristically, he seemed to hesitate about something.
But the hesitation was brief. Assad untied the string of the pouch he was tightly holding. Then he poured its contents onto the bed. They were small rubber items of strange shapes. A small golden magical tool was also among them.
With a reddened face, Assad examined Cayden’s expression. He stared intently as Cayden’s eyes closed and opened.
“What is this…”
Cayden’s words trailed off. He seemed to need an explanation. Unable to contain his embarrassment, Assad had to inwardly curse a few times.
“People who live in civilian homes… when they engage in intimacy… they use these things. Because they can’t have children in unprepared situations.”
“…”
“That… it’s even enhanced with special magic.”
Following this, Assad laid out everything he had learned in front of Cayden.
After receiving the choppy explanation, Cayden fell silent. He tightly closed his mouth with a face that looked extremely awkward. Assad thought Cayden had every right to react that way. Even he had been inwardly surprised when he saw those strange items.
Meeting Cayden’s eyes, Assad barely managed to calm his mind. He picked up the small magical tool that had fallen onto the bed along with the rubbers meant to cover the genitals. It looked like a semicircular dish. He had been told it was created by magical scholars and magicians who had put their heads together.
“After finishing intimacy… I was told to place this on your stomach. They said it would erase my traces that remain inside you.”
“…”
“But it’s not a perfect tool, they said. For now, it would be better to use it together with that hideous thing, the magician told me…”
Assad, who had been trying to continue speaking, gave a hollow laugh. He recalled how the doctors and magicians before him had been flustered and confused.
The sound of rain mixed into the awkward silence.
Speaking so haltingly like this was a first for him since birth. Even when he was just babbling as an infant, he probably hadn’t spoken so foolishly. He didn’t want to look like a slow-witted child, yet he was acting like one. It was irritating.
Assad inwardly sighed and glanced at Cayden. With an expression that made it impossible to guess his thoughts, Cayden was looking at the rubbers scattered on the bed. That is, he was taking in the things that would cover his spouse’s genitals.
“It’s fascinating. Both of them…”
With an awkward smile, Cayden carefully added a word.
“But relying solely on those things and not taking suppressants seems a bit risky.”
“We shouldn’t ignore even the smallest possibility?”
“Your Highness knows well. That with one small possibility, all of Your Highness’s plans could be disrupted.”
Cayden spoke without daring to meet Assad’s eyes. His voice was quite serious.
Assad couldn’t be certain what exactly Cayden meant by “all plans.” He could only speculate that perhaps Cayden was referring to plans that had already been half-abandoned in his own heart.
He felt a strange mix of embarrassment and apology. Cayden was a dense man. But occasionally, he was startlingly perceptive. It seemed he had already perceived even Assad’s foolish old plans. Plans so faded that one could hardly recognize what their original purpose had been.
“Cayden.”
“…”
“I become stupid in front of you. You know I become an ignorant fool. Always.”
“…”
“Plans? There are no such things between us. I don’t know what plans you’re aware of. And they’ll remain unknown to me. What meaning could my plans, unknown to me, have for me?”
Assad had no intention of letting Cayden go. He had made up his mind.
Love wasn’t necessary in a political marriage. They could become a couple and have children without loving each other. Like his mother and father, they could stay together for a long time without love.
If so, what reason was there why Cayden couldn’t be the one he would spend his lifetime with?
Just because Cayden was a northerner with nothing to his name, even if the entire imperial family pointed fingers at him and gossiped freely that this person couldn’t become an empress, it was none of his concern. He would just shut their mouths and break their fingers. Even the god who had brought Cayden before him would express satisfaction in punishing the unbelievers.
To begin with, could someone who couldn’t even maintain their position over a mere empress issue be called an emperor? It would be better to run straight to the desert and die buried in sand.
‘My bride is not a person who will create problems. The impious ones who harbor discontent with the bride arranged by the gods will become the real problem of the imperial family someday.’
Forgetting that he himself was one of those impious ones, Assad smiled crookedly.
Assad layered his hand over Cayden’s. The hand, cold as winter weather, was caught under his and instantly became lukewarm.
“You worry too much. The only thing important to me now is that your body doesn’t get damaged. Why don’t you understand that?”
Just touching hands wasn’t enough. Assad leaned toward Cayden and embraced him.
“Uh…”
But because Cayden was pushed back by Assad’s weight, they ended up embracing each other and rolling on the bed. It must have looked quite comical. But that didn’t matter.
Assad tightened his arms around Cayden. He lay still, holding the cool man in his arms, listening to the sound of rain.
‘So comfortable.’
It felt like he could spend a lifetime just like this.
He liked Cayden. Not as a cumbersome and persistent love that he had to guard against constantly, but he had developed a very human affection for Cayden. Assad had to admit that fact. He instantly felt at ease.
“You can’t damage your health. That’s how you live long. From today, you’re breaking up with those damned suppressants. Let your heat cycle come.”
Like parents who only know how to nag their children. Even if Cayden found him tiresome for repeating himself, he had nothing to say.
Cayden didn’t answer. Instead of opening his mouth to convey words, he chose to smile.
The small sound of laughter brushing his ear felt so ticklish. Embarrassment pricked at Assad’s cheeks. His fingertips tingled for no reason. The ticklishness, which didn’t seem like it would subside at all, quickly spread throughout his body.
“…Why are you laughing?”
Assad asked. A gruff voice, not matching his elated feelings, shot out. As if trying to hide his softened heart.
“I’m healthy.”
What a lie. Assad inwardly clicked his tongue upon hearing Cayden’s words. He thought Cayden spoke well despite having a ghostly complexion that would only wake up at dawn.
“But… I really think I shouldn’t take suppressants from now on.”
“Yes. You shouldn’t.”
“Yes. Because Your Highness keeps saying that, I’ve become reluctant to do so.”
“Good. Even if someone brings you medicine, ignore it. Don’t put anything in your mouth, just give it to the plants instead of water. I’ll also tell the attendants to make sure nothing harmful gets near you.”
Assad, with his eyes closed, muttered on.
The idea that only the Crown Princess and Crown Prince’s wife had to take suppressants. In his youth, his father must have whined and cried in front of his mother. He might have complained that the daily intake of suppressants and contraceptives was so harsh it hurt his stomach. According to what his aunt had told him, “Your father was a naive and innocent alpha who seemed to have been raised like a flower in a greenhouse.”
But Cayden wasn’t the type to complain. He was even insensitive to pain. So, Assad had no choice but to step up for Cayden. He was doing what Cayden wouldn’t do.
“We’re a couple. We should do everything together. It’s strange for only one person to sacrifice unilaterally. I don’t like that.”
“…”
“The laws of the imperial family? All nonsensical babble.”
Assad, who had been grumbling, held Cayden even tighter. He buried his nose in Cayden’s nape and smelled his skin. Beneath the scent of warm water that remained on someone who had just washed, no pheromones were detectable.
When Cayden’s heat cycle comes, will he be able to indulge in that soft fragrance to his heart’s content?
Pressing his lips to the skin revealed between the black hair and the loosened collar, Assad firmly grasped Cayden’s waist. He pulled him into his embrace as if not wanting to leave even a slight gap between himself and Cayden.
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
