“Danny, are you worrying in your head again about what might happen to me?”
William asked as if he had entered my mind and come back out. I flinched but immediately pretended otherwise, hugging him and patting his back.
“No, Your Majesty. You’re not a child anymore.”
“Hah! You’re the same age as me, yet you speak like an old man again.”
“Haha, did I do that? But Your Majesty…”
“Shh, we’ll talk later. Let’s stay like this a little longer. I’m tired, Danny.”
“…Yes.”
William buried his face in the nape of my neck, breathing several times before embracing me and collapsing onto the sofa. Startled, I almost pushed him away, but when our eyes met—his gray eyes looking at me—I froze like a person turned to ice, unable to move.
He kissed my lips while calling my name repeatedly, “Danny, Danny….”
No. I only took the suppressant a short while ago, but if this continues, I won’t be able to hold back and will show an unseemly sight.
My heart began beating frantically. Cold sweat broke out and my whole body trembled. With William mounted on top of me, all I could do was turn my head away to avoid his gaze.
“Why are you trembling so much?”
“Your Majesty, I’m not ready yet…”
“I know. What kind of person do you think I am, Danny? Do you think I’d force you when you’re unwilling?”
His gentle voice and the hand patting my chest gradually calmed my heart.
“No. Your Majesty would never do such a thing.”
“Right. So don’t worry.”
I nodded slightly. Except for William’s rough breathing close by, it was bearable. Then William placed his hand on my head and began stroking my hair as if counting each strand. When I swallowed, William chuckled briefly, removed his hand from my head, looked directly at me, and asked:
“Danny, you said I was warm and loved the empire’s people, and that you’d stay by my side forever.”
My heart jumped at the sudden question.
Has he figured out my plan? Does he know something and that’s why he’s asking this?
I thought this while studying William’s expression. Fortunately, I couldn’t find any sign of anger on his face.
“Your Majesty, why are you suddenly asking such a question?”
“Just… I suddenly had that thought.”
“What thought?”
“Even if Danny weren’t as pretty or kind as now, I could forgive you for anything because you’re Danny… I wondered if Danny would do the same.”
The atmosphere seemed to be growing increasingly serious unintentionally, so I tried to brush it off with a joke.
“Haha! Of course you should forgive me. Don’t I have immunity privileges?”
William’s face crumpled as if my joke wasn’t funny.
“Don’t try to brush it off with jokes. Answer me properly.”
“…Yes. It seems I misjudged the mood.”
William’s expression softened at my apology. Then he asked directly, as if determined to get an answer.
“Even if I were a bad person, are you confident you wouldn’t betray me?”
At William’s words, I definitely felt something was strange.
He’s been acting odd since he entered the office. Something definitely happened at the Noble Council. Did one of the nobles show signs of betrayal?
William, being sensitive to betrayal, would have developed anxious attachment if such a thing happened at the Noble Council, and that would explain why he was acting like a hurt child toward me now.
In times like this, soothing William was the best choice. I turned my body to look at him. His slightly lowered eyelashes were trembling.
To stabilize William, I repeated the words I had always said to him during times like these.
“I’m the person who came to your side of my own accord even when Your Majesty was a little tyrant.”
William raised his gaze as if telling me to say more, meeting my eyes. His unstable gaze that made me infinitely weak pricked at my conscience.
I need to steel my heart.
I declared this to myself and continued speaking.
“We got through those days when your life was in danger, so what reason would I have to leave Your Majesty’s side now? So don’t worry.”
Only then did his wavering eyes fix and his drooping mouth corners turn upward.
“Right. That’s enough. As long as you’re by my side, I don’t care about anything else.”
It was a love confession cold enough to freeze the surroundings. Just as I was about to turn my head away from the chilling feeling, William caught my chin.
Startled by his sudden action, I looked up at him. His blazing eyes were staring directly at me.
“Why suddenly…”
I trailed off and tried to turn my head to the side. If I kept looking into those eyes, my body, sensitized from my heat cycle, might betray my reason.
“After giving such a good answer that you won’t leave me… why can’t you meet my eyes?”
Startled by the thought that he had seen through me, I examined William’s face, which clearly showed displeasure.
“Because I’m embarrassed.”
A short sigh returned to my helplessly trembling voice.
“If you’re embarrassed, close your eyes instead of turning your head away, Danny.”
A large hand covered my eyes. Before I could panic, his lips crashed into mine. At the sudden kiss, I didn’t know what to do with my arms floating in the air.
Our noses bumped and our lips interlocked. I thought the lips would part with just a ‘smack’ sound like they always had, but they rubbed and devoured each other for a long time.
This is different from usual. This kind of thing is dangerous!
Red alerts blared in my head. But I could do nothing except breathe heavily.
It wasn’t that I disliked kissing William. The reason I had tried to end our kisses quickly despite seeing his earnest gaze was because William was still a minor by my country’s standards.
But now that even that last shield of him being a minor had disappeared, two thoughts of equal weight clashed sharply in my heart: the thought that this was wrong, and the thought that continuing to reject him would only strengthen William’s obsession.
“Hah… thinking of other things during a kiss is a bit much. Focus.”
He lightly bit and pulled my lips that were trying to retreat. As our lips touched and rubbed softly together, sweet sensations enveloped my entire body. Unable to handle the rising heat, just as I pulled my head back, William’s hand pressed the back of my head and tilted his head.
The scent that made my head spin, the dizzying breath came rushing stronger.
“Ah…!”
A sound I couldn’t hold back escaped during the brief moment our lips parted. Where our chests pressed together, I could feel each other’s hearts beating frantically. William lowered his posture so I could feel his hot breath directly.
“W-wait a moment. Your Majesty, th-that is… I’m still…”
“You know. The more you refuse, the more you run away, the more I want to hold onto you.”
“I wasn’t trying to refuse… mmph… ngh!”
This time he buried his lips faster and deeper. I tensed my body to avoid being consumed by the wave-like sensations rushing over me.
However, his arm supporting himself so I wouldn’t feel his weight, and his hand stroking my head and face the entire time we kissed, were so achingly tender that my mind kept growing hazy. I tried to push him away thinking this shouldn’t happen, but I was helpless against the relentless lips and the heat blooming everywhere our bodies touched.
After being absorbed in kissing for a while, William pulled his lips away and gazed down at me intently. He made soft smacking sounds as he pressed his lips to various parts of my face before pulling away.
I could feel his possessiveness and desperation toward me in each of his actions, making my heart flutter frantically.
It felt like something I had protected all this time was crumbling down at once.
What was the identity of this feeling that was good yet painful, painful yet agonizing? Was I feeling this emotion because I knew we had to part?
My emotion, which I had thought was similar to brotherly affection or paternal love, was actually something else. Though it was a feeling I realized from just one unexpected kiss… I couldn’t easily distinguish whether even this emotion was a trick of hormones or genuine.
The emotion called love, which I had never felt even in my previous life—was it okay for me to feel it toward William, whom I had practically raised?
As soon as our lips parted, all kinds of thoughts rushed in. Reading my expression, William climbed down from on top of me, showing a disappointed look.
“The kiss must not have been great. I can see Danny’s mind wandering.”
Though he probably threw out those words lightly to avoid being too heavy, my heart couldn’t be light. However, if I responded heavily, the atmosphere would become even stranger.
I took a deep breath and calmed my wildly racing heart. Only then did I see William’s trembling shoulders and his fist clenched so tight that veins bulged.
You were holding back too.
While I was applying mental brakes in the whirlwind of emotions, thinking this shouldn’t happen, you were making desperate efforts, clenching your fist until veins bulged.
My heart went ‘zing’ with emotion. So I gave him the answer he wanted to hear.
“No. It was good. I was just a little surprised because it was sudden.”
“I… it was my first time with something like this too. I’ll be careful not to surprise you next time.”
“…Yes.”
William smiled awkwardly as he helped me sit up and asked:
“Then what were you thinking about? You were thinking of other things the entire time we were kissing. I couldn’t think of anything else…”
“I couldn’t think of anything else either. I just… briefly wondered if this was okay…”
At my carelessly spoken words, William’s face instantly hardened. The air around us froze cold as if the heat from moments before had been a lie.
In the heavy silence, William, who had been staring only at me, finally spoke after a long while.
“Heat cycle.”
Author: Hyacinthus B
Hyacinthus
