As always, Zinon’s lips approach mine. My heart beats in anticipation of Zinon’s kiss, filled with the ticklish excitement that always precedes it. I was about to close my pink eyes, but I snapped back to my senses just in time.

No, if I let Zinon consume me, all my plans would be ruined.

“Wait.”

Zinon’s lips stopped abruptly, his long eyelashes lifted, and his deep blue eyes gazed at me.

“You can’t escape, can you? You’re the one who tied me up like this.”

Zinon says this, reminding me that his wrists are tied, constraining me.

No, that’s not it.

I didn’t tie Zinon’s wrists to prevent me from escaping, but to prevent Zinon from escaping and resisting.

I regret not having tied his hands behind his back, although it’s too late now. Zinon sighs and peers intently into my pink eyes.

“What’s wrong? Aren’t you going to do anything?”

Come on, me. Act like a queen. Remember Richeli. That fearless gaze, as if to say the world exists for me, hands on hips.

“…I will… Your highness, your composure will only last for so long.”

Once again, I muster up the courage, look up haughtily at Zinon, and reach for the buttons on his clothes.

One by one, I unbutton them from top to bottom.

I’ll take off all the buttons, and then I’ll undress him completely, and without hesitation, I’ll step on Zinon’s m@nh00d with my shoe… I’ll kick his butt, and is there anything like a whip around? I’ll hit him with it until he cries out in pain…

I bite my lip.

My hand, unbuttoning the buttons down and down, begins to tremble.

Zinon should be watching me closely, but I look down so he can’t see my face.

Once all the buttons are undone, I’ll undress him completely, so all I have to do is keep looking down until then.

I hear Zinon’s amused sigh.

“What, are you crying?”

With that, a tear falls onto my hand that’s unbuttoning his shirt.

“…”

Pretending I didn’t hear Zinon’s voice, I tried to continue unbuttoning, but my hand shook, my vision blurry, and I couldn’t see anything.

“Richeli. Lift your face.”

I shake my head. If I do, more tears will fall.

Zinon laughs softly again.

His soft lips press against the top of my head.

That gentle touch falls on my head over and over again.

He gently pulls my nape and wraps his arms around me.

“Come on, tell me what you planned to do from here after you tied me up?”

Once the tears start to fall, they flow one after another like a cough, choking me and making me sob uncontrollably.

“I… was going to… undress you…”

“And then?”

“Then… with a whip… I was going to… hit you…”

I’m starting to feel embarrassed.

“Oh? And then?”

“I… I was going to… step on… make it hurt…”

Zinon, who had been asking about my shameless seductress plans, who couldn’t stop sobbing and was barely breathing, matched his gaze with mine, looking into my face as if he was listening to a child’s story. He listens well.

“Haha… You? What’s your aim?”

“I… I wanted… Zinon… to hate… me…”

“Why would you want me to hate you?”

“So that… we… could break… our… engagement…”

“And what were you planning to do after breaking off the engagement?”

“I was… going to… enter… a convent…”

“Do you want me to join you?”

“!”

Caught off guard, I widen my eyes. Zinon’s deep blue eyes gaze at me, and his warm lips cover mine.

The kisses continue…

“I won’t leave you alone.”

With Zinon’s declaration and his gentle kiss, something inside me that had been held back tightly shattered, and I started crying like a child.

“Do you… love… me?”

“Well… who knows?”

Zinon grins nonchalantly and continues to kiss me without hesitation.

“Zinon…”

As I glare up at Zinon resentfully, he lifts his chin slightly, looking down at me challengingly, and says, “When you ask someone a question, you should answer it first.”

“Eh?”

“What do you think of me? Do you love me?”

Suddenly confronted with the question, I blink in surprise.

What should I do? Should I say I love him? What will happen to the game if I confess my love?

As my anxiety mounts, Zinon’s finger touches my lips.

“If I express my feelings and you still can’t believe them, I don’t want to say it.”

“…”

Zinon’s fingertip takes my hand and presses my palm to his cheek.

Zinon’s smooth skin.

His deep blue eyes, reflecting my image, stare straight at me.

“But… everything you touch is yours.”

“…”

The feeling of Zinon’s smooth cheek under my palm, which he had pressed against it, overwhelms me.

“Here… is this… mine?”

“Yes.”

“And… here…?”

I touch Zinon’s golden hair, which feels silky and pleasant.

“That’s yours too.”

“And… here?”

I touch Zinon’s fluffy, long eyelashes.

“That too.”

“And… here?”

My fingertip descends to Zinon’s lips.

Zinon stares at me unblinkingly, his blue eyes smiling as they draw closer.

“That’s also yours.”

As he whispers in his sweet, husky voice, Zinon’s lips press against mine, and the ribbon around my wrist holding me to him falls to the floor unnoticed.

“Mmm…”

As he pulls down my dress, exposing my neck, collarbone, and chest, he repeatedly plants kisses on me, mixing them with soft sighs as he undresses me completely.