* * *
“Ah… ngh… hnn… mmh…”
His fingers traced along my jaw before turning my face toward him.
My body kept rocking back and forth under his movements.
The sheets trapped a suffocating heat around us, sweat beading across my skin.
My head spun, my senses growing hazy as his pace increased.
“Ah—! Mm… ahh, haah…!”
Pressed against the sheets, my arousal throbbed as pleasure built up.
I was already dripping, the sensation sending a sharp wave of anticipation through me.
If it felt this good just like this… how much better would it be inside?
A strange, instinctual craving made my insides clench.
The pleasure shouldn’t feel familiar—but somehow, my body reacted as if it knew exactly what to expect.
My toes curled. My stomach tensed, trembling as my release rushed in all at once.
As if sensing it, Ateol quickened his pace.
The blanket slipped from his shoulders, exposing our heated skin to the cool air.
“Hah—! Ah, ahh…!”
The moment I climaxed, Ateol pulled out from between my thighs.
Then, parting my cheeks, he pressed the head of his length just against my entrance—enough to feel, but not enough to enter.
Warmth spilled out of him, coating the tightly closed space.
Some of it seeped inside, while the rest pooled at the entrance, sliding down my perineum, my thighs, and across my stomach.
Each pulse of his release sent another shudder through me.
He hadn’t even been inside, yet my entire body felt like it had just been thoroughly wrecked.
Heat coiled deep in my belly, leaving me breathless.
I exhaled slowly, my body still overly sensitive.
The lingering heat made my skin tingle as Ateol wrapped himself around me from above.
I let my limbs go slack, focusing only on catching my breath.
Ateol, too, was still coming down from it.
“You really did enjoy that, didn’t you?”
“….”
His voice held undeniable satisfaction.
Without thinking, I shook my head, but he didn’t take it as denial.
Not that I could exactly deny it.
I glanced at my status window—
[Affinity: Ateol
55%]
…What the hell?
I barely said anything, yet it increased.
Ateol, still holding me, suddenly narrowed his eyes.
“What about Siwoo?”
I hadn’t seen him since that night.
Ateol’s brows arched slightly as he watched me.
“Bringing up another man the moment you wake up in bed with me? That’s quite the habit.”
“…I just thought of him. It was a random thought.”
“In this situation?”
His tone was playful—but there was an edge of something more in his gaze.
“Fine, fine. I was thinking about you.”
The words left my mouth before I could even process them.
But technically, I had been thinking about his affection level, so that counted, right?
Ateol’s brows furrowed slightly—then, without a word, he kissed me.
[Affinity: Ateol
55% → 56% ]
…Seriously, what even is this system?
Afterward, Ateol helped me clean up, dressed me again, and tucked me back into bed before getting dressed himself.
“Leaving already?”
“If I stayed the night at the Tower Master’s chambers in this situation, rumors would spiral out of control. People would start calling me your ‘concubine.’”
“…Concubine?”
I hadn’t heard such a rumor before.
At most, there were talks of marriage—but concubinage was a completely different story.
As I tilted my head in confusion, Ateol added,
“It’s obvious what Caleus is after. No need to give him any more leverage.”
“What exactly is Caleus after?”
That had been on my mind all day.
The way he had handled the situation with the monsters felt too neat, as if he had anticipated everything.
“Soon enough, rumors will spread that the National Hospital incident was staged—by me.”
“Staged?”
“The timing of the two major incidents is suspiciously close. Some people will argue that I deliberately orchestrated the National Hospital attack to secure my reputation. And naturally, they’ll say you were in on it. Especially since the incident just happened to take place in a hospital run by Caleus.”
“…Hmm.”
It was a plausible theory.
If that’s the case, Caleus’ attitude made perfect sense.
He had expected me to bring Ateol along from the start.
I felt like I had been played—like I’d fallen neatly into his trap.
Two days later, my suspicions were confirmed.
Cloden came to report that the rumors were gaining traction.
“You can ignore them for now. The Crown Prince hasn’t taken a stance yet.”
Hmm. Caleus’ silence worked in our favor.
No matter what, he couldn’t openly claim the attack was staged without undermining himself.
And thankfully, the public reaction wasn’t as intense as he’d likely hoped.
“Then ignore it. Let them talk.”
“Understood.”
With that, I cut off all audience requests and correspondence related to the matter.
Attention-seeking rumors were best dealt with through silence.
Or so I thought—until someone I couldn’t ignore came knocking.
The Emperor.
Even with talks of abdication circulating, the Emperor was still the Emperor.
He wasn’t someone I could simply turn away.
Which was how I found myself, with Cloden’s troubled expression beside me, preparing to meet the Emperor in the Narcissus Garden.
“Tower Master.”
“Your Majesty.”
“…I assume you know why I’m here.”
He seemed to be in quite a hurry.
As I silently took a sip of my tea, the Emperor, looking restless, continued speaking.
“I wish to confirm whether the rumors circulating are true.”
“That I deliberately orchestrated the appearance of a monster at the National Hospital just to give the Fourth Prince a chance to earn merit?”
“…….”
When I spoke so bluntly, the Emperor momentarily fell silent, seemingly at a loss for words.
Tilting my gaze slightly, I continued.
“Would I even have a reason to do such a thing?”
My tone was noticeably displeased.
The clear sound of teacups clinking echoed in the room.
The Emperor, who had come here driven by emotion, flinched at my words for a brief moment but did not back down.
“If the Tower Master had grown impatient, you might.”
“Is there a reason for me to be impatient?”
“Don’t you wish to see Ateol ascend the throne as soon as possible?”
Well, if I had any particular fondness for Ateol, it wouldn’t be an entirely absurd idea.
Between him being a mere Fourth Prince and him becoming Emperor, the latter was certainly more preferable.
However, neither I nor the real Yuri could possibly have arranged for every single temple across the entire nation to receive the same divine revelation on the same day.
The Master of the Highest Tower is merely a god of the earth, not an actual deity, and even if he were a god, he wouldn’t have the power to control all others.
In short, the Emperor’s words were nothing short of groundless accusations.
“Just so you know, I have no idea why that divine revelation came down.”
“If even you do not know, Tower Master, then…”
“Who knows, maybe the priests have an answer.”
The odds of every single priest, including those in rundown, collapsing temples in remote villages, conspiring together to fabricate a divine message.
The odds of me being so in love with Ateol that I risked divine judgment to forge a false revelation and hasten his ascension to the throne.
The odds that the gods simply decided on their own to make such a decision.
Among the three, the last one seemed the most plausible.
The Emperor, unable to argue against that logic, shut his mouth.
And so, after a prolonged and fruitless confrontation, he left empty-handed, while I lost a portion of my gauge.
I had tried to stay quiet, but when someone spouted nonsense to this degree, I had no choice but to respond.
As I returned to my room and saw my gauge lingering at 60%, my thoughts naturally drifted to favorability levels.
And thinking about favorability inevitably led me to think of Siwoo.
Right. I should focus on raising someone else’s favorability now.
With that thought, it wasn’t long before I found myself sitting across from Siwoo in the garden of the Fourth Prince’s palace.
* * *
