Chapter 57
* * *
At Diana’s request to look at the flowers in the garden, Viern sat on the edge of the fountain, closed his eyes, and rested while waiting for her.
Shhh—.
He felt something touch his ear. Raising his eyelids, he saw Diana looking down at him, giggling.
“Your Highness?”
“You look pretty, Your Grace.”
“What is this…”
A flustered Viern reached up to remove the object from his ear, but Diana stopped him immediately.
“Ah-ah? No!”
She spoke to him in a deliberately stern voice.
“Don’t touch it. It looks just perfect and nice right now.”
“……?”
Then, smiling brightly, she handed him a flower.
“Put one on me too, here.”
She tilted her head a little lower towards Viern and pointed to her own earlobe. Only then did Viern realize the identity of the strange object she had placed on his ear. He let out a soft chuckle and tucked a flower into her ear as well.
“There.”
“How is it? Pretty, right?”
“…Yes.”
At her sudden question, Viern swallowed hard before answering.
“You are beautiful, Your Highness.”
At his barely uttered words, Diana laughed out loud and tugged on his hand.
“Let’s go over there too.”
Without a verbal answer, Viern stood up and followed her. A gentle smile lingered on his face as he walked behind her, who was strolling along briskly.
This walk, started under the pretense of helping her recover her memory, had become enjoyable for Viern simply because of the time spent with her. He now regretted making excuses about being busy and not making time for her more often.
Flinch.
Suddenly, he felt Diana, who had been leading him by the hand, give a slight shudder. It was a very subtle reaction, but Viern, with his keen senses, couldn’t miss it.
Following her gaze, Viern’s face hardened. At the end of her line of sight stood a tower, shattered, scorched, and in ruins. The tower that had imprisoned her for her entire life. Seeing Diana react to the sight of that tower even without her memory made Viern’s chest ache.
“This place… is not somewhere with good memories. Let’s just move on.”
He firmly grasped her hand and led her in the opposite direction.
“Huh? No, Your Grace. But to find my memory…”
A flustered Diana tried to stop him as he quickened his pace to change direction.
Whoosh—
Suddenly, he pulled her into a tight embrace.
“I only wish for Your Highness to recover good memories.”
“……?”
“If they are memories that hurt you, Your Highness, I wish you would forget them forever..”
His voice was thick with emotion.
‘Huh? That’s not it…’
Diana blinked and looked at him. The reason she had flinched upon seeing the tower a moment ago was because she remembered secretly approaching it not long ago to search for Anais’s belongings, avoiding people’s eyes.
She knew Viern had been busy with engagement preparations and hadn’t been paying attention to her during that period, but still, just in case, she had been checking his reaction. It seemed he had misunderstood something.
‘It’s not like seeing that tower makes me particularly sad or scared.’
It was true. Contrary to his worries, Diana truly felt nothing upon seeing that tower.
‘But…’
Diana gazed into his affectionate eyes, then reached out and gently stroked the corner of his eye.
“Your Highness…?”
“Just… because I like it. That you think of me this way.”
Her voice was soft and sweet as she whispered, her eyes curving into crescents. The light, cheerful laughter that followed made Viern’s chest flutter warmly.
* * *
On the way back to the main palace after their walk.
“I will escort you to your chambers.”
“I want to go play in your study.”
Diana spun around to look at him and asked in a subtly suggestive voice.
“Is that not allowed?”
…How could it not be allowed? Viern felt a heaviness below and clenched his fist.
Bang—!
The moment the door closed, their lips met.
“Ah… hmph…”
Trapped between the closed door and Viern, Diana let out a strange moan and twisted her head. The man’s knee, pushing between the folds of her dress, firmly pressed against her most secret place.
“Hah…”
“Before losing your memory, Your Highness would come here whenever you had the chance.”
“Mmm, yes.”
“You spent more time in my study than in your own chambers.”
“So… ngh… you’re going to do bedroom things here too?”
Her face already thoroughly disheveled from just a kiss, she panted and asked. Responding to her expectant gaze, Viern scooped her up into his arms. With a small ‘Eek!’, Diana clung tightly to his neck.
Unable to endure even the short distance from the study entrance to the inside, Viern incessantly nipped at every exposed patch of her skin—her earlobes, her cheeks, her nape.
“Your place was here.”
Laying Diana on the sofa, Viern climbed on top and loosened his cravat.
“You would always watch me work from here.”
“Mmm, that’s right… ngh…”
As her dress was hiked up, a large palm gripped her thigh. The thighs parted to the sides, and a hot breath hit the fabric of her underwear.
“Hah. Already… leaking like this again.”
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