Alicia’s mother always told her stories about Rubertine.

“My daughter and I are going to Rubertine someday. We are going to live happily there.”

Alicia thought it was all a vain hope, but she did not speak out.

She could not forget her mother’s earnest eyes and how she had held Alicia’s hand tightly at the moment of her death whispering, “Let’s meet again in Rubertine.”

Alicia always missed her mother dearly.

Her longing reached the point where she was begging, for death from a man in an enemy country, while clinging on to an unbelieving superstition.

“If my story had shaken your heart a little, please end my life now.”

Alicia rose cautiously and knelt before Cabellenus. With her hands together, she gazed at the man’s eyes that looked like a beast and pleaded for mercy with a faint voice.

“……I have no intention of killing you.”

Cabellenus exhaled a dejected breath and swept up his hair with a rather rough gesture.

“Why?”

 Alicia’s grey pupils shook.

Cabellenus tightly clenched his fist.

“Because I don’t want to.”

It was enough for a woman who wanted to die, to just die. But the woman before him was too small and fragile to be talking about death.

If the neck was that thin, he was confident that he could break it with one hand without needing to pull out his sword.

But… those eyes had always been the problem.

The faded, dull eyes of the woman bothered him.

“Even if I’m worthless, I’m also a member of Neinstein’s royal family. You won’t have any trouble if you kill me for the future. ”

“Trouble …?”

Alicia gulped down her breath, trying not to be startled by the low growling voice.

“You must be mistaken, but it’s up to me to make a judgment. It’s not a matter of a mere slave.”

In an instant, his breath touched her lips.

Surprised, Alicia blinked slowly, unable to judge the situation.

Without a moment to move away, Cabellenus’s face was right in front of her nose.

His dark golden eyes looked like it contained the sun.

At such close proximity that their noses almost touched, even a tiny breath would reach each other.

“I just….”

She was going to say something, but when she saw his eyes that were sharp as if they were burning, she got goosebumps all over her body and her mind went blank.

The man in front of her was ‘real’.

It was completely different from her father, who was just drunk on the name of the royal family.

The man, who was so sharp that he could cut everything off at any moment, was like a beast covered in human skin.

Not only was he born into the royal family, but he also achieved all the glory himself.

He was the real ruler.

“You’ve been so scared and yet, you’re so good at speaking out.”

‘ … Did he laugh?’ 

It may have been an illusion, but for a moment, she thought she saw Cabellenus’s eyes draw a slight arc.

Alicia’s expression, which had hardened like a stone, became subtle.

“Don’t even think about it. I don’t overturn my decisions.”

 Cabellenus slowly exhaled and tilted his head.

“You’re not going to change it?”

Alicia’s eyes unwittingly followed his movement.

It was said that the ruler had the power to charm the opponent in any way. Instinctively distracting people’s minds and making them follow.

She was uncertain whether or not the story she heard was true, but at first glance, one thing was certain.

The man before her eyes was such a person.

“I won’t kill you.”

“You said you would show mercy.”

“I said I could do it for you. I never gave a definite answer that I would make it happen.”

That was what he said at the trial.

Alicia gave a false laugh without realising it.

“Then do I have to live like this forever?”

“I don’t think it’s a bad life. At least it’s better than living as a maid or a princess.”

Alicia’s expression was noticeably distorted.

She thought she had forgotten about the shame from before, but seeing the eyes search her face somehow made her upset.

“……Your Majesty doesn’t really know anything. What kind of heart did I hope for mercy?”

Alicia let go of her hands which she had been clenched together grasping an invisible lifeline.

She relaxed her body, which was stiffened by tension and looked up at Cabellenus with weak eyes.

If she moved her head a little bit, really just a little, their lips would touch.

‘If I kiss him first, will he kill me?’

It was more of an impulse, but Alicia knew it was the only way to shake that arrogant ruler.

And, the action was faster than the thought.

*Touch* 

“What are you doing?”

In a blink of an eye, Cabellenus grabbed Alicia’s shoulders and growled.

The man’s eyes seemed to devour the life in his hands at any moment.

It was horrifying to the point where it made her shudder all over with goosebumps.

“I wonder if you are willing to kill me now that a low-class slave has touched your precious body without permission.”

Nevertheless, Alicia struggled to maintain a smile by forcibly pushing up her lips.

It was a very brief moment, almost like an illusion, but it definitely touched him.

The slight warmth left on his lips was telling the truth more vividly than anything else.