While people were talking, dinner time was almost over.

The silver deer took their turn to stand guard in Tamon’s encampment, as was their habit.

Being highly alert animals, they did not immediately relax.

Tamon respected such tension among the deer.

He did not try to control them, but only lit a few more bonfires.

The bigger deer took their turn on guard, leaving the cubs and the female deer to rest.

Hannah and Arsene suggested that the siblings should use the barracks with them, but the siblings laughingly declined.

“It’s stuffy in the barracks. I prefer to sleep with the deer. I can count the stars and fall asleep.”

“But isn’t it cold outside?”

“Really?” I think it’s just cool enough… Winter in Tanatos is much harsher.”

Hannah and Arsene could not stop the siblings from laughing as if it was no big deal.

As Hannah was about to get up, Lucentia quietly grabbed Hannah and asked.

“Hey, hey.”

‘’Yes?”

Lucentia hesitated for a moment, then pointed to Asha and Tamon, who were talking a short distance away.

“They are a pair, aren’t they?”

“……huh?”

Hannah looked at Arsene with a puzzled expression.

Arsene’s face turned red at the word “pair”.

“I saw them kissing earlier. That’s what mating deer do, and so did the two of them. That’s why those two are a pair, right?”

Mirah looked at Hannah as if curious.

Hannah immediately grabbed Arsene’s sleeve as if telling him to answer, but Arsene’s face was already red with his head hung down.

Hannah had no choice but to answer the question.

“Yes, probably….”

“Wow! I’m glad!”

Phew~

Hannah swept her chest when she heard Lucentia’s excited reply.

“Yes, I knew she should throw away the bad partner. It’s a good thing she did it now. That emperor was not a good partner!”

The brother and sister looked at Asha, who was about to enter the barracks with smiling faces.

Glancing back, Asha waved as her eyes met those of the siblings’.

Tamon also turned and looked at the siblings, and Mirah and Lucentia smiled brightly and gave him a thumbs up.

It was the highest compliment these siblings knew.

Only Hannah and Arsene smiled with embarrassment at Asha.

* * *

The next day, the camp was prepared to leave early.

They were already quite late due to the black canyon.

Even if they went in a hurry, they could barely make it to the start of the July festival.

The problem was that they could not enter Bern with the deer.

“We can’t go to Bern and protect the deer and their young at the same time.”

“But we can’t delay the time any longer.”

Asha agreed with Tamon’s words.

The children were important, but they could not afford to change their schedule.

What would be the best course of action?

They looked into each other’s eyes at the same time and soon realized they were both thinking the same thing.

Tamon’s large, tanned, thick hand swept Asha’s cheek.

His body got closer.The air became so hot in the blink of an eye that it blew away the chill of dawn.

Hard fingertips brushed against Asha’s lips, opening them lightly.

She looked at him without avoiding his eyes.

His greedy eyes looked longingly between her open lips.

But he didn’t rush into her rashly.

With a gentle smile, Tamon pulled Asha into his embrace.

Gently lifting her waist, which seemed to break with a little effort, and holding her tightly with one hand, Asha stood on tiptoe, her legs feeling sluggish.

Their chests touched.

“I have a feeling you are thinking the same thing I am now….”

“What, what are you thinking?”

Asha gasped and grabbed Tamon’s shoulders.

Tamon’s muscular shoulders were too big for her to reach.

“…for now I’m thinking of kissing you.”

“Not me.”

“Really?”

His softly whispering lips came closer, rubbing against hers.

Each time he spoke, warm breath stimulated her lips.

Every time Tamon opened his lips, the gap between them itched and drove her crazy.

Tamon’s kisses were not so soft.

As if he was thirsty and pleadingly earnest.

As he came in between her wet lips and robbed her of her tongue, Asha would experience a soul-wrenching experience every time.

Today, however, he didn’t devour her lips with his eyes that were so earnest and so desperate.

Tamon, who had placed short, gentle kisses around her lips, spoke again the story that had broken off earlier.

“The deer and the children….”

His lips brushed hers as he spoke, as if caressing them.

“I think they should be temporarily sheltered in Amor.”

“…….”

Since they would not be able to avoid the eyes of others in the capital, it was a good idea to send them to the Krasis territory.

Right now, it was hard to tell if this situation was just before an ‘affair’ between a man and a woman, or if they were discussing the future.

He rubbed her lips over and over, as if he was about to touch her, but would not press in.

Was he going to burn her this way?

Her lips were too hot.

Asha felt the urge to grab Tamon by the neck and kiss him right away.

But she felt embarrassed because she had never felt this way before.

‘When did I become so promiscuous?’

Up until now, she had always been the one to accept the unwilling kisses.

It was always Tamon who pushed her, whether she was prepared or not.

So feeling this way was too unfamiliar to Asha.

Moreover, now Asha realized that she quite enjoyed her relationship with Tamon.

“Why are you so silent, Asha?”

Tamon prompted her answer with a laugh.

With a short sigh, she glanced at him with a pout on her lips.

“I’ll tell Mirah and Lucentia. Will Jorge be leading them there?”

‘Hmmm, the Knights of Platanus will lead the deer, and we will wait here for one more day for the other knights. I think there’s Tulip Knights nearby.”

Asha nodded lightly.

Then she turned her face away, avoiding his seductive lips.While they were conversing, she was about to swallow Tamon first.

“Okay….why don’t you move away now?”

“I don’t want to.”

“Why do you have to stick together so much?”

“Well…….”

Tamon laughed briefly, kissed the corners of her long eyes, and murmured.

“Because I’m trying to seduce you.”

But as if that wasn’t enough to get her attention, he licked the corners of her eyes with his tongue.

Asha flinched, then turned her gaze again and looked at Tamon.

Tamon stopped his lips without averting her gaze.

Asha had been thinking about it since yesterday, but now seeing him like this, she was more certain.

Tamon was elated.

The strange state he had been in for several days had vanished without a shadow of a doubt, and he was now totally elated.

He was ready to run off laughing if he was told to immediately go up to Bern alone and open Gillotti’s throat.

The answer to why he was so buoyant was immediately obvious, even to Asha, who had no sense of humor.

‘Is it because of what I said yesterday?’

Since that one word that he had become important to her.

Tamon, who otherwise could not tear his gaze away, now stared at her with eyes filled with complete possessiveness.

Asha noticed this and felt somewhat tingling with this seductive attitude of his.

‘It’s a little cute….’

She finally thought she had gone crazy.

She couldn’t believe she had thought he was even a little cute looking at a man who was obviously scary to everyone.

How could it be so unusual and auspicious to see a man who was more loyal to his desires than anyone else, suppressing such an impatient desire to seduce her?

She strongly sensed that he was more aroused than she was because of the close proximity.

Is this also a curiosity?

It had always felt threatening, but today it came a little differently.

Hesitantly, Asha reached out to Tamon’s shoulder and stroked his cheek.

She could feel him moving greatly at just the slightest touch.

She tried hard not to blush, and stroked Tamon’s lips slightly.

“Why do you seduce me?”

Tamon inhaled heavily, as if holding something back for a moment, and laughed with a look of dismay on his face.

“….. men are stupid by nature, they always want to confirm.”

Asha chuckled at his joking reply.

“So just seduce me, what do you want to confirm?”

“That you crave me, too…….”

“Is temptation a sign of craving?”

“No. That’s not it, Asha.”

Tamon finally relented and bit her lower lip.

Seemingly fighting against many conflicting emotions, he licked and bit her lower lip.

“The key is not to give in to temptation, but to have temptation.”

He bit her lower lip again.

It felt as if he was pestering her to come quickly.

“I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have a choice, but to be happy to….you want me with your choice.”

Asha thought his words were pleasant to the ear.

Even up to the moment of temptation, Tamon was asking her to “choose”.

He wanted her to give in to her temptation of her own volition.

It sounded to Asha that she was a person who would never fall for temptation unless she was willing to do so.

Strangely enough, it seduced her more than any temptation.