Asha willingly closed her eyes and brought her lips to his.

Their overlapping lips slowly but perfectly became one.

Asha led the kiss with him for the first time. First she opened his lips and invaded his mouth.

Tamon followed her at first like a meek gentleman, gradually regaining his original habit of being too much for her to handle.

The kissing became urgent, and both their hands were impatient at not being able to grasp the other enough.

They had completely forgotten that it was already early in the morning, when the sun was already up, and that preparations were in full swing outside for the clearing out.

Tamon’s hand entered without hesitation through the gap in Asha’s well dressed clothes.

The touch of her skin, which crushed at his grasp, drove him crazy once more.

What tortured him even more were the small hands caressing his shoulders, arms, and sides.

Her hands stroked his entire body, tasting the flexing of his muscles.

Tamon bit her neck like a hungry beast and came down.

Asha, who still had some sense of reason left in her, held him in her arms as she stifled a gasp.

In her head, she slurred the words, “I shouldn’t do this,” over and over, but when their lips touched each other, they were all futile taboos.

As if he was thirsty even after drinking, he ate her flesh with his mouth full.

Just the mere touch of their bodies was an ecstasy bordering on fire.

But now as their hearts became one, at the thought of even the slightest touch, his whole body melted away as if he had been thrown into the fires of hell.

He seriously wondered whether it would matter if it was hell or heaven there, if this was the level of pleasure he was getting.

He embraced her with all his strength, with all his heart to push forward.

Asha’s wobbly, white, slender legs hugged Tamon’s waist tightly.

She gripped the thick carpeted floor tightly to support her body as it was swept away by his momentum.

“Ha…!”

Her body shook when Tamon entered. His presence filled her to the very edge.

“Should we do it slowly?”

He asked as he turned to Asha, who seemed to be having a hard time.

Asha glanced at Tamon with a glare.

Now was not the time to take it slowly, nor did she feel like doing so.

“No.”

Tamon laughed when Asha replied in a voice that was held back by a moan.

He lifted that precious foot she had given him one day and licked its thin ankle.

The sight was so obscene that she shrank back terribly, and Tamon had to grunt as she tightened.

He retreated greatly and then drove in greatly.

Unbeknownst to herself, Asha had to endure a whimpering moan with her wrist clamped over her mouth.

“When is captain….”

“Prepare for departure…………….”

The voices of the knights making noise outside kept getting farther and closer together.

So much so that their spirits also kept drowning and becoming clearer.

Tamon looked at Asha with eyes that were half-unconscious.

It was a tremendous thrill for him to see Asha so disturbed by his hands and lips.

A huge ecstatic engulfed him like a wave.

The undulating sound of the waves filled the dry, waterless floor.

Tamon embraced his ecstasy with both arms and hammered his teeth into it as if he could close it like this and die.

It was the beginning of a satisfying morning.

* * *

“Why did he oversleep when he said we had to hurry?”

Was he tired? Jorge wondered if Tamon was tired.

Their captain walked out of the barracks the latest, skipping morning breakfast.He looked different from usual from his complexion, perhaps he had slept well. He was glowing.

Jorge looked strangely at Tamon’s face, which was strangely satisfied, even though he had not eaten breakfast.

“You have to be slow when you need it.”

Tamon, who mumbled something nonsense in a plausible voice, looked over the map spread out on the table.

“Lutre is stationed in this area, right?”

“Yes? Ah, yes. They are waiting in Durk.”

“If they get the speed right, they’d be here in a day.”

“Isn’t that right?”

Jorge looked at Tamon as if to ask why he was saying that.

Tamon turned around and looked at the silver deer that were clustered behind him.

“Jorge, you take the deer and go to my estate.”

“What? Your estate?”

“We cannot take the silver deer back to the capital of Tanatos, nor can we take them to the capital of Amor. And the nearest place is my territory.”

“Ah….”

Jorge nodded, as if finally understanding Tamon’s words.

“But I can’t take the Knights with me… Ah! That’s why you asked about Lutre.”

Lutre was the head of the Order of the Tulip of the Krasis family.

In case of armed conflict, the Knights of Tamon were ordered to stand by near Tanatos.

In addition to the official Knights of Krasis, there were quite a few other Orders that Tamon had with him.

As he had served as a great general, there were a few troops that he could use immediately if he wished.

However, this was not a full-scale war.

It was important to move only the minimum number of personnel as a precaution against armed conflict.

Moreover, Asha did not want civilian casualties.

This was only an imperial battle of Tanatos.

It was about maximum rebellion with minimum casualties.

She called it “rebellion”.

“Wouldn’t it be better for them who have been with us for a day to take them rather than a group of stranger knights? I will lead the deer and I will join up with Lutre.”

“Are you alright?”

Tamon glanced at him at Jorge’s question.

Tamon had a look that said, “Think about who on earth you are asking that question to.”

‘Surely you are the one who, alone, broke through the black canyon……’

Jorge chuckled awkwardly and quickly summarized the situation.

“I understand. I will be ready soon. Still, don’t push yourself too hard like you did yesterday, captain. Everyone’s heart will drop.”

Tamon, who had been nodding, suddenly stared at Jorge.

“Why, do you think so?”

The look in Tamon’s eyes was strangely somber, and Jorge involuntarily stepped back.

“You are right, Jorge.”

“…..what? Suddenly what?”

Tamon, who was watching Jorge’s confused face, touched his twitching lips and murmured.

“I’m a very, very precious person to someone, so I always have to be careful.” 😂

“…what?”

“Thank you for telling me that again.” 🤣

“What, what…..?”

Tamon chuckled lazily in satisfaction and tapped Jorge on the shoulder.

“You can be someone’s precious person, so always be careful.”Tamon encouraged Jorge with the kindest look Jorge had never seen in his life.

“… Oy!”

Jorge stared dumbly at the back of Tamon moving away and shuddered.

It was a gruesome start to the morning. 🤣

＊ ＊ ＊

The siblings and the deer headed south, led by Jorge, to Amor.

The rest of the march must not have been easy, as they had to avoid the eyes of the people.

The siblings laughed resolutely, as if they had already prepared for this.

“The pain is with us. It cannot hold us back. We will surely win peace.”

She was proud of them.

Asha rather vowed that she must be more careful not to embarrass Mirah and Tia.

Tia squeezed Asha’s hand as she handed her the dead deer antlers and skins she had collected so far.

“Whatever blocks your front, be sure to triumph. Nothing can stop the Empress. I know.”

Asha felt that looking into each other’s eyes of firm trust gave her the confidence that she did not have.

The growth of children seemed to be so explosive that adults could not predict it.

Mirah and Lucentia, who had been abandoned to the wild at the age of seven or eight, grew much more physically, but their spirit always remained at that time of abandonment.

Until only a year ago.

But now they were fully grown adults.

Looking at their powerful gaze, she felt that knowledge, manners, and history were not the only things that make a person grow.

Isn’t becoming an adult not just about intellectual growth, but about developing the ability to face danger and uncertainty and move forward?

Emotionally, Asha chuckled and shook her head.

Fortunately, without waiting too long, the Tulip Knights of Tamon arrived.

＊ ＊ ＊

It began to rain.

They didn’t know how fortunate it was.

Natasha endured the tight contractions and carried her heavy steps one by one.

“Madam, you’re sweating too much….where are you going alone?”

Anne, the young maid of honor who had been supporting Natasha, looked pale with worry and alerted in the dark alley.

Poor, but still somehow living as an aristocrat, Anne had never been west of the capital before.

Usually this was a place known to be inhabited by commoners, the poorest and most vicious criminals among them.

Natasha, the emperor’s mistress and the noblest woman in the land, visited here secretly, which was something hard to understand.

“Shut up, Anne. Don’t ask.”

“Oh, madam…”

Anne was a chambermaid assigned to Natasha by the vizier Roxon.

She was foolish and naive, but she was so timid that she obeyed without hesitation.

Moreover, she said she would never betray the people she served, no matter what weakness Roxon held in his hands.

So Natasha had no choice but to be accompanied by Anne.

Originally, she was going to go on her own, but apparently she couldn’t even walk alone under the current circumstances, so it was a choice she had to make.

“Um, um, ……that green gate. Go that way quickly…….”

Natasha managed to catch her breath and struggled.

Anne rushed to the green entrance and slammed the door.

“Who are you, at this late hour of the night?”

The latch door opened slightly with the annoyed voice of an old man.

“Door, please open the door. Quickly……!”

The old man, who was checking through the door with his dim, dark eyes, identified the woman with a hood over her head and red, bloodshot eyes staring at him.

“Oh, madam!”

As soon as the startled old man opened the door wide, Natasha caught him with a skinny hand with protruding veins.

“The child….”

A miserable voice broke out between clenched teeth.

“The child is about to come out.”