Lalisa had been too preoccupied with the turmoil in her mind to eat much, and Jungkook kept shooting her concerned glances. After finishing dinner, they both returned to their shared bedroom.
'...Why was he looking at me so affectionately?'
She remembered how her brother would leave her a cup of sweet cocoa after her father became upset with him. It would never fail to lift her spirits whenever she drank it, but the feeling she had from Jungkook's gaze contained a deeper sweetness than the cocoa.
The problem was that nothing about Jungkook had changed; nothing in his gaze, tone, and behavior.
What had changed what her acceptance of him.
'Keep your head straight, Lisa. Don't you remember what you have to do?'
The lives of her family members were on her shoulders. She had no time to look elsewhere. However...she couldn't help but feel an attraction towards Jungkook. She didn't know when it started. At some point, the emotion had embedded itself deep in her mind and sprouted roots. If she looked back at him, she knew that her heart would beat wildly.
'I'm beginning to be aware of the opposite sex...'
Lalisabriskly shook her head. She had to sort this out before it tightened its grip on her. She needed to keep her distance from Jungkook...
"Ah!"
She let out an involuntary gasp. When she looked up in the mirror, she saw Jungkook staring right at her.
"W-what are you doing here, Kookie?"
"You didn't respond to me no matter how many times I called you."
"Ah...."
She must have been too lost in thought to realize he had been calling her. Jungkook, however, did not leave. He simply leaned against the door frame of the powder room with his arms crossed as he stared at her. Lalisa broke eye contact from him and opened her mouth to speak.
"Well, you've checked in on me, so you may leave now."
"What were you thinking about?"
Just a moment ago, Lalisa shook her head to shove away the thoughts in her mind. Anyone would be curious.
"...It's nothing."
Jungkook looked at her doubtfully, but fortunately he didn't press her further. He continued to study her face for a moment, then turned and strode away with his long legs.
"Whatever it is, it's time to go to bed."
Lalisa remembered they were married. It was impossible to stay away from Jungkook while she tried to find her peace of mind. Under the terms of the contract marriage, they had to face each other at every meal, and then they would see each other again each time when they went to bed.
'...Please god.'
Lalisa dropped her forehead onto her hand.
*
*
*
After she finished in the powder room, she took a few cautious steps into the bedroom, and saw Jungkook was seated languidly on the couch waiting up for her. His ordinary appearance felt different from usual, even though he was unchanged.
Lalisa kept her voice casual as she spoke.
"You don't have to wait up for me. If you're tired, you can go to bed first."
"It's fine. I won't extinguish the lamps until you come in anyway."
"Don't worry. I can see well in the dark and find my way to bed."
"...I see."
Jungkook didn't object, and Lalisa was satisfied that he accepted her request. They would be able to sort out how to stay in this room.
Jungkook made to stand up from the couch, when Elena quickly raised her hand to stop him.
"Why are you getting up?"
"The lights..."
"Oh! I'll extinguish them, so please lie back down."
"You don't have to."
"Please let me do it."
Jungkook looked at her questioningly, but he finally relented and sat back down on the coach.
Lalisa didn't want Jungkook to come too close to her. In order to extinguish the lamps, he would have to come near the bed where she was lying down, and her feelings might excite her again. Out of sight, out of mind. While some contact was inevitable as a married couple, she wanted as much distance as possible so she could regain her composure.
"I'll turn them off."
She hurriedly extinguished all the lights in the bedroom. She would normally leave a bedside lamp on, but she wanted the darkness and the illusion of sleeping alone. Sharing a bedroom with someone she was starting to see as a man made her feel awkward in many ways.
The bedroom darkened. Lalisa walked to the bed, avoiding Jungkook and the couch as much as possible.
'Don't waste time thinking about him, and work on how you're going to live in the palace—Ow!'
She was so preoccupied with avoiding Jungkook that her foot crashed into an ornament.
She would never had made this mistake under ordinary circumstances. Her vision and senses were keenly honed on the battlefield by the threat of a sword or arrow.
'...I must look foolish.'
She couldn't believe she had done such a stupid thing, and she leaned down to hold her painful ankle. At the same time, her frustration welled up in her.
'What the hell am I doing...'
In her last life, she didn't have the luxury of individual sleeping quarters in battle, and had slept among men she didn't know in the barracks. It suddenly seemed ironic that she was trying so hard to avoid Jungkook.
" ...Haaa."
Lalisa dragged her palm down her cheek in despondency.
She heard the sounds of footsteps in the dark. When she looked up, she saw a dark silhouette, with blue eyes shining dimly through the dark. For a moment Jungkook looked like a wild animal, a jaguar looking for its prey.
"Are you hurt?"
Just by his tone, she knew that he didn't like her being injured. Lalisa quickly hid her bruised ankle and replied in a nonchalant voice.
"I'm fine. You don't need to worry."
"I don't believe you're fine."
As he spoke, he walked closer to her. She hurriedly held out her hand.
"Stop right there."
Jungkook froze on the spot. Lalisa hadn't meant to blurt it out like that. She didn't want to be so conscious of him anymore. In this situation where her family's life was on the line, she had no time to indulge in this new feeling.
"I'm fine, really. Don't come any closer."
Although it was obscured in the dark, Lalisa could almost sense a smirk on Jungkook's mouth.
"No."
His footsteps resumed again. And then came his voice, lower and huskier than before.
"I told you, if there's ever a moment when you're too conscious of me, you have to hide it..."
Before she knew it, she realized that Jungkook's long legs had brought him close to her.
"...because I can't stand it."
"Kookie!"
Before Lalisa could say anything, Jungkook's arms came under her waist and knees and abruptly lifted her into the air. No matter how slim she was, an adult woman was a heavy load. Jungkook seemed unburdened however, and Lalisa looked up at him with a wide-eyed stare.
"How many times are you going to say that, when you've already broken two things at once?"
Jungkook walked towards the bed, carrying her in his arms. In the short distance, Lalisa felt an oddly tickling, peculiar sensation...
She was carefully deposited onto the mattress. But it didn't end there.
Jungkook took Lalisa's slender ankle from underneath her nightgown.
"Tell me if you're hurt. I'll call the doctor right away."
She was startled by the heat of his skin on hers. His body temperature was higher than she expected.
"You don't have to call a doctor at this late hour. I'm fine."
"I don't believe that."
Looking at Jungkook's sharp eyes, she couldn't help but feel once more he was a man who crossed lines freely. The more she tried to avoid him, the more entangled she became. Lalisa pushed away her confusion before speaking.
"I'm fine, truly. I don't want to be crowded when people come and go. If I wake up tomorrow and it still hurts, then we can call the doctor."
Jungkook frown disapprovingly, but he relented.
"Be sure to."
Jungkook hesitated for a moment, then pulled the blanket up to Lalisa's neck. She looked at him in surprise when he brushed his hand against her forehead.
"It's late, so sleep now."
Finally, Jungkook turned away.
As Lalisa watched his dark shape walk away and then recline onto the couch, she felt her thoughts became even more confused than before.
This was a long night.
*
*
*
Taehyung had been very busy lately.
He had gathered all the servants working at the Crown Prince's palace at Lalisa's order, then was later scolded for not reporting the plant to Jungkook.
'By the time I looked for him, the prince had already gone to the Imperial Palace to visit the Emperor and Empress.'
Taehyung though his treatment was unfair, but it couldn't be helped. For now, he focused on gathering information on the plant even into this late hour. There was no deadline, but wanted to complete it as soon as possible in respect to Lalisa.
'She is a good match for the prince.'
When Taehyung had first met her, he was stunned by her dazzling beauty, and later, he came to admire her meticulous character and intelligence. Lalisa may not realize it, but Jungkook had changed immensely since he met her. Knowing how Jungkook was like at the borders of the Ruford Empire, Taehyung could safely say that the prince had become more human than before.
'If the prince is to be as gentle as he is now, he will need as much help from the princess as much as possible.'
The only thing that could put an angry beast to rest was a beauty. An uncharacteristic smile spread on Taehyung's face as he thought of the crown princess.
There was a knock on his door.
"Come in."
One of his men charged with gathering information entered the room.
"We found what you were looking for. Please look over this report."
Taehyung immediately began looking at the material the man had brought.
[Manera plant.
A rare plant that grows only in the kingdom of Sibena in the south.
If raised well, it will bloom pink flowers and is very aromatic.
Women, however, will become infertile if exposed to the fragrance over a long period of time.]
Taehyung was shocked at the passage he just read. He had an ominous premonition knowing that Empress Ophelia had sent it, but he didn't realize it would be to this extent. Lalisa had not mentioned a single word about this.
'Does the Crown Princess know about this?'
Lalisa already knew that the plant only grew in the Sibena kingdom, so chances were that she was not ignorant. Nevertheless, she kept the plant... She was truly dauntless, and Taehyung felt another wave of admiration. However, another sentence caught his eyes.
[There is another plant called the Vanera, which is the Manera's twin.
It is said...]
A serious light glimmered in Taehyung's eyes as he read the information.