It was morning.
Cold sunlight was seeping through the window.
Remesis woke up first.
As soon as her consciousness cleared, she felt a heavy, strong presence next to her — as if she was being held, securely fixed in place.
Her gaze slowly slid sideways.
The princess was still asleep, breathing evenly.
Unlike usual, when her face was always coldly frozen or smirking crookedly, now it looked calm, relaxed.
It seemed she had indeed been holding her tightly all night.
Remesis carefully caught her breath and looked at the arm wrapped around her body.
Memories of last night flooded her mind in an instant. Like a turbulent stream, each of those memories was firmly imprinted in her memory, and she still distinctly felt every touch.
Remesis felt annoyance, which in this situation was now completely meaningless.
After everything had ended, they simply... remained lying together, in each other's arms, waiting for dawn.
By then, Remesis had been so tired that she had no strength left to push the princess away. So she simply closed her eyes, involuntarily allowing strong arms to hold her tightly.
And in the end, Asil still held her tightly until morning.
Remesis could not even move.
Not an embrace, but a trap.
After several attempts to break free from the other's arms proved unsuccessful, Remesis sighed heavily and slowly turned her face.
The princess's beautiful face, whose aristocratic features did not match her bloodthirsty nature at all, was directly opposite her. Her silver eyelashes were tightly closed, and a quiet, even sound of breathing could be heard.
For a few seconds, Remesis simply looked at her in silence.
All sorts of thoughts were going through her head at that moment. But, what could be said with certainty, none of them were particularly optimistic.
After Remesis had been studying her sleeping face for a while, dead silence hung in the bedroom.
And then...
She felt Asil's arms slowly tense.
The one who had been asleep a moment ago, with a completely natural movement, held her even tighter again.
"...I'm having trouble breathing," Remesis complained.
Their gazes met — these were the golden eyes of Asil, just awakened.
There was still sleepy haze in them, but it was quickly disappearing, returning their usual, piercing gleam.
The princess silently looked at her for a few seconds.
The silence dragged on strangely long, and Remesis tried to turn away.
But at that moment, very close, almost touching her skin, the princess's low, slightly hoarse morning voice sounded:
"Wife, why were you looking at me while I slept?"
"...No reason."
"If you want to look at me — do it openly. Why so furtively?"
"..."
Asil even closed her eyes, as if offering: "You can continue."
Her audacious behavior made Remesis's breath catch for a second.
Her head started spinning from early morning.
"Let me go."
"But you were the one who pressed yourself against me first, wife."
When Remesis looked away, as if ignoring her, the princess's fingers slowly touched the back of her neck.
"Your neck is so white and thin..."
The slow movement of her fingers, sliding down her neck, made her involuntarily shudder.
It was as if a cold sweat ran down her back.
Remesis instinctively tensed and intercepted the princess's hand that was touching her neck. It was obvious why she was not entirely comfortable hearing such words and receiving such touches.
"...Your Highness, stop it."
"What? After everything that happened, are you still shy?" the other smirked.
Asil seemed immensely pleased with what had happened last night.
But Remesis obviously could not say the same. The entire previous evening had been like chaos in which she could not even collect her thoughts. But now, in the morning, she felt much more sober.
She was not interested in Asil's flirtations. She wanted to know only one thing.
"Your Highness, may I ask a question?"
"Hm? What is it?" the princess looked at her with curiosity.
"How long have you known that you reincarnated?"
"Hm... From the very beginning."
Asil did not hesitate for a moment before answering. And from her answer alone, cold again ran down Remesis's spine.
"So you mean to say that you knew about it from birth...?"
The princess smirked, watching the expression of bewilderment that had frozen on her face.
"Exactly."
At that same moment, it seemed as if Remesis's heart skipped several beats at once.
She even forgot that she was still lying in the princess's arms and did not try to push her away. Because at that moment, her thoughts were filled with something else entirely.
When Remesis found out that the princess had also reincarnated, she was shocked by it. But when she also found out that Asil, as it turned out, had also started her new life from birth... This confused her even more.
Because if that was so, then she should have retained all her memories of her past life, right? So then... what the hell was her behavior like at their first meeting?!
Remesis felt the cold increasingly stiffen her body.
"But then why... why didn't you tell me anything?" her voice trembled.
"Why would I?"
"What...?"
"If I really had told you from the very beginning... Would I have been able to see such a performance?"
Asil smirked slightly and gently ran her finger along her cheek.
"Wife, in this life you were far more interesting. I never thought you could be like this."
"...."
"I would say you were a real cutie."
Her hand slowly slid lower and found her breast.
"Besides, if I hadn't lied, would we have had such a passionate first night?"
Remesis abruptly threw her hand away.
As if doused with cold water, she instantly came to her senses.
"Ah."
So was that really the case?
Had her entire life up to this point been merely a performance for Asil? While she tried her hardest to improve their lives, the princess must have been watching her struggles from the sidelines, only mocking her? It must have been really fun, right?
Internal anger seemed to burn all of Remesis's insides.
When she first realized that Asil had also reincarnated, she was scared. Because that meant she would have to deal with someone she feared most from her past life. That was the same merciless princess from her past life who had killed her.
So initially, Remesis indeed felt only fear. But now... when she finally understood how things really were, there seemed to be no room left for fear in her heart. Instead, she was filled with feelings of hopelessness and her own worthlessness.
The very thought that all this time she had been nothing more than a doll in Asil's hands was repulsive to her.
Although she had actually thought that she was the one in control of the situation... But how absurd that was.
It seemed that from the very beginning, it had been only her own illusions.
And yet...
"In that case... about Hannes, you knew too, didn't you?"
Her voice trembled, but she tried her hardest to keep her face impassive.
"If you remember your past life, then did you know his true identity from the very beginning?"
Remesis should have suspected this from the start. The very moment the princess, together with her army, suddenly appeared in the village of Morka out of nowhere and saved her. Besides the fact that she knew about it from the very beginning, there was no other explanation for why she happened to be there so fortunately.
And the princess did not deny it.
"Yes. I knew."
Remesis put her hand on her chest and pushed her away, though not with much force.
"Then why? Why didn't you say anything, and allowed him to stay nearby all this time?!"
Asil hesitated for a moment before answering.
"Because I wanted you to see his true face."
"....."
"If I had simply killed him from the start, you would never have known anything, would you? Instead, you would have just blamed me."
Remesis did not immediately find an answer.
In other words, the princess meant that all this time she had kept the traitor near them only so that one day Remesis could learn his true nature? Just for that?
"That... is absurd," was all that escaped her lips.
Asil made a disappointed face and lightly traced her cheek with the tip of her finger.
"Wife, it may not seem that way to you, but what you think of me matters. Would I want my wife to consider me a mindless murderer?"
Was this... a joke?
Remesis found it laughable even to hear these words.
In other words, did Asil think that only because of Hannes Wrightly's death would she consider her a heartless murderer?
What about thousands of other lives? Did they not count?
It was simply absurd to hear these words from the woman called the "bloodthirsty devil."
"So you mean I should thank you for that?"
"Wife, no irony."
Her voice became even lower.
"As you see, all these years I have put in a lot of effort for you. So perhaps you should show me a little gratitude?"
"!.."
Remesis held her breath.
Asil was smiling.
This smile was different from the one usually on her face.
As if Remesis seemed cute to her, or perhaps... as if she loved her.
Remesis's heart suddenly began to pound wildly for a moment.
Her thoughts rapidly went blank — the only thing she feared was the look with which the princess was now looking at her.
Remesis had no choice but to raise the only shield she had.
The topic she had raised yesterday but never finished.
"I still want a divorce."
"..."
"As I said, from now on I see no point in our marriage. And if you have any understanding... I hope you will listen to me."
"Is that so."
Asil smiled coldly, but still did not remove her hand from her waist.
Nevertheless, for some reason, the cold of the northern lands suddenly seemed especially icy in this room.
"I would like my wife to never mention divorce again. That is also a small request of mine," she said coolly.
A request...
But why did these words of the princess sound more like a very serious warning?
Remesis swallowed.
"I don't need anything from you. And I can't give you anything either... What is the point of continuing this marriage, which was only a deal from the very beginning?"
Asil merely shrugged lazily.
"You can say whatever you want, but I'm still not letting you go."
Hearing her absurd words, Remesis only smiled bitterly.
Wouldn't let her go? And why not?
Why did this woman act like this?
She didn't want to let her go, so then... did she want to kill her?
Remesis frowned slightly.
She truly could not understand her train of thought at all.
"And why not? Could it be... that you like me?"
Remesis asked this question more out of mockery, not expecting a serious answer.
But unexpectedly...
"What do you think?"
"..."
The princess's golden eyes flashed with a dangerous gleam, which Remesis had not expected and therefore tensed.
Asil, still looking at her intently, smirked.
"Wife, what feelings do you think I have for you?"