I Slept with the Villain Holding My Hand

When Reukis came down from the podium instead of returning to Merria, he headed to the group of nobles who agreed to join him.

After returning to the capital, some of them chose the Knights of Altairs against the will of their family.

On the battlefield, Reukis saw Altheon’s capabilities with his own eyes and decided to make him the Lord of his future.

Normally, Reukis wouldn’t be able to show his face like this, but today was different.

It was only possible here where the eyes of the royal family could not reach.

Altheon gathered his power by painting his own empire, not the throne from Aprion.

Later, he established himself around being the successor who would hold the family, so the number of Crown Prince’s support didn’t fall behind today.

People are supposed to judge a situation based on what they see.

Even if it was different from the truth, the power of his gaze was stronger than he thought.

In this place where only young nobles are present, the Crown Prince faction led by the Grand Duke, who had the most power, had no choice but to gain momentum.

People will be swept away by that atmosphere and will automatically be drawn to it.

As the result shows, the expression of the forces supporting the second prince were not as confident as before.

While I was unable to move hastily due to a warning under the pretext of a congratulatory speech, I was deprived of the initiative.

They seemed to have failed to accept this situation, in which they had always taken the lead.

Now, this place was flowing as Altheon wanted.

A little while later, a little after the banquet began.

Everyone got a little drunk, making each other feel comfortable, and the conversations continued.

Merria’s gaze, passing through the air, reached one place.

At the end of her gaze, there was Reukis walking towards her with a faint smile.

It was a good time to refresh the atmosphere when everyone had melted into the Pierre Hall.

And it’s good to catch the attention in a place where young men and women gather together.

“Would you please dance to a song with me?”

Do you want everyone to peek into someone else’s love story?

Merria’s hand overlapped over Reukis’ hand, which he politely held out.

“It’s an honor, Your Highness.”

As she slightly bent the corners of her lips, Reukis also blinked gently.

As the two walked out to the center, others in the banquet hall also filled the surroundings in pairs.

As Merria placed one hand on his broad shoulders, Reukis wrapped his opposite arm around her waist.

There was not even an inch of space to separate their body, which was tightly attached to Merria in an instant.

“You seem to be self-conscious about your preparation posture?”

Reukis didn’t care about the pranks on him by Merria, and just focused on the situation that stuck with her.

As soon as the people were ready, the band started to play a new song. It was a bright waltz, neither too slow nor too fast.

Merria followed Rekis and gently moved along.

“I thought learning this would be useless for the rest of my life, but I’m glad I learned it.”

A strict etiquette education teacher who taught her to dance when she was young suddenly came to mind.

‘I learned hard to prove that my refusal to make a debut wasn’t because of my clumsy dancing skills.’

I even repeated the practice, enough to erode Raven’s worries and Serinia’s teasing.

Thanks to that, I didn’t lack any knowledge and etiquette in dancing throughout society.

While the familiar movements continued smoothly, Merria felt the situation was quite unrealistic.

When Merria smiled, Reukis raised an eyebrow. Because he noticed the gaze Merria had towards him.

The next move was for men to hold the partner’s waist and turn lightly.

However, Reukis suddenly wrapped his arms around Merria’s body tightly.

“…?”

When Merria glanced up at him, what she met were his golden eyes filled with a slight desire to monopolise her.

At that moment, Merria’s feet fell off the ground, and her vision went round and round. Reukis easily hugged her and turned around.

The hem of her voluminous dress fluttered in the air. Merria’s eyes widened at his unexpected movement.

Reukis spoke, looking affectionately at Merria, whose eyelashes were fluttering in his arms.

“I feel the same way. It’s an honor to be able to dance with you, it’s our first dance.”

As we were facing each other so closely, Reukis even whispered in my ear.

Hearing these words while surrounded by Reukis’ passionate arms, I slightly felt the tightness of his arms, it’s like my body’s struggling.

Merria squinted at Reukis being closer than usual.

I was so embarrassed, but I hated seeing Reukis acting this way, smiling as if nothing had happened.

‘Ehem…’

Merria groaned and snorted, and held his hand tightly.

Reukis frowned and looked down at her.

‘I glanced around, and quickly approached Reukis’ ear.’ ᴹᵉʳʳᶦᵃ

Looking from the side, it was like a figure telling a secret in the middle of the night.

“Merria…”

Whoosh~

Even before Reukis could ask why, a sharp sound rang in his ears.

While Reukis stiffened, Merria made the last move and escaped from his arms.

After she smirked at him, Reukis stared at Merria, who left without regret, with trembling eyes.

Reukis cheeks who was left alone heated up. Merria, who was walking behind, burst into a small laugh.

✿

Despite the deepening of the night, Pierre Hall was still buzzing.

Meanwhile, Merria felt extremely tired.

To keep standing still and just talking, maybe it’s because of mental exhaustion.

As I stood the whole time, the throbbing at the tip of my toes got worse.

Turning my head, I saw Reukis at the distance.

Not as much as before, but he was still surrounded by crowds.

I tried winking at him to go out together.

Somehow, the timing was not right.

After looking at Reukis for a long time, Merria eventually couldn’t stand it, and approached Karina. Then Merria whispered in Karina’s ear.

“Karina, aren’t you tired?”

“I’m fine, but if you’re tired, would you like to rest?”

Instead of answering her, Karina answered with another question.

It meant that she understood Merria’s intention to bring it up first.

Merria nodded, thanking Karina for her sense.

“Then I’ll go to the lounge for a bit. Can you tell Reukis if he comes looking for me?”

Reukis was still surrounded by a large crowd, and he couldn’t even get it out.

Karina just happily nodded.

Following Lilith, who had already disappeared somewhere, Merria also left the banquet hall.

The lounge prepared for today filled the hallway.

The nobles, who seized the opportunity of coming-of-age night, could not spend the night boringly.

Even before the social world became more open, what happened on ‘Coming-of-Age Night’ tended to be kept tacitly.

It was a new feeling to see what I had only known in my mind like this.

Of course, it would be a far cry from Merria.

‘No, what’s going on…?’

I definitely thought so, but I can’t help my mouth opening agape.

The seething passion of a 20-year-old caused fatal consequences that hindered Merria’s rest.

‘Wasn’t there an empty space among these many break rooms?’

The numerous doors that had passed by Merria already have an owner without knowing Merria’s heart.

I looked back and forth like someone who couldn’t accept reality.

The hallway was very dark and quiet.

Merria walked further, admiring the unusually good soundproofing facilities of the Imperial Palace.

As she reached the end of the hallway, Merria stopped walking.

If I went out to the left from here, it seemed to lead to the garden.

“Seeing that it’s dark on the right, there must be more rooms over there.”

‘So, I immediately turned straight to the right.’

Not long after, a particularly huge door caught my eye.

Usually, these places are empty for those with the highest status among the guests.

‘I’m glad I don’t have to worry about it today.’

How could a banquet without the royal family feel so comfortable?

Merria smiled, feeling satisfied and grabbed the doorknob.

‘I’m going to jump into bed right away!’

I felt like that as I opened the door with such thoughts.

The room, which could be seen through the large door, was completely dark.

Only the lights in the hallway dimly lit the inside.

Merria’s gaze followed the light and reached the sofa at the entrance.

Thud~

Although the door closed with a small noise behind.

“…”

Merria still couldn’t take her eyes off where her first gaze rested.

There were people in the large room, which I thought was empty.

And those people were in a state of overlapping bodies, probably because they were pouring out their passion for each other.

“Oh…”

When I almost made a sound close to sighing, those ‘people‘ seemed startled.

Merria tried to look elsewhere when the two separated in an instant.

‘Let’s run away!’

That was the only way to get through this embarrassing moment.

It was dark in the room anyway, and even if there was a little light leaking through, they wouldn’t have seen my face.

After all, I only saw the wild silhouettes of the two of them.

Right, I thought it would be better not to know each other’s faces, so I closed my eyes tightly.

I was fumbling with my hands busy finding the doorknob.

At the same time as the door opened, the smell of alcohol wafted from nearby.

“Come on, wait!”

Seeing the sound of the footsteps running in a hurry, it seemed that I was the one the other person was calling.

‘What do you want? I can’t believe you want to talk in this situation.’

Merria hurriedly turned around and didn’t need any contextual explanation.

But before Merria left the room, her left hand got caught.

“What’s this…”

“Wait! Please listen to me.”

It was a very mournful voice and gestures. At the call, filled with embarrassment and weeping, I tried to pull my hand away.

However, it wasn’t easy to get away from a man who had a clear will not to let go.

“I’ll explain everything!”

So, what the hell are you trying to explain?

Do you want to tell me in detail the situation in which a man I’m meeting for the time was blazing in his coming-of-age night?

Merria tried to remove the man’s hand off with all her might.

My right hand, which was turning the handle, pushed the man’s hand away, and the man’s hand, who had lost its balance, fell off.

“Oh, it’s a misunderstanding. Really…”

Suddenly, the man fell on the floor, clutching the hem of my dress crying.

I can’t believe he’s so drunk right now? I was contemplating whether or not I should kick the man.

“Teren?”

Just now, I heard a trembling voice over the door that had just opened before me.