Chapter 233: Chapter-233

As Heena came out, the carriage had just parked. Larus was opening the gate when Heena extended her hand and said with a warm smile, “Welcome back, sweetheart.”

Larus’s face literally lit up. He had not thought she would be here personally to greet him.

But controlling himself—because he was technically the Emperor Consort and needed to maintain proper etiquette in public—he said in a proper tone, “Thank you, Your Majesty.”

As he stepped down from the carriage with her assistance, he couldn’t control the smile on his face. It was too bright, too genuine, too happy.

The servants who were gathered around exchanged knowing glances and annoying looks.

’Looks like there’s going to be another love story of the century,’ they thought with barely concealed amusement.

The cold, terrifying Empress who’d just stabbed a consort’s hand without blinking?

She was smiling softly at her newest husband like he was the most precious thing in the world.

And the beautiful foreign prince who’d held the empire together during the crisis?

He was looking at her like she hung the moon and stars.

Yeah.

This was definitely going to be interesting.

Heena looked at him and smiled as she grabbed his hand and pulled. She said, “Let’s go. We need to rest. You traveled too much.”

Larus, like a stringless puppet, just let her pull him. His eyes were fixed on the woman who was smiling so brightly, and he felt a fulfillment he could not fully understand.

Now he knew why his comrades and servants always rushed to get home after work. After all, now he understood the happiness they felt meeting their spouse.

The diplomatic work had not even been that physically hard, but right now, hearing her words—’we need to rest’—he really felt like everything had been worthwhile.

Heena, grabbing his hand, began to run. They ran from the gate to the corridor, corridor to the palace grounds, and soon they came to a secluded place where the servants were not present, as everyone was busy preparing for the evening duties.

And Heena, in one swift motion, pulled Larus to the side and pressed him against the wall as she kissed him hard.

Larus, accepting the invitation immediately, opened his lips. They kissed desperately, hungrily—sometimes Heena was pressed against the wall, sometimes Larus. They stopped only for breathing and then continued again. It was like they had been starving for years and just wanted to consume each other entirely.

They didn’t know how or when they got to a room—it wasn’t theirs, but so what? In this palace, everything belonged to the ruler, and as Heena ’was’ the ruler, she could do anything. That was the answer Larus got when he paused and asked if they should enter another person’s room.

But hearing that answer, they continued without hesitation.

Clothes followed like a trail from the door to the bed—robes, undergarments, belts, everything discarded in their desperate path. And at last, two bodies were left on the bed, finally alone, finally together.

—

Their reunion was desperate and passionate, all the stress and fear and loneliness of the past weeks pouring out in desperate touches and breathless kisses.

Larus’s hands traced every inch of Heena’s skin like he was memorizing her, making sure she was real, making sure she was truly alive and here with him. His lips followed the path of his hands—along her collarbone, down her shoulder, across her ribs where he could still see the slight shadows of weight loss from her illness.

“You’re too thin,” he murmured against her skin. “You haven’t been eating properly.”

“Shut up and kiss me,” Heena commanded, pulling him back up to her lips.

And he obeyed, because how could he not?

Heena was equally desperate, her fingers tangling in his hair, pulling him closer, closer, never close enough. She bit his lower lip hard enough to draw blood, and he gasped but didn’t pull away.

“You were gone too long,” she said against his mouth, her voice rough. “Three days felt like three weeks.”

“I came back as fast as I could,” Larus said, his hands gripping her hips with enough force to leave marks. “I would have flown if I could.”

They moved together with the desperation of two people who’d thought they might never have this chance again. Every touch was both familiar and new, every kiss a rediscovery.

Larus was gentle at first, cautious of Heena’s still-recovering body, but she dug her nails into his back and demanded more, harder, everything he had.

And he gave it to her, because he always did.

The sounds they made—breathless gasps, whispered names, the occasional curse or plea—filled the empty room. The bed creaked beneath them, the sheets tangled hopelessly around their limbs.

At some point, Heena flipped their positions, pushing Larus onto his back and straddling him, taking control with the same commanding authority she used in the throne room. And Larus, who’d just spent days being the strong one, the decisive leader, gratefully surrendered control to her.

His hands gripped her thighs as she moved above him, her head thrown back, her dark hair cascading down her back. She looked like a goddess, powerful and untouchable, except she was very much touchable and she was ’his’.

“Wife,” he gasped, his voice breaking. “I love you. I love you so much—”

“I know,” she said, and there was something vulnerable in her voice despite her position of power. “I know, Larus.”

They moved together, faster and more desperate, chasing that edge until they finally fell over it together, crying out each other’s names.

Afterward, they collapsed together in a tangled heap, sweaty and exhausted and completely satisfied.

—

’’[Post-Intimacy – Five Hours Later]’’

It had already been five hours since they’d first entered the room, and Heena was exhausted. Of course she was—fighting on battlefields and handling a energetic prince were two very different types of physical exertion, and frankly, the prince was more tiring.

As Larus passed her a glass of warm water, Heena looked at his neck, which was red and marked in several places from her teeth and lips. She slowly took the water, her throat sore as she drank.

Looking at him, she asked, “So how was that treaty? How did the negotiation go?”

Hearing that, he smiled as he set the glass down and said, “Well, my father agreed—no, he was wrong—” He corrected himself in a more proper tone: “He said that he wanted to apologize, so he’s writing an apology letter and also sending 30,000 gold coins as compensation.”

Hearing that, Heena smiled slightly and said, “Really? I did not know that the Emperor of the Marus Kingdom was such a generous and righteous person.”

Hearing that, Larus smiled slightly and said, “Well, I also did not know until yesterday.”

Hearing that, Heena looked at him with raised eyebrows and said, “Why does it feel like someone twisted his arm, and only then did he agree?”

Hearing that, he looked at her and said, “Well, you are the ruler. How can I even dare to contradict you? If that’s what you think, then maybe that’s what happened.”

Hearing that, Heena looked at him and said, “Don’t try to be a smartass.”

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