Lifting Hope's beautiful face, I kissed her lips gently.
Hope did not reject my kiss. She opened her lips slightly and allowed my tongue to enter.
Our tongues intertwined silently. For a few seconds, our lips were connected, forgetting the world around us.
When the kiss ended, Hope heaved a soft sigh.
She then pushed my chest away and stared at the ground.
"... Please, give me a bit of time."
I smiled and kissed her forehead. "Don't worry, I'll wait."
"... Thank you." Hope whispered and put her face on my chest.
We stayed like that for a while, hearing the beat of each other's heart and feeling the wind caressing our bodies. When we had spent almost half an hour like that, Hope took a step back.
"I had to go." She said.
I nodded. "Before going, I want to give you something. Close your eyes."
Hope was confused, but she did not hesitate and closed her eyes. Immediately after that, I put my finger on her forehead.
The next second, a great amount of information rushed to her mind.
"Huh?" Hope opened her eyes surprised. She looked at me in confusion while grabbing her head and trying to process the new information in her mind.
"It's a cultivation technique." I explained. "I prepared it especially for you. It's called [Heaven Forming Body]."
Hope furrowed her brows and a trace of hesitation appeared on her face. Although she was happy that I gifted her something, this gift... "... Your highness, I had already a cultivation technique. Moreover, it's a top-tier cultivation technique from the palace. I don't need a new one."
Certainly, Hope's current cultivation technique was very good. It allowed her to reach the sixth-layer even though she doesn't practice regularly.
However, my cultivation technique is a bit more special.
"Hahaha, I know." I chuckled. "However, I'm sure you will like this technique more than the one you are practicing. Hope, this technique allows you to reform your body anew every time you complete a three-layers cycle, healing all your injuries in the process."
"!!!"
"Just like you heard, this technique can heal any kind of injury and return your body to a perfect state."
Hope's body froze. She opened and closed her mouth repeatedly unable to believe my words.
But when she analyzed the cultivation technique in her mind and confirmed its effects, she started to tear up.
Hope bit her lips and suppressed her tears. She then hugged me tightly and whispered something on my ear.
"... Your highness, be careful about the institute's expedition... Also, give me a little bit of time... I'm sorry."
Then, she turned around and ran away, leaving me alone in the garden.
However, I was not depressed.
The fact that Hope warned about the empress's plans, even if it was vaguely, was already a huge step forward. Moreover, with the gift I gave her, I'm sure she will eventually choose me over the empress.
Not many knew about it, but before marrying the emperor, the empress sterilized magically all her servants to avoid them giving birth to an illegitimate heir.
In fact, things like that are pretty normal. Many noble ladies do it, and the servants accept it as something natural.
But even if Hope is completely loyal to the empress, it's impossible for her to not have a little bit of dissatisfaction with the empress's approach.
Normally it will mean nothing, but once Hope sees the opportunity to have children of her own, cracks will start to appear on her loyalty.
And [Heaven Forming Body] main advantage is reforming the body and strengthening it with each major breakthrough (three layers). Once before breaking through the fourth layer, once before the seventh layer, once before the tenth layer, and once before the thirteenth layer.
In other words, Hope only needs to switch cultivation techniques and breakthrough one level to be able to have children again.
If Hope wants to have children, she will have to switch cultivation techniques.
But the empress will not allow it. If Hope gets pregnant, Empress Lilia will surely kill her.
Thus, once Hope changes her cultivation technique, it's just a matter of time before her relationship with the empress crumbles down.
Looking up at the sky, I heaved a sigh and smiled. I then took a step across space and returned to my room.
"Your highness?" Daisy looked at me with a puzzled expression. "You took less time than I thought. How were you so fast?"
I smiled wryly. "Hope and I didn't do it. I just talked to her and calmed her down."
"Is it so?" Daisy smiled mischievously and licked her lips. "It means that you are only mine tonight, right?"
Seeing this little devil's seductive expression, I jumped towards her and hugged her on my arms.
...
"Husband, let's do it tonight." A black-haired woman whispered sweetly in her husband's ear.
The husband, Raul Lorknok, looked at the woman and frowned. "Not tonight, Elene. I feel a bit tired."
"... Please~ Just once." Elene moved her hands to Raul's back and started to massage him. According to her experience, a massage always turns him on.
However, this time her trick did not work.
"Stop it. I have to wake up early tomorrow." Raul shook off Elene's hands brusquely and escaped to the bathroom.
Seeing it, Elene sighed.
It had been more than one week since the last time she had sex with her husband. Since the day he lost against the prince, he had been depressed and in a bad mood, and stopped paying attention to her.
No matter how much Elene tried, her husband was unresponsive. Elene even wondered if she had lost her charm.
But when she remembered the prince's words, she knew it was not true.
Lately, Elene had been thinking more and more about the prince. The more her husband refused to have sex with her, the more she thought about him.
Even is she knew that it was wrong, she could not help but remember how it felt to have the prince inside her.
"I'm becoming crazy..." Elene sighed silently and shook her head. She could not believe that she was thinking about betraying her husband, again.
"If I'm not wrong, he came back today... I wonder if I'll see him tomorrow."
Elene's lips curved up in an imperceptible smile.
...
Hahaha, no smut chapter today... Don't worry, there is one soon...