[Music Recommendation: Love and War ~ Fleurie]

Deep in sleep, Oriana’s jaw moved in a gentle, unconscious rhythm, as if chewing on a piece of gum or a stray thread, a soft smile spreading across her face. Even in her subconscious, she was feeling really satisfied, like she had bathed in fresh honey and warm honey. Her body turned on the bed, and when she touched another warm part of the bed, she smiled, not knowing that it was Adric’s bare chest.

Oriana leaned even closer. When she sniffed, she loved the scent, so she snuggled in closer, using her hands to wrap him closer, with one of her legs on his body. That was when she felt it, her core was slippery and sticky.

Slowly, Oriana opened her eyes. She didn’t stand up immediately; her eyes moved around to be sure where she was. First, this wasn’t her room, and secondly, why was someone else on her bed, she thought to herself.

"If you’re awake now, you can move. I can’t breathe," Adric’s deep morning voice was heard.

Oriana moved away from him. She was going to jump down from the bed, but then she realized she wasn’t putting anything on and...neither was Adric. "You..." she pointed at him. "What did you do to me?"

Adric pushed himself up from the bed, resting his back on the pillow. He used his fingers to push his hair back. "I believe that is my question to ask you," his eyes moved from Oriana’s face down to her body.

He could still remember the pleasure he gave to the girl the previous night and how her essence had filled the entire room. Seeing her now trying to hide herself when he had already seen everything made him sigh.

Oriana, sensing how Adric was scrutinizing her with his eyes, pulled the bed cover closer to her face. "You, we didn’t do it again, did we?" she whispered. Not that she had any issues sleeping with Adric.

No, Oriana knew she wasn’t that pretentious. In fact, she didn’t mind doing it again with Adric; he was someone she loved so much. The thing was that she didn’t remember everything clearly, and that was so unfair. Her body enjoyed something she had been wishing for, and she had no memories of it. Also, she needed to play hard to get since Adric had rejected her feelings. She wasn’t supposed to be so easy.

This was the only thing that worried Oriana and nothing else. No matter what, she was supposed to keep her last remaining shame as a woman. With that in mind, she asked again,

"Did we do it?" this time her voice was slightly higher, with her eyes looking serious.

Adric raised one of his eyebrows slightly, tilting his head to the side, and asked, "Are you sore?"

"..." Oriana was speechless. She didn’t know how to reply. "Well, not really...I mean," she stuttered. Adric had caught her off guard with his question.

Adric nodded, calmly, as if what he asked was normal. "There, you have your answer then. Except you’ve forgotten how it was the last time."

Oriana coughed; she was really choking. Adric was not the king of Avon, no, because he was supposed to lead the shameless men. Oriana thought to herself, how was saying something like this so easy for him? She hid her face between her legs. It wasn’t like he lied either. After the last time, she really did feel Adric’s impact in between her legs for days, and remembering it now made her inner thighs throb.

Adric pushed his leg down from the bed, went inside the bathroom loose pants hanging on his waist. After washing his face, he dressed up, and left the room. He couldn’t bear to stay any longer close to Oriana. He had this urge to finish up what they had started, but seeing how Oriana looked flustered, he knew it wasn’t really the time.

Oriana raised her face when she heard the door close. She pushed down the bed cover from her body and sighed. Thinking about last night, she didn’t take too much alcohol, and she wasn’t one with a low tolerance to wines either. Why was last night’s different? Coming down from the bed, Oriana entered the bathroom to wash herself up. When she took a step, she felt the stickiness in her core even more. Her mind didn’t remember what had happened last night, but her body did, and she was sure it was good.

After dressing up, Oriana left her room. She saw Madame Rosalie speaking to some girls, whom Oriana assumed to be her workers. The look on her face turned serious when one of the girls said something. When the woman sensed Oriana’s presence, she waved her workers away and walked towards Oriana.

"Your Majesty," Madame Rosalie bowed, "How does it feel to wake up as a queen?"

Oriana touched her forehead. She had almost forgotten that she was now queen. "Well...just there, nothing much." She looked around, noticing that Freya wasn’t there and the girl didn’t come to help her dress up either. "Did something happen to me last night? I mean, like, was I drunk or something?" Oriana went further to ask Madame Rosalie.

Madame Rosalie hummed. "No, you were fine while you were with us. Just that after I took Princess Sophie to her room, I came back to look for you but found out that you retired to bed early. Why? Is something bothering you?"

Oriana shook her head. She didn’t want to worry the woman. "No, no. Just that I was so excited that I can’t remember everything that happened last night. I don’t want to miss out on anything important," she replied. As they were talking, Jasmine ran out of her room, holding her gown up as she ran past them without sparing them a look, her gown making ruffling sounds on the marble floor.

"What is wrong with her?" Oriana muttered. She knew that she wasn’t in the best relationship with Adric’s sisters, but they never passed without acknowledging her presence.

Madame Rosalie clapped her hands gently. "I was going to tell you, one of my girls was telling me this morning that the guard she spent the night with was in charge of locking up a murderer, one who made an attempt on the former king’s life and also killed two servants in the woods."

Oriana gasped. She couldn’t believe they had finally caught the person Adric claimed she had seen trying to kill Adric’s father. "That’s huge! Do you have any idea who it was?"

"The guard didn’t say that much, but I heard the culprit is being held in the dungeon. We can go together if you want," Madame Rosalie suggested.

Oriana nodded. She also wanted to know who it was who had attacked the palace servants, killing them in cold blood and also attempting to kill King Fidelis. "Let us go," both women walked briskly towards the dungeon.

As they approached the dungeon, they noticed a small commotion. It looked as if Princess Jasmine was trying to force her way inside, but the guards kept stopping her.

"My husband didn’t do it! He was accused," she shouted.

Oriana furrowed her brows when she heard this. She knew of only one brother-in-law that Adric had, and that was Caspar, except he was truly the murderer. Thinking about it now, she had seen the man that day in front of King Fidelis’ room, and also he was there in the forest during the hunting. As she was thinking, Adric stepped out of the dungeon, his body covered with blood.

"Where is he? Where is Caspar?" Jasmine shouted. Seeing the blood on Adric’s hand, she shook her head. "No...no..."

Adric took out a handkerchief, wiping his hands slowly. "He is dead, your husband."