Wedding (5)

Clothes—clothes…

But she couldn’t.

Oblivious, utterly unaware that anything was wrong, Reichardt found Alicia’s lack of response strange and moved closer.

Warm, damp heat washed over her shoulder and cheek.

Reichardt crouched down beside Alicia in a similar posture.

“Alicia, are you all right?”

Reichardt asked with concern.

“I’m fine—”

Alicia felt as though her vision were going dark.

Her head spun.

Her heart hammered wildly.

“Are you really all right?”

Reichardt asked, completely unable to understand the state Alicia was in.

“I’m fine—”

“You don’t look sick anywhere. What’s wrong?”

He whispered as he placed his hand on Alicia’s forehead.

The spot his large hand touched felt numb.

She couldn’t pull herself together.

Only then did it occur to Alicia—had Reichardt deliberately barged in dressed like this?

But she quickly dismissed the thought.

This was Reichardt’s bedroom.

She was the one who had come here unannounced.

“Just—wait.”

Still crouched, Alicia turned only her head.

She averted her gaze to somewhere far away, away from the presence that was violently disorienting her vision.

Her heart continued to pound.

Alicia’s face was burning red, as if it might burst.

Only when she pressed her face into her hands did she realize how hot her cheeks were.

Tap.

Soft lips brushed the cheek she had turned away.

“…!”

Alicia’s eyes flew open behind her hands.

“What’s wrong?”

A low voice tinged with laughter asked quietly.

“…Just—give me a moment.”

Alicia murmured, her voice trembling at the end.

Too much stimulation wasn’t good.

She was so shocked she couldn’t do anything, yet her vision swayed on its own.

“Does it hurt?”

For some reason, Reichardt kissed the cheek of his betrothed again—she who was recoiling in shock.

Tap, tap, tap.

He pressed his lips down several times in a row.

As the lips touched and withdrew, Alicia couldn’t react at all.

Just—wait, just a moment, wait…

She could only mutter foolish words.

She wondered if this was a dream.

It wasn’t even her first kiss, yet Alicia couldn’t escape her dazed state.

It was all because of his appearance.

Reichardt—barely dressed, hardly dressed at all—was the problem.

The kiss on her cheek suddenly deepened.

A large hand came to rest on Alicia’s vacant hand.

She had no time to look at the wrist he’d caught.

Reichardt’s lips, which had been planting light kisses, moved from her cheek to her lips.

Their lips met fully.

Alicia leaned against the bare body of the man, at a loss.

It wasn’t her first time embracing him, but this was the first time he’d been this exposed.

She couldn’t tell where she could place her hands, or where she shouldn’t.

Seeing Alicia hesitate, Reichardt kissed her deeply.

Their touching lips pressed softly together.

Hot breath scattered between them as their lips briefly parted.

Then they met again.

Their breaths tangled as they breathed against each other’s lips.

At the unfamiliar depth of the kiss, a ragged breath slipped from Alicia’s lips.

With her panting lips, she met his again.

Tap, tap.

Each time their lips met and parted, a wet, secretive sound echoed.

Clinging to an embrace with nothing to hold onto, Alicia floundered—then startled at the sensation of bare skin beneath her hand.

Reichardt lifted Alicia and sat her on the desk.

He stepped closer, and Alicia naturally wrapped her arms around his unclothed back.

Without either of them deciding first, their lips met again.

An unfamiliar resonance followed from their overlapping lips.

They were only kissing, yet Alicia couldn’t regain her senses from the way her whole body seemed to hum.

All she could do was respond to the lips touching hers.

The large hand braced on the desk slid over Alicia’s knee.

As the kiss deepened, Alicia reached up and wrapped her arms around Reichardt’s neck.

Tap, tap.

After growing deep, the kiss lightened, brushing her lips before trailing along her jaw to her ear.

At the ticklish sound, Alicia shrank her neck.

Reichardt’s lips slowly withdrew from her.

“What were you looking for earlier?”

He whispered in a voice short of breath.

“…The wedding… guest… list.”

Alicia answered, her voice unsteady.

“It’s on the desk in the study.”

Reichardt replied in a much calmer voice, then pressed a deep kiss to Alicia’s cheek.

After that, he turned and went into the dressing room.

The door separating the bedroom and dressing room closed with deliberate politeness.

“……”

Left sitting alone on someone else’s desk, Alicia waited for the dizziness to subside.

Reality didn’t feel quite real.

Only after the haze lifted did she realize she was sitting somewhere she’d never imagined before.

‘What was that?’

The desk in Reichardt’s bedroom was fairly high.

Alicia swung her feet back and forth in midair.

After lingering in a daze for a while, she slipped down from the desk without a sound and left the room.

“He said the study desk.”

She muttered something meaningless, covered her mouth with her hand, and sprinted down the corridor.

Wind rose with Alicia’s speed, her dress fluttering wildly.

Her hair swayed like she was dancing—but the place she ran toward wasn’t Reichardt’s study.

It was the wide-open weapons armory.

She’d arrived somewhere entirely different, but Alicia didn’t care.

She simply covered her mouth again and ran at full speed.

Alicia’s sudden run had been because of fickle weather.

It had been a sunny day.

The sky was clear—yet rain began to fall.

Caught in the downpour during her walk, Alicia ran to the first place she saw.

The annex she’d entered only a few times before was one of Reichardt’s offices in the Grand Duke’s residence.

She opened the door and brushed the rain from her clothes.

The rain that had soaked her hair in moments left her utterly flustered.

“Alicia?”

At that moment, the inner door of the office opened and Reichardt stepped out.

“Rei—”

Reichardt had been extremely busy lately.

From dawn he was summoned to the imperial palace to coordinate matters between the Empire and the Duchy of Tessen.

After political meetings ended, he handled wedding preparations.

Stories about the Grand Duke of Tessen being run ragged between the Emperor and Empress were well known throughout Baden.

In contrast, Alicia had never felt more at ease than she did now.

On the surface, she wasn’t in Baden, so Daisy and Annie were staying in Rudern.

Busy with wedding preparations, Daisy and Annie in Rudern had no time to pay attention to Alicia at the Grand Duke’s residence.

Alicia was enjoying her leisurely solitude.

Henrik, the butler, had tried desperately to assign her attendants—but she had just as desperately refused.

“Is it raining outside?”

Reichardt asked as he approached Alicia, who was shaking off the rain.

“Yes, all of a sudden…”

A man’s hand brushed through her rain-soaked hair.

But it was far too wet to dry with just a few passes of his hand.

“Sit here.”

Reichardt went to fetch a towel, guiding Alicia to the sofa.

“……”

It seemed he had come to retrieve something important from the office.

Seeing the thick stack of papers Reichardt had left on the table, Alicia felt an unnecessary pang of guilt.

While someone was working, she felt like she was the only one idling about.

“Drink.”

Reichardt returned with a towel—and a warm cup of tea.

The late summer heat hadn’t fully faded yet.

Normally, Alicia wouldn’t touch warm tea unless there was a chill in the air, but she couldn’t refuse now.

“Thank you…”

As Alicia accepted the teacup, she paused.

A towel was draped over her wet hair—and at the same time, tap, a kiss landed near her ear.

A large hand dried her wet hair through the towel.

Then lips brushed her cheek again.

“Have you been well?”

Reichardt asked as he swept her damp hair behind her shoulder.

“Yes. Rei, you’ve been—”

Busy—

The word never finished.

Lips pressed deeply over the lips that were asking after him.

“I missed you.”

Reichardt whispered in the brief moment their lips parted.

Alicia couldn’t answer.

His lips plunged back into her, deeply.

Their breaths tangled, warm and soft sensations winding around her stunned lips.

“…!”

Alicia held her breath for a moment.

A sweet kiss landed once on her dazed upper lip, once on her equally dazed lower lip.

Then their lips overlapped again without a gap.

Alicia received the approaching lips in return.

She forgot trivial things—her wet hair, the fact this was one of Reichardt’s offices.

She focused only on the soft, warm sensation.

Each time their lips met, a sweet sound echoed.

Alicia nudged the teacup in her hand onto the table.

Reichardt moved closer to her.

Alicia wrapped her arms around the approaching man.

The bodies pressed together seemed to hum strangely.

It felt as though she could clearly feel the thudding of their hearts.

The narrow sofa shifted quietly.

Reichardt’s lips traced the outline of Alicia’s lower lip.

After pressing a deep kiss to its edge, his lips slid along her jaw and down to her neck.

Alicia swallowed unconsciously.

Ragged breaths spilled between her lips.

As the man kissed her neck with soft sounds, Alicia returned the kiss.

Their lips overlapped again.

Reichardt acted as though he meant to kiss every part of Alicia he could see— her trembling eyelids, her flushed cheeks, her lips.

His lips touched her face everywhere.

Then her long hair, the back of the hand gripping his shoulder.

He took Alicia’s hand and kissed each finger, one by one.

Each unfamiliar kiss made Alicia’s fingertips curl, intoxicated by the sensation.

Alicia leaned closer toward the man kissing her fingers.

As he pressed his lips to her fingers, he lifted his head toward her lips.

Their lips met.

Tap, tap, tap.

The tickling sounds faded.

Reichardt slowly straightened the body he had been leaning toward Alicia.

“……”

Alicia felt her fading awareness slowly return.

Panting sounds escaped her lips.

At some point, her body had been leaning against the sofa’s armrest.

The teacup she’d been holding was perched precariously at the edge of the table.

Reichardt, who had fully withdrawn from her, cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Dry your hair before you leave.”

The end of his voice cracked roughly.

“…Okay.”

Alicia answered a beat late.

Reichardt reached out to tidy her disheveled hair, then hurriedly withdrew his hand and stood up.

“I’ll go.”

He stepped back from the sofa as he spoke.

“Okay.”

Alicia replied quickly, though her expression was still dazed.

“I’m going…”

Reichardt looked like he had something more to say, repeated himself once, then turned away.

And vanished like the wind.

As if he’d never been there at all.

The room was filled with silence.

Alicia reached out and hooked the teacup with her fingertips.

In that short time, the tea had gone completely cold.

She couldn’t even tell how much time had passed.

She drained the lukewarm tea and let out a long breath.

“Mmm.”

A sound slipped from her throat.

It made her recall the man who had awkwardly cleared his throat.

Alicia deliberately erased the image that tried to surface like an afterimage.

As if nothing had happened, she smoothed her rumpled dress and tidied her disheveled hair to one side with her hand.

Her cheeks still burned warmly, and she fluttered her hands for a moment.

“Mm.”

She kept clearing her throat.

As she set the empty teacup on the table, Alicia finally let a mutter slip out.

“Why…”

Her lips halted mid-word as she realized what she was about to say.

She stared at the closed door for a long time, then whispered with an awkward breath.

“…stop halfway.”

Her embarrassed soliloquy hung in the quiet room.

“Last time too—no.”

Alicia shook her head, saying words she herself didn’t fully understand.

But once spoken, the muttering continued.

“What was that.”

The wedding was just around the corner.