When I opened my eyes, a sliver of light was streaming through a gap in the warehouse wall.

Since I’d fallen asleep at dawn, it was probably around noon now?

Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin weren’t beside me, and all I could see were the children sprawled out on their bellies nearby—and the princess clinging tightly to my chest.

'Did they all go out to train their martial arts?'

Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin had both learned martial arts from a young age, so even just a couple of hours of sleep was enough for them to recover and wake up.

As for me, I’d lived as a regular guy for too long, so I still hadn’t adjusted my sleep schedule properly.

My body had definitely recovered, but my mind hadn’t accepted that yet, so I still needed longer sleep.

So the two must’ve woken up early and gone off to train. Just then, the princess curled up in my arms suddenly opened her eyes.

I’d thought maybe she slept more than us because she wasn’t as advanced in cultivation, but apparently, she was just pretending to sleep.

“So-ryong, you're awake?”

“Yes, Princess.”

“Ai, I don’t like that—‘Princess.’ Call me Ji-ryeon. You said last time you’d call me Ji-ryeon, but you keep saying ‘Princess.’”

Was she always this cute and playful?

With a pouty face, she thumped her little fists on my chest from within my arms.

Well, I was supposed to be her husband now, so calling her “Princess” was kind of ridiculous.

Saying “my princess, my princess” all the time was something only those cockroach couples did.

'I mean, I’m going to be her husband, so there’s no reason I can’t call her by name. We already agreed to that the other day anyway.'

Sure, it happened kind of suddenly, but it'd be silly if her own husband couldn’t call her by name.

I was going to say it loud and proud now.

“Ji-ryeon.”

“Hehe. Yes.”

She smiled happily when I called her name.

I gave her a soft smile and started to sit up—but suddenly her legs whipped around my waist.

“Ai, let’s stay like this a little longer.”

Wait, I thought she had this dignified, noble aura, but now that the brakes are off, she's completely different.

A bit startled, I asked,

“Princess—no, Ji-ryeon... is this what you're really like?”

I mean, sure, she’d accepted me as her husband, but women in this era don’t usually initiate physical affection this boldly.

Wrapping her legs around me like that? That was ultra high-level skinship.

“Hehe. I’ve been holding back for so long, you know. My So-ryong...”

She rubbed her face into my chest with a deeply satisfied expression.

“Haah, So-ryong’s smell...”

The princess, who had just been happily sniffing my scent, looked up at me and called my name.

“So-ryong.”

“Yes?”

“There’s something I’m curious about.”

“Curious?”

“Mhm.”

I tilted my head at her sudden declaration. She should know pretty much everything about me by now.

“What are you curious about?”

As I tilted my head and asked, she looped her arms around my neck and pulled herself up, whispering into my ear—

[Kissing with tongues. I’m curious what it feels like.]

I flinched at her words.

'What the hell—does she not have any brakes?'

We hadn’t even been a married couple for 24 hours, and she was already asking to make out?

Normally you’d start by holding hands, then a hug, then ride the mood... she skipped half the damn steps!

Then again, Ji-ryeon’s always lived doing exactly what she wants.

It was absurd to expect her to have brakes in the first place.

She grew up in the palace, doing everything freely.

What people call a “brake” in humans is a kind of internal restraint—something born out of circumstance or propriety.

This woman lied to the Emperor and pulled off a fake marriage—of course she had no brakes.

[H-here?]

[Mhm.]

[Right now?]

[Mhm-mhm.]

She gave me a cute, playful expression and smiled sweetly.

[But... the kids are here... and someone might walk in...]

The kids were still sleeping nearby, and Hwa-eun or Gun Hye-rin could barge in at any moment.

I was going to say we should do this later if she really wanted to, but then she pulled over a pile of straw and started covering us with it.

No brakes, but full of planning.

She was trying to cover us with straw and do it underneath.

Sure enough, once the straw blocked our view of the outside, she whispered again—

[*There. That’s better, right? No one will know what’s happening under here.

And as for the kids, I heard from the court ladies that commoners do this stuff in one-room houses all the time—put the kids to sleep and go make a second or third child. So what’s the big deal?*]

What the hell were the court ladies teaching her?

This was starting to feel like I wouldn’t be able to get out of it.

'Well, it’s not like she’s asking for anything extreme. Just a kiss.'

Sure, she was technically my new wife, so I hesitated a bit, but if I turned her down again, she’d probably get upset.

So I decided to go ahead and kiss her.

I placed one hand behind her head, then gently closed her curious, sparkling eyes with the other.

[Close your eyes. It kills the mood if you keep them open.]

[Ah, the mood.]

Then I slowly pulled her closer and lightly pressed our lips together.

Chup.

Immediately, she shook her head and said—

[Not the kind kids do. The court ladies said there’s a kind where your tongues touch. So-ryong, you know what I mean, right?]

Yeah, I figured she wouldn’t be satisfied with just that.

I leaned in close and whispered in her ear—

[That’s not something you just jump into. What if I suddenly ripped open your top and grabbed your chest? Everything has its proper order—]

I was trying to say: everything should happen in sequence.

But before I could even finish, the princess puckered her lips with an “Oh” and said—

[That sounds fun. Let’s try it.]

My eyes blinked automatically.

[No, Princess—I mean, Ji-ryeon—how could we possibly do that here? Let’s save that for after the wedding. Today, just the kissing, okay?]

[Tch...]

If I kept talking, I felt like she’d start saying we should make a baby right now, so I quickly pulled her in and kissed her.

Slowly. Softly.

Then gradually, it shifted into the kind of kiss she wanted—a French kiss.

Chu-rup.

We kissed like that for a while, and when we finally pulled apart, I saw her blushing face glowing red in the sliver of light peeking through the straw.

She’d been full of curiosity, but that didn’t mean she wasn’t embarrassed.

[There. That was good, right?]

Thinking she’d be satisfied now, I started to sit up.

But then the princess clung to me again, arms wrapped around my neck.

She whispered softly into my ear.

[Do it again.]

[Wait, Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin might come back any second.]

[If we sense them coming, we just pretend we weren’t doing anything. Come on, hurry.]

If we got caught like this, it’d be seriously awkward.

Especially when I was the one who’d insisted on not taking another wife—yet here I was, not even a full day later, caught kissing the new one.

People would definitely say something like, “Tch. He was just waiting for an excuse, wasn’t he?”

And yet, the princess showed no signs of backing off, so I kissed her again.

Chu-rup.

We were kissing for a while when—

Creeaak.

The sound of the warehouse door opening rang out.

If we panicked now, we’d get caught for sure.

I calmly pulled back a little and put some space between us, closing my eyes and pretending nothing had happened.

Soon, I heard Hwa-eun and Gun Hye-rin’s voices.

“So-ryong and the Princess aren’t awake yet?”

“We should wake them. It’s long past time to get up, and they should eat something.”

Then Hyang’s voice chimed into the group chat.

『“Dad woke up earlier. Ji-ryeon Mom was licking his nose because his arm fell # Nоvеlight # asleep.”』

...Last night, before bed, I told Hyang that if my arm ever looked like it went numb, she should lick my nose to wake me.

So she must’ve seen me and the Princess kissing, assumed it was nose-licking, and reported that.

Gun Hye-rin’s voice immediately snapped out, full of irritation.

“Master!”

She clearly figured out what happened.

***

Hwa-eun, at least, was understanding. Gun Hye-rin, on the other hand, was pissed.

She was annoyed that, despite being with me longer, it was the Princess who got kissed first.

At this rate, even my mouth was becoming public property.

I resigned myself and said,

“All right. I’ll kiss you too, Miss Gun. Later.”

“You... really will?”

“Yes.”

“Well, f-fine then. But this isn’t jealousy, okay? I just don’t want to be left out.”

With that settled, I sat up properly. Gun Hye-rin and Hwa-eun laid out the things they’d brought.

“Here, shoes.”

“Oh, so you went to get shoes?”

“We also brought dumplings and roast duck. Since warriors don’t cook during lunch hours, we had to buy something.”

“I see.”

“Yes, all while you and the Princess were enjoying your special time.”

“Hey, I said I’d kiss you too.”

“When did I say anything? I’m just saying, that’s what happened.”

Now that I thought about it, we’d all ended up barefoot after yesterday’s run-in with the spirit bug.

They must’ve gone to a nearby city to buy shoes and food.

We still had spare clothes, but new shoes were a must.

And like Gun Hye-rin said, they’d bought warm food.

Since martial artists ate early in the morning and again in the evening, if you wanted lunch, you had to settle for cold food.

“Here, ah—So-ryong.”

“Ah—Ji-ryeon...”

Just as the Princess was about to feed me a roasted duck leg, Gun Hye-rin shoved a dumpling toward my mouth.

“Hey, I’ve got one too.”

Then even Hwa-eun, watching all this, joined in with a grin.

“So-ryong, I’ve got one too.”

“Hwa-eun!”

I shouted, as if pleading with her not to join this madness—but she only smiled like a mischievous little imp.

She clearly thought the whole thing was hilarious.

“What? So-ryong. Are you discriminating against me just because I’m the old wife? Are you bored of me already?”

“W-what? There’s no such thing as old or new wives! I’m not bored!”

In the end, I ended up rotating between the three of them, letting them feed me bite after bite.

While I was chewing, Hwa-eun asked carefully,

“So-ryong.”

“What now? What are you trying to tease me with this time?”

“No teasing. I just thought your reactions were funny. But I’ll stop now.”

“Tch.”

“Come on, cheer up. If you don’t, we’ll all hug you until you do.”

“F-fine.”

While I was still sulking slightly at that half-threat, Hwa-eun asked a more serious question.

“By the way, are we planning to start catching the silver fish spirit beasts in three or four days?”

“We need to soak the cloth in sweat thoroughly, so yeah, that timing should work. Also, we have to check if the one from yesterday starts moving again. Why?”

Right, we had to let the cloth absorb sweat and dead skin, and we also had to monitor whether the one that got scared off yesterday would reappear.

So we’d be laying low for the next few days.

Hwa-eun turned to look at the Princess and said,

“Well... I was thinking maybe we could raise the Princess’s level to the Flower Realm in that time.”

“What!? Flower Realm?”

“Flower Realm?”

The Princess and I both exclaimed in surprise.

I was just thinking about the consequences, while the princess seemed surprised because Hwa-eun spoke like she could just make her Flower Realm whenever she pleased.

“I mean... wouldn’t it be fine to take it slow?”

I had a feeling I knew what Hwa-eun was thinking.

Since Gun Hye-rin had excellent Qi control and we also had spirit medicines, Hwa-eun likely wanted to make sure the Princess wasn’t the only one left behind.

'Save me.'

She was probably thinking of using spirit pills, but we actually had two elixirs already—

The ones created when Moji and Soji shed their skins, tied to Yo-hwa’s ankle bell.

We’d been debating how to use them, and raising one person to Flower Realm wouldn’t be difficult with those.

We’d originally intended to use them for Hwa-eun, but she’d already advanced during the Azure Steel Immortal Ant event by consuming Pure Blue Qi, so she didn’t need them anymore.

Hearing my hesitation, Hwa-eun shook her head.

“If the Princess is the only one not at Flower Realm, she’ll just age faster. That’d be too sad.”

“She’s right.”

“So we should get her to Flower Realm as soon as possible.”

'Seriously? Just because of that?'

Well, we’d all gone through spiritual rebirth and were basically aging in slow motion now.

But the Princess, being merely top-tier, would age normally.

Still... If I made her Flower Realm too, I was probably going to die.

I looked over at her. She was beaming with anticipation.

Women were sensitive about aging, and if I said the wrong thing here, I’d be blamed forever.

Fine. I’d just pick which part to enhance and focus on that.

'Yeah, definitely the chest, right? But smoothness wasn’t bad either...'

After all, I’d just unlocked a whole new option.