Edna's head felt like it was about to burst.
Yes… she had two children.
Yes… she was married to the Emperor.
But never — never had she been kissed.
Not once.
Not even the brief, innocent touch she had read about so many times in the romance novels tucked away in her private collection.
In those stories, kisses happened like breathing — light, casual, at the end of every confession, in the middle of every quarrel, even sometimes for no reason at all.
But her own lips… had never felt the heat of another person's.
She longed for it. That was why she was so shy now.
Why her hands itched and her pulse hammered in her throat every time she thought about it.
The bowl between her and Azel still carried the ghost of his touch.
She looked at him carefully, genuinely curious if he even realized he had sipped from her side earlier.
But his face gave nothing away — he looked unconcerned about it, as if he had simply been eating.
Her fingers tightened around the bowl.
