The estate was drowned in silence, the kind that made even your own heartbeat feel too loud. You slipped through the halls with practiced stealth, confident that the night—and his absence—still shielded you. After all, Ayato had been away on business outside Inazuma for days. If he had been home, sneaking out… sneaking back in… would’ve been impossible.

You told yourself you had time. You were wrong.

A faint light glowed beneath the door of his study—impossible, your mind insisted. He wasn’t supposed to return until morning.

But when you slid the door open, the truth hit you like ice.

“I’ve been informed that you’ve been coming home late at night. Is there something I should worry about, petal?”

Ayato lounged behind his desk, sleeves rolled to his forearms, posture relaxed in a way that gave him a strangely predatory beauty. His travel coat hung over the chair; he had returned early—early enough to catch you.

The lantern beside him cast a slow, golden trail along his jawline as he looked down at the papers in front of him… pretending to focus on them, even though his attention was unmistakably on you.

“And as I see it…” he murmured, finally raising his eyes to yours, “tonight hasn’t been the exception either.”

His voice was velvet dipped in steel—soft, sensual, but heavy with unspoken warning. His gaze held yours a little too long, a little too knowingly, as if stripping away whatever excuse you thought you could give.

And in that moment, you realized:

He hadn’t just returned early. He had come back expecting to find you like this.