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Chapter 10
“Ha……. Damn it.”
“Princess, you should watch your language.”
“Shi…….”
Yevgenia sighed deeply as she roughly swept her hair back.
Then, Yulan’s light voice popped up.
“Anyone watching would think you’re being hauled off to prison.”
“Emotionally, it’s no different.”
Another long sigh escaped her lips.
She stood up from her seat and slowly began to undo the tightly fastened robe she was wrapped in.
Embarrassment washed over her, but it was unavoidable.
‘Well, if it has to be done, today is the right time anyway. What happened with Raymond today is the perfect excuse, isn’t it?’
If the name disappeared in a timely manner, it would be easy to pin all the reasons on Raymond’s misconduct.
Reporting Yulan’s existence and everything that happened with him to her father was a choice she’d rather die than make.
‘I’d rather bite my own tongue off. My father probably isn’t interested in the transgressions of the daughter he raised so properly.’
Anyway, there was no timing as perfect as today.
Even so, she had dragged it out like this because she wanted to deny it until the very end……
‘Since we’ve reached a dead end, there’s no choice. Even if it’s hard to swallow, I have to do it!’
Finally, as she pulled one end of the ribbon fastened at her chest, the thin fabric slipped down her body and fell to the floor.
After the pitch-black cloak disappeared, all that remained was a chemise so thin it blatantly revealed her body’s curves.
“…….”
Yulan’s gaze swept down Yevgenia’s body.
The gaze that flowed past her rounded breasts and down to her flat stomach paused for a moment, then calmly moved back up.
The moment she met his golden pupils, burning like flames along with his hair, a small laugh escaped Yulan’s lips.
“You had such a resolute expression, like a general heading to the battlefield, and you were preparing for this?”
“…….”
“The journey here must have been quite rough……. Seems you have some faith in it.”
“That’s none of your business.”
“Well, you’re not wrong.”
Yulan shrugged lightly and leaned his upper body forward slightly, closing the distance.
At the sight of Yulan’s face slowly approaching, Yevgenia flinched momentarily, stiffened, and tightly closed her eyes.
Her obedient reaction caused Yulan’s eyebrow to twitch slightly.
“Last time you slapped my cheek, but today it seems like you’re expecting me to kiss you.”
“……Are you complaining? Want me to hit you again today?”
“No, I’m touched. It’s like a stray cat giving me a nose nuzzle for the first time.”
Spouting an inexplicable analogy, he still maintained his distance, as if he had no intention of kissing her or touching her body.
It was a very passive attitude for someone who had boldly talked about nights from the very first day they met.
Hesitating for a moment, Yevgenia added in a small voice.
“If it’s because of my eyes, you know, you can’t get into it, then I can cover them……”
“……What do you mean by that?”
“My eyes look a bit, fierce, so I thought it could be a reason. If you don’t have anything to cover them with, I can use my hands to cover them, or…”
“Wait, wait a minute. I haven’t understood what you’ve been talking about since earlier.”
Yulan, pressing his temples as if he had a headache, let out a small sigh.
He looked at the floor, then at the ceiling, repeating the motion as he organized his thoughts, and asked with a completely serious face.
“Princess, who on earth told you such…… stories? The duke’s maids? Your governess? Or…… Duke Martiur?”
“What? That’s impossible. What other men do I even know?”
At the question with an obvious answer, Yulan’s expression grew even more twisted.
“……Ah, Prince Lars?”
“I know I look foolish. But even after going this far, you……”
Yevgenia’s gaze drifted towards Yulan’s lower half, which should be beyond the sofa.
She didn’t know what was happening down there, but seeing him so composed now, there probably wasn’t any significant change.
Having never had a deep relationship with a man in either her past or present life, she could only guess his reaction based on her limited knowledge.
Biting her lower lip slightly, she continued.
“There’s no, I mean, you have no reaction at all, so I remembered something Raymond said a long time ago, and wondered if maybe that’s why……”
“……A long time ago?”
“It’s from when we were at the academy. He just…… said my eyes looked unpleasant, and that if I wanted to please a man, I should do something about my eyes first……”
After that, she had deliberately worn makeup to tone down her natural eye shape.
But Yevgenia’s eyes, which resembled her father who was called the Empire’s Lion, were not so easily subdued.
In the end, it was just another day spent being swayed by Raymond’s words, as always.
Gently touching her makeup-free eyes, Yevgenia whispered like a sigh.
“What should I call you,”
“Call me Nox. Relaxed.”
“……Alright, Nox. Anyway……, I’m truly desperate. If you want, I’ll even do it with my mouth……”
“Ha.”
A laugh filled with an unreadable emotion—seemingly amused, yet also absurd.
Shame washed over her, but she barely held it back.
If she thought all this hardship was for a peaceful future, she could endure anything.
Hiding her trembling heart, she looked at him without blinking.
His slightly darkened green eyes swept over her body once more.
Unlike before, his gaze descended without hesitation, down, down, until it settled on her pale instep.
“If this is meant to provoke me, it seems like a rather misguided choice.”
“……That’s my problem to handle. It has nothing to do with you, right?”
At Yevgenia’s prickly words, Yulan let out a ‘pfft’ of laughter.
That alone made the air in the room feel instantly colder.
“Fine, then let’s get one thing straight before we proceed.”
“……What is it?”
“This is just an act agreed upon by both parties, for the request.”
It was a pointed statement.
Raising one eyebrow slightly, Yevgenia spoke with a mixture of awkwardness and defiance.
“You’re not saying this because you’re afraid I’ll fall for you after one time and start chasing you around, are you?”
“……Well, I can’t exactly say no.”
Yulan shrugged his shoulders exaggeratedly, as if to prove a point.
He lightly rubbed Yevgenia’s nape, which was speechless from absurdity, brought his face closer, and gently nibbled on her soft earlobe.
“Eugh…….”
A small moan escaped Yevgenia as she instinctively hunched her shoulders.
Into her sensitive ear, Yulan’s low voice flowed.
“I’m somewhat confident that it’ll be pretty hard to find another man after me.”
“Wha, what does that mean, ah!”
A hot tongue licked up the curve of her ear.
With each movement of the wet, soft muscle, a damp sound echoed.
Goosebumps rose from her nape all the way down her spine.
Yevgenia’s floundering hand hurriedly grabbed Yulan’s shoulder.
Then, suddenly, a firm arm wrapped around her waist and her body was hoisted up in an instant.
“……!”
They say when you’re too shocked, no sound comes out.
That’s exactly the situation Yevgenia was in now.
A princess of a nation being carried around like a sack of grain.
Her face flushed crimson, Yevgenia struggled and pounded Yulan’s shoulder with her fists, thump, thump.
“Put me down, let me go! I’ll go by myself, just……!”
“Wow, your hands are feistier than I thought, Princess.”
“Then put me down!”
But Yulan remained completely unfazed, to the point where even the struggling Yevgenia was taken aback.
She was literally twisting her whole body, yet he didn’t even waver, let alone drop her.
By the time Yulan put Yevgenia down, they had already arrived at his intended destination.
Placing his hands on either side of Yevgenia’s thighs and meeting her eyes, he spoke.
“If you want to go back even now, just say so. I’ll send you off cleanly. How about it?”
“Ah, but we’ll treat the request as if it never happened?”
Yulan answered with a soundless smile instead.
Irritated, Yevgenia challengingly tugged down the shoulder straps of her chemise.
“If you back down here, you’re not even a man. Got it?”
Along with quite the provocative words.
