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Chapter : 23
“How did you know I had a cold?”
You couldn’t tell that just from the sign. At Sophie’s question, Valentis glanced at the spirits grinding their teeth nearby.
Then he answered flatly.
“I threatened the spirits in the greenhouse and found out.”
[That man tried to kill us!]
[It’s true! He tried to kill me with mana!]
The spirits tattled without hesitation.
“…Your Highness.”
“I didn’t kill them.”
Valentis responded nonchalantly, as if not killing them was enough. The spirits all clutched their necks and collapsed dramatically.
“I never intended to kill them from the beginning.”
[Do you know how scary that was?!]
[He glared at us with those eyes!]
Even at their resentful complaints, Valentis remained indifferent. He clearly didn’t care.
“Besides, they kindly told me what helps with a cold.”
[Oh, come on!]
[Who’s being kind here?!]
Valentis didn’t spare a single glance in the spirits’ direction. He was outright ignoring them.
“…If you brought it from the greenhouse, isn’t that theft?”
“If you’re drinking it, it’s not theft.”
Valentis replied indifferently.
“Breaking in, stealing, threatening—Even if you knew where I lived, you should’ve knocked.”
“I called for you. Isn’t that enough?”
“It’s not. Not even close.”
Sophie replied flatly.
“I’ve never knocked before. Should I start now?”
Valentis tilted his head, then immediately leapt toward the window and jumped out again.
“Kyaa! Ack!”
He jumped out right in front of her! Sophie clutched her chest in shock.
Why does he always act without warning? He’s going to give me a heart attack.
Knock knock.
There was a knock on the door from outside.
“I can’t take this anymore…”
Sophie held her forehead and finally opened the door.
“Don’t delay me. I’m trying to make tea. Why the interruption?”
“You’ve got to be kidding me…”
Valentis shamelessly acted like she was the one being unreasonable.
He muttered to himself about how to make tea and put water on the kettle. Then he finely chopped some tea leaves, honey, and a few herbs.
“…You know how to brew tea?”
“Don’t talk to me. I’ll forget.”
Judging by the way the spirits were glaring at him, he had probably coerced them again to learn how.
He really is a crazy man.
Still, she had wanted some tea.
Her mouth tasted bitter because of what Kevin had said.
“…Still, thank you. Coming all this way just to make tea for me.”
Sophie looked at Valentis’s back in a white shirt. The shirt seemed slightly small, his tense back muscles visible beneath the fabric.
A man who normally wielded a sword on the battlefield was now fiddling with a small teapot, just for Sophie.
He was really trying. No man had ever made her tea before.
He kept mumbling to himself so he wouldn’t forget the instructions.
[That’s not how you do it, Valentis!]
Touched by the scene, the spirits flitted around him, chattering.
“…Then how am I supposed to do it?”
[Don’t fill the kettle to the brim! Use the right amount of water, Valentis!]
[Don’t put too much honey!]
[Ugh, this is stressful!]
The spirits didn’t care about human status. They bossed the prince around casually.
They even made petty requests like peeling apples and sharing them, insisting Sophie would love it. Still, Valentis tried his best.
It was kind of touching that he personally brought herbs to help her cold.
[Valentis, we want cake.]
[The one you bought last time was delicious. Can’t you get that again? Sophie would love it too.]
The spirits had animal-like instincts. They could easily sense hostility and kindness. They recognized that Valentis was doing things for Sophie.
So they felt more comfortable with him and kept pestering him with questions.
“Stop bothering me and get lost.”
Annoyed, Valentis scowled and shouted at them.
[Waaah!]
[Sophie, kick him out!]
The spirits ran to Sophie crying, saying that man might really kill them.
Once they realized Valentis possessed the power of a dragon, their fear increased. Normal humans couldn’t kill spirits easily—but dragons could.
After a while of rustling around in the kitchen, Valentis finally brought out tea that smelled decent.
“It probably doesn’t taste as good as the tea you make.”
He looked a bit nervous. Was he really the type to get nervous?
The tea was still sloppy, with leaves floating messily on top.
But Sophie drank it gratefully.
“It really doesn’t taste that great.”
“…”
Valentis’s face immediately fell.
“But thank you anyway. My head hurts so much, I really needed something warm.”
“…I see.”
As she rolled the teacup in her hands, Sophie looked closely at Valentis’s face for the first time.
He didn’t have Arthur’s flashy looks, but his features were strong, with thick eyebrows. His deep eyes made the golden irises seem even more mysterious.
He looked like a hawk out on a hunt.
‘It feels nice to have him by my side like this…’
That thought suddenly crossed her mind. Not just the warm tea, but having someone by her side during her toughest moment felt so comforting.
Even without saying anything, she felt supported and comforted.
She used to think of him as just an annoying man. But now, she felt grateful.
As Sophie smiled contentedly, her eyes met Valentis’s.
“…What?”
Her eyes, usually dry and emotionless, were now glowing, and Valentis hesitantly spoke.
“…Ah.”
Sophie coughed awkwardly, embarrassed.
“Is the taste really that bad?”
“It’s nothing.”
Now that she thought about it—hadn’t he once licked her finger when she got a small cut? Sophie remembered the soft warmth of Valentis’s tongue and covered her face again.
Was he always this straightforward? He seemed like the type who acted before thinking.
Despite his intense, destructive gaze, he was a warm person inside.
“Get off. You’re getting in the way.”
[It’s not like we’re wearing down your shoulders!]
[Valentis! Is ‘get off’ the only phrase you know?]
Even though the spirits sat on his shoulders and head, he only got irritated at first and then eventually let them be.
It was almost comical—this large, tiger-like man carrying fluffy little spirits around.
“…Why are you looking at me like that?”
Their eyes met again.
“Ah, um…”
Sophie hesitated.
“I was wondering if your chest pain had gotten better.”
Luckily, she found a good excuse.
Valentis, sipping tea, nodded.
“It’s much better. Except for a mark left on part of my chest, there’s no more tattoo or pain.”
“The dragon mark won’t disappear completely?”
“Unless I remove this heart… It’ll probably stay until I die.”
He was suffering far more than she’d imagined because of the dragon heart.
He had struggled bitterly with the fact that the blood of a monster he hated was inside him.
Robin had once said Valentis was tormented by self-hatred and regret.
People really are unpredictable.
The man who once seemed like a pain was now calmly making tea for her.
He had gone from being a bother to someone who firmly stayed by lonely Sophie’s side.
“It’s nice seeing you drink it well.”
He even asked the spirits to check Sophie’s condition and symptoms.
As if their relationship had changed.
Seeing Sophie sip her tea, Valentis pushed her to finish.
“If you like it, I’ll make it for you again.”
“Will you threaten the spirits again?”
“If necessary.”
He said it without hesitation, making the spirits grimace.
Valentis really is a bad man! they muttered among themselves.
“By the way, what made you come here to make tea yourself?”
There’s no way he came all this way just out of worry. As Valentis continued sipping the tea, he looked up at her question.
“First of all, I came to apologize.”
“…Apologize?”
Did he do something wrong to her? She couldn’t remember.
“For breaking the promise I made to you.”
“…Ah.”
“I’m sorry. Despite what I promised, I kept being curious about you, and I involved myself.”
Valentis knew that Sophie only saw their relationship as a patient and apothecary.
That’s why Sophie had warned him—not to cross the line.
But Valentis crossed it anyway.
“But putting aside the apology, I don’t regret what I did.”
He looked directly into her eyes.
“You’re not someone who deserves to be treated like that by such a pathetic man.”
A faint smile crept onto Sophie’s lips. Was this his way of comforting her?
She didn’t have any particular thoughts about his actions.
If anything, she was grateful. She knew he had stepped up for her.
He couldn’t just stand by and watch her be disrespected by Kevin.
Even now, he had gone out of his way to make her tea. And now, he was even apologizing.
To drink tea made by a prince and hear his apology—it seemed like Sophie was living quite the life.
“Even just hearing it, I’m thankful.”
“No.”
Valentis shook his head.
“I mean it.”
“…”
