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Episode 3
“I have sworn my purity to Lord Aster for my entire life.”
Haran’s serious, almost holy-sounding words echoed through the bedroom.
“Pfft.”
The mastermind immediately laughed mockingly.
“Ah. Sorry, sis. I’m sorry for laughing. But do you know what makes me want to do it with you even more?”
Lucius giggled as if something was incredibly funny.
“If you want to do it, do it by yourself. I’m not doing it.”
Haran turned around and started walking away.
Lucius hurried after her with small steps.
“Big sister, wait. Let’s go together.”
At that moment, Iraz’s voice came from outside again.
“Princess Haran. This servant, Iraz, has brought the blessing of your blood relatives. I will enter.”
“Wait!”
If the servants saw a peaceful scene where nothing was happening through the open doorway, they would start doubting her qualifications as a princess.
In that moment, Haran hurriedly wrapped her arms around Lucius.
Lucius’s eyes widened slightly.
Then he smiled brightly and wrapped the blanket around his own body over Haran’s back as well.
Haran suddenly found herself trapped inside Lucius’s arms.
Lucius was two years younger than she, yet he was much taller.
Because of that, Haran’s lips kept touching his chest, driving her crazy.
Her soft lips pressed against his warm, smooth skin.
It almost looked…
Like they were kissing.
Her lower stomach felt strangely ticklish.
Luckily, Iraz only peeked her face through the small gap in the door so the other servants couldn’t see.
After seeing the “proper” appearance of the two people inside, a satisfied smile appeared on her face.
“Princess, the princes and princesses have sent gifts. You’re going to throw them all away like usual, right?”
“No. I’ll open all of them.”
“What if the slave dies?”
“That won’t happen.”
“Well, I suppose not. Since Princess Haran is clinging so tightly to him.”
Iraz gave a suspicious little smile as she pulled the cart full of gifts into the bedroom.
In the Kingdom of Baral, it was a custom for royal siblings to send congratulatory gifts when someone spent their first night.
That’s not the reason at all. The person in front of me is the strongest being in this entire world… He doesn’t need my protection…
A truth she couldn’t say out loud rose all the way to Haran’s throat.
She pushed herself away from Lucius and escaped his arms.
Lucius easily let her go while smiling like he was enjoying himself.
Iraz handed Haran a vase first.
It had a delicate carving of a desert landscape.
“This is quite heavy, so please be careful. It seems Prince Jamshir put a lot of sincerity into this.”
“Then should I feel my brother’s sincerity?”
Haran smiled sweetly and threw the vase onto the floor.
Crash!
“Wow.”
Lucius let out an impressed voice.
From the broken pieces of the vase, countless turquoise snakes with pitch-black fangs crawled out.
“Shhh—!”
And then one of them suddenly jumped out.
It rushed straight toward Haran’s face!
Whoosh!
Suddenly, a pure white flame that looked almost divine filled her vision.
When the white light disappeared, the snakes had already burned completely, leaving only ashes behind.
Haran held her hand near her mouth and blown lightly, creating the flame.
She dusted off both her palms.
“As expected.”
Iraz looked exhausted.
Lucius crouched down in front of the ashes and stared at them.
Then he asked:
“You did that?”
“Yes. Princess Haran is a high-ranking priest of the Aster religion who protects the sacred flame, so she knows many kinds of magic.”
Iraz nodded proudly on Haran’s behalf.
Her expression showed how proud she was of her master.
Iraz also didn’t care for Lucius speaking informally.
Only a rare top-quality slave was allowed that much.
Lucius lightly gathered some ashes onto his long, straight index finger.
Then…
He stuck out his tongue and tasted them.
“Why did you eat that?! That’s gross! Spit it out, quickly!”
Without thinking, Haran hurriedly shoved her finger into Lucius’s mouth.
Lucius smiled slyly and sucked on her finger.
Sucks.
“Ah…!”
Lucius’s mouth was burning hot.
The feeling of his tongue wrapping around her finger was unbearably ticklish.
Haran immediately pulled her hand away in shock.
She stared helplessly at the saliva left on her finger.
Then she suddenly met Iraz’s eyes.
Haran’s face turned bright red.
It felt like she had been caught kissing her boyfriend by her own older sister right in front of the house.
Iraz seemed to feel the same way.
“I-I think I’ll leave now, Your Highness!”
With completely red cheeks, she hurriedly left the bedroom.
Haran fanned her face with her hand and picked up another gift.
“Big sister.”
Warmth touched her back.
Lucius pressed his body against her back and rested his chin on her shoulder.
Their mysterious purple eyes and strange pink eyes met.
“What are you doing?”
“Why? You hugged me earlier, too.”
The large mastermind dragged out his words and acted cute in a way that didn’t match him at all.
Haran wondered how long he planned to keep pretending.
“Big sister, yours tasted like fire.”
“Why do you keep saying things that make people misunderstand…?”
“You’re the one who should explain. If you knew there was a poisonous snake inside the vase, why did you accept it instead of throwing it away?”
Lucius, who possessed extraordinary talents, seemed to have realized that the snakes inside the vase were poisonous just by tasting the ashes.
“I don’t like being attacked and doing nothing. I wanted to accept it and return it properly.”
Haran gave a strangely evil smile that didn’t suit her.
Being loved by the Sultan and fighting for the throne among her siblings were two completely separate things.
Faisad had killed other royals and taken the throne himself.
Because of that, she viewed her children pointing blades at each other as something amusing and allowed it.
As long as those blades weren’t aimed at her.
“Hmm. My big sister and I have a lot in common.”
“What part of us is similar?”
Haran slapped away Lucius’s hand that was slowly moving upward.
“Ouch, ouch, ouch.”
“This is Princess Visenna’s gift.”
Haran lifted a male contraceptive device.
“Isn’t it cursed so that you can’t stop your desire and die from too much pleasure?”
Lucius asked playfully.
“No. I know my sister well. The moment you put it on, until the curse is lifted, that part of yours will shrink down to the size of a fingernail.”
Even the great Lucius was speechless for a moment because of Visenna’s cruelty.
To make even the mastermind temporarily unable to speak was impressive.
Visenna truly had an incredible talent for creating curses.
Soon after, Lucius jokingly suggested testing the effectiveness of Visenna’s creation on himself.
Of course, Haran ignored him completely.
Snacks that turned into boogers the moment someone touched them.
Animal corpses crawling with maggots.
Roses with teeth.
All of these gifts were burned by Haran.
The crescent moon eventually disappeared behind clouds carrying the color of the rosy dawn.
While Haran swept and cleaned the ashes scattered across the floor, Lucius slept on the bed with an angelic face.
Yeah, sure. You should be the princess instead of me… What an easy life you have.
Looking at the situation, Lucius looked like the princess, and Haran looked like the slave.
Still, unlike what I feared, everything ended safely.
She had honestly prepared herself for the possibility of spending the night with him.
She was relieved that Lucius had behaved himself.
“Are you done?”
When she turned around, Lucius was watching her lazily with half-open eyes.
He looked like a cat stretched out on top of a wall.
“Yes. At seven o’clock, the old servant who guided you yesterday, Shubat, will come to get you again. He’ll ask you a few questions. Just say that everything was wonderful.”
“But, Haran noona.”
Lucius called her in a voice as sweet as honey.
“If I honestly tell him that nothing happened between us… that would cause trouble for you, right?”
Lucius’s eyes shone like a leopard watching prey in the darkness.
A chill ran through Haran.
Why had she thought Lucius would obediently follow her request?
He was the strongest being in this story.
A person who could erase Haran from existence, like wiping something away with an eraser.
“I’m not very good at lying.”
Lucius smiled brightly.
Th-this guy…!
Thinking about it, Lucius had never promised to do what she wanted.
He had probably planned this from the beginning.
Just to tease her!
“It’s okay. My mother favors me, so she’ll kindly forgive me for not following one or two royal duties.”
Haran tried bluffing first.
“That’s good. Then I’ll go tell that female Davand I saw earlier right now. I feel bad about lying, so I should clear things up quickly.”
Lucius grabbed his chest and pretended to be in pain.
“Wait, wait, wait!”
Haran’s bluff lasted less than a few seconds.
Because if people found out that a royal princess had refused to sleep with a slave, her honor and authority would collapse.
She would become an easy target for her siblings.
She could have been killed…
Or turned into their toy.
Haran hated the culture of this kingdom, where such a reckless sexual lifestyle was considered normal.
“What do you want from me?”
Haran sighed.
