CH 11

Translated by Lara

Her body instinctively curled up and she was helpless in his large arms.

Her back was scratched and touched his bumpy abs. She barely managed to create a space, but his loose shirt cloth tickled her back.

Was it possible for correcting shooting posture to feel so racy? What the hell were they doing at the shooting range?

Dozens of people were gathered around to attend Clyde. However, she was unable to turn back. She didn’t see everyone felt excited or bewildered by Clyde’s burst of Alpha pheromones.

She listened to the soothing and friendly whispers that were busy engraving small encouragement into her mind,

“Yes, try it yourself.”

A soft and deep voice could be heard.

“Aim and shoot.”

Whatever.

She tried to focus as much as she could, aimed at the target and pulled the trigger.

Taang–

She was startled and her body shivered. The explosion right in front of her was terrifying.

Edith was also pushed back because the gun barrel was slammed.

“Ah!”

Clyde held her up.

The weight of her gun was not too heavy but the rebound was quite significant. It was like she had been told before.

“Are you okay?”

With his big and string forearms, he held her waist tightly and supported her not to stumble. This time it wasn’t just a slight touch. She was completely hugged from behind.

Even after she shot, Edith held the gun handle tightly until her knuckles turned white.

The gunshot deafened her ears and she was still nervous.

“Yes, I’m fine. Did I… shoot well?”

She wouldn’t have been so confused if she had focused on shooting alone. Of course, then she might have bounced back or injured her arm right after she fired.

“You shot very well.”

He said that without even checking where the bullets had been lodged. He was busy calming her by putting the gun away and hugging her.

“Can you stand right up?”

Of course, the answer was obvious. Clyde’s arm that wrapped around her waist was rather uncomfortable.

“Of course.”

This was a great opportunity to end the clingy and dense contact. She took a step back, carefully pushing Clyde away.

But strangely, her body didn’t listen.

Her knees staggered. She collapsed before she could even realize it herself.

Clyde rushed in quickly to the same distance as she backed away. He wrapped his arms around her shoulders and pulled them closer.

Edith’s bewildered forehead struck the man’s collarbone.

“You’re not okay.”

She clenched her grip unconsciously. She tried to hold Clyde’s broad shoulders and slipped because she couldn’t get it all in her grasp. Her small hand barely held the hem of his sleeve like a lifeline, contrasted with his bulging and curved forearm.

She didn’t want to roll around on the ground but she didn’t want them hugging each other.

“A little… the gunshots were a little loud… it’s better now–”

Clyde wouldn’t allow her to step back. Her words flowed down to the back of his ear.

“Do you think it was because of the gunshot?”

“…?”

“Did you smell anything special? Like your body feeling something different.”

“What are you talking about?”

He lowered his voice during the subsequent interrogation. He put his lips close to her as if to lick her earlobe and whispered softly.

“Or want to be embraced by me.”

She punched him with her fist, which had clenched the hem of her sleeve.

“Your Highness!”

What the hell did he do to her? The clenched hands were burning on the hard chest.

He was fine, but it was Edith who had a sore wrist. Her eyes were wide open and she could see the faces of several attendants staring at her. She finally realized that she had punched the Crown Prince.

“Ah, I’m sorry. I have sinned to death.”

Clyde stopped the escort knight from trying to separate the two of them with his fingertips and gently supported Edith’s arm.

“Don’t worry about it. I gave you permission to be friendly.”

Did he give her permission? When?

Clyde wrinkled his nose when she cast a puzzled look.

Aha, she got it. With gratitude, Edith decided to go out shamelessly. She acted like she was comfortable with him.

But what Clyde was trying to check bothered her. What did it mean to smell and feel different?

“Your Highness, I didn’t smell anything. Is it an important matter?”

If there were a smell, it would be the perfume he sprayed or the body odor after sweating, but she could feel neither.

“If you didn’t smell it, that’s it.”

A look of disappointment flashed across Clyde.

She should have noticed something. Was it another test? She should have a tack.

“…. I’m sorry.”

Edith didn’t even know what it was, but she made an apology as a servant’s duty.

“There’s nothing to be sorry about. But why did you were about to fall?”

Oh, this was a rather tricky question. She couldn’t bear to confess that she was intoxicated in the warm, hazy atmosphere in his arms. Still, it was right after she failed the smell test, so she couldn’t lie and say anything.

“Because Your Highness was so close… I think I was a little dizzy.”

“Do you feel dizzy when you get closer to me?”

“That–”

That was right. Although she was immersed in the secret contact, she wasn’t sure if she was intoxicated enough until her leg felt loose.

Suddenly, she threw in a ridiculous excuse.

“I think I just tripped.”

Clyde’s curved, deep eyes seemed to dig more. When she faced his narrow gaze as if searching for something, she felt restless even though she had not committed any crimes.

“You couldn’t smell it, but you reacted?”

“Was it like poison? Was it something like a test to distinguish bad smell?”

She heard that poisonous scents were rarely used. The scents made to feel dizzy, made a person fall asleep, or physically aroused….

As the flow of her thoughts went crazy up to that point, a feeling came over.

That was why she wanted to be embraced!

“Your Highness, by any chance did you use poison incense?”

Clyde burst into a big laugh.

“Poison incense? Edith, you are really brilliant, aren’t you?”

He smiled as he straightened his brow, which had been hardening due to serious contemplation, and he even showed his teeth while laughing. His expression of joy alone was a sufficient answer.

“R-right? There’s no way it’s poison incense.”

She didn’t eventually figure out what smell had gone by, but she had to be satisfied with pleasuring the Crown Prince.

❋ ❋ ❋

Edith, the Crown Prince’s ‘always by his side’ servant, had to carry out Clyde’s entire schedule. She was given a break and ate her lunch separately, but she stayed with him again after that.

Attire that matched the imperial family’s dignity was also provided one after another. Edith’s clothes were quickly filled in the storage box in the special room, and she was told that dresses to suit occasions and places would be added in the future.

She was ordered to follow him into the reception room in the afternoon and stayed behind Clyde. There was a clerk who wrote down the meeting’s contents and a servant who supported the Crown Prince’s official duties, so all she had to do was listen to the conversation.

The person Clyde met this time was an aristocrat who strongly insisted on reducing the emperor’s standing army. The reception’s atmosphere was quite brutal.

She returned to the special room and changed her clothes again. Now, a courtier has been assigned to attend Edith. She felt much better after changing from a fancy show-off dress to a comfortable dress.

She draped her hips over the edge of her chair and sat loosely.

4 p.m. The main work begins now.

Across from Edith’s desk, there was a pile of documents on the bookshelves across the wall. This was how the special room was renovated during her three-day vacation.

“Oh my– When can I finish reading and organizing this?”

The sound of her pain came out automatically.

“I’m sure there’s a lot of people in the palace, but there must be some sort of documentation.”

Should she ask the servant who was involved in this? She murmured, shaking her head without touching the document.

“Edith should do it herself.”

“Ah!”

She slipped from her chair and fell on her back. Her precious butt, why were they suffering so much these days?

“Your Highness, you’re here–”

He cut her greetings.

“Yes, I‘m here. And I’ve noticed you’re trying to be sneaky.”

She didn’t even know he had appeared, but Clyde came in front of her and knelt on one knee at some point.

The crooked jawline created a strange atmosphere. It wasn’t good. It wasn’t very good. Every time he put on an expression that seemed to have an insidious intention like that, she would end up with a bizarre thing.

After learning the effect, she had a mischievous smile that looked like a naughty kid at first glance.

“I won’t. I will read and organize it one by one.”

“You’ll have to.”

“But why bother to do the same thing repeatedly?”

“The previous report was based on the force that influences behind each individual servant acted. It’s not objective at all. So I need your unbiased perspective.”

He threw unexpected words seriously and reached out his hand.

“You’re not sitting on the cold floor because you like it, don’t you?”

He was a man who had a knack for twisting judges. There was a hand to hold in front of her, but she didn’t know that Clyde was a man of manners. On the contrary, it was certain that he was grumpy in a childish way.

She pouted her lips and grabbed his large hand without hesitation.

“I slipped because Your Highness surprised me.”

“Is that so? I’ll be careful.”

He put Edith back in place and walked away.

The two desks were placed at a 90-degree angle. It was the arrangement where Edith showed her side profile in front of Clyde.

Today’s official schedule was over and the rest was free time, so he relaxed at his desk. He poured tea himself and looked out of the window.

The environment was better in the large office on the first floor, but since there were a lot of subordinates gathered along the hallway right in front, this room seemed to be a better place to stay comfortably.

Edith picked out several folders from the shelf. It was mainly those with priority tags. His words persuaded her that this was a vast but necessary process, so she turned the pages without complaining.

No one came into the special room.

Since he was a busy Crown Prince, his servant would come to call him, but no one came near him here.

Had they been told in advance not to disturb his time here?