Chapter 61
It was a little awkward, but I kept talking.
“By the way, what were you talking about with your colleagues?”
“The Frost Forest’s Subjugation plan.”
“.......”
“It was a joke, relax your neck. If he had the decency, he’d stay quiet for a while.”
Where in the world would you find a knight asking for shame from a dragon?
You said a joke that didn’t go well with me. I thought my heart was about to drop!
“You must be very worried about your friends.”
“Oh, no.”
“Why not? You looked like you had a lot of fun. Close your eyes.”
I didn’t know what to say because it was true that I had fun.
The water poured into my head with the water from scooped out snow.
Whoo.
“I came to pick you up, and you cried because you didn’t want to leave your friends.”
“It’s not really like that, I was just afraid I’d get in trouble..”
“Is that what you’re afraid of, that too, after meeting Popori?”
At first glance, it sounded like a joke. The touch on my head felt unfamiliar to me. Almost like he was teasing... Who the hell was this man?
“I managed to find you, but I got a mushroom on the face.”
“Come on, I’m sorry....”
“Well, you’re safe, and that’s all I need to know. I think I’m done with my hair.”
As expected, he never forgot when I threw the mushroom.
Remembering the days of self-indulgence, I turned and hung on to the bathtub railing.
In the thick steam, Izek was seen squeezing a thick sponge and wiping the sweat off his forehead with his other hand.
“I need to open the window.”
“I.......”
“Stay where you are.”
Whoosh.
Soon, the cool air came in.
Through the half-open window, I could see the night sky shining brightly.
Wow, that’s awesome.
“If I take a bath here every day, I’ll feel like a real princess.”
“You are a princess.”
Well, I was the daughter of the Pope and the princess of Romagna. But, that was not what I meant.
“But I’ve never seen such a beautiful bathroom in Romagna.”
“The splendour cannot be matched with the Holy Father’s.”
What? Was the Pope’s bathtub some sort of a sacred constellation?
I didn’t know because I’d never been in my father’s personal bathroom.
“It’s not like it’s just pretty. It’s really nice here.”
“If you like it, come here as you please.”
“Can I?”
“What’s the big deal?”
“Really?”
“Why ask that everytime...”
The man with a vile tongue approached me and sat on the railing.
My eyes widened.
“Arm.”
“What?”
“You’ll have to give me your arm to wipe it.”
Ah.
As soon as I raised my arm like I was possessed by a spell, Izek grabbed my wrist with one hand and began rubbing it with a foamy sponge.
From the wrist, to the inside of the elbow, and below.......
“Tell me if it hurts. It’s hard to control my power.”
I didn’t think that was the problem right now.
His veined heavy forearms moved up and down in intervals.
The hard muscles in the chest, revealed through the half-spread gown, were also moving to the rhythm.
I stared blankly at them, almost absentmindedly, alternating between the muscles and his indifferent face.
His silvery hair was spread out on his forehead and temple.
Sweat was running on the back of his neck, too.
“The other side.”
Are you okay with this situation?
No matter how bad the steam was, I was sitting bare in the bathtub, and he was washing my body in a careless manner.....
“Why are you staring at me like that?”
“Yes...?”
“Raise your legs and walk over here. To the side that’s not hurt.”
I obediently lowered both arms and raised my left leg to hang my ankle on the railing.
My feet were stuck in his cauldron-like grip.
A dark thought struck me.
It turned out that I was not the type of woman that he had expected. Was that why he stopped in the middle?
“Uhm...”
“What? What other pranks are you going to play?”
You’re being such a jerk!
Anger soared, but I quickly came to my senses.
Progress was important.
“Can’t you just come inside? I’ll wash up with you.”
There was a moment of silence.
Izek’s face, which was staring at me, slowly hardened.
My heart dropped suddenly. Oh, god, did I make a mistake?
“What do you think I’m made of? Stone?”
“What? It’s not like that. I’m sorry.....”
I stuttered, and the grip on my ankle was loosened.
Izek put the sponge down and straightened his upper body.
“You better do the rest.”
“Now, wait a minute!”
This cold-blooded man must be suffering from multiple-personality disorder. Why was he suddenly trying to be cold again?
As I clung to his forearm, a bewildered voice rang immediately.
“What are you doing now...”
“Don’t go! I won’t bother you! I just want to be with you.......”
“I’m not going, so just put this down first...”
You’re a liar! And you’ll walk away again!
It was a moment of desperation, where I clung to his forearm.
Splash!
I lost my balance, my body swaying, and soon there was a magnificent splash.
Holy water mixed with bathwater flowed out of the bathtub, bubbling up. I couldn’t come to my senses for a while.
“Cough, cough!”
As soon as I got out of the water, I coughed.
Ugh, I think I got water in my ear. What the heck just happened.......
“You....”
“Hic.”
Hiccups burst out.
Oh, I thought it felt weird.
I tilted my head back, wondering if it was possible.
Water dripped from his wet silver hair.
Standing wet even in his gown and rubbing his face with his palm, Izek looked like a legendary monster who had descended into a monster bathhouse.
And I hung on the monster’s magnificent shoulders like a ghoul.
Ah, this position made me anxious.
“Oh, are you okay?”
The fearsome monster gave no reply. The moment I tried to open my mouth again, he moved.
Splish.
I stepped on the stairs and came out of the bathtub. I went straight out of the bathroom.
“Darn it....”
The soles of my feet touched a fluffy leather fur rug.
My toes didn’t hurt anymore. Instead, the heart thumped like a rabbit in front of a fox.
As I stood there, dripping with water, staring blankly at his back, I could imagine his arrogant face in my head.
Wet hair clung to my body. As the cool air touched me, I got goosebumps on my skin.
Damn it, I messed it up again.
I guess I was too relaxed because I did a good job.
Maybe it wasn’t just about me running away from home, but it was an indication that I was being tactless and even burdensome....
I dropped my gaze to the floor.
I could see a large foot approaching me with dripping water.
“Come here.”
My knees shook nervously. What should I do? Should I have gotten hit earlier? Please don’t kill me.
“Turn around.”
Fwip.
My vision was obscured before I could turn. The hand rubbing my head was truly evil.
Ugh, what kind of torture is this!
A soft fluffy towel rubbed my wet hair and wiped my neck and shoulders.
It was only as the towel flowed down that I could see ahead.
As I turned around, Izek, sitting on a sofa, squeezing the water out of my hair, looked surprisingly calm.
You’re not mad, are you?
“Hey.......”
“What?”
“Are you angry?”
“No, raise your arms.”
It was a very unpredictable tone. I gently closed my mouth and raised both arms.
I couldn’t think of anything while he was sitting and wiping my body. I felt like my mind was empty.
Why are you...
It was then that the hand that was drying the water on my back stopped and the touch of the soft towel quickly fell off.
It took me a while to figure out what had caused him to lose his cool when a strange silence took place.
As his calloused palms touched my thighs, the sense of reality rose in me belatedly.
No, don’t look!
As soon as I turned my back, I raised my husband’s head straight away. My hand moved by itself and snatched the towel from his hand.
Silence. There was a long, painful silence while I was floundering around with the towel.
I’m going crazy. If I had succeeded in building a castle in the bathtub, he wouldn’t have seen this!
“Hehe, I’m embarrassed.....”
“.......”
“I was a bit of a tomboy when I was young.....but this still remains.”
Ugh, it’s hard to make eye contact.
It didn’t really matter since I looked at his feet with a stupid smile.
I wished that he’d let it slide.
Damn, what would the most appropriate reason be? What would have left me a long-lasting scratch on my supposed-to-be-flawless female body? Should I say I made a fuss about my self-esteem? I think that would be the best.
Once he knew what I really looked like, then he would know how I’d been treated.....
I knew that compassion was only temporary, and that weaknesses could be used as a leverage. But I also knew how it would turn out in the end.
I was the princess of Romagna, Sistine’s Lark, the beloved daughter of the Pope.
No matter how troublesome I was here, I was being treated somewhat well thanks to the fact.
They’d think they were being fooled as soon as I removed the fancy wrapping and revealed the miserable kernel — my true self.
Where and what kind of treatment would you get when your family was of the Pope’s?
That was why I couldn’t even dream of using the truth to save Izek’s sympathy.
If I say that I was not actually the Pope’s daughter, and that I’m someone who just babbled as they pleased, if I tell you all about how I was treated every time I stumbled, wouldn’t it be too obvious what kind of eyes they would see me in the future?
Every time I imagined it, I felt so miserable that I had a headache. Moreover, their trust in me would degrade even more.
In a situation where even my talents related to monsters were revealed, if I revealed about E;lenia’s poisoning that would happen in the future, Izek might think that I was just pretending to be on the bad side of my family.
No, before that, if I did this and that in the North, and he felt deceived, I didn’t know what would happen if he agreed to cancel our marriage with my family.
What a terrible ending would this be? And, what about Popo and the others...