Adelaide hadn’t been able to hide her bitterness from her endless waiting in the reception room, and perhaps she had become jealous, she shifted her attention to the servants and started talking about Erna.
“I’m sure you’ve done a great job taking care of my sister.” Adelaide said so as she handed them some gold coins, claiming that they were compensation for the servants of the Grand Castle.
The servants were naturally flabbergasted. In Haband, were royal servants given coins in this manner? They all wondered.
But it was obvious that the gold coins did not represent Adelaide’s gratitude, but scorn toward her and her servants. Furthermore, as they were all proud of being servants of the Grand Castle, receiving charity in this way was not something to be happy about.
What led her to act as though her “compensation” was warranted?
And then Adelaide kept asking the servants when Kalion would arrive. It was as if she was not even thinking about the grand duchess of Hessenguard.
Her attitude in the reception room had been that of someone who had been praised and admired all her life. She naturally must have received so much adoration in Haband. The servants of Hessenguard, however, only detested everything about her. They missed Kalion and Erna more than ever while they waited in the reception room.
Lord Kalion, Lady Erna… please send this woman to her accommodations quickly.
“By the way, what about Lord Kalion…”
In the meantime, Adelaide had mentioned Kalion’s name several times, and she’d even asked the servants about him.
Anyone could tell that she was interested in him.
“I think I’ll owe Lord Kalion a lot while I’m in the Grand Castle, so tell me what he likes or cherishes,” she said, feigning a sweet and innocent voice.
Troubled at her question, the servant in front of her looked around for someone who was capable of answering her question. At last, the servant’s gaze met Cedric’s, and Cedric appealed with desperation in his eyes. But the servant unhesitantly sold him out.
“I think Lord Kalion’s aide, Cedric, will know more about that than anyone else.”
The other servants eagerly chimed in. Cedric glanced at them. Such traitors, he thought bitterly.
Adelaide’s stare shifted to Cedric. Her face screamed, “Answer me!” Cedric opened his mouth, deciding he would only tell the truth to her, “Naturally, it would be Lady Erna.”
It was the most ridiculous thing Adelaide had heard. She blinked twice and asked one more time, “What?”
“His most cherished… no, I cannot say that, but anyway, it’s Lady Erna whom he cares the most about.”
Cedric pretended to politely bow before her with his hand clenched behind his back. Meanwhile, on the other side of the room, Orpé tightly pursed her twitching lips lest she would burst into laughter.
“I s-see…” stuttered Adelaide, her beautiful face distorted.
Unbeknownst to them, Kalion had been listening to their conversation when he was on his way to the reception room. Content and proud, he promised Cedric that he would honor his hard work today with a long vacation later on.
* * *
“Get out of here. You must go now.”
While Kalion wiped the traces of Erna from his lips with the back of his hand, Erna pushed his chest away and fixed her clothes. She burst into tears after looking in the mirror. She’d dressed herself up diligently, but she’d become a mess instantly.
“Were planning to wear that?” Kalion asked when he heard her disappointed sigh.
“Of course. It took several hours of preparation, and I wanted to show it to the wizards and… Hey! What’s wrong?”
Erna shouted in surprise when Kallion suddenly came up to her, turned her around, and quickly unbuttoned the back of her dress. She tried to stop him, but after quickly undoing every button, Kalion pulled her dress down.
As the dress was designed to show her cleavage, her pale bre*sts were exposed under the sunlight as soon as the dress fell. Taken aback, Erna tried to cover her chest with her arm, but Kalion quickly grabbed her wrists.
“Why are you covering them? They’re beautiful,” he said, smirking.
Erna gave up on saying anything else while Kalion squeezed and pressed her bre*asts with one hand as if they were his own. He whispered, “You have to show them to me only.”
“Do I go around with my clothes off?” Erna retorted, rolling her eyes.
“Slightly covering yourself usually makes people crazier.”
“Have you forgotten that the wizards are all females?”
“There is one guy.”
At his reply, Erna remembered the newly hired wizard. She replied, “I didn’t even think about him until you mentioned him.”
“Good job. Just forget about him. Even so, I felt like crap last time when you said he looked like me.”
“Why would that make you feel bad?”
“If someone looked like me, you’d be looking at him the way you look at me.”
Erna didn’t know whether she had to laugh or cry. The more she got to know him, the more he was being ridiculous.
“Let go of me before I tie your wrists again.”
At her threat, Kalion loosened his hand that’d grabbed her wrist, but lowered his head to kiss the top of her cle*vage. Erna frowned at the sound of his sucking.
“You…!”
As soon as Kalion removed his lips on her skin, there were traces of h*ckeys on her bare skin.
“Oh, it’s such a shame to stop here. Reward me.”
“Why would I?” asked Erna.
“You have to.” Kalion replied as he dressed Erna with the nightgown that’d been hanging on the wall. “I placed another person to accompany Adelaide.”
* * *
Adelaide stared at the knight bowing in front of her.
“Alright. You’re one of the people who serve Lord Kalion”
“That is right, ma’am. It is an honor to meet you, Princess Adelaide.”
The knight politely greeted her. Adelaide extended a hand to him. Slightly shaking, he placed his lips on the back of her hand.
He was supposed to.
Adelaide looked down at him, smiling. He was a member of the knight order in Haband whom she had worked hard to own. And he was also the one who would help her in many ways in the Grand Castle from now on.
