Ruben was confused. Erna was not merely openly seducing him, she was blatantly inviting him to bed, which pretty much said that she needed his seed. Ruben was dumbfounded with the situation, but even Erna thought of herself insane. She glanced at what she was wearing.
A few hours ago she had gone over to the closet connected to her room. It was a closet connected between two large rooms; Erna was using one of those rooms. As her daily clothes were always decided ahead of time, she rarely entered the room where she kept all of her formal clothes, which she rarely wore.
However, before Ruben had called her, she’d gone in there for the first time in a long time. Of course she would. She had to seduce Ruben.
After finding the ‘appropriate’ clothes to wear, Erna had purposely lowered the dress to her shoulders, exposing her bare skin, and had loosened the string over her bre*sts.
She’d sighed as she looked at herself in the mirror. How was the Grand Duchess of Hesseguard supposed to act like a laughing stock in front of an exiled prince? Although she felt annoyed, Erna had no choice. She must endure it.
There were many things she had to pry from Ruben: whether he’d really gone into exile, and how far he was involved in the case of Kalion’s poisoning.
Ruben had claimed he had nothing to do with it and that Aether, who realized that Ruben had fled here, had put him under suspicion. But Erna didn’t believe all of that.
Staring at Ruben, she straightened her back and stood up.
“Do you need some time to think?”
“Excuse me? N-n…”
When Erna raised from her seat after a short while, Ruben, bewildered, followed suit and attempted to stand up. Erna, however, gestured as if telling him to hold still and approached a display cupboard next to her desk. The desk was filled with displays of famous liquors from all around Hessenguard.
Erna took the strongest one among the collection; the one she knew the best; the one she drank on the first night she slept with Kalion because she had thought it would be okay if she got drunk.
She took the bottle of liquor and poured some into a glass of ice. The ice clicked inside the glass. After pouring two glasses, she took one and handed it to Ruben.
Ruben hesitated for a bit after taking it.
As he had seen what’d happened to Kalion, he was rather hesitant to be accepting drinks or food from other people. But he couldn’t not drink what Erna handed to him directly.
As if to make up his mind, he gulped it down in one drink. He instantly felt a burning sensation in his throat as his temperature rose, reddening his neck. Was it because of the alcohol? Erna standing in front of him looked more voluptuous than ever.
She was a woman he truly wanted. There were no flaws in her face and body, her skills as a wizard were impeccable. Ruben was curious how this woman would act in bed. It was said that Kalion had not left the couple’s bedroom since the two had both slept together.
Meanwhile, Erna stared at Ruben as fondly as she could, who had finished the drink in one gulp, and passed him the drink in her hand.
“Kalion Hessenguard doesn’t drink much. It’s no fun.”
If Kalion heard this, he would have yelled out to have all of the alcohol in the entire castle brought to him. But what did he know? Nothing of here. Erna thought it would be better to do it all at once since she was doing something she felt sorry about.
“I don’t know how you feel,” she added.
When Erna stared at Ruben while tapping a finger on her chin, Ruben took the drink and swallowed it as if he had been possessed. He felt his throat burning again. Should I snatch Erna Hessenguard right now?
While he was deep in thought, Erna approached him and wrapped her arms around him. Albeit shocked, Ruben reciprocated her embrace. Is she trying to get me to the bed? Ruben wondered again.
But before they could continue, a knock sounded from the door.
“Lord Kalion?”
Without delay, Erna let go of Ruben’s arm and pushed his shoulder as if signaling him to leave. Ruben staggered into the hallway.
“Next time I call you I hope you don’t hesitate. Let’s end it here. Orpé, guide him to his room,” ordered Erna with her arms crossed and her face cold from the strange mood that’d disappeared in an instant.
“Yes, madam,” bowed Orpé.
The door slammed in front of Ruben’s face. Ruben looked at the closed door, barely able to hear Orpé’s guidance. He realized that Erna had noticed his hesitation before taking the drink. Ruben realized then that he had failed today’s evaluation.
At the least, the good thing was one more chance had been given to him. Ruben stared back at the door a few times as he staggered behind Orpé.
If he had acted a bit more aggressively he would have gotten many things tonight… Ruben suddenly felt impatient. He resolved to be forward when another opportunity came.
