CH 12

He got up and lit a candle because the surrounding was pitch black after the sunset. Outside, someone even brushed away a single grain of dust, but Clyde did everything by himself here.

“Ah, that tag signifies a more important document.”

When Edith pulled out a folder, he immediately recognized the label with a star from afar. It means that he not only labeled them himself but also remembered each one.

She couldn’t get away from it. A life of eating just from day to day was passing by.

A deep sigh escaped Edith’s crooked mouth.

At this point a request to take a rest seemed uncomfortable because this situation was so bad.

It was long past the hour to leave work. She dug documents from her desk, precisely as she did at 4 p.m.

Her neck became like a turtle’s as she read and her wrist was sore from writing down her thoughts, but she was forced to stay. She had never studied so hard at the academy where she often took the top position.

The scary man didn’t say she could go home. Curses for the vicious boss filled her mind.

‘Should I just say I want to go home? Clyde said it himself. That I could be comfortable with him.’

She opened her mouth after much consideration and hesitation.

“Your Highness, I’ll get going.”

He had been scribbling something in front of Edith who was working hard, and then he looked up belatedly as if he had forgotten.

“Is it time for you to sleep?”

Her pupils shook in an instant.

“Time to… sleep?”

“Edith was so focused until it was hard to talk to you. I told you to take it easy.”

He rose from his seat with ease and reached out to Edith like a gentleman who would escort her.

He must be joking. He let her work overtime from the first day of the job, but the reason he left her alone was because it hard to talk to her? A deep pain hit the back of her neck.

Nevertheless, her opponent was the Crown Prince. Even though they were alone in a special room, that fact remained the same.

Even if the anger rose inside, she stretched her twitching cheeks from side to side and smiled, expressing her desire for leaving work in a positive expression.

Entering the main social life game, she brought back memories of the old world.

She judged herself to be good at talking. It was said that political power was at its highest level if they were good at talking. You could do it, Edith. Even if the night grasshoppers cry out of the window, you could go home now.

“That’s… why, I’m going home.”

“You would encounter some difficulties on a night journey. Why don’t you just take a break here?”

“… What?”

“Let’s see… I’m a little sorry to make you sleep on the couch. I tried to make room for Edith to rest, but the last three days were not enough.”

She didn’t need a place to rest. She wanted to go home.

“Your Highness.”

“Would you rather use my bed? I’ll sleep on the couch.”

“Please say something that makes sense. I couldn’t–”

She felt like she would pour out unfiltered remarks, so she grabbed her mouth that was trying to talk recklessly with her hands. The sound from her heart was going fired straight away without going through her brain.

She couldn’t be like this. Clyde dropped a bombshell and made her feel nauseous.

The Crown Prince’s bedroom wasn’t strictly a private space. He received reports from the chief attendant or sometimes called some close friends to the bedroom. There were even emperors who opened their bedrooms for the nobles.

Therefore it would be ridiculous for Edith to occupy the Crown Prince’s bed. Certainly, there would be a fuss the moment a servant came in the morning. Even if she lies down with Clyde’s permission, she would get caught up in all sorts of gossip and eventually get fired. 

It was the worst end for Edith whose goal was to be an idle salaried worker and have a leisurely pension life.

She was at a loss, but Clyde kept talking nonsense.

“Today must have been a tough day, you should take a good rest, Edith. Feel free to use my bed.”

“You know I couldn’t do that.”

He was about to take Edith into the bedroom to make her sleep there. He waited by the side to see if he could pull out the chair when she got up.

“Why not?”

Did she have to say it aloud?

“First of all, there’s a lot of servants who are going home.”

“No one is coming until I call them. No one has ever pulled the bedroom curtains in the morning. I’ve made sure they don’t touch me no matter how important the event is.”

It was a bit surprising. Was Clyde a person who values privacy?

As I pondered, I had never heard of anyone discussing national affairs in the Crown Prince’s bedroom.

“Still… I’d be in big trouble if I lie down on the bed.”

She pretended to brush her hair with her thumb.

He took special measures against Edith, who showed no signs of moving. He grabbed both of her forearms and lifted her. Then, as if playing a train, he pushed from behind and headed to the bedroom.

“You won’t be in trouble. No matter who sees it, all of my close attendants are very tight-lipped.”

“But Your Highness.”

“I’ll tell him to prepare two baths of water to wash. The servant will clean out after the last one, can you bear that much?”

It was like playing a newlywed couple. He said he would use the couch, but why did they go to bed together?

“No!”

She turned around and glared at Clyde.

A servant washed with the Crown Prince? That really wasn’t right. A rumor that the two of them were in a relationship would spread.

“Your Highness better get ready to sleep. I’ll get this done and go home.”

When she drew the line firmly, he put down her arms with a slightly disappointed expression.

However, he went back to the special room without calling anyone to take care of him. Seeing him half lying on the couch with a book, he seemed to have no intention of sleeping. Then he stabbed Edith with a grumpy tone.

“I know Edith did a great job. But shouldn’t you report the amount you reviewed today?”

“You didn’t tell me to report it.”

“I just remembered. You don’t have to do it every day, but I’d like to see the report anyway. Along with your opinion on it.”

She wasn’t a fool to not understand why he was fickle. It was because she didn’t follow his suggestion to sleep here.

Why on earth did this guy do this to her?

Was he interested in her? Those words lingered in her mouth like a baby’s babble. She agonized countless times over whether to ask or not.

Whatever, forget it. She would just do it if he wanted a report. She was curious about Clyde’s true intentions, but it wasn’t right to ask him. Better to take a chance and check it later.

It was embarrassing if his answer was ‘no’, and it would become difficult if he said ‘yes’. Besides, she wasn’t even ready to accept it.

Edith grinded her teeth and replied with a gnawing tone.

“Okay. I will report it.”

Now that she had reached all the way to this point, she had blown away all formalities.

He didn’t care at all whether she served him politely or acted friendly.

She returned to her seat and sat down with a thud. She didn’t know if Clyde heard the angry huffing sound, but he didn’t turn his head. Soon after, she vigorously took off her shoes which had been tightening her feet. A pair of shoes rolled under the desk.

She felt more alive as her feet became more comfortable. She wiggled her toes buried in the soft carpet and vigorously unfolded the paper.

Until late at night, only the sound of a pen could be heard in the quiet separate room.

Too much happened to her during the day. As soon as she went to work, she had to go to the shooting range, did gun shooting, and followed him into the reception room.

The pen on the half-filled paper stopped when the bedtime bell rang from afar.

Edith’s eyes were quietly closed and didn’t even budge.

She didn’t even notice Clyde had appeared next to her, stroked her platinum blonde hair, and carefully pulled out the hair ornament on the back of her head.

He stroked a strand of loose hair on her lips and carefully put it on the back.

“Why are you holding up?”

The whispering voice dripped with honey. He seemed a completely different person from the grumpy man earlier.

“You could’ve just lied down when I told you to sleep.”

Clyde lowered his head and stood face to face with her.

Her small facial features and round nose were cute. The more he looked at her as a girl, the more beautiful she was.

His lips were drawn like a magnet.

While holding his breath for fear that his breath would get on her, he had to make up his mind not to steal her kiss.

He consciously turned away his head which was about to lean forward on its own.

“Now I’m going to move you to bed.”

It would be okay to sneak at her fluffy ears with his eyes.

It wasn’t wrong to just look.

“I don’t want you to wake up.”

A few days ago, Edith seemed to be fast asleep, but it didn’t seem like it would be easy to carry her around.

“I’ll be careful, but if you wake up… can you just pretend to be asleep? Then I’ll lie you down and pretend I don’t know.”

Judging from her stable sleeping posture on the desk, she seemed to have done that a lot at the academy. That was how it was in school. You could fall asleep completely even if you didn’t lie down on the bed.

Clyde tucked his arm between her armpits. The other arm propped gently under her knee.

He held her as gently as he could and did it in silence.

Edith’s weighed a lot less than the strength he had given, so his upper body almost tilted back.

He staggered for a moment and then took hold of her. He rolled up his arms and held a soft woman in his arms.

Sniff, he could smell a faint scent.

He could feel a unique and warm characteristic scent coming out from the sleeping woman.

When she was around, he could only smell the soap. However, when he hugged her tightly, a clear feeling penetrated Clyde’s nose.

It was a lively floral scent.

A floral fragrant that naturally exuded from the human skin, and the scent could only be smelled when he put his nose very close, making him feel dizzy.

‘Is this a Beta’s scent? No way… That’s impossible.’

A unique scent bloomed from the warm body temperature. It was like a wild flower and lily of the valley.

The smell produced by human skin was completely different from artificially manufactured perfumes.

It was enough to drive his desire to put his nose on her nape.