Chapter 114

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 114

Chapter Title: A Seductive Lick

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Hilia accepted it anyway, though she found it puzzling.

It was partly because Arpad kept provoking her. "Are you trying not to keep your promise after losing the bet?"

And besides.

His attitude is strangely tender and gentle, making it hard to refuse him coldly.

It was also necessary for their relationship to appear harmonious to the outside world.

Especially now, with Evangeline Ruth plotting something.

Hilia glanced sideways at the illustration in Espitola.

A noblewoman caught by her husband after spending an intimate moment with a knight.

I can guess the angle of her attack.

That was when Arpad let out a groan mixed with embarrassment and awkwardness.

"Mm."

"?"

Hilia turned her eyes in surprise. And then she saw it.

"Oh no..."

The juice from the apricot he was slicing had trickled down his long, elegant fingers.

The contrast between the pale red liquid and his white skin stood out strikingly.

Red liquid beading at the tips of his pale, slender fingers.

A tongue licking it off.

"...!"

Hilia realized the situation a beat too late.

As if he'd been waiting for this, Arpad licked his juice-slicked finger.

His red tongue licked the white finger slick with juice several more times, emphasizing it again.

Whoosh! Hilia felt her face burn like fire.

What, what, what is this? Why... why does it look so erotic...?

She could just think of it as a man being sloppy.

But his inhuman beauty and that desperate, intense gaze were having their effect.

Hilia's eyes were fixed on Arpad as if nailed in place.

A dangerously low voice reached her ears.

"It's sweet."

"...!"

Hilia, stunned for a moment and opening and closing her mouth like a fish, finally snapped out of it.

She'd been staring entranced until his voice brought her back.

She hurriedly handed him her own napkin.

It was a reflexive response to cover up the bizarrely erotic scene.

"Y-Your mouth got some too. Wipe it with this."

Arpad leaned in closer.

"Wipe it for me."

He was so close she thought she felt his breath brushing her fine hairs.

"...!"

Hilia felt like her heart was going to leap out of her chest.

"M-Move back a little! Then I can wipe it!"

"Alright."

Arpad obediently followed her words like a loyal dog, which didn't suit him at all.

Thump, thump, thump! Her heartbeat pounded fiercely against her ears. Like drumbeats.

It's just surprise. Just surprise. That's all.

This situation was like a dragon baring its belly and acting cute in front of humans. Meaning, an impossible scenario.

People naturally panic when a fierce beast suddenly approaches or acts affectionate.

So it was only natural for her to be startled.

It's definitely not fluttering!

Hilia rationalized it to herself as she gently moved the napkin.

Normally, she wouldn't have actually wiped it if Arpad asked.

She would've said, 'Do you have no hands or feet?'

Arpad chuckled softly. Hilia was too flustered to notice he'd caught on.

When the edge of the white cloth grazing his lips as she moved it carefully made her startle with a flap of surprise,

Arpad reached out and pressed her hand against his with his own, keeping her napkin-holding hand from pulling away.

"What's wrong, Hilia?"

His elegant eyes curved narrowly. His red eyes looked particularly sharp.

"Does something feel off?"

It made her anxious, as if he'd caught her heart racing wildly just moments ago without knowing why.

Hilia stared blankly at Arpad for a moment before suddenly jumping to her feet.

The napkin dropped to the floor with a thud.

"I need to get ready for the audience now. I'll head out first. Sorry!"

Leaving those words behind, Hilia fled the room.

"......"

Arpad frowned slightly as he watched the door where Hilia had vanished, then sighed.

He picked up the fallen napkin from the floor and muttered in a low voice.

"Is it working? She seems aware of me, at least..."

He was seriously putting all his effort into seducing Hilia.

"Hmm."

He stroked his smooth chin, deep in thought.

As expected, if I push even a little too hard, she runs away.

He needed to adjust the intensity of the stimulation.

This was Arpad's cool assessment of his own actions and their results up to this point.

But the thick rose-tinted glasses made him focus more on something else.

Arpad murmured dazedly.

"Her fleeing figure is cute too."

Her face, redder than a ripe apple, was utterly lovable.

He wanted to pull her into his arms, inhale her scent, and kiss her.

He barely restrained the urge to chase after her and grab her right then. If he did, she might not just scamper off like a startled rabbit but flee the palace entirely.

"......"

I glared needlessly at the ceiling. This was the powder room. I was in the middle of changing into a dress for the afternoon audience.

With the maids attending me, I could just hold my arms out and stare into space while lost in thought.

My heart was still pounding madly.

I'd escaped from that human hazardous to my eyes and heart, but the aftershocks lingered.

The image of Arpad licking the juice off with his tongue still flickered before my eyes.

His unusually pale skin, the red liquid spreading over it—it was blatantly provocative.

The feel of that tongue and those lips... I already knew it well.

How he stroked my hair when our lips met, the warmth and feel of his arm wrapping around my waist.

The way he passionately pressed in, stealing my breath—no, stop!

What am I doing right now, Hilia Delphin!

My cheeks and ears burned like fire.

And now my heart was racing wildly again.

My heart drumming, my body like a drum. A throbbing that felt like my heart was madly beating my entire body.

A blatantly abnormal reaction. My weird response was apparently obvious enough for those around me to notice.

Annie, who was helping me change, asked in surprise.

"Are you alright, Your Highness? Do you have a fever or something?"

Annie fussed, worried I might collapse like right after the ball.

It helped me snap out of it a bit.

"Oh, is it just hot today? This summer seems like it'll be brutal."

"Pardon? It's quite cool today..."

A cool breeze blew innocently through the window.

I diverted Annie's attention elsewhere.

"Oh, Annie. Let's switch the tiara to the sapphire one instead."

"Ah! Yes, Your Highness!"

I'm nineteen now, but my actual lived time is several times that.

Combining my Korean memories and three regressions.

It'd be a lie to say I'd never felt my heart flutter for a man in all that time.

In my first life, I mistook it for love with Ludwig.

But with the regressions, such emotions became a luxury.

Just rising from despair and frustration was hard, let alone surviving.

It's the same now.

Get a grip, Hilia Delphin.

No matter how handsome Arpad was or how sweet his attitude,

I had no room to waver.

But the fact that I had to steel myself like this meant I was already shaken—I desperately ignored that.

The popularity of the romantic serial novel The Noble Lady and Her Knights, running in Espitola, continued to rise.

Along with it, rumors began to attach themselves very cautiously.

"Come to think of it, I heard this novel has a real-life model?"

"I've heard that too, but..."

"There's a noblewoman who actually collects knights, right?"

"The Noble Lady Who Collects Knights" was a nickname attached to the novel's protagonist. Naturally, in a negative sense.

"Don't say such things carelessly..."

"I'm just talking about the novel."

It resembled the time when Evangeline had spread suspicious rumors about Hilia in the past.

Of course, compared to then, the words exchanged now were far more indirect and insidious.

If someone mentioned Hilia directly, they'd say it was just the novel and slip away.

A few months later, the rumor had spread as virtual fact.

Evangeline, who had meticulously orchestrated it all from behind the scenes, smiled in satisfaction.

Good. The atmosphere is set. One more blow, and...

But she needed to be more careful.

After the incident with Duchess Muizen, one nagging possibility haunted Evangeline.

How did Hilia know to wait there, as if she knew?

And she'd even brought a stronger antidote than the allergy medicine Evangeline had prepared.

Could that really be coincidence?

One possibility she wanted to deny clung to her mind like residue.

In the original story, the protagonist Hilia was a Korean reincarnated into the world.

Was that all there was to it?

What Hilia had done to the duchess couldn't be explained just by Korean memories and knowledge.

Deepening suspicions made Evangeline anxious.

There was no guarantee she was the only one possessed.