Chapter 31
When the carriage arrived at the Crown Prince’s Palace, Kasselard headed straight for his quarters without giving any thought to anything else. As always, the bath would already be prepared. He had no appetite at all, but if he didn’t take proper care of himself, his waves would only tangle further.
Kasselard ordered that dinner be brought after his bath, then strode into the large bath attached to his quarters. As he went in, he stripped off his clothes one by one as if shedding a skin, which was nothing unusual. After becoming completely naked, Kasselard let the attendants wash his body, then stepped into the largest bathtub.
Perhaps incense had been lit, because a faint floral scent drifted along the surface of the water, and flower petals floated gently atop the bath.
“What? Why are there petals here?”
Kasselard had no taste for such things, so he almost never gave instructions like that. Even his personal attendants wouldn’t do this unless there was some sort of event.
‘Ah. Whatever.’
It felt suspicious, but he was too tired to care, so he leaned his body against the wall of the tub. The pleasantly warm water loosened his muscles, but the sticky, knotted waves stabbed painfully through his entire body, making him grimace.
This is driving me insane.
Just because suppressants didn’t work didn’t mean he wanted to take painkillers or drink alcohol. As he blankly stared up at the ceiling of the large bath, thoughts of Ephinia began to creep in.
At times like this, thinking of Ephinia led to m**********n nine times out of ten, so Kasselard tried not to think of her.
‘F**k, I should just drink.’
As he swept his wet hair back and was about to call an attendant, someone opened the door and came inside. Thinking the timing was perfect, Kasselard turned his head and froze solid.
Why are you here?
She had touched him once while he was in the bath before, but that had never been real bath attendance. Everything had been something done for guiding.
‘You. What, why? Why are you dressed like that!’
At Kasselard’s sharp remark, Ephinia, who had carefully slipped into the large bath, also made an awkward face. That was only natural, because she had changed clothes before coming in here.
She remembered that the last time she guided Kasselard, her dress had been ruined, so they had decided she would wear different clothes before guiding him. He had been running away from her, and because of that, she had simply changed into the clothes the maids brought, but the Crown Prince’s reaction was strange.
The imperial maid uniform skirt was long enough to cover the ankles, but what the maids had brought was a short one-piece dress that rose above the knees.
“I didn’t really… I, I didn’t bring these clothes.”
“Don’t tell me other people saw you in that…”
Kasselard almost raised his voice, then came to his senses. She wasn’t even his Guide, so what was he saying? Even if she were his Guide, he had no right to interfere with that.
“W-Wait. Don’t come any closer.”
Kasselard had already noticed that he was hard, and he hurriedly rose from the tub. Water splashed noisily, but this wasn’t the time to worry about that.
‘I really can’t hold it in.’
If she touched his body here and there again with those soft hands, it was obvious that words like, To hell with marriage and everything else, let’s just go ahead with penetrative guiding here and now! would spill out.
“Why? Where are you going?”
As if she was certain he would run away, Ephinia blocked the path to the door and asked. Kasselard was dumbfounded. Did she really think that doing that would stop him from getting out?
“Why do you need to know that?”
Kasselard cautiously watched Ephinia, then suddenly tried to slip past her. Startled, Ephinia hurriedly turned her body, but she didn’t have the strength to catch Kasselard.
“Ah?!”
Seeing Ephinia trip over her own legs in her haste made Kasselard’s heart drop. The body that had been heading for the door instantly reached out and grabbed Ephinia.
“Of all the things, I’ve lived to see someone trip over their own legs.”
“Caught… you.”
The mocking expression Kasselard had worn in disbelief hardened. Ephinia clutched Kasselard’s arm with both hands, her face set like she absolutely would not let go.
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