Chapter 33
Anne naturally pushed herself up into a sitting position. But when she noticed the vivid red marks left across her neck and chest, she was startled and quickly slipped back under the blanket. At the same moment, Catherine rushed into the room.
“Annie?”
“Huh? Mother… what’s going on so early in the morning?”
“Annie, when on earth did you come back?”
The maids crowded in after her. As if they had all waited for her through the night, the dark circles under their eyes were unmistakable. The more guilty she felt, the more perfectly she had to act. Keeping a completely straight face, Anne answered.
“What time was it… Anyway, I came back after dinner. It seemed like everyone was asleep, so I just went to my room and slept… Why, did something happen?”
“Did something happen…?! Do you know how worried we were, thinking you hadn’t returned from the palace?”
Catherine pulled her daughter into a tight embrace. Only then did Anne notice Russell Avery standing by the doorway. As if he had been about to go out to search for her, he was already dressed for an early morning outing. Anne replied sincerely.
“I’m sorry, Mother, Father.”
“It’s alright. As long as nothing happened. If you’re safe, that’s all that matters.”
Held in Catherine’s arms, Anne blamed Logan again and again. At the very least, he should’ve given her time to send word home. That damned overpowered male lead.
In any case, thanks to Anne’s tearful efforts, Duke Avery didn’t end up drawing his sword against the royal family.
* * *
Early in the morning, Logan summoned a physician to his bedroom. Feeling uneasy, he normally avoided exposing his lower body whenever possible, but now he had a reason to be examined properly again.
After carefully checking his condition, the physician said,
“You’re perfectly healthy, Your Highness. At this level, there should be no problem in producing an heir.”
Logan immediately straightened his clothes. After last night, he no longer worried about such matters. Still, there was one thing that continued to bother him. As the physician gathered his instruments, Logan spoke.
“There’s something I want to ask.”
“Yes, Your Highness. Please go ahead.”
Despite bringing it up first, Logan couldn’t immediately get to the point. It wasn’t so much hesitation as the fact that his thoughts weren’t properly organized. How could he convey the meaning without sounding frivolous?
After a long pause, he finally spoke again.
“In certain situations, I feel a sharp pain… is that related to the injury?”
“In certain situations, you say…”
The physician drew out his words, clearly unsure. Even Logan thought he had left out far too much. But he couldn’t very well mention Anne Agnes by name. Touching the corner of his mouth, Logan spoke in an awkward tone.
“Let’s just say… I encountered someone uncomfortable.”
With that level of explanation alone, the physician easily grasped the identity of that ‘someone’. Still, unless the prince named her directly, he couldn’t bring it up himself. The physician responded just as indirectly.
“Well… since you experienced such severe pain before, in situations that might remind you of that time, such a reaction could occur. What kind of pain is it exactly?”
“It’s like the lower part tightens up…”
As Logan began to describe the symptoms, he stopped mid-sentence. The moment he recalled the pain from then, he realized he had been overlooking something. He immediately shook his head.
“No, I’ll leave it for now. There’s no immediate problem.”
“Yes, then, anytime.”
The physician withdrew without showing any sign of confusion. As soon as he left the bedroom, Logan ran a rough hand through his hair.
The unpleasant pain he had felt whenever he faced Anne Agnes. Now that he thought about it again, it wasn’t much different from the phenomenon he had experienced yesterday… an e******n. The only difference was whether it stopped there or went further.
Resting his chin on his hand, Logan recalled what had happened yesterday. Anne Agnes suddenly coming at him. And himself, even more out of control than she had been. Just like that, a worry he had struggled with for so long was resolved. Almost unsettlingly easily.
He looked down at his lower body with a gaze filled with self-disgust. When he had been injured back then, perhaps something in his head broke as well. To become aroused by the very woman who had ruined his most important part, hah.
Just recalling last night brought a faint stir of excitement again. Deep self-loathing followed. Separately, however, he didn’t regret what he had done. Even now, he shamelessly wanted her again.
Thinking of it another way, it was fortunate.
Before long, Anne Agnes would become his wife.
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