The Cat Who Weeps in the Dark - Chapter 3

“Step aside.”

“Don’t be so stiff, Katie. If I’m offering to help, all you have to do is say thank you.”

A handsome man with golden hair blocked Katie’s path. Leaning against the door with one hand braced on it, his posture was so casually insolent that it was hard to believe he was of royal blood.

Katie stood before him, holding several swords in her arms. She had been tasked with organizing the training blades used by the senior knights.

“There’s no reason for Your Highness to assist a mere knight like me. I’ll handle it, so please move aside.”

This was already the second time she’d repeated the same words. Katie was starting to get annoyed.

The man standing before her was Damian de Aesoleum, the Second Prince of the Aesoleum Empire.

Though he was a strong candidate to become the next emperor, that was none of Katie’s concern. She had infiltrated the empire under a false identity for a critical mission—she was not truly one of its people.

“So prickly. And that look in your eyes is downright disrespectful.”

“You already know. This is just how I speak.”

Katie let out a small sigh and brushed past him. She had expected him to block her again, but for some reason, Damian obediently let her pass into the storage room.

One by one, she hung the swords in her hands onto their racks. She could feel his gaze boring into her from behind but chose to ignore it—she had no interest in pretending familiarity.

It had already been three years since she arrived in the empire. Using the identity prepared by the kingdom, Katie had become a trainee knight. Over those three years, she had faithfully played the role of the empire’s loyal hound, rising from a junior knight to a mid-rank knight.

All of it was nothing but an act—because she was a spy planted within the empire.

Thirteen years ago, the alliance had shattered, and war broke out. Countless lives were lost or broken.

Contrary to everyone’s expectations that the kingdom would soon fall under the empire’s assault, the war dragged on aimlessly before finally ending in a ceasefire.

It might be wrong to say the war had ended; it had merely paused. “Temporarily halted” would be a more fitting expression.

In such situations, spies always ran rampant, and Katie was no exception.

She had infiltrated the Empire under the directive to “monitor the Empire’s ominous movements against the Kingdom.”

If she hadn’t saved Helion de Aesoleum, the Empire’s First Prince, that day, Katie wouldn’t have been consumed by guilt and volunteered as a spy. She would probably still be living a peaceful life with her mother.

Helion was a rare villain who had ruined both her life and the fate of the Kingdom.

It was then. A large hand suddenly reached out from behind, grabbing the stand Katie was approaching.

Katie, instantly trapped between the man and the stand, turned around with a look of displeasure.

“What are you doing?”

“I said I’d help you.”

Damian, who had been standing by the door, had somehow gotten this close. It seemed she had been too deep in thought. How could she not have noticed this scoundrel getting so close?

“I clearly told you I didn’t need it.”

“Lies. I know you said that because you were shy. You kept shaking your a*s on purpose, for me to see.”

What insane nonsense was this lunatic spouting now? Katie stared at the man, dumbfounded.

“Get out of my way.”

This was the third time she’d said it. It was also a phrase she’d uttered over a hundred times since meeting this bastard.

If there was one thing she’d done best as a spy, it was catching the eye of the man most likely to become Emperor. And if there was one thing she’d done worse, it was precisely catching the eye of that man.

It was good to have access to someone with the most information after the Emperor, but it was truly regrettable that the bastard was a horny pervert.

The man did the exact opposite of what she told him. He pressed close to Katie, rubbing his fully e***t c**k against her tailbone.