What I Gained by Giving My Body - Chapter 2.13

For a moment, she thought it was a hallucination. Caitlyn would have continued to think so if it weren’t for the massive shadow looming over her.

“Wandering around a place like this without a single servant…… do you want to get robbed or something?”

Caitlyn finally regained her senses and looked straight up at the man. Golden eyes that seemed to hold sunlight were glaring sharply at her.

“I have nothing to be taken, so what robbery.”

“You have a strong sense of self-awareness, contrary to how you look.”

Archduke Akbar sneered openly. It wasn’t his usual cold and level-headed sarcasm; instead, words like a hedgehog with all its needles raised, intended to wound the opponent, poured out.

“They’d probably charge me for Miss Hardick’s ransom. I absolutely loathe spending unnecessary money on my fiancée’s foolishness.”

“…….”

“Even if they didn’t recognize you, you have quite a pretty face, so they’d certainly think of kidnapping and selling you off.”

The Archduke caressed her cheek. It was then. Several voices overlapped simultaneously in Caitlyn’s head.

“You have quite a pretty face.”

Was it a coincidence? That the voices of the god with eyes flickering like fire and the man with eyes flickering like sunlight overlapped. And, again…….

“I shall do as you wish.”

“I can do as you wish, Cathy.”

Her head spun. Similar voices, similar words, similar temperaments……. While their appearances were completely different, even their outward looks carried a somewhat similar aura. Her mouth went dry. She could tell instinctively. There was no way they could overlap this much by mere coincidence. But she didn’t have the courage to ask. It was by no means because she was afraid that the Archduke was a god.

Archduke Akbar had already called himself a god, and Caitlyn believed it to some extent. It didn’t change anything just because he was some unheard-of pagan god named Apollo. However, if Archduke Akbar was Apollo, then she was…….

‘I must be that pagan princess.’

Yes, that fact was what was scary. That she was continuously dreaming of her past life from a long time ago, of which she had no memory. Furthermore, didn’t last night’s dream feel as if she had truly become that pagan princess?

No, she wasn’t just ‘that’ pagan princess. Although the country, status, and appearance were all different, Cassandra and Caitlyn were the same person. Caitlyn felt instinctively. She had to hide from Roxias the fact that she was constantly dreaming about her past life.

Roxias Akbar’s attitude toward Caitlyn herself was by no means friendly, but it wouldn’t compare to the emotions he felt toward her past self, who had stolen his power. Considering the hatred that peeked through occasionally, it was right to thoroughly hide the connection to her past self from him.

“Your complexion looks quite poor.”

It was strange. Caitlyn thought. To feel sincerity in the voice of a man who surely wouldn’t care about her. But she immediately regained her senses at his following words.

“Why don’t you hurry and buy what you were looking for and go back?”

Caitlyn grew tense. She couldn’t let him find out she had come to look for pagan documents. Roxias Akbar, thanks to his thousands of years of experience, would see right through to the truth.

‘If I say I didn’t come to find anything in particular…… he’ll think it’s even weirder.’

Caitlyn quickly scanned the shops. A shop specializing in string instruments she couldn’t even play, an apothecary giving off a suspicious vibe, a boutique handling flamboyant evening gowns……. The choice was easy. Caitlyn hurriedly raised her hand and pointed to the boutique.

“Over there. I was planning to go to that shop.”

“Ah, that shop.”

Archduke Akbar murmured in a casual tone.

“How unexpected. Where would Miss Hardick get the money?”

Caitlyn forced the corners of her mouth up.

“Naturally, I was planning to charge it to the Archduke Akbar.”

“Good thinking.”

Caitlyn’s eyes turned round. It was quite unexpected, as she had anticipated a sarcastic reply.

“Let’s go in. It would be a needless disgrace if you collapsed before even buying a single dress after coming all this way.”

“I’ll choose on my own, so Your Grace can go…….”

“Can the person paying the money not even give an opinion?”

“…….”

Since he put it like that, she couldn’t exactly send him back. Furthermore, the Archduke did have a point.

‘I’ll just pick anything and go home.’

Stepping into the boutique with a firm resolve, Caitlyn stopped in her tracks. It was because she felt an unusual atmosphere. Not for any other reason, but from the shop itself.

She hadn’t known just by looking at the display window, but looking closely after stepping inside, the mannequins themselves were extraordinary. They weren’t just wooden doll shapes expressing human anatomy; their voluptuous figures were graphically depicted. And the dresses draped over those peculiar mannequins looked ordinary at a glance, but looking closer…….

‘Wh—what is this.’

Caitlyn, startled by the dresses made of thin material that looked as if they would be completely see-through if worn, whipped around. Naturally, Archduke Akbar was standing right there. He tilted his head.