Secrets with the Crown Prince 12
The reason why I suddenly thought about my past memories again was because of the madman. If he hadn’t said with tears dripping from his eyes that he wanted to see the clothes I wore before I crossed to this world, I wouldn’t have to travel through my memory lane.
“Didn’t you say that you traveled through dimensions while sleeping?”
The madman scowled while looking at the clothes I was wearing. They were clothes that even a maid like Maria couldn’t wear. The people from this world would probably say it looked strange. I wore a blouse with blue jeans without closing the zipper on the back of my blouse. I had placed my hand backwards and struggled for a long time to get the zipper up, and in the end, I gave up and came out of the dress room.
The madman raised his head from the sofa and looked surprised.
“Could you pull up my zipper please?”
I showed him my back that was completely revealed. The madman clicked his tongue and approached me.
“Wait. Hold your hair.”
I grabbed a clump of hair and felt a large hand touch my back and move away again. Then, I heard a zipper slowly move up. A suffocating silence filled the room and I could hear myself gulping down my saliva. His hands, which didn’t even touch my back, felt very warm.
The zipper reached the top. Then, I felt a hand lightly graze the back of my neck. I stood still for a moment, somehow feeling a bit regretful, and turned around again. His arms were crossed, and I faced a strong gaze that slowly eyed my appearance; it felt very raw. As he continued to stare at me with that look, I felt heat rising to my face. But soon, his uncontrollable gaze turned back to his usual self.
“Do you usually sleep with your jeans on?”
I finally regained my senses from his question and picked up my fallen handbag. Inside, there were small belongings such as my broken phone, cushion pact, lipstick, and first-aid kit.
“I didn’t fall asleep at home. I fell asleep on the bus and when I woke up, I was in this world.”
After saying it, I laughed at how ridiculous I sounded.
“Now that I think about it, it’s funny. Was I on some kind of bus to the afterlife? I can’t believe that I dropped into another world while riding on a bus.”
“Where were you going?”
“I was on my way meeting my guy-friend. He was someone who Yeon-Suh sunbae introduced to me. I think I met him like twice. He had good manners and was nice, so I was thinking about dating him.”
“…What?”
I was taken back by the madman’s surprised face. Did he think that I wasn’t seeing anyone even when I was twenty-eight at that time?
“A meet-up…”
The madman sprawled onto the sofa with a shocked face. I left him alone like that and looked at my clothes through the mirror. Then, I got a hairband from my handbag and tried tying my hair.
“What are you doing?”
The madman raised his torso up and tilted his head at me.
“Did you recover?”
He answered by placing his hand on his face and shaking his head. I continued to fix my hair and glanced at the madman through the mirror.
“Why is it such a shock that I went to a meet-up?”
The madman didn’t answer my question like a child throwing a tantrum. I knew that the madman had special feelings for me like I also had for him. After struggling alone for a while, he was someone I had met in an unfamiliar place—as if it was by fate. I couldn’t compare to him, who had stayed in this world much longer than me, but he was also a precious existence to me.
“Do you want to be that special to me?”
He looked like he didn’t know how to answer, and I couldn’t help but laugh at his stunned face.
“What?”
“I mean, it’s ironic. You tormented me so much. I thought I was going to grow bald from the stress you gave me.”
The madman looked surprised.
“I am sorry…if you suffered because of me. I am also reflecting on what I did—enough for me to remember the memories clearly.”
I didn’t respond to his apology; for me to speak about his past mistakes, too many things had happened.
“It’s hard for me to see you, PD-nim, as a man unless you appeal to me in that way.”
After trying to read my mood for a long time, he asked me.
“Appealing as a man…Are you even going to be seduced if I tempt you?”
After I thought about our relationship in the past for a bit, I shook my head.
“Now that I think about it, that won’t happen.”
As soon as I finished my sentence, the madman walked towards me. In surprise, I moved backwards while I was on my chair.
“Think about it again, Bell. Give me a chance.”
He told me in a low voice and looked down at me. I didn’t have to arch my neck to see him, as he arched his back to meet my eyes.
“What kind of men are your type? I am confident in my seduction skills.”
He carefully grabbed my beating wrist and pressed lips on it.
“Someone nice and caring,” I answered quickly and added, “I like someone who will respect me.”
I also had a soft heart for men who cried prettily, but I didn’t mention it.
“I heard that the Lubiche family had suddenly adopted an Asian-looking girl, so I wasn’t sure. But to think that it was you. I wasn’t crazy. I wasn’t losing my mind.”
I clearly remembered how his face had looked while he cried and held onto my hands. Even though I was really surprised and confused, his crying face left a deep impression on me.
As he kissed my wrist, his tongue peeked out from his lips and pressed onto my skin. I took my wrist away in surprise. But he didn’t look concerned about my hand and simply smiled. His red lips glistened while his clothes were distorted. His appearance was neat but wild at the same time; and I suddenly realized that he was a man who gave off a seductive atmosphere.
“I will try to be the guy you want.”
He neatly closed the buttons of his loose shirt and made a pretty smile. His silver hair and gold eyes glistened. His appearance looked like that of an ascetic and obedient angel, but his actions were the opposite. Is this what people mean when they talk about having a guilty pleasure?
“So, don’t throw me away.”
The madman kneeled one of his knees and looked up at me. He placed his hands on my knees and looked at me sorrowfully. He probably knew what my taste and type were and was acting according to them. His face was really my type though. But while I thought this, I pushed him away, and he easily backed off with both of his hands raised.
“Don’t expect much. I won’t fall into your temptations.”
The madman didn’t seem to be hurt from my words and smiled.
“I won’t expect anything. Just don’t reject me.”
I didn’t respond to his last statement. But for some reason, he kept smiling at me.
* * *
After all the royal academy’s classes ended, I studied for the university exams with Lady Ovidus and Armand. But there were many aristocratic ladies who did not look at this favorably.
“As expected of someone from a lower class, they waste a lot of time to enroll in a university.”
I twisted my feather pen at one of the ladies’ words. It was hard to endure the repetitive slide remarks. Armand grabbed my arm in surprise, but that was only after I got up from my seat and had my back turned. Lady Serene and her group of underlings, who spread strange rumors about me, stood in front of the classroom’s door.
“Lady Serine.”
A fancy looking lady scowled her eyebrows at me. When I saw her, I recalled the contents of an interview that I read from before
[Everything about Lady Lubiche from her academy classmate!]
There was something like this under the title:
‘Lady Lubiche? She completely lacks any sense of manners…but I’m sure she can’t help it with her mysterious background. I mean, there’s nothing known about her past. She says that she lost her memories, but who knows? She could be doing it on purpose. Who knows what she did in Nathan Kingdom before coming here? If you just see how, she seduced his majesty, Reynold…’
I didn’t remember it exactly, but the general content was something like that. My adoptive father and Rioel tried to take legal actions from the rumors she spread, but in this world, there was no concept of Personal Defamation; and an aristocrat who insulted another aristocrat could not be legally punished.
“What is it? You should say something if you call a person’s name.”
Lady Serene crossed her arms imposingly and stared down at me. I didn’t understand why she couldn’t leave me alone.
I asked while sighing, “Why does Lady think that enrolling in a college is a waste of time?”
“Why do I have to explain that to you?”
“I guess you converse in a way that only you can understand, lady. I’m sure it’s exhausting for those with you.”
Like I was really concerned about Lady Serene’s friends, I leaned my cheeks against my palms and looked worried. It was a skill that I had learned from my etiquette teacher.
The other ladies couldn’t say anything and glanced at Lady Serene. She twisted her lips in annoyance, and I tilted my head at her in response.
“It is a difficult thing to relay your thoughts clearly to the person you are speaking to. I’m sure you must have wanted to take responsibility over the words you said too, but your conversational skills didn’t match up to it.”
I looked at her pitifully. But Lady Serene stared at me and laughed.
“It’s not that I can’t take responsibility, but I don’t feel the need to explain anything to you, lady Lubiche.”
She clicked her tongue and shook her head.
“It will just hurt my mouth if I try to explain to someone who can’t understand.”
Even though she was the one who picked the fight first, she tried to back off after those words. She tried to turn around to get out of the classroom when I added (I tried to stop minding her, but it was too regretful to just let her go):
“I hope you will keep your personal thoughts to yourself from now on. Your voice was so loud that I thought you wanted to talk to me. If you talk like that anywhere, people will think that you have no manners. Be careful.”
I said while looking as innocent as possible; and from behind me, Armand burst into laughter.
“Y-you rude…! Lady Serene, stop concerning yourself with these lower classes any longer.”
The orange-haired lady standing next to Lady Serene said while gripping her fist tightly. Whatever. I said everything I wanted to say anyways. I returned back to my desk and studied while sitting in front of Armand again. The side of my face tickled. The ladies seemed to be insulting me, but they soon disappeared.
“Are you okay?”
And after some time passed, Armand asked me worriedly.
“Lady Serene has a lot of influence among the socialite circles. Rumors say that she is going to engage with his majesty, Verdi. She will probably be the empress, and that will make your social life even harder.”
I didn’t really care about my social life but matters about my reputation and position were different matters.
“But it would be stupid for me silently listen to all those insults. Don’t aristocrats consider that dishonorable behavior?”
Armand seemed to agree with me and glanced at me. She knew how Lady Serene insulted me, saying how I was low class and looked strange almost every day.
“To overcome someone like Lady Serene, I need more support. But I can’t even get my feet into society and have all sorts of strange rumors attached to my name.”
Armand closed her mouth. She probably couldn’t find the right words to say.
“There’s a hairbreadth’s difference between good and evil. As Lady Serene tries to crush me more, I can use it against her.”
Armand made a surprised face.
“Do you have something in mind?”
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