Chapter 29
I glanced at the desk beside me with a meaningful look, but of course, he didn’t have a clue about the complex thoughts swirling in my mind.
Clyde approached with a calm expression.
It was a psychological battle that was hard to ignore most of the time.
“Let’s see, what was on today’s late-night snack menu?”
“Oh, no. Not anymore… If I keep eating at this rate, I’ll end up as bloated as a ball made of pig urine.”
“A ball? You really know how to describe things beautifully…”
“No, I mean it.”
“Edith looks perfect right now. If you go any further, you’ll get wrinkles around your eyes and your cheeks will sunken in.”
He then proceeded to list the late-night snack menu one by one, like a devil tempting me with sinful treats.
No matter how hard I tried to resist, the food suggestions pierced through my ears and hammered into my brain. They were all dishes tailored to my taste.
Clyde had a rather carnivorous appetite. After having a meat-heavy dinner, he would only drink water with a hint of lime for the rest of the evening. Therefore, the cakes, sherbets, and puddings were all for me to indulge in.
The mention of Lemon Charlotte inevitably led me to surrender. It was a dessert consisting of Marie biscuits layered with cinnamon, created by Clyde’s personal chef.
It was even scarier when you knew the taste. Adding a dish that had been highly praised just three days ago at the right moment was a cunning move. It felt like the chef who composed the late-night snack menu had settled into Edith’s salivary glands.
“You’re so mean, Your Highness. My belly will suddenly swell up into a mesh pattern if I keep eating like this.”
“Mesh pattern? Sounds quite artistic…”
“Your Highness, my clothes don’t fit me anymore. It’s getting serious.”
“Then how about we train together? I can adjust the training intensity to suit Edith.”
He suggested, tempting me with a spread of cakes laid out like a tantalizing feast. Unable to resist any longer, I reluctantly picked up my fork and started eating slowly. I pondered over his proposal for physical training.
“That’s… why? Don’t you want to move your body because you’re worried about gaining weight?”
He said, stabbing right into my heart with his words.
Even in the midst of this, as I struggled to put my fork down, I couldn’t help but feel a sense of guilt about my belly fat.
“Training… I should do it, but…”
“Why? Don’t want to get up early and train with me?”
“Um, no. That’s too sudden.”
Clyde’s idea of “early” meant before dawn, when the cock crowed. He would secretly get up to exercise and return. By the time I opened my eyes, he would already be lying in bed as if nothing had happened, having showered and dried his hair after sweating it out.
He told me about it, so I knew, but how could I have guessed about early morning training when I saw him lying in bed just like the previous night when I turned off the lights and went to bed, and nothing had happened?
“No, Edith, you can do it.”
“I can’t!”
I firmly refused.
Memories of the past from the real world overlapped and resurfaced. I recalled the days when my bank account was fluctuating so much that I couldn’t afford expensive personal training sessions and didn’t even complete half of the sessions.
I’m just not good at exercising. I can’t bear to repeat the shameful past. I scratched my head vigorously.
I don’t know if he knows what’s on my mind, but Clyde had a mischievous glint in his eyes.
“By the way, Edith seems to have quite the ambition for success.”
“What? No, not at all.”
“I’ve never seen you slacking off. You write reports diligently without missing a single detail. Look at you now. How many pages have you written, just as I instructed you to upload them every day?”
No, this is not right. Don’t change my life goals arbitrarily.
It wasn’t welcoming to hear words that implied I might be promoted soon just because I did well in my work tasks.
It’s difficult to keep him at arm’s length.
Especially from a professional perspective, he seems satisfied enough, so how about making him a little uncomfortable in terms of behavior?
Alright, that’s what I’ll do.
“Oh, I don’t know. I won’t submit reports anymore.”
“You won’t submit reports?”
“I have too much work. Submitting reports every day. I’d rather you cut off my head.”
He lightly touched his smooth jawline. His indifferent attitude was even scarier.
“Hmm…”
“Why? Shall I cut it off?”
“You’re right. Doing it every day was too much. Let’s set the report submission frequency to what Edith can handle.”
It was a proposal as bright as his sparkling eyes. If I decide, of course, I should leave plenty of time between submissions. Two days? Three days? Is a week too much?
“Really? Then… um, uh, once every ten days!”
I shouted firmly. Be brave, Edith.
“Ten days it is.”
“Your Highness…”
She was almost on the verge of tears with emotion.
“How about calling me Clyde instead? Then ten days is fine.”
“No! Clyde. Your name rolls off the tongue so easily.”
The moment for a rapid revision of titles had arrived.
He raised an eyebrow coolly. He even smiled, as if in sympathy with Edith’s gloomy eyes.
What’s gotten into this man? Was it because my report was useful at the last council meeting?
But negotiating to extend it to ten days wasn’t so simple. One condition was added.
“But, on days you don’t submit a report, you must have dinner with me in the palace.”
“…Excuse me?”
“How about that? Fair, isn’t it?”
“Having dinner means…”
Clyde wickedly tapped the table, where desserts were laid out in abundance.
“Just eat the dessert for now. I’m a reasonable prince.”
Swearing under my breath, I complained with my eyes as I stabbed my fork into the plate. Clyde seemed to sense her mood and turned his gaze away reluctantly.
If that’s the case, should I ask to change my residence to the palace, where there’s a place to stay? But I remembered the subtle and strange atmosphere between us occasionally, and I scratched my head.
Changing into a new outfit in the room next to the prince’s bedroom, which she rarely used, she found herself.
Of course, she couldn’t just lie down recklessly on the empty bed. Only necessary items were allowed besides the bed.
Edith cleaned herself meticulously under the skillful care of palace attendants waiting beside the bathtub emitting a warm steam. It was difficult here, where she couldn’t just play around alone like at home.
Even the pajamas looked as elegant as formal wear. Thanks to the strict rules that the attendant must always maintain a dignified appearance when serving the prince, even if there was a slight flaw.
After drying her hair to a smooth texture and combing it until it gleamed with a milky sheen, she was finally released from the hands of the palace attendants.
The annex had a separate entrance. There were separate doors for the bedroom and the annex, and a partition was set up between them. However, the door leading directly to the annex had been locked for a long time. Probably for security reasons.
Although it wasn’t very convincing to lock only the door leading to the annex just because it had been unused, as she had heard an explanation, it was so.
Edith opened the prince’s bedroom as casually as her own.
She skipped the process of asking if it was okay to enter. Not only was it not a particularly formal atmosphere, but today she was so determined to give him a taste of her tough judgment.
And then she discovered it.
The bare back of a man.
“Oops, sorry!”
She slammed the door shut forcefully.
Her hand, which was pressed against the closed door, trembled. The brief scene was still imprinted in her mind.
Clyde was clad in only a towel wrapped around his waist. His broad back was covered with rugged muscles.
I saw everything in that brief moment, Edith.
He’s really magnificent.
She silently praised herself for her quick eye and controlled her breathing. Her fingertips were pulsating.
As she leaned her head against the closed door, she thoroughly enjoyed the unexpected turn of events. Clyde, that guy. He looked like the protagonist of a romance novel, with no shortage of charm.
It was an accident, like a traffic accident. It wasn’t necessarily a bad thing to have briefly seen his back and then fled. So, I could remember Clyde’s back purely. It felt like seeing a figure draped over the lower hem of a famous painting from the Renaissance era.
“Come in.”
Clyde’s composed voice came from beyond the door. He must have finished dressing now.
With an awkward cough, she entered, intending to apologize. If he made a big deal out of it, she would have to endure his scolding, lamenting about the prince’s dignity, but she doubted he would go that far.
She quickly scanned the interior, pretending to be polite.
“Oops.”
She had to swallow another gasp at the scene before her.
