Translated by Sienna✨
Mercedes anxiously bit her lips as she waited for the man to rescue her from this dreadful situation.
“…….”
“…….”
Minutes, no, seconds passed like an eternity, and the man did nothing. He showed no sign of taking any action. Mercedes was seized by an indescribable sense of confusion.
‘What the hell is he doing?’
Mercedes pushed down her embarrassment and tried to think rationally. In truth, if she didn’t, the embarrassment might drive her insane.
Why is he just standing there? The other person seemed alone, and he realized she was Mercedes Shabli…
“…….”
Perhaps it’s her imagination. She felt a stinging gaze on her naked lower body.
No, he’s definitely staring. Who wouldn’t stare at a naked princess stuck to a hole in the wall? She’d stare, too.
Moreover, he’s a man, and she’s alone right now.
“Ugh…”
It was indeed an irresistible opportunity to unabashedly steal glances at a young woman’s alluring ass.
His gaze lingered on the ass, which was large, contrasting her petite size. The man’s gaze passed over the smooth and tender curves and lingered below. The princess’s treasure that no one had ever seen before.
Just thinking about it made her tense up. She clenched her fists as tightly as possible and tried to narrow the gap between her thighs.
‘I’ll kill him… I’ll make him pay…!’
“Can’t you get me out of here already?”
Uncharacteristically, her voice trembled. However, there was no time to dwell on such matters. Mercedes couldn’t hold back and screamed in frustration.
“Don’t look at me!”
“Ah…….”
Only then did Cassis come to his senses. He belatedly realized that he had been shamelessly stealing glances at Mercedes’s ass, as she had pointed out.
‘How could I do this…’
“I… I’m sorry!”
In a rush, Cassis grabbed Mercedes’s waist with both hands.
“Ackk!”
Startled by the sudden physical contact, Mercedes trembled. Cassis hesitated, then cautiously spoke.
“Are you hurt?”
Not really, but in this incredibly awkward situation, Mercedes blurted out
“Yes, it hurts!”
“I’m sorry.”
The force pulling her waist abruptly weakened. That had unfavorable consequences for Mercedes.
‘Of all people, to be caught in this state by Cassis Riesling.’
Cassis, the blond knight with ashy eyes dressed in the formal attire worn by royal guards, was truly magnificent. He was a man who could bring benefit to the world, a beautiful man with noble lineage. Beautiful noblemen either become royal guards or courtiers, while those with less noble lineage become guards or servants. In other words, for Mercedes, who had a hobby of collecting beautiful men, Cassis was like a body-friendly ginseng or even the finest diamond.
However, just one word attached to Cassis ruined his image in Mercedes’ eyes.
‘Naive Riesling…’
The Riesling family was known for being quite principled. While their personalities varied, their loyalty to the king was remarkable. Especially the current duke, like a walking ethical guidebook. His naivety knew no bounds.
Cassis Riesling, despite appearing cheerful and amiable on the surface, was so diligent and flawless that it bordered on being unpleasant. He belonged to the type of person Mercedes didn’t particularly fancy.
‘The feeling is probably mutual.’
Cassis hates Mercedes. That’s what Mercedes had thought for a very long time.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
‘What’s with that crazy kid?’
It was fifteen years ago, the year Mercedes turned sixteen. The nobility had gathered to celebrate the birthday of King Shabli.
It was incredibly dull, but normally she would have smiled through the boredom. After all, that was all she could do.
Zoe, her stepsister, excelled in everything, be it academics or swordsmanship, effortlessly reaching the top of the kingdom in anything she touched. Mercedes, on the other hand, aside from being remarkably beautiful and love for wealth and power, had a slightly unpleasant personality, making her endlessly ordinary. Mercedes wasn’t exceptionally smart, but not dumb either, well aware of the immense gap between her and Zoe.
To bridge that gap, she deceived people every day, smiling like a doll.
“Happy birthday, your highness.”
“Goodness, Zoe!”
What Zoe brought for the king’s birthday was a unicorn. Everyone who saw the legendary creature gasped in awe. The king was so surprised that he publicly addressed the princess by her name.
Mercedes recalled the gift she had prepared—a fashionable decorative gun trending in foreign lands. Its appearance was so beautiful that it pleased Mercedes, who had strict aesthetic standards. Adorned with exquisite jewels, it exuded a glamorous, delicate, and sophisticated charm. However, that was all it had.
While there was nothing wrong with it, its performance was not particularly impressive. It was cumbersome due to its weight, making it less practical than other guns of similar size. Of course, it was meant for decoration, not hunting, but even in that regard, it paled in comparison to the unicorn.
It was pathetic. much like herself.
Mercedes, holding the now useless gift, left the banquet hall. Choosing less frequented paths, she made her way to her palace, intending to vent her frustration as usual in a secluded corner of the garden.
And she was about to go into the corner of the garden and let out her usual stream of profanity.
‘What’s with that crazy kid?’
There was this blonde kid, maybe ten years old, climbing one of the trees in the garden.
Judging by his attire, he didn’t look like a gardener or a servant; he seemed noble, probably one of those who came to celebrate the king’s birthday.
Thinking about the king’s birthday triggered a surge of annoyance in Mercedes. With a familiar gesture, Mercedes loaded the gun and took a stance.
Though she felt an overwhelming urge to shoot anything, she restrained herself from killing a noble within the palace walls. Instead, she aimed at the branch the boy was perched on. Pulling the trigger, she exclaimed, “Oops!”
The branch hit by the bullet snapped instantly. The child had no choice but to fall to the ground with a cry.
Mercedes looked up at the kid, who was sprawled out on the ground, looking up at her in disbelief, one corner of her mouth tilted up at an angle.
“Oh my, I was trying to shoot a snake, but it seems I missed.”
It was an obvious lie. This marked the skewed beginning of Mercedes and Cassis.
━━━━⊱⋆⊰━━━━
Indeed, Cassis’s memories are quite distorted.
First of all, this is something Cassis now knows; actually, there is quite an age difference between the two. When they first met, Mercedes was sixteen, and Cassis was only eight. Of course, Mercedes was smaller than her peers, so she might look younger than her actual age, but it would be a stretch to consider Cassis as her peer.
In other words, it’s just a fantasy born out of a desire that the person he fell in love with was the same age as him and that there would be even a slight chance of a connection.
Secondly, Mercedes’ tone towards Cassis was always, always, consistently sarcastic, from the first time they met until now. First because she was in a bad mood when they first met, and then after that, Cassis himself became annoying.
Mercedes’ inferiority complex with Zoe somehow overlapped with Cassis. Someone who could do anything easily and has an upright personality
“Ah, so Cassis Riesling is going to be an escort after all. I hope he becomes mine.”
Cassis Riesling’s self-consciously paraphrased line is “I want you to be my knight,” but to anyone who hears it, it means, “Please be someone else’s escort instead of me,” but to Cassis, who has a surprisingly high-minded side, it means exactly what it says.
Third, contrary to what Cassis thinks, Mercedes is far from a fairy tale princess or fairy. Sure, she pretended to have a heart as beautiful as her pretty face in front of the king, but that was an exceptional case. But Cassis’s feelings for Mercedes put a strange interpretation on her behavior.
When Mercedes is nervous, Cassis thinks, “Our princess is human,” when she plots something, “It’s all for the good of the country and its people,” and when she bullies others, he thinks, “Oh, that person must have made a mistake. She’s hurting inside because she doesn’t want to punish them too harshly, but she has to do it on purpose.”
Meanwhile, as skewed as Cassis’s memories are, Mercedes’s view of Cassis is also quite skewed. For example, she thinks Cassis hates her a lot.
But Cassis was largely to blame for this. Cassis always froze in front of Mercedes. His friendly demeanor with everyone else turned stiff in front of Mercedes. Even when he was smiling and chatting with other people, his face would stiffen when Mercedes walked by. He would even furrow his brows out of nervousness quite often.
“Lord Riesling does not seem to like princess.”
“I guess it’s difficult for someone like him to accept someone like the princess due to her personality.”
It wasn’t just Mercedes who thought Cassis didn’t like her.
And so the misunderstanding continued to grow, with Mercedes being Mercedes and Cassis being Cassis, until Cassis found her stuck to a wall.
Biting her lip, Mercedes tried to ignore Cassis’s hand on her waist. But she kept thinking the same thing.
‘Oh, no, I can’t believe my luck. How did he find me?’
‘Damn it, of all people, why does it have to be Cassis.’
‘How many other people are in this palace besides Cassis!’
Why, why, why!
Why does it have to be Cassis Riesling!
She wants to ask about this somehow. However, she’s sure this stubborn man will surely ask how I got stuck to a wall. And it’s not easy to get rid of him because he is the second son of Duke Riesling…
The hand that held her waist was big and hot. Maybe that’s why her body, which had been chilly in the dawn breeze, suddenly felt warm. She could clearly feel the firm flesh of the knight’s hand through her thin nightgown.
Somehow, she felt out of breath and hot. It felt like sweat was trickling down. In the end, Mercedes couldn’t hold back and let out a scream.
“Screw it!”
“Yes?”
“How am I supposed to get out of this tiny hole?”
“Ah…….”
“Ah…….? Did she just say “ah…….”?
Cassis’s nonchalant response infuriated her. Mercedes pounded on the wall.
“I want you to break down this wall right now!”
“Tear down the wall……, Yes, I’ll get the servants right away…….”
“You’re going to call the servants while leaving me in this state?”
“Ah…….”
“Don’t say stupid things and bring a hammer quickly!”
“…….”
Cassis, cowed by Mercedes’ fiery anger, stiffly pulled away from her. And just as he was about to turn around to retrieve the hammer himself, he caught a glimpse of her white ass.
Of course, as Cassis struggled to pull the Mercedes out of the hole in the wall, her ass kept drawing his attention. Cassis was trying with all his might not to look at her ass. It was much harder than grabbing Mercedes’ waist with just the right amount of force and pulling it with just the right amount of strength.
Cassis unconsciously swallowed a lump in her throat. His throat bobbed up and down. He quickly removed his uniform jacket.
It was then.
“You, you… What do you think you’re doing?”
Mercedes’s voice rose another octave.
