TER𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

XXVll

.𖥔 ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ᰔᩚ.ᰔᩚ ⭑. ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ ⭑
A Second Kiss


 

Lewd noises surged from down below, even the music did little to bury them. Together they floated a repugnant number in the dark and silent night. Her mouth, reflexively, felt dry as if she had chewed sand. She shook, horrified at the thought of becoming slaves like those princesses before her. She hated the thought of quivering in the pleasure given to her by the men who killed Edward. But more than that, she loathed the very thought of being enslaved.

What should I do? It’s no use pretending to be ugly if it means that I still cannot avoid being a plaything of the imperial family. Should I try to seduce him?

Seduce him …. Unbidden, Lune’s face emerged in her mind. No. It’s not like he has defective eyes, why would he take me as his wife? It’s likely he wouldn’t even accept me as a secondary wife.

Her plans were a mess as was her mind.

Roof after roof, she carefully made her way out. When she had sprung off the last one, she grabbed on to a large branch. Using it to help her up, she nimbly climbed the trees. Soon after, the crown prince’s palace which was connected to the concubine’s palace came into view.

‘… Lustian … lives in that palace, huh? I need to see what he looks like … he who throws his own concubines as treats to the imperial family for his own convenience. I have to see!’

*

The edge of the tree was basically touching the wide balcony. She gently descended and quickly hid in the shadows. After ascertaining she hadn’t been discovered, she peered inside.

Inside the fancy office, a man was surrounded by several knights. It looked like he was giving out orders. Once they had their order, the knights hurried out of the room. Then the man flopped onto a golden chair as if the crown prince’s office was his.

‘It looks like the crown prince’s office … No way, is that man, Prince Lustian?’

The man who seemed to be in deep thought suddenly jumped to his feet. He strode to the window, opened it, and came towards the balcony.

Instinctively, Viola swallowed a quick breath and jumped off the balcony. However, her dress got stuck on a branch. She could feel a chill down her back. She tried to hide but the man seemed to have sensed something.

The wind blew. She was on a wide branch but if she tumbled down a tree three stories high she would still get badly hurt. So, Viola grasped the branches firmly while sweating profusely. She had no choice but to wait and hope that he would quickly get back inside.

It was then, when she was entirely focused on the man on the balcony, that a hand suddenly popped out from behind the tree right about the same time when her shoes slipped away.

“Ahhhh!”

Viola’s eyes were closed shut. She thought she was going to fall down but her wrist was firmly held in someone’s hand.

When she opened her tightly closed eyes, she saw a familiar face. It was Lune, the commander of the imperial knights …

“What are you doing in a place like this?” His cold voice drifted through the quiet night. “Where did you go? I’ve been looking for you for a long time?”

“Why are you in the crown prince’s office?” she retorted with a question of her own.

“This is not the crown prince’s office,” he simply replied.

Wasn’t it? He certainly looked like a prince when he was sitting on the golden chair, but he is saying he isn’t … Viola looked at him dubiously.

“It’s dangerous, you might fall. Come here, I’ll hide you.”

“Hide … you are going to hide me?” she asked in disbelief.

“It seems like they noticed that you’ve snuck out. The imperial villa has been flipped upside down.”

“Ah! Ro … Rosha—”

Viola’s vision went black, because like in any kingdom the servants would be punished if the princess did something wrong. She had to go back to the imperial villa right away, but if she was seen moving around with him it would make matters worse. She was now a Crown Princess Candidate, she would be perceived as having a not so secret love affair with another man …

Lustian quickly led Viola inside, he then rummaged through his closet and handed her a dress.

“Remove your make-up, and change into this outfit. You have to act as my lover,” he said calmly.

“My makeup—!”

Viola was now in a fix. Removing her makeup would obviously reveal her real face. The man would know she was faking it all along. However, on the other end, it wouldn’t make sense for the commander of imperial knights to have an ugly woman as his lover. Time was of the essence and she seemed to have no other recourse … She had to remove it …

“Hurry up, the later you are, the worse it will get for your people,” Lustian seemed to see through her dilemma and urged.

“Okay, turn around.”

The moment he turned his back, she took off her clothes one by one until she was wearing only a corset. She then proceeded to remove her makeup. There was water in front of the mirror, so she used that to remove the thick foundation on her face . She had to rub her face repeatedly as the makeup would not come off easily.

When she looked up, she caught sight of her real face in the mirror. She then wore the fancy dress that Lune had handed her but couldn’t do anything about her hair colour. Even so, standing there in a dress adorned with jewels, she looked like a completely different person.

Viola couldn’t close her mouth when she saw her reflection in the mirror. She did not have make up on but her white face and red lips were so beautiful that it seemed like she did. Her lush eyebrows and long eyelashes complimented her beautiful blue eyes.

Then, one more person was seen in the mirror. Their eyes met, she felt goosebumps all over her body.