The Villainess' Escape

Chapter 12 |

Sitting in the royal garden, Adelina was meeting up with the prince for the first time since their last encounter at her birthday party.

She brought the cup to her lips to savor the chocolate milk and hummed in satisfaction. The temperature was just right for the early afternoon.

She set the cup down and finally turned her head towards the prince, facing him with a serious expression. "Your highness, I'm guessing you're inviting me out for a reason. Is there something you want to ask me?"

Theodore remained unfazed by the question. "I thought it'll be nice to have a chat, Lady Adelina. We haven't talked for a while."

She deadpanned. The party was two days ago, two days. Why was he acting so strangely?

"Nevermind," she said while struggling to pick the right words to say, "How has your day been?"

He frowned and crossed his arms over his chest, leaning against the chair with closed eyes, "The usual, reading father's letters and paperwork."

"Sounds rough," Unconsciously, she thought of her daily rants about schoolwork with her friends in her past life and talked casually like how she usually did. Worried, she waited for the prince's reaction, expecting to hear his sarcastic remark. When he didn't, she cast a curious look at him and was instead surprised by what she was seeing.

In front of her, Theodore was sleeping while maintaining his sitting posture on the chair, his chin tilted downwards. The soft breeze seemed to gently brush away the strands of his dark hair to one side, revealing his facial features more clearly.

Adelina felt as if she was intruding a moment she shouldn't. She silently observed his face and her stare lingered longer on his closed eyelids, seeing the pair of eye bags sunken beneath them.

Suddenly, he seemed to age a lot faster than a nine-year-old kid.

He must have been working hard...She couldn't help but worry once she noticed his tired state. At this realization, she shook her head.

"What am I doing..." she mumbled under her breath, "Why am I here, chatting with his highness?"

The sound of someone's footsteps brought her attention, and she looked up at the maid who entered with a tray filled with sweets.

"Your highness..." The maid stopped her sentence halfway, seeing Adelina make a silent gesture to keep quiet. She glanced at her sleeping master and nodded in understanding, placing the tray and left wordlessly.

When she heard some noises coming from the prince's direction, she turned back to see him sitting more comfortably, wide awake now.

He was avoiding making eye contact, looking anywhere but her. Red colored the tip of his ears. "Sorry. I must have been tired."

Hmm. A smile curled at the corner of her mouth. Was he embarrassed?

Theodore must have noticed her expression because his face turned wary.

"What?"

"Nothing," she smiled teasingly, deciding to play with him a little, "I didn't know your highness had a strange sleeping habit."