The Prince's Gentle Touch and a Forbidden Unit of Measure
Luang had never been the type of man consumed by a thirst for power.
The position of prince was something special. One word from him could move people, and the actual power to shake the world was real.
He could grasp even more if he wanted. He could aim for higher positions as well.
But he didn't.
The reason was simple.
He had watched with his own eyes how power caused families to collapse.
Anyone who carried that kind of wound usually did one of two things.
They became completely black-hearted and hunted for even greater power so that no one could touch them, or they shivered and distanced themselves from everything.
Luang was closer to the second path.
Because of that, what he truly wanted wasn't grand at all.
Just living comfortably.
Maintaining a calm, pillar-like existence.
Except for occasionally charging into battle like a madman and releasing dopamine, he had no real greed.
So right now, even while talking about grand things like the unification of weights and measures or currency unification, his true intention was very simple.
It was to make sure the Rosefield family would run on its own even without him.
That was all.
But.
“Ah... eeh...”
Angel was currently nestled in the arms of that kind of man, her face half-melted in dazed bliss.
'Right now... what exactly am I going through?'
A handsome man was gently stroking her.
Just the fact that someone was touching her like this felt good.
Too good.
And considering her current position, the meaning was even greater.
The position of a concubine was unstable.
It was a place you could easily hold for a while and then easily grow tired of and discard.
Therefore, continuously being loved was as vital as your lifeline.
But when she actually experienced it, this wasn't just a matter of strategic advantage.
Her feelings had grown so intense it was making her head spin.
Even the worry that she might one day face a final confrontation with Rachel the villainess was forgotten for a moment.
'Is this... dangerous?'
Angel barely grasped her sanity with her half-melted mind.
If Rachel saw this, she would certainly feel jealous.
Or it might not stop at jealousy.
That woman had been trying to remove the saint from the start, moving directly.
In a world where the church preached monogamy, approaching a man who already had a fiancée was more than enough justification.
The saint had stubbornly held on to her sanity and retreated.
But Luang hadn't retreated.
He had clung to her tenaciously.
A chill ran down Angel's spine.
'Even if I try to distance myself, he seems like he'd keep attaching like that... but he wouldn't do it right in front of Rachel, right?'
The reason why the clingy male lead was popular in women's romance fantasy novels was clear.
The illusion that no matter how much the world collapsed, she would never let go of love.
No matter if the other party wanted it or not, following, holding on, and trying to make her their own until the end.
And that nature showed itself in actions.
The most representative example was the leash.
Even in this novel, when the saint tried to escape, Luang had placed a leash on her to keep her locked in the palace.
To prevent her from leaving even after counseling ended.
Angel unconsciously imagined it.
Luang putting a leash on her.
Holding her back so she couldn't run away.
Keeping her only by his side.
It was humiliating.
But—
Somehow, it didn't feel entirely unpleasant.
"Um, Lady Angel?"
"Ah?"
"You look awfully strange right now. Could you please maintain your dignity?"
"Ah...!"
When Bianca gave a cold word, Angel snapped back to her senses.
Her ears burned all the way to the tips.
She could roughly imagine how dangerous her current expression must have been.
"S-sorry..."
Angel hurriedly changed the subject.
If she let him keep stroking her like this, she might actually blurt out something weird.
"Prince Luang! T-the weights and measures! You mentioned wanting to see the weights and measures, right? Shall we go to my workshop?"
Luang looked down at Angel once and then laughed softly.
"Yeah. I'll show you."
*****
While moving from Luang's mansion to Angel's workshop, Angel was stroked in the carriage the entire time.
At first it had been shocking.
Then awkward.
Now she was getting used to it.
That was even scarier.
Angel couldn't hold back and finally asked cautiously.
"Prince Luang, why do you keep stroking me?"
"It feels like my heart is stabilizing."
Luang said it too casually.
"I didn't want to keep a pet, but if this is the feeling, maybe it's not bad to try it once."
The moment she heard that, Angel thought of the leash again.
She had touched her own neck with her hand, and after confirming there was nothing on it, she finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Bianca noticed and deliberately threw in a question to shake off her embarrassment.
It was because if she focused on the question, she might avoid seeing that lovey-dovey scene.
"Does Your Highness not keep pets?"
"Yeah."
"You originally hated animals, right?"
"Not exactly."
Luang's hand slowly stroked down Angel's hair.
"I was worried about killing animals by accident when I went crazy."
The air inside the carriage fell silent for a moment.
Bianca closed her mouth.
Everyone knew that after the assassination attempt, Luang hadn't been himself.
He had raged so violently that he couldn't even control his own body and didn't take care of himself.
Yet he had rarely directly harmed servants or attendants.
The anger had been intense.
But it turned out he wasn't a completely ruthless person at heart.
When Bianca sent an unconsciously sympathetic look, Luang laughed as if it were nothing.
"Of course, I'm fine now."
And he added without any care.
"And this girl is better than any pet."
"Eh, I'm not an animal!"
"Smooth and soft, it's not that different, is it?"
"No way!"
Angel protested angrily, but she couldn't actually pull away from his hand.
In fact, she was getting a little uneasy that he might stop touching her.
'Before I got entangled with that villainess, he must have been like this...'
Angel felt her heart strangely soften.
A clingy male lead with many wounds.
And the setting where someone was needed to soothe those wounds.
It was a cliché, but people liked it because it was intuitive, easy to understand, and easy to empathize with.
Even Angel was gradually becoming gentler toward Luang.
But on the other hand, it was strange.
'Why only touch my head and face?'
Even when he sometimes hugged her waist or pulled her into his arms, there was no overly intimate contact beyond that.
That was what bothered her even more.
Angel knew her own appearance and body were quite attractive.
But Luang didn't touch her in that way.
'Could it really be nothing but the emotion of cuteness?'
She couldn't tell if that meant simple cuteness or if he wanted to treat her like a parent treats a child.
If the latter, she was honestly a little irritated.
'Should I bring a leash—Wait, what am I thinking?!'
Angel suddenly had a crazy thought and was shocked at herself.
She wanted to make Luang's gaze focus on her.
It had happened in school too.
Normally a person who seemed to like her, but when he showed interest in someone else, the other person suddenly became noticeable.
Luang had always stood out to Angel.
So the jealousy grew.
But soon her rationality suppressed the desire.
Her goal was to maintain a good relationship with Rachel.
But just imagining how Rachel would look if she saw them like this before she arrived made Angel's spine go cold.
Angel tried to think of something else.
The dangerous thought that she might be tamed like a pet was pushed deep into the recesses of her heart.
*****
Angel’s laboratory was surprisingly serious.
The moment the door opened, Luang almost burst out laughing.
Beakers.
Test tubes.
Graduated cylinders.
Scales.
Rulers for measuring length.
In the modern world, only the tools of a full-fledged experimental lab were placed proudly.
Bianca marveled as she looked around inside.
"I've never seen a space like this before. And it smells so good."
"Because we keep ventilating it. With just perfume mixtures, there's no way it would smell weird."
Luang’s gaze naturally moved to the markings.
Millimeters and centimeters on the rulers.
Kilograms and grams on the scales.
Liters and milliliters on the beakers.
It was too familiar.
Too obvious.
A reincarnator who had fallen from the modern world would have been suspected of being Angel first in ten out of ten cases.
Luang deliberately asked as if it was nothing.
"Is this graduated cylinder’s unit the standard of the weights and measures unification you mentioned?"
"Yes, that's right."
"Then I’d like to hear what this unit is based on. What did you use as the measure?"
Angel answered cheerfully.
"My bust measurement!"
"...Eh?"
Bianca’s face instantly froze.
It was common in this world to use body lengths when setting units.
Hand length, foot length, arm length, even the king's height were used.
But—
Bust measurement?
That was too erotic.
The moment the principle was exposed to the outside world, Angel would have endless ridicule following her for the rest of her life.
Especially in noble society, which had a sharp tongue.
Bianca asked sharply.
"Have you told this unit’s principle to anyone else?"
"No, I haven’t."
"Hoo... That’s fortunate."
Luang also felt relieved after hearing Angel’s answer.
If a bomb like this had exploded while entangled with the engagement issue, the empire’s dignity would have been in big trouble.
But at the same time, a question arose.
'Why did she choose the bust measurement? What makes her so sure it’s exactly one meter?'
Luang knew his own body and the body from his previous life were completely different.
The black hair and eyes were similar, but the appearance and physical density were different from his previous life.
So adaptation had been quite necessary in the beginning.
But Angel had said it too naturally.
As if she were confident in the standard of her own body.
'Was the body shape similar even in the previous life? Or...'
Luang briefly lowered his gaze downward, then raised his head again without a word.
Asking right now was crazy.
They would confirm each other’s reincarnator identity later, so they could ask then.
'After all, it seems like she’d end up revealing it herself someday.'
The possibility looked quite high because of Angel’s too clumsy performance.
"Do not tell anyone! Understood?!"
Bianca fired the words like a blade.
"Yes, yes! I understand!"
Angel froze solid and nodded her head.
The speech of the golden-haired drill-haired villainess daughter always had the power to make people shrink back.
Luang looked back and forth between the two of them and slowly smiled.
Unification of weights and measures.
Unification of currency.
Administrative system reorganization.
And the starting point was this strange laboratory with the heavy scent of modern perfume on a pink-haired woman.
The board was rolling more stably than expected.
Above all else, Angel was gradually becoming weaker against his touch.
That fact was quite pleasing to him.