Viola's Field Trip (2)
Knocking. The sound of the door hinge turning in the annex was like the jingle-bell charm from the back alleys, and Viola, who had been lying on the bed, caught it with the instincts of someone who had rolled through the back alleys.
Someone was entering. Her body rose instinctively, and she wrapped an arm around Kael's neck, tilting her lips toward his in a move that would have fit any hidden lovers caught in the act.
But Kael acted a fraction faster.
He swiftly dragged the empty map of the slums over his own thighs, then at the same time snatched Viola's waist and pulled her straight onto it, face to face.
In an instant, Viola was sitting on Kael's knees, their bodies pressed tightly together. Kael naturally encircled her slender waist and hid the map beneath her.
Viola was momentarily taken aback, but then she broke into a grin and whispered, "Oh my, Your Highness. Bold of you."
"Don't use casual talk. Guess."
"Yeah, got it."
The short negotiation ended just as quickly. The annex door swung wide open.
It was Giselle.
Viola immediately pulled Kael's neck closer, using the long black hair draped over her face to cleverly shield herself. She shrank her shoulders and glanced back with a look of surprise, launching into her act.
"Oh my! Who are you to interrupt a woman's good time... hick! E-Your Highness?!"
Her voice was soft and flustered, at a loss.
Kael pressed the back of Viola's head against his chest until her face was completely hidden there.
Viola didn't want Giselle to see her face, after all.
And Kael gave her a familiar cocky expression as he glared at Giselle.
"Tsk, didn't learn how to knock? When the Grand Duchess comes, she can barge into someone's private time like it's nothing?"
"......"
Giselle stood frozen at the doorway.
Kael, embracing the Grand Duchess's waist in his arms while only half-clothed, and Viola's back trembling in his embrace with her collar slipping down.
Giselle's red eyes cooled to ice as she stared at that bare scene.
Kael, unfazed by that gaze, curled his lips and drawled, "Ah, I see. Maybe you, too, wanted to join this fun game, Your Exalted Grand Duchess?"
Giselle's eyebrows twitched. Her eyes lingered a moment on the scars still visible on Kael's bare upper body, then she turned away with obvious disgust.
"......I apologize for intruding during such a busy time."
Giselle turned on her heel at once.
"Continue as you were."
Bang!!!
With that one sentence, she slammed the door shut and left.
Outside the annex, Giselle breathed in the icy night air.
"G-Gladys...!"
The knights on guard saw her rigid face and grew pale, bowing their heads.
Giselle only left them with the words "I'm fine, don't worry," then crossed the courtyard at a brisk pace.
The sound of her heels on the snow was heavier than usual.
'As expected.'
Giselle swallowed the hollow laugh.
'Where could that trashy nature of his have gone?'
She had been foolish to think there was some hidden reason behind the events of the past.
It was mortifying to think back to the Giselle who had bent her pride to borrow money or at least try to talk, then opened the annex door.
The scene she had seen just now kept flashing in her mind.
The empire's playboy dragging women into the castle for a tumble.
'I really was out of my mind. What kind of expectations did I have for that beast?'
She now firmly declared that every strange unease, curiosity, and small hope she had harbored was nothing but her own foolish delusion.
That man was irredeemable trash. A worthless, lust-driven rogue who would rot away chasing pleasure all his life.
With that conclusion, Giselle returned to her office.
"Hah."
Giselle dropped into the chair and pulled a mountain of approval documents from the desk.
She needed to find another way to raise funds for the land reconstruction right away.
The plan to borrow from Kael was now a waste of time, so she had to chase down other avenues—contact merchants, whatever.
Giselle dipped her pen in ink and started reading.
But.
"......"
Strange. The words wouldn't come into focus.
The black letters seemed to float like bubbles on the paper.
She kept rereading the same line, over and over.
Her concentration was completely shattered.
'Why am I like this?'
Giselle pressed her temples and closed her eyes.
But the moment her eyes shut, the scene from behind the annex door flashed back vividly—the ridges of his abs, the scars along his side, the white shoulder of the woman sitting on his knees with his arms around her waist, and Kael's large hand encircling her slender waist.
Giselle shook her head.
'......This is disgusting.'
A nameless, suffocating emotion surged in her chest, twisting her mood.
She felt like something was clamped tight inside her, her nerves fraying.
The mere fact that Kael had locked himself away with another woman for a hot night was scraping at her nerves.
While she was rolling through bloodstained battlefields protecting the land, was he contentedly snuggling with some girl?
No, it wasn't quite the same.
"We're married, after all."
A memory from just earlier surfaced—the time she had offered him wine first and he had turned her down coldly.
"Why would a woman like stone drink alone? Three-star prostitutes from the back alleys are a hundred times better."
And today, Kael had proudly dragged a woman from the back alleys into the annex and seated her on his knees.
That contrast was stirring a strange irritation in Giselle's chest.
The irritation caused by him was even more irritating.
"......Hah."
Giselle finally loosened her grip on the pen, unable to shake the inexplicable discomfort.
Tuk.
The pen dropped onto the document, leaving a long black ink streak.
"......I'm not focused."
She leaned back in her chair and gazed at the empty ceiling of the office with a complicated expression.
Bang!!!
The door closed.
Only when Giselle's heels had faded down the corridor did the two people on the bed stop holding their breath.
At last.
"Phew......"
Kael exhaled in relief and relaxed the tension in his shoulders.
Viola, who had been hiding her face against Kael's chest, secretly lifted her head and swept her disheveled black hair aside.
"Oh my, the thrill was incredible."
Viola chuckled, clearly enjoying the situation. "It was quite a good experience, Your Highness."
"Good thing."
Kael answered gruffly.
They had almost been caught the moment the door opened.
Without that seamless timing with Viola, they might not have come up with any excuse at all.
After all, they had fooled Giselle. Mission accomplished.
With the tension easing, silence fell for a moment.
"By the way, Your Highness."
Viola called him in a soft, sultry voice.
"Why?"
"Now, stop kneading my ass and let me down."
"......"
Only then did Kael realize the soft sensation of her body was being pressed against his palms.
The positioning had been strangely off because he had been hurrying to cover the map and wrap her waist.
'......So soft I couldn't help but grip her.'
Kael flinched internally and looked away.
On the surface, he cleared his throat and pulled his hands back.
"Ahem, ahem. The situation was pretty rushed."
Viola stayed on his lap a moment longer than necessary, then leaned in with a mischievous smile, pressing her upper body closer.
"Hmm~? Your Highness. Since things turned out like this, why don't we practice a kiss or two in advance for next time?"
She pouted her lips playfully, but Kael recoiled with disgust.
"Cut the nonsense and get down already. It's heavy."
"W-What an attitude. Speaking of which, our famous playboy has surprisingly gentle hands?"
Viola giggled and poked Kael's chest with one finger, then slid off his thighs lightly.
Kael awkwardly unfolded the map on his thighs and hurriedly changed the subject.
"Forget that. Let's get back to what we were doing. Since Giselle just kicked us hard, we absolutely have to take over the demolition rights. It's worth it."
"I know, I know. Only knows how to work, that prince of yours."
Viola casually retied the straps of her slipped silk dress, then pulled the blanket back over herself and moved closer to Kael to look at the map.
"So, about the hot-water pipes we discussed earlier. The problem is it's winter. The frozen northern land makes digging and burying pipes impossible with regular laborers. The labor and equipment costs will be massive, won't they?"
"Hmm......"
The two of them returned to their serious business-partner faces as if nothing had happened and began discussing strategy.
Time passed.
"......Good, it looks like we've outlined the big picture for now. I'll have people send detailed quotes within a few days."
"Alright, good work."
Viola stretched her arms and stood up.
"Ugh, I'm tired. Your Highness, I'm changing clothes now, so can you turn around?"
"Yeah, yeah."
Kael waved his hand lazily and sat on the opposite side of the bed.
Sarak, sasarari.
The sound of silk dress brushing filled the quiet room.
'She said not to sell the body, right? This is why?'
The moment she slid off his thighs, she said she would pull the blanket over herself. Those slightly flushed ears... It was surprising that someone who had seen every kind of back-alley deal had such little tolerance for this kind of intimacy.
He almost wanted to tease her, "Your ears are turning red," but he swallowed the smile.
'No. If I tease her and she gets annoyed, I'll be the one who loses the job.'
Kael held back his laughter internally and pretended not to notice her adorable gap moe.
At last, Viola, now wearing the robe, adjusted her appearance and said, "I'm fully dressed. Your Highness, I'm going now."
"Don't get caught and go safely."
"Don't worry. I'll contact you in a few days, so take care of yourself~"
"Yeah."