Chapter 74

Chapter 74 – You’re Slowly Seeping In.

Kiehl remembered what Iwer had told him when he was young.

— “Pin her down.”

The white pajamas touched his black heart, and her dark hair struck his conscience.

‘It’s too dangerous…’

In the meantime, the bright red eyes and lips seduced him.

“Kiehl, I want it.”

“…What?”

“The pajamas. It is meticulously embroidered with gold thread.”

“….”

Unlike him, whose fatigue ran away due to nervousness, Bella had no boundaries. Kiehl quietly went to the side and sat down. Gently touching her hair, he asked affectionately, questioning her to be a little bit wary.

“Is there anything else… you want?”

“Hehe. I actually want to have pajamas in different colors.”

“….”

“I want to change clothes every day of the week.”

In this situation, was she really talking about pajamas?

“…I see. I’ll tell Rinne to buy it when she goes to town.”

“Yes. It’s summer soon, so tell her to buy some cool material. What you’re wearing right now is too hot.”

Even though they were clearly on the bed, the level of conversation was like being in a training camp.

“Because we’re doing this, it reminds you of the past, right?”

“…Yes.”

“When you were young, I told you a lot of fairy tales. Do you want me to do it again today?”

Because there were no boundaries, he was still treated like a child. When on earth was she going to see him as a man…? As he thought so, Kiehl gently placed a hand between Bella’s shoulder and arm as she was resting her chin.

“… Do you want an arm pillow?”

When his finger touched the back of Bella’s ear…

“No! Today is Pur Bear Pillow—!”

Pur’s face suddenly appeared between Bella and Kiehl.

“Ah… okay.”

…Oh, she was there as well.

“I’m a lot smarter, too!”

Pur then opened her arms wide.

“This way, I can sleep with both of you!”

Even though Bella’s expression rotted away, she didn’t say a word and rested her head on Pur’s arm. Some people sleep with a teddy bear in their arms, but what about a teddy bear sleeping with people in its arms?

“Princess is the best in the demon world, and the Young Master is the best in the human world.”

Pur hugged the two of them tightly.

“You will be sleeping alone for a month from now. Understand?”

“Yes!”

Pur’s familiar smell, Bella’s grumbling voice… As if by magic, he mistook this moment for the mansion when it was comfortable and warm. Kiehl, who had stayed up all night, fell asleep as if melted away by the calmness.

Unlike Kiehl, who fell asleep after being very nervous, Bella couldn’t sleep as time went on. She could hear Pur’s wheeze and got up slowly before calmly peering around the room.

His room…

She wanted to come when she had time, but she couldn’t. It was because every attendant passing by talked about how busy Kiehl was.

— “His Highness must be really busy. I didn’t see him coming out.”

Although he didn’t say it to her, she was guessing it as well. Sometimes when they meet, his complexion looks bad. And, in Kiehl’s room, the traces were evident.

Piled-up papers.

Whether it was for calculating formulas, the papers were full of numbers. In addition, on one side, a toy from Pur and Iwer’s bracelet were all placed there.

“….”

She remembered what Kiehl said during the day.

— “She kept asking me to play, so we played hide and seek.”

Muttering to herself, Bella grabbed Pur and Iwer’s belongings and threw them out of the window, “Did those punks use this place like a playground?”

It was then.

“…Cough.”

Bella looked at Kiehl, who was asleep with the sound of coughing. Not only that he was in a cold sweat, but he also coughed several times and exhaled hot breaths.

‘Does he have a cold?’

Thinking so, she placed her hand on Kiehl’s forehead. Thinking about what Rinne said to her, it really seemed like he couldn’t sleep well.

“Umm…”

What could she do for this pretty male lead…?

Bella turned again and stood in front of the desk stacked with papers. The papers were well organized and stacked.

Civil complaints and account books in the territory of Marquis Vivre. There were various plans and budget proposals. He was doing things manually that could be organized quickly with a computer in modern times.

She carefully sat down in Kiehl’s seat.

Even though she didn’t know what was going on, she decided to move on and she skimmed through the complaint papers, which he didn’t seem to have touched yet.

‘He doesn’t need to see all of this.’

There were quite a lot of documents, so instead of reading them thoroughly, he only looked for the core—just like when he was preparing for an exam.

Summarize the complaints written down in three lines and write them down on a separate piece of paper. Meanwhile, similar complaints were grouped together and numbered on the documents, and additionally marked important things that he should pay special attention to.

About halfway through, Bella yawned as her eyes were starting to close. She turned to see Pur suddenly sleeping with her feet on Kiehl’s head.

‘Anyway, her sleeping habits are really bad.’

Bella sat quietly on the bed and put her feet away. As if she had found a treasure, Kiehl’s sleeping at Pur’s feet was pretty and handsome. How much weight was on the shoulders of this face, who slept like an angel?

As she thought so, she smiled and stroked his hair. Wouldn’t it be great if this daily routine could be repeated?

…Warm and happy days that a possessed role could never have.

“I am satisfied with this.”

Bella poked Kiehl’s cheek with her finger and just chuckled.

* * *

When Kiehl woke up in the morning, no one was there.

‘Maybe again…’

Was it because he was too tired? Ever since he met Bella again, he hadn’t seen visions of her much. He then gripped the bedspread and slowly stood up.

“No, you idiot. They are marked by color.”

Bella’s voice was heard from somewhere. When Kiehl was startled and turned his back, he could see her sitting with the twins.

Rio, who was next to him, spoke to Bella.

“Then, shall I arrange it like this?”

“Yes. In this way, it is easy to see at a glance the similar complaints.”

Bella handed an extra paper to Rio.

“Also, if you write down important complaints on this piece of paper and mark them slightly conspicuously, they will be easier to find.”

She devised something to deal with them, as there were no such things as stickers.

“You are really smart. I didn’t even think about it.”

“You are stupid. When the aides are smart, Kiehl suffers less.”

With Bella’s words, Rinne burst into laughter.

“Quiet. You will wake up Kiehl.”

The next moment, the twins looked at him in unison when Bella said that.

“Kiehl. You’re up?”

“….”

“Your Highness!”

“…Huh?”

Bella ambled towards him before opening her mouth, “I saw you were coughing while sleeping yesterday.”

She then sat down next to him and handed him a cup of honey in advance.

“It will be good for a sore throat. Drink it.”

However, Kiehl remained motionless, staring at her.

“Miss Bella gave it to you, will it have poison?”

Rio, who couldn’t bear to see it, joked. It was only then did he finally came to his senses.

“Are you not taking it because you are afraid of poison?”

“N, no…”

“Hmm. Why would I poison you?”

When Bella looked slightly disappointed, Kiehl hurriedly took her hand.

“That, just… Maybe Bella—”

“Maybe? A ghost…?”

Come to think of it, with her long black hair hanging out in white pajamas, it seemed plausible. Rio turned to Rinne as he saw the resemblance.

“It looks a bit like that, right?”

“Rio, I can hear you.”

Kiehl slowly brought the cup Bella gave him to his mouth.

‘…Sweet.’

The sweetness he had always dreamed of filled his mouth and embraced him.

* * *

The twins saw Bella again that morning.

Now, Kiehl’s room was no longer a meeting place.

“Kyaaaa, Iwer, who has a beautiful face today…”

“Huh. Iwer. Put your head down.”

[ T/N: Trivia! “머리 박아,” is a typical soldier’s punishment, or at least how I saw in varieties; but it’s not just putting your head down. It’s hard to do! Google for pics~ ]

…It was a place of punishment.

Bella, who discovered the demon’s items, was unable to let them go.

“Young Master! Play with me…”

“Huh. Pur do a tree pose.”

Pur, who went out for breakfast, came even though she said she wouldn’t come all day. Meanwhile, Bella sat in Kiehl’s room as if she was in hiding.

“Hey, is there a house that specializes in meat…”

“Zanbar. You came, too?”

Bella clenched her fists as Zanbar unexpectedly came.

“I, I came here to ask one thing.”

“What are you going to ask?”

“I came to ask if there are any good meat restaurants in the city.”

“What’s the point of knowing that?”

At that, Zanbar went to the corner without saying a word and knelt down on his knees. And, not long after, Jenkins came.

“If you come here, Zanbar…”

“Ugh. Are you kidding me now? Four demons attacking in thirty minutes?”

Saying that, Bella warmed her body by shaking her neck from side to side before staring at the demons with a stern expression.

“Should I cut off your hands and feet so you won’t come?”

Jenkins sensed that the atmosphere was unusual and raised his hand.

“I, I came here because I have something to work with Miss Rinne.”

Hearing those words, Iwer glanced at Jenkins with her pupils dilated and gritted her teeth before she spoke, “Miss! Jen also comes to play every day!”

As Bella glared at Jenkins again, Zanbar defended him.

“It… It is true that Jenkins kept coming to Miss Rinne for research.”

“Wow, Zanbar. Are you doing this?”

In fact, Jenkins had never visited Rinne before, but Rinne desperately needed Jenkins’ help in researching radio magic in the future.

“That’s right. I am working on something.”

“Really? I’m sorry. I thought I’ll take this opportunity to cut the demons.”

* * *

After Bella punished the demons, they never visited Kiehl’s room again… No, they couldn’t find him. It was because Bella had been in his room since that day.

At first, the teachers who taught Bella were burdened.

“Don’t complain. Because I don’t want to see the animals in the Animal Kingdom come and go in and out of Kiehl’s room.”

“But, but how can I teach in His Highness’ presence?”

“Then, we can change teachers.”

Even though they complained, she was adamant about Kiehl.

“Finally, things are making progress.”

Rinne went to experiment with radio magic, so it looked like only Rio and Kiehl were working together. Thanks to Bella, it was quieter and he was able to handle it without interruption. Everything went smoothly. She also sometimes looked at the paperwork together, and Kiehl also rested with her.

Juan was worried, but he couldn’t even come to Kiehl’s room in the first place.

Except for just one thing…

“Kiehl. Aren’t you going to work?”

“….”

Kiehl, who usually ignored the demons even when they were talking and could concentrate, was enchanted by gazing at Bella whenever they had a break time.

“Your Highness!”

“…Oh, sorry.”

Rio clicked his tongue and shook his head.

“Like her that much?”

When he said that, Kiehl hurriedly covered Rio’s mouth with his hand.

‘Of course, I like her.’

The only memories he had with Bella were in the mansion. Suddenly, she gradually seeped into his new daily life.

Finally, a letter arrived from the Imperial Palace.