Chapter 54 - Leaning On The Shoulder

"Ahh! Sh*t this body has no stamina at all," Kim Su Won cursed in her mind. She had gone to a body whose previous owner was lazy and did not care about herself at all. In her original life, at this age, she was studying till midnight everyday, studying advance English and whatnot.

But this body would get tired just after a barely two hour excursion. She needed to exercise and build some stamina.

The voices and the faces were getting blurry as the time passed. Her eyes kept getting heavier but the only thought in her head was that she needed to exercise. She had forgotten where she was or what she was doing, just keeping her body straight was a task.

'Plop' she could not take it anymore, her eyes closed involuntarily and her head drooped to the left side where prince Aaron was sitting. She was used to sleep on her left side and just did not realize what 'blasphemy' she was doing.

Her small head softly touched the shoulder of the crown prince, stopping the kid mid-sentence to check what had happened. When he turned his head towards her, he could hear her soft breathing. Her lashes were fluttering gently but the girl looked at peace. He was mesmerized by the view for a few moments when everyone stood up and started shouting.

"W-We are sorry your highness! Please forgive this naïve girl for her rudeness!" Harold and Audrey were visibly uncomfortable. They were more worried that this could be a royal offense and they were finished.

Isaac, Alex and Ivan were rather calmer. They knew the crown prince better. He did have an arrogance in himself because he was THE crown prince, but he was also a kind soul. If they made him understood properly her condition, he would mostly understand it.

He might explode right now, but it would not take much to calm him down.

"Servants! Take this impudent girl away!!" Audrey ordered a few servants to bring her out when prince Aaron stopped them with his raised hand.

He looked at the few burly men who had entered the room on Audrey's order. Now he understood why the reports about this little girl never mentioned her parents or family. They did not really seem to care about her.

"Madam, it is not right for men and women have contact. Even if they are servants, they are still males, unrelated by blood too," he said, as he gently removed her head from his shoulder and placed her head on the opposite side slowly.

He was so considerate to this kid perhaps out of guilt. He had not replied to any of her letters for past three years. He owed her this much at least. This concern of his towards their daughter was especially baffling for the two parents. When did these two have a chance to meet to be so affectionate with each other?

Prince Aaron glanced at Audrey who was standing there in daze. What had just happened?

Ivan, being the intelligent one, took the cue and stepped forward. Also because their father was not doing anything too.

"I will take her to her room your highness. Would you like to accompany us, your highness?" Ivan said as the princess-carried Emmeline in his arms. Kim Su Won was so exhausted, she had no idea this all was going on. She was deep in sleep.

She adjusted herself, resting her small head against Ivan's chest. Seeing her so comfortable, prince Aaron's eyebrows twitched.

He glared at the two parents, and then left with the duke's heir apparent and his aide.

"Did you see how she is humiliating us even in front of the royal family?" Audrey's nostrils were flaring and her face was red.

"I had no idea she had contacts with the crown prince," Harold rubbed his temples. If he had known that this daughter of his could be this useful, he would have paid attention to her earlier.

He obviously knew that she was sending letters to the prince every week before her accident. He also knew he had never replied. The crown prince had even mocked him once in front of other dukes for resorting to such cheap tactics.

He had come home and slapped the kid for the first time in his life, for she had embarrassed him in front of other dukes. It was the second highest form of humiliation he had ever experienced, only after the king scolding him in front of the court.

That day, even though he felt guilty hearing the cries of the girl, he could not stop yelling at her until she had fainted of dehydration. He had made a huge mistake by listening to his wife and giving much more importance to the other two kids.

"So what? Those are just kids. She is not even his age. There are so many good looking girls surrounding the crown prince, there is no way he will look at our Emmeline," Audrey laughed timidly, she was not sure who she was trying to reassure.

"How could you say something so crass about your own child? She is just… she is so young!" Harold tried to recall her age but had no idea how old she or any of his child were for that matter. He was frustrated and scared at the same time.

"What did I say wrong? She never had any interest in studying, she has been pulling down our name since her birth. Why? Does her association with royal family suddenly wake up your love for her?" Audrey was gnashing her teeth. This man, this foolish man… he was only about power and connections.

Now he saw the behavior of crown prince, he is suddenly going to favor the girl. Ha! She would see how he was going to make her the crown princess.

Katherine and Cecilia were also present in the room along with Isaac Laurent. Isaac adjusted his glasses without any reaction for this was very normal occurrence for him.

However, Cecilia Whittemore was facepalming hard. Who in their right mind would air their dirty laundry in public? But once her parents started fighting, they would forget their surroundings completely. This sucked because right now, there was another person from another duchy here.

"L-Lady Richmond, let's go. I will show you around our castle," Cecilia hesitated but decided to try to take Katherine away. Her parents were embarrassing her and the household. She had to stop before they displayed any other shameful behavior or just speak something so nonsense that their remaining reputation would also go down the drain.

Katherine Richmond was actually enjoying the show. She had no idea that the relationship between the duke and the duchess was so bad. Not only that, apparently, they did not have any consideration for their youngest daughter too.

She had too many tools to use against that kid, Emmeline Whittemore, in case she really caught the fancy of the crown prince. She was too weak an opponent in her eyes.

Katherine sipped the tea in her hands elegantly. "Why? I am enjoying this quite a bit," she replied, smirking. There were too many things she had to report to her father.. She was going to win many brownie points with her patriarch today.