CH 180

The time that I didn't want to pass by inevitably passed, and the morning I had hoped not to come finally came.

‘......How do I get up now?’

I didn't cause an accident because I was drunk, but my thin face was so hot that I didn’t have the confidence to endure the morning. [1]

‘Should I go out first before he wakes up?’

When I turned around and checked, Dietrich was still sound asleep. The warm morning sun gathered over his dense eyelashes.

His figure was like a beautiful sculpture adorning the garden that I held my breath for a moment.

‘He’s really handsome no matter what.’

I stared at the fine shadow on his neat forehead and turned my back in surprise at the moment he frowned slightly.

“You can keep looking.”

So he wasn’t asleep.

I bit my tongue at Dietrich's languid voice and closed my eyes tightly with a feeling of wanting to die.

There was nothing more embarrassing than being caught peeking.

“You’re awake?”

I tried to clear my voice, pretending to be fine, pretending that I wasn’t embarrassed, and then I got up.

“Then should we get up now?”

Well, I tried to get up.

“No.”

It was a futile attempt because Dietrich grabbed me who was halfway from getting up and tucked me into his arms. 

“Eek.”

I hurriedly stretched out my hand and gripped the blanket tightly at the sleek feeling that touched my defenseless back.

My vision flashed and a red warning light lit up.

‘Clear thoughts! Clear and bright thoughts!’

I thought about singing the national anthem but after the East Sea and Mount Baekdu, it became difficult as it was now a vague memory. [2] 

‘What kind of empire is this that their country doesn’t even have a national anthem?!’ 

I resented the imperial family for not designating a national anthem and tore off the blanket that I barely embraced.

Whether he knew I'm about to burst into tears in his arms, Dietrich, who had his nose buried on my shoulder, sighed softly.

I shuddered at the sound of his long breath.

‘What is this I’m smelling?’

“.....Do I smell?”

“Yeah.”

It wasn’t to the point of being sticky, but the room filled with heat felt a little hot even at night. 

A little embarrassed by Dietrich's firm answer, I bit my lips, and he slowly added.

“It’s a nice smell.” 

“.........”

“I like your smell so much I could die.”

Dietrich whispered low in a voice that was a little more moist than usual and began to chew on the back of my ear.

‘Just kill me.’

Barely holding back my sobs, I wriggled my body forward.

Dietrich caught me as I was heading out of the bed like a caterpillar and puts me back in place. 

My body was swung around so I had to face Dietrich right in front of me. 

If you're a human, you should have some eye boogers in the morning, and yet his handsome face didn’t even have a trace of eye boogers.

I held his cheeky nose in my hand, smiling languidly with an unusually relaxed face.

“Let go. Why are you holding on to me?”

“Lie down a little longer.”

However, if I lay down a little longer as he said, I feel like trouble would arise. 

It was because I could feel the process of something not very fluffy becoming even less and less fluffy between the fluffy blankets. 

I stood up with the blanket wrapped around me, wiping off the cold sweat that formed over my forehead.

“I just want to go for a walk, that’s why.”

“Should I go with you?”

“No! I’ll go alone! I want to go alone!” 

Dietrich stared at me with his characteristic indifferent eyes as I squeaked and shook my head wildly, then raised the corners of his mouth.

“All right.”

“Yeah. So, won’t you turn your back a bit?”

“Why?”

“I’m going to get up and wear my clothes.”

“Then wear them.”

When I think of last night, I feel so ashamed that I want to find a rat hole and hide, but his answer was too casual.

‘Did this jerk really have a woman….?’

Narrowing my eyes with reasonable suspicion, I looked down at his well-formed muscles and dropped the blanket. 

“........”

Dietrich didn't know it, but in fact, it was a provocation that was possible because I was wearing one thin slip.

I got up from my seat, glancing at Dietrich with his eyes closed, holding the blanket so tightly that his veins popped out.

‘Even if I’m embarrassed, I can tease you, too!’

When I confirmed that I was not the only one who was embarrassed, I felt relieved.

Returning to my senses, I wore clothes scattered on the floor like a snake’s skin and quickly left the room not knowing what else Dietrich would say.

“Anissa.”

“Hermann?”

‘Why is he here again?’

In the hallway of the hotel, a person I hadn’t expected was waiting for me.

With a hand, I stopped Hermann from running towards me from the end of the hallway, his fine hair fluttering in the air like an azalea. 

“What brings you here, Hermann?”

“Is your body all right?”

“I’m fine.”

“I received a strange message from His Highness Notte. I became worried about you again….” 

In response to my question, Hermann shyly gave excuses here and there.

“I don’t have any intention to bother you.”

‘It seems like he’s been snitching on Euclid again.’

I frowned as I recalled the depressed face of the first prince.

“I just had minor trouble with the first prince. I thought it was resolved amicably.”

“First Prince Notte is narrow-minded and a bit lame.”

“I think I can see why Her Majesty hasn’t appointed him as the crown prince yet.”

“I also don’t think he’ll become a sovereign either.”

Hermann responded to my sarcastic remark. 

The first prince, who could not be appointed as a crown prince because he could not even gain his mother's trust even when he became an adult, must have been in a position of insignificance compared to that of the Duke of Euclid.

‘Still, he's very polite in cursing.’

I think I didn’t even see him curse while fighting Dietrich.

I nodded my head briefly as I thought it was as expected of the main protagonist when the door behind my back suddenly opened. 

“Why are you here?”

Dietrich glared at him, muttering ill-temperately as if the fact that Hermann was in the hallway offended him.

“Ah, His Highness Notte came to Euclid…..Wait a minute.” 

Hermann, who mumbled as if to explain to Dietrich what he had told me, alternately looked at Dietrich, who was wearing only a shirt that wasn’t properly worn, and me, who was obviously roughly dressed.

“Isn’t that the room Anissa just came out of?”

Hermann's finger, pointing at the door where Dietrich leaned at an angle, was shaking like a thistle.

“But why is the Duke…Why is that wastrel playboy of a bastard coming out of that room?”

‘Oh, he’s good at cursing, I see.’ 

I shrugged my shoulders as I pondered on how to answer to calm Hermann's agitation.

Dietrich, who quickly became a wastrel playboy of a bastard, didn’t seem to care that Hermann had cursed at him.

He approached me and clasped my exposed shoulders with his hands.

“The wind is cold. Go in and get dressed.” 

He told me to go in and yet clung to me as he hugged me tightly from behind.

As soon as I clicked my tongue at his actions, Hermann, who had finished grasping the situation, took a deep breath and ran to cut the gap between me and Dietrich with his body.

“You bastard, why are you coming out of this room?!”

“Because it’s my room.”

“I’ve heard a lot about the Northerners having light buttocks but! H-How could you share a room with my younger sister when you’re not even married yet!”

“I don’t think that’s any of your business.”

At Dietrich's cold reply, Hermann despaired with a face that looked like he was about to cry.

‘I've heard that the South is conservative, but isn't his reaction too harsh?’

I sighed as I stared intently at Hermann's back as he slammed onto the floor in the hallway because he was tossed by Dietrich. 

“Hermann.”

“..........”

“Hermann!”

Out of his mind, he slowly turned his head to my call. I looked at his soulless face and enunciated each word clearly.

“It's not a big deal for an unmarried man and woman to spend the night in the North.”

“......But!”

“Spending the night doesn't necessarily mean they have to get married. So don’t be too–”

Crack. 

I, who had said nothing convincing to find Hermann's soul, suddenly turned to a violent sound that rang in the background.

“....... Why are you breaking a door that’s completely fine?”

It’s just my guess but Dietrich seemed to have a bizarre hobby of ripping doors or handles.

I glared at him with my mouth half-opened as I held the smashed door in my arms.

“I’m asking why you’re doing that again!”

‘What’s wrong with him, really?’

As if he had received a big shock, Dietrich, who quietly puts the door down at my scolding, continued to wash his face dry.

Haa.

He let out a long sigh.

He soon began to question me with dry lips.

“Why?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why are you saying that?”

“Huh? Saying what?”

Dietrich bit his lip as I tilted my head, who didn’t understand his question.

I thought that his face, which felt even wretched for some reason, resembled Hermann's head on the floor.

“You’re not going to marry me?”

“.........”

“After spending the night together?”

Really……

I wish there was only one person at a time making a fuss.