Cale went close to her and bowed, keeping his movements smooth and respectful.
"Greetings your highness."
His stare was fully locked on those white stockings she was wearing, the fabric hugging her legs perfectly.
"Greetings Cale. Long time no see," the princess said, her voice as sexy and womanly as it gets.
"You're looking charming today princess."
"Really? Thank you for the compliment."
Yep, cold as ever.
Then she did something new—she lifted her skirt with both hands and bowed in appreciation, the movement graceful and deliberate.
"It is rare to hear such words from you... who rarely visits outside."
"I do want to though."
"Hm?"
"Haha, if you put it like that, I will look like some lazy person who lazes at home," he said, trying to deflect.
"Isn't it right though?"
"Ugh."
He couldn't answer, couldn't tell her what was actually keeping him tied down to that estate, bound by chains both literal and figurative from his past.
"Uhm... your highness must be tired after all the travelling. Please take a rest before we start the evening."
She nodded and went ahead, disappearing into the crowd with that cold grace of hers.
Huff... she's scary. With that age she looks like one of my big sisters. She's beautiful but her aura is terrifying.
Right after her another female entered, and Cale immediately recognized her as what you could call the protagonist of this entire empire. Niva Xercs—the first person since cultivation came to this world to form a core without any pill, it had formed on its own. That kind of talent was rarer than anything.
"Hello young master. How've you been?" Niva asked, her maid Kaycee standing slightly behind her.
A guard immediately stepped forward.
"How dare you speak to the lord without—"
Cale put a hand on his face to stop the guard, already thinking ahead.
We need good connections, or else I'll die even before I get out of here.
"I'm doing well miss Niva."
She looked surprised, clearly not expecting him to be polite to someone of her status.
"You! This must be miss Kaycee right?" he said, pointing to her maid.
Both of them were shocked silent. The guy who previously seemed like someone with an electron-sized brain now remembered names and wasn't treating them like lowly commoners.
Hehe, I won't do those mistakes again. I will suck up to our protagonist. Even better if she joins the harem... no wait, that seems bad.
"You... if you get any wrong thoughts towards her, I will rip you," Niva said with clear threat in her voice.
He took his hand back immediately, not wanting to test her patience.
She left with her maid, and Cale watched them go.
Alas, it's difficult to change my dickhead image. Well, I didn't know that in my first life and acted like a real young master you'd see in those cultivation novels who get face-slapped and their girls stolen. Realizes he got his own girls stolen too, before sex at that.
After that he gave a speech to the hundreds of people at the banquet, keeping it charming and humble enough to not sound arrogant.
Finally, dance time arrived.
Where's princess Fiora?
He found her drinking wine alone near the window, the moonlight making her look absolutely beautiful. Her white hair seemed to glow, and those blue eyes reflected the light like sapphires.
He stood there for a second, just watching her.
This milf, is she going to be some actress?
He went near her carefully, not wanting to startle her.
"I left the princess alone previously. Forgive me."
According to the rumors, she's somehow hooked into me. I need to know why.
He bent a little, extending his hand forward in a gesture of invitation.
"Will my lady give me the honor for this dance?"
"Are you... inviting me?" Fiora asked, her face flushing slightly.
He'd never done this in his previous life, not to any woman, let alone a princess who was suddenly interested in him. Her reaction was genuine surprise.
"Of course. I'd be honored to dance with a matured beauty such as yourself."
Does she not get invited for dances at all? Why is she acting so shy now? Well, considering her tendencies I guess I should call myself lucky for not getting killed.
She held his hand—shy and soft, as expected—and they moved toward the dance floor.
"Y... you... alright. It's your coming of age so I shall not refuse."
"Thank you your highness."
He pulled her close, using all the charm he could muster, and they started dancing. Each beat, each tone was perfect. He'd danced way too many times as a teacher in his past life, so he was adept to it. Her arched back was held firmly as he kept guiding her through the movements.
Her hands went up to his shoulders, then to the back of his neck, moving with the rhythm.
"You have good steps... despite your age," Fiora said softly.
"Ugh... haha, yes thank you. I've learned a lot. Let's just say for you."
She shied away, looking down.
"You've changed... quite a lot at that."
"In what aspects your highness?"
Yes, tell me why every woman is making their dead family members alive to run from me.
"It's the way you invited me," she said quietly.
He tilted his head, confused.
"??"
"Last year you said something like—'women rejoice that you get a chance to dance with one such as myself,'" Fiora recalled with amusement.
"Uhh... no... that..."
That was... well, that did happen. I drank quite a lot and started spewing bullshit.
She chuckled, a rare sound that made his chest tighten.
"Did I imitate you well?"
She was cute—well, mesmerizing with that one smile. He couldn't think for that one second, couldn't process anything except how beautiful she looked.
She flipped with the dance, his hands touching her belly as she spun, and he closed up the distance between them.
"Will you come to my room, later?"
"Although we've grown intimate... this is... too much," Fiora said, hesitating.
"I'm not going to overstep my boundaries."
She nodded, trusting his words.
"Do you need to talk about... us?" Fiora asked carefully.
He nodded, fully not understanding what she meant but going along with it anyway.
She held his hand.
"Where's your room?"
"No wait... not no—"
She pulled his hand and started walking.
"There's no need for the dance to end. Let's go now."
They entered his room, which was a bit messy, but he tried to make the sheets at least look flat. He presented alcohol but she denied it.
"With my position, I can't drink even a bit of alcohol."
How would I drug her to make the culprit come out? In my previous life, I hadn't drugged her. But if I actually do it now, the real one will surely appear.
"Uh... so what would the princess like?"
"Coffee," she said simply.
"Um... black tea it is then."
"??"
"Due to some problems the coffee of the estate... yes, has been eaten by rats."
"Ok, then," she agreed without suspicion.
"Ok, wait a bit."
This cold and sinful guy is now acting chummy towards her. Not that she hates it though.
While coming from the market earlier, he'd bought aphrodisiac bottles too, for well, long lasting of already long sessions. He took out the bottles from his bag—both red in color.
He started opening the poison one, his hands careful as he measured out the drops.
"Done yet?" Fiora entered suddenly.
He startled and both bottles fell, clattering on the ground.
"It's... nothing... only spices. Premium ones come in small bottles," he said quickly.
She nodded, accepting the explanation easily.
"Isn't it taking time?"
"Soon. It won't take long."
And then happened the cliché moment—mixing up of bottles. He put around six drops of aphrodisiac into one cup, the kind that could make an elephant bounce. A few minutes passed.
"Young master Cale," Fiora called from the other room.
"Ah... coming up," he called back, running with two cups on a tray.
She stared at the so-called black tea.
"Cale, isn't your family's black tea... red?"
He startled and began his gaslighting immediately.
"Oh, this is the tea my family maid's brother-in-law's little brother got from his shopkeeper's wife who is from the east. Yes, red spirit tea... that's the name."
She stared at him, suspicious.
"You drink first."
"Uhh... okay..."
He started to sip slowly.
"Wait. You drink mine."
"No. No wait, no."
"There's something suspicious," she said, her eyes narrowing.
"Do you think one such as myself would tamper your drinks?"
"Drink it then."
She took his cup, the one that was actually brimming with aphrodisiacs, and she took a sip. Her eyes started to close.
"Fiora?" he called out softly.
And she fell, unconscious on the sofa.
Huff. Thank god she faded rather than... well, let's start the plan to lure out the princess killer.
He had slightly drugged both cups, but not with aphrodisiacs—it was only in his cup for later purposes. But that doesn't change the fact that his original goal was achieved. Which was: dance with her, make a scene to make it known to people that both of them are going to the same room, drug her to unconsciousness, and make it seem like they were having sex.
Which is the supposed difficult part now. I have to remove her clothes. And just so you know, she is higher in cultivation than my father—9th rank novice, near her next realm. Which just goes to make me more scared that she'd jolt up and kick my little ass with her golden heels.
He got ready, pulled his shirt off, then his pants, and made his hair a bit messy. No one does sex with perfect hair, after all.
Next was her—the supposed beauty on the sofa. He slowly removed her hair pins, each perhaps costing more than his life. Next, he pulled her stockings down, only to reveal those perfectly white and juicy thighs. They were... perfect.
He touched them gently, kissed them of course, just to make it look real if anyone checked.
Next were the panties—necessary to actually make it look real. He closed his eyes and pulled them down carefully.
Oh, they're black... fuck no.
His nature was to smell them too but he resisted himself from doing that, keeping focused on the task.
He pulled up her skirt, careful not to disturb her.
And her lower lips weren't loose—they were as tight as it gets.
Fuck. Is she... is she a virgin at 29?
[SYSTEM NOTIFICATION: Virgin Status Detected - Princess Fiora Velard] [NEW TITLE UNLOCKED: Virgin Bomber]
What the... no, leave that.
He only left his underwear on, well, he wasn't unconscious nor did he have a skirt. The scene had to look convincing if anyone was watching, if anyone was planning to make a move based on this setup.
Don't worry princess. This harem king will... definitely add you to his harem.
He sat back and waited, watching the unconscious princess on his bed, waiting to see who would try to expose themselves as the one who had betrayed him all those years ago.