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I couldn't help covering my mouth when I heard those words. My body slowly tilted toward the gap between them. Go Chaeha stepped closer to her and gently brushed her face with the back of his hand.
"Soft like this, round like this… women truly are beautiful. Like flowers blooming perfectly."
"You always brush it off like this. This time I want an answer."
"Sera. I don't look at only one flower. I worry another flower might wither, or be eaten by insects. I simply want every flower to remain alive and well."
He leaned toward her as if to kiss her, then stopped.
"You already knew the answer even without me saying it, didn't you? If you dislike someone like me, you're free to leave."
It felt as though I could see Kim Sera's restless eyes even from here. After hesitating for a moment, she pressed her lips against his. As if he had expected it, he accepted her kiss gently.
The strength suddenly left my legs and I collapsed. As I grabbed the flowerpot beside me for support, it tipped over and fell helplessly to the floor.
Startled by the sound of the flowerpot crashing, I fled from the spot without thinking.
Right. Maybe something like this is natural for someone with a face like that. Just as Kim Sera said, maybe I was the fool who misunderstood everything.
My feet kept running, but my head felt dizzy and painful as though I had crashed into something.
Thud.
Perhaps I had taken the wrong path, because I collided with something.
"At this point, it almost feels like you're deliberately arranging meetings with me. It wouldn't be strange if I misunderstood, would it?"
"Your Highness."
Of all times to run into him, when my head was in such chaos.
"I think I can roughly guess what kind of situation this is."
He spoke while looking at Go Chaeha and Kim Sera walking toward us from behind me.
I turned and looked at them. Go Chaeha wore an awkward expression, while Kim Sera stared at me with irritation. The sight of the two of them standing side by side felt strangely unsettling.
"I need to speak with Seonmi for a moment—"
Before Go Chaeha could finish, Go Won placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke.
"She was already giving me her time. That would be inconvenient."
It lasted only a moment, but Go Chaeha's face twisted slightly.
"I see. Seonmi, when that time is over, could you come to my room?"
I avoided Kim Sera's piercing glare.
"There is something I would like to tell you."
"Yes…"
A promise made publicly with Go Chaeha. And in his room, no less. Anyone would find it suspicious.
Kim Sera's face flushed red with anger.
Go Won seemed to enjoy the situation alone.
"Then we'll leave first."
With the corner of his lips slightly raised, he led me away from there. The hand resting on my shoulder dropped once they were out of sight.
It had been a long time since I had entered Go Won's study.
He left me standing there without a word.
Even when opening and closing the smallest drawer, he repeatedly locked and unlocked it with a key. His distrust of people was embedded throughout the room.
"Is there something you want me to do? Should I move these documents?"
"I'd rather you didn't touch my belongings."
Before my hand even reached the papers, he gathered them himself.
"If there's nothing you need me to do, I'll take my leave."
"Staying quietly here is exactly what I told you to do. Remain here until that bastard Go Chaeha comes looking for you."
He spoke such absurd words so easily. Wasn't this simply a shrimp getting crushed in a fight between whales?
"Yes, understood."
I stood quietly and watched him work. He focused solely on his work as if I did not exist.
The pen in his hand never stopped moving. Even when it paused for a moment, he never lifted his head. He sat upright in his chair, yet that posture seemed more like habit than fatigue.
Whenever I happened to encounter Go Won, I could feel it. He was always tense. Though he never showed it openly, exhaustion lingered in the way his back looked.
I once heard a maid from the detached palace say that working late into the night was simply part of life for the Crown Prince.
He was silently running the kingdom. A true workaholic who lived solely for the nation.
Suddenly I wondered.
Was there anything he ever did purely for himself?
Time passed quietly.
I felt my body slowly leaning. When I tried to steady myself, I nearly staggered instead. My eyelids must have grown heavy without me realizing it.
"I didn't tell you to stay here so you could fall asleep."
"My balance just slipped for a moment."
"I see."
I thought he had been focused only on the documents, yet he had been observing my movements as well. What a meticulous man.
The room had grown dim before I realized it.
He was truly someone who used every passing moment without leaving even the smallest gap.
Even standing still made my body stiff. How could he remain so focused without wavering once?
"Aren't you tired?"
At my question he finally raised his head and looked at me.
He said nothing.
He simply stared.
It frightened me slightly.
"You should be careful."
Unexpected words came from his mouth.
"That bastard Go Chaeha. He's not nearly as much of a gentleman as he pretends."
I couldn't tell whether he was worried about me or not. He was the kind of cold man who wouldn't even blink if something happened to me.
"…Your Highness seems to harbor rather unpleasant feelings toward Lord Chaeha."
The pen Go Won had been holding fell onto the desk.
"How presumptuous."
He slowly rose from his chair. As he walked toward me, my entire body stiffened. But I refused to avert my eyes, as though refusing to be devoured by a beast.
"You're far too curious. Wandering around without fear and even daring to ask me personal questions."
"..."
"Why are you suddenly silent?"
Go Won lifted my chin slightly so I would look at him properly.
"Try challenging me like before. What is it? Are you afraid I might suddenly attack you?"
Sometimes I become aggressive toward those who are not friendly toward me.
After a brief silence, I tilted my head slightly. Not quite retreating, not quite challenging. An ambiguous attitude. I knew that ambiguity irritated him.
"I have nothing to fear. I have nothing left to lose."
We were clearly provoking each other. The air between us swelled, though it had not yet burst.
He returned to his seat indifferently and muttered something as though sneering.
Watching him, I thought to myself.
What an unpleasant man.
"Don't you think you've kept her here long enough?"
With a knock, Go Chaeha suddenly entered Go Won's study.
"So now you enter without my permission."
"You kept her here long enough that I suppose I became impatient."
Go Chaeha glanced briefly toward me.
"So, are you finished with your business?"
"If I keep her any longer, it seems you'll come even at dawn. I'll send her now."
Go Chaeha bowed properly, but from the side I could see how cold his expression had become.
He was normally relaxed, yet today he seemed unusually impatient. He grabbed my hand naturally and pulled me along.
When we reached his room, I noticed my wrist had turned red where he had been holding it.
"What did you want to say that made you hurry like this?"
Go Chaeha inhaled a breath half a beat late.
Then, instead of answering, he suddenly pushed me against the wall.
His breath was hot. His lips slid from my ear down to my neck.
His touch felt desperate, as though he were afraid of losing something.
"What are you doing?"
I pushed him away slightly.
"Don't go. Not to him."
His words shook me.
But the warning Go Won had given earlier lingered in my mind.
"I don't belong to anyone."
"That's a relief."
"There's something I want to ask you. Why did you do that with Kim Sera?"
"What do you mean?"
"I mean exactly what I said. You said you loved me. Then why… why are you involved with someone else like that?"
"Ah."
He blinked slowly, as though he had realized something.
"My concern for you was sincere. But… that was all."
My heart pounded.
But in a completely different way.
"I don't have the kind of feelings you think I do."
Hearing him say it so calmly made me feel utterly foolish.
So I had misunderstood everything.
"Do you simply not want him to take me?"
Go Chaeha had no answer.
"I guess I was the fool."
He grabbed my wrist again.
"Don't go. I never meant to hurt you."
Regardless of his intentions, my heart was already—
Before I could finish the thought, he lowered himself beneath me and slipped under my skirt.
"What are you—!"
Like a cat licking cream, he ran his tongue there.
The warm, soft sensation spread before I could stop it.
As if sensing my body's reaction, he slowly pulled down my underwear.
Startled, I pushed him away with my foot.
Go Chaeha lost his balance and fell backward.
My shoe landed on his chest.
But strangely, he didn't move.
He simply lay there quietly beneath my shoe.
His half-lidded eyes and parted lips made the moment even more dangerous.
His breathing rose and fell slowly.
Beauty could be terrifying like this.
Instead of anger, an unfamiliar excitement filled me.
The air smelled sweet and sharp at the same time.
He didn't resist.
He simply lay there enjoying the moment.
Just as I was about to lift my foot, his hand grabbed my ankle.
Because of that, more weight pressed through my shoe.
His chest sank deeper beneath it.
Go Chaeha's lips moved softly.
"Please keep going like this."