Chapter 114 - Book Rabbit

Episode 114

Hilia, though puzzled, accepted and ate what was offered.

It was partly because Arpad kept provoking her, as if to say, ‘You lost the bet, and now you’re trying to break your promise?’

Moreover.

‘His strangely affectionate and gentle manner makes it hard to coldly refuse.’

It was also necessary for them to appear to be on good terms for the sake of external appearances.

‘Especially now, when Evangeline is plotting something.’

Hilia rolled her eyes and glanced at the illustration in *Espitola*.

It depicted a noble lady, caught by her husband after sharing an intimate moment with a knight.

‘Because I can guess the direction from which the attack will come.’

Just then, Arpad let out a sigh tinged with embarrassment and awkwardness.

“Hmm.”

“?”

Startled, Hilia turned her gaze. And then she saw it.

“Oh dear….”

The juice from the apricot he was cutting had dripped and was trickling down Arpad’s long, elegant fingers.

The contrast between the pale reddish liquid and his white skin was strikingly vivid.

The red liquid beading at the tip of his pale, slender finger.

The tongue licking it.

“…!”

Hilia was a few beats late in grasping the situation.

As if he had been waiting, Arpad licked his own juice-wet finger.

As if to emphasize it further, his red tongue licked the juice-moistened white finger several more times.

*Whoosh!* Hilia felt her face burn as if on fire.

‘Wh-what, what is this? Why… why does it look so indecent…?’

She could have simply thought him a messy man and left it at that.

But his inhuman beauty and his desperately intense gaze were exerting their power.

Hilia’s gaze was pinned to Arpad as if nailed.

A dangerously low voice reached her ears.

“It’s sweet.”

“…!”

Hilia, momentarily stunned and gaping, belatedly came to her senses.

She had been watching as if enchanted, and his voice finally brought her back to reality.

She hurriedly handed her own napkin to Arpad.

It was a response born of a desire to somehow cover up the strangely indecent sight.

“Y-you have some on your mouth too. Use this to wipe it.”

Then Arpad tilted his head forward slightly.

“Wipe it for me.”

He closed the distance in an instant, so close she could almost feel his breath on her downy skin.

“…!”

Hilia thought her heart would leap out of her mouth.

“M-move back a little! Then I can wipe it!”

“Alright.”

Uncharacteristically obedient, like a loyal hound, Arpad complied with Hilia’s words.

*Thump, thump, thump!* Her pounding heart beat violently against her ears, like the sound of a drum.

‘It’s because I’m startled. Startled. That’s all it is.’

The current situation was akin to a dragon exposing its belly and acting cute in front of a person. It meant an impossible situation.

Isn’t it natural for a person to be flustered when a wild beast suddenly approaches or acts cute?

Therefore, it was only natural that she was startled.

‘It’s absolutely not because I’m flustered or anything!’

Hilia rationalized it to herself like that and gently moved the napkin.

Under normal circumstances, she would never have actually wiped for Arpad if he asked.

‘She would have said, “Don’t you have hands or feet?”’

Arpad chuckled softly. Hilia, in no state to realize it, didn’t notice that he had caught on.

When the edge of the white cloth, moving stealthily, brushed against Arpad’s lips, Hilia flinched with a start without even knowing why.

Arpad reached out and pressed Hilia’s hand with his own, preventing the napkin-holding hand from falling away.

“What’s wrong, Hilia?”

His elegant eyes narrowed slightly. His red pupils looked unusually sharp.

“Is something strange?”

To the point where she felt anxious, wondering if he had heard her heart ignorantly thumping wildly just moments ago.

Hilia stared blankly at Arpad for a moment, then abruptly stood up from her seat.

The napkin fell to the floor with a soft thud.

“I must go prepare for the audience now. I’ll take my leave first. I’m sorry!”

Leaving only those words, Hilia left the room as if fleeing.

“…….”

Arpad frowned slightly for a moment, looking at the door through which Hilia had disappeared, then let out a sigh.

Picking up the napkin that had fallen to the floor, he muttered in a low voice.

“Is it having an effect? She does seem conscious of it….”

He was earnestly, with all his might, trying to seduce Hilia.

“Hmm.”

He stroked his smooth chin, lost in thought.

‘As expected, if I push even a little too strongly, she runs away immediately.’

He needed to adjust the degree of stimulation a bit.

Up to this point, it was Arpad’s own cool-headed assessment of his actions and their results.

The thick layer of infatuation made him focus more on something else than that fact.

Arpad muttered somewhat dazedly.

“Even her fleeing figure is cute.”

Her face, redder than a ripe apple, was utterly adorable.

To the point where he wanted to pull her into his arms, smell her scent, and kiss her.

He barely restrained the urge to chase after her and catch her right then. If he did, she might not just run off like a startled rabbit; she might flee right out of the imperial palace.

* * *

“…….”

I found myself pointlessly glaring at the ceiling. This was the *toilette* room. I was changing my dress for the afternoon audience.

With the ladies-in-waiting attending to me, it was possible to hold my arms up and stare into space, lost in thought.

My heart was still pounding madly.

I had escaped from that man who was harmful to my eyes and heart, but the aftereffects remained.

The sight of Arpad licking the juice with his tongue still flickered before my eyes.

The unusually pale skin, the red liquid spreading over it—it was undeniably stimulating.

The sensation of that tongue and those lips… I already knew it.

How Arpad would caress my head when our lips met, the warmth and feel of the arm wrapping around my waist as well.

The way he would passionately press on, as if to steal all my breath… No, wait!

‘What are you doing right now, Hilia Delphin!’

My cheeks and ears were burning hot.

Moreover, my heart began to beat madly again.

It was as if my heart was the drumstick and my body the drum. A pounding as if my heart was madly striking my entire body.

A clearly abnormal reaction. My unusual reaction seemed vivid enough for those around me to notice.

Ani, who was helping me change, was startled enough to ask.

“Are you alright, Your Highness? Are you perhaps running a fever?”

Ani made a fuss, worried I might collapse again like right after the banquet.

It helped me regain my composure a little.

“Ah, is the weather a bit hot? This summer seems like it will be warm.”

“Huh? But today is quite cool….”

A tactlessly cool breeze blew softly through the window.

I diverted Ani’s attention elsewhere.

“Ah, Ani. It would be better to change the tiara to the sapphire one.”

“Ah! Yes, Your Highness!”

Though I am nineteen now, the period I have actually lived is several times that.

Combined with my memories as a Korean and three regressions.

It would be a lie to say I had never felt flustered looking at a man during all that time.

‘In my first life, I mistakenly thought I loved Ludwig.’

But with the start of the regressions, such emotions became a luxury.

It was hard enough to rise from despair and frustration, and surviving was a struggle.

It’s the same now.

‘Get a hold of yourself, Hilia Delphin.’

No matter how handsome Arpad is, no matter how sweet his attitude… I had no leisure to be swayed.

But I deliberately ignored the fact that having to steel myself like this meant I was already shaken.

* * *

The popularity of the romance novel ‘The Noble Lady and the Knights,’ serialized in *Espitola*, continued to rise.

And along with it, very cautious rumors began to circulate.

“Come to think of it, I heard this novel… has a model?”

“Actually, I heard that too…”

“They say there’s a noble lady who collects knights?”

‘The noble lady who collects knights’ was a nickname attached to the protagonist in the novel. Naturally, with a negative connotation.

“No, if you spread such talk carelessly…”

“I’m just talking about the novel.”

It was a pattern similar to the past, when Evangeline had led the spread of unsettling rumors about Hilia.

Of course, compared to then, the words exchanged were much more indirect and insidious.

If anyone tried to defend Hilia, they would say it was just a novel and slip away.

By the time several months had passed, this rumor had effectively spread as established fact.

Evangeline, who had meticulously orchestrated it all from behind, smiled with satisfaction.

‘Good. The atmosphere is well set now. If we add just one more blow here….’

But she needed to be a bit more careful.

Because since the incident with the Duchess of Müzen, one troubling possibility remained for Evangeline.

‘How did she know to wait there, as if she knew?’

Moreover, she had even prepared a stronger medicine than the allergy treatment Evangeline had prepared.

Could that really be a coincidence?

One possibility she wanted to deny clung to her mind like dregs and wouldn’t fall away.

In the original work, the heroine Hilia had the setting of being a reincarnated Korean.

Was that really all?

Hilia’s actions toward the Duchess could not be explained by her memories and knowledge as a Korean alone.

As her thoughts deepened, Evangeline grew restless.

There was no guarantee that she was the only one who had possessed someone.

Romance, fantasy,