| 4. Why Won’t You Sleep With Me?

Celestian rested his elbow on the table, deeply cupping his chin in his palm. He stared intently at Daphne and opened his lips.

“Why don’t you sleep with me?”

“Huh?”

Daphne made a startled sound, momentarily thinking she had misheard. Unable to grasp his intention, she looked down into his clear green eyes.

“You said you bought me out of love. Isn’t that why you brought me into your room?”

Though his expression and tone were gentle as usual, it felt like he was subtly expressing dissatisfaction.

“For two people to sleep…”

“Yes.”

Especially because of that inexplicably protruding lip!

“The space is too narrow.”

Daphne’s main bedroom is by no means small. Daphne’s bed is not narrow at all. It was the size of two floors combined, and Daphne would have to roll exactly six times to see the edge.

“Right. It’s too narrow for us to sleep together.”

Celestian said with a voice full of amusement. His smile, reaching up to his eyes, was annoyingly handsome. So Daphne had to be engulfed by a strange sense of defeat.

“But it doesn’t make sense to give your room to a guest. If it feels cramped, why don’t you provide me with a suitable townhouse?”

She felt deflated.

‘What a way to ask for a house. Such an impressive build-up.’

Daphne narrowed her eyes.

“Discuss that with Misha.”

“Well, alright.”

Celestian shrugged his shoulders.

“Do you know who Misha is?”

“I don’t want to know.”

It seemed he didn’t really want a townhouse after all, as Celestian cut off the conversation and stood up. Being right in front of Daphne, they ended up standing with barely two hand spans between them.

‘Even from this distance, he’s flawless.’

He has such a splendid face that she wanted to grab his wrist and pull him close right away.

But him looking down at her like this, almost condescendingly, was no different from severely scratching Daphne’s pride, who had grown up almost like a princess.

“May I pass?”

Daphne frowned deeply. He could just move himself, yet he was telling Daphne to move.

“Don’t order me around.”

He was still above, and she was below.

Moreover, hadn’t she just stopped herself from scolding this man? That lingered unpleasantly.

Daphne felt the urge to keep seeing him from above rising continuously.

“Hmm?”

“And don’t look down on me.”

Celestian leaned his shoulders back slightly and met Daphne’s gaze. The area under his eyes always had a slight redness.

“Bend down.”

She suppressed the urge to reach out and stroke that area.

“Are you ordering me to look up at you?”

Daphne smiled with her eyes without answering. Celestian lowered the ends of his eyebrows, troubled.

‘After lying stubbornly in that sweltering bedroom and coming out, he still thinks he’s a prince.’

In ‘Daphne’s room’, Daphne is the king. Daphne didn’t even let her friend Psyche come here carelessly.

The fact that she went as far as giving up her bedroom for this arrogant prince was only possible because she really liked this man.

“I never thought a young lady from a noble family would be so ill-mannered.”

“Well. Even if I’m poorly educated, I’m sure I’ve learned more than you. Won’t you bend down?”

Looking distastefully at his still straight back and legs, Celestian raised one eyebrow crookedly and replied,

“I’m a ‘prince’, aren’t I? I heard you order your servants to treat me as such.”

“And?”

“Now you don’t like it and tell me to bend down?”

“You should obey if you’re told to, Your Highness.”

“It’s too late. If that’s what you wanted, you should have treated me like a dog from the start. Don’t give me a bed, tie me up with a leash outside. Only call me to the bedroom when needed.”

Daphne, with her lips tightly shut, was seriously considering whether to hit his face.

“Hmm… Or try hanging upside down from the east clock tower for a week with your legs tied. Then you might grow as tall as me.”

She liked it. If he didn’t have this level of audacity, he wouldn’t have even dreamed of being saved by Daphne.

“My thoughts are a bit different. I think it would be faster to cut you off below the knees.”

“The Marquis of Beaucater has raised quite a barbaric daughter. Why don’t you use that talent to learn how to butcher pigs at a slaughterhouse? And then serve it to me, the ‘prince’.”

When Daphne brought Celestian, her mother had stroked her own back, saying she was proud that she had bought a cute piglet from the pig of a king. Daphne suddenly remembered those words and burst out laughing.

“Your Highness.”

Celestian didn’t answer.

“Your Highness, Your Highness… Yes, Your Highness, you were a prince.”

Daphne hadn’t yet thought about a position suitable for him.

“Because I call you Your Highness, you’re acting in accordance with the role of a prince, aren’t you?”

If he behaved prettily towards her, she would have done whatever it took to restore him as the ‘heir’ again, and if he didn’t listen, she was more than willing to cut off his ears and brand a lily on his left shoulder.

“For a bastard.”

Celestian finally narrowed the space between his eyebrows. And with a very displeased expression!

Although he was the man she had designated as her life’s goal, Daphne wasn’t a woman with so little backbone that she would rush to marry a man who didn’t love her and would die staring at another woman his whole life.

“You’re a criminal. As Misha said, you’re a dangerous element. Cele, if you go outside, every protruding part of your body will be torn apart. Your neck, arms down to each finger, legs. And…”

Daphne blatantly threw a glance at his crotch.

“That too.”

“Hmm?”

“Never mind.”

Secradion, which was far more advanced in civilization than neighboring countries, was certainly barbaric only towards dangerous elements.

Although he had lost his wife and was addicted to gambling, her uncle was still a celebrity loved by the wealthy in the country. Romeo, who had returned victorious from war and become the crown prince, was practically the king as he was the regent.

Although the royal authority had weakened, the people still loved the royal family. Their fanatical loyalty could be understood if described as similar to what’s often seen in Gwanghwamun¹a famous landmark in Seoul, South Korea. It’s often a site for public gatherings, demonstrations, and displays of national pride.

Fortunately, the Beaucater family was a VIP bourgeoisie loved by the people. Therefore, her love would provide timely protection for the prince.

“If you don’t intend to move, I’ll go around.”

Celestian turned his body and strode towards the door. It was obvious he would go back and take another nap.

Daphne hadn’t abandoned her work and came home just to see the back of his head or his sleeping face.

“Your Highness, I’ll show you your place.”

She followed him and kicked the back of his knee hard. Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Celestian’s long legs buckled, and he fell, hitting his knee with a thud. He turned to look at Daphne.

“Ah.”

It was a sigh that came out about a few seconds after their eyes met.

“Your Highness, your place is there now.”

More precisely, she looked down at him. Daphne calmly returned to the table and poured sparkling wine into a long glass.

Seeming dumbfounded, Celestian slowly got up from his spot.

“I thought you had become normal now, but it seems you’re still a bit crazy.”

It was a voice of genuine regret. There was composure in the way he dusted off the legs of his trousers. But since Celestian’s words were roughly true, Daphne wasn’t greatly affected.

“Kisha!”

At Daphne’s call, the guard who had been waiting in front of the door came in. It was a flawless, fluid movement up to subduing Celestian, who was approaching Daphne, and making him kneel again.

Kisha had an expression like a boy holding an interesting object.

“Hit him three times. Only once on the face.”

“Can I really hit him?”

“Yes.”

Kisha faithfully followed Daphne’s orders. Even though a fist was planted on his cheek and his abdomen was kicked twice, Celestian didn’t stop looking at Daphne.

He spat blood onto the white marble floor. It seemed the inside of his mouth had been cut.

“You’re bleeding.”

Seeing his face turn slightly red, it seemed he was angry. Beauty goes best with redness.

‘I had a conversation like that with Romeo before.’

Although she didn’t want to admit it, the noble siblings had quite similar tastes.

“Celestian, oh my. Our dear prince. I think I really love you.”

Celestian’s lower body, forced to kneel again with his collar grabbed, caught her eye. His trousers were taut due to his prominent thigh muscles.

‘Oh.’

Daphne whistled inwardly.

“If you loved me, you couldn’t do this to me.”

It was a line Psyche might say.

“What are you saying? I said I love you.”

Celestian’s eyes twitched. It was an expression expressing doubt.

“I… will never love you.”

“Mm-hmm. But you know what, Your Highness? The woman you love will never love you either. It will all be lies.”

His green eyes wavered greatly and then became gloomy.

“That’s what I’ve been curious about in everything.”

His voice, filled with longing, sent chills down her spine. The small mumbling of his voice afterwards was hard to hear.

‘Did he just ask why she doesn’t love him?’

Daphne frowned.

“He’s talking nonsense again.”

Readers hoped his love would not be fulfilled. Only people with bad taste like her cheered for him.

<Why do you keep doing this to me? What have I done wrong…>

<We need to talk to clear up misunderstandings, Psyche.>

<Don’t come near me! I have no misunderstandings to clear up with you.>

But if Celestian and Psyche had really ended up together, Celestian’s charm would have been diminished. Daphne also wouldn’t have lived so desperately trying to save him. Perhaps she would have continued to pursue honor and wealth and married Romeo.

“She despises you.”

The green eyes keep shining a deep blue.

“She was more disappointed than anyone that you didn’t die, when she wanted you dead the most.”

If this man had seen Psyche’s expression, could he have escaped a little from that ridiculous delusion?

“Why did you save him, she asks. Why didn’t you let him die, she says.”

But the sub-male leads in novels are pitiful and foolish beings who live loving only the female lead until they die.

“Still, I’ll support your love.”

Although she loved Celestian, she preferred the ‘the idiot Celestian who one-sidedly loves Psyche’ rather than just ‘Prince Celestian’.

Daphne wanted to watch by his side for his entire lifetime, as he never received love from the woman he loved.

After looking down at the sparkling wine bubbling in the glass, Daphne smiled pleasantly and added one more thing.

“There will be very happy news soon, Celestian.”

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  a famous landmark in Seoul, South Korea. It’s often a site for public gatherings, demonstrations, and displays of national pride