46. First Experience

 ‘This is crazy.’

Daphne recalled Celestian at the casino in an unnamed hotel, who answered ‘a little’ when asked if he was crazy. Why that memory surfaced now, she had no idea!

“Yes?”

Celestian urged with the most innocent expression. With a face like that, there wasn’t anything he couldn’t say. As far as Daphne knew, Celestian had always been just a pure-hearted prince and a supporting male character. Who would have known he could provoke like this?

‘If he seduced her like this, it wouldn’t be a surprise if Psyche fell for him!’

Daphne held her breath at the overly stimulating situation. With such a handsome face making such adorably provocative advances, it was obvious anyone from the three continents would fall for him.

Whether there was a bed behind her, crocodile-infested waters, or a blue-flamed hell!

She quickly tried to push him away with the arm against his chest. Or rather, she tried to push him, but he stood still like a tree. Instead, Daphne almost fell backward herself.

‘This guy.’

What did he want to achieve by seducing her? As she said before, Daphne had no intention of doing anything that was supposed to feel good.

Celestian stepped back half a step, showing his palms. His slightly upturned lips looked very pleased.

‘Why is he doing this to a woman who has no feelings for him? Is he perhaps desperate?’

Daphne kept trying to stay calm.

‘Is this his first time? I, I…’

His face, when she looked at it again, was smeared. Daphne blinked slowly, recalling what she had just done and Celestian’s words that had whispered in her ear.

‘This isn’t my first time.’

Though she tried to convince herself of that, this was Daphne’s first time being so close to a man who wasn’t family. Her lips, which had just been pressed next to his, felt strangely hot.

The last lip mark was faint, yet it looked the darkest. No wonder, since it was right next to his lips. Daphne suppressed her urge to wipe them all away.

Celestian was half right.

‘Everyone will come at me like this. So…’

After fixing his collar, Celestian sat on the stool in front of the vanity and handed his tie to Daphne. He spoke with an amused voice, expressing his dissatisfaction.

“You started it first.”

Daphne’s hand holding the tie trembled slightly. She just clenched her fist tightly.

‘No, why are my hands shaking? Why is he giving this to me? Does he want me to tie it? Does he want to be strangled?’

Daphne wrote down ‘calm’ in her mind about three times. Surprisingly, she became calm quickly.

“You tie it.”

Daphne threw the blue tie at his face. The long silk slowly brushed against Celestian’s closed eyes, nose bridge, and lips before falling onto his thighs.

“I don’t know how to tie it. The maids always did this for me.”

“Is that something to brag about? Go outside and learn from anyone.”

Daphne added sharply while bringing her hand to her cheek. As expected, it was burning.

‘Fortunately, I don’t blush easily. If I were Psyche, my face would have exploded.’

Then she pointed her index finger at something on the vanity. She was pointing at a memo.

“Take this with you.”

“You became calm quickly.”

“It’s my specialty. You can lose everything there, just don’t come back after being kissed.”

Celestian tilted his head to the left. His expression seemed to say ‘Do you think I would lose?’ He appeared to be reading the memo again.

“This handwriting looks familiar.”

Daphne had hired ghostwriters for her assignments since childhood, and as an adult, had them handle all her paperwork. It was due to her persistent poor handwriting that never improved. Thinking he must be mocking her for this, Daphne didn’t bother to respond.

“A date with Daphne? What’s this?”

Celestian raised one eyebrow crookedly.

“Exactly what it says, a date.”

“Why would you be having a date?”

“Because I want to have a date, that’s why.”

“This can be bet on too?”

While men do the gambling, the winnings all go to their wives, lovers, or ladies. Therefore, ‘a date with Daphne’ meant a shopping date, implying that she could buy whatever she wanted for a day.

Celestian lowered his mouth corners and showed a strangely displeased expression.

“Go show off to those idiots. The love of this stunning and beautiful woman.”

Daphne spoke boldly, placing her hand on the center of her chest. Celestian followed her fingertips to fix his gaze there, then looked up at her again.

“You…… me……”

“Hm? You what.”

Celestian, with a puzzled look, moved his lips as if wanting to say something but pressed them into a firm line again. Daphne resisted the urge to grab his cheeks and force him to speak.

“Your Highness, if you’re not going to finish speaking, don’t open your mouth like that.”

“If you don’t want to hear it, cut off my tongue. I’ll shut up then.”

“Oh my? You know how to say such things?”

That he could say such vulgar things… While Daphne was surprised, she wasn’t offended. Rather, it felt sexy.

Celestian, who had been looking at Daphne with narrowed eyes, soon shook his head. 

 * * *

 Daphne walked down the long corridor again. No matter how many times she saw this blue corridor, there seemed to be something about it that made people’s insides churn.

‘Like déjà vu, as if from a dream, it keeps……”

The scene sometimes made her whole body shiver. But this must be because she had fainted from overwork multiple times, coming and going constantly trying to set up a hotel here.

Then she knocked on the magnificent mahogany door inlaid with pure gold.

“Hello, Psyche.”

“Daphne!”

Inside the door was Psyche in her pajamas. As if she had been waiting, she hugged Daphne tightly and spun around three times. Despite looking like someone who couldn’t do any sports, Psyche had small muscles all over her body.

The Crown Prince’s exclusive suite was located in the deepest part of the ship with the best view, as large as three VIP rooms combined.

“Um, I’m kind of hurting.”

When she grimaced because her side was aching, Psyche immediately lowered her eyebrows with a whimper.

“Shall I fix your hair?”

Psyche asked while tucking Daphne’s loose hair behind her ear once. The warm blue eyes in those large eyes made Daphne’s insides churn.

“You shouldn’t be using your hands when you’re about to become the Crown Princess tomorrow.”

“Does becoming Crown Princess mean I lose my hands or something?”

“That’s not it, but it’s troublesome, isn’t it?”

“Daphne. Fortunately, I have two hands.”

As if Daphne’s answer wasn’t particularly needed, Psyche sat her down in front of the huge vanity. True to her reputation as a jack of all trades who hadn’t left anything untried, Psyche twisted and braided Daphne’s hair into a bun.

With her neck exposed after so long, Daphne felt strangely empty. She rubbed the side of her neck.

Psyche left Daphne seated and wandered around the spacious suite, then quickly threw open the doors of the large wardrobe. She then politely gestured toward the inside of the wardrobe with clasped hands.

“I thought this would suit you very well, Daphne.”

‘Why is this here again……”

There was the blue pearl dress that Daphne had sent to the ship ahead of time. That is, the one she had tried to wear earlier but couldn’t find, so she chose to wear mourning clothes instead.

“It’s a gift from Romeo.”

‘Romeo, you bastard.’

Daphne forced her mouth corners up into a smile. Her cheeks twitched involuntarily.

Besides, did he want to give a gift to his rival of sorts through his soon-to-be wife?

‘I need a cigarette. No, I need a drink. No, I want to burn and smash both into that precious face of his!’

When Daphne hesitated for a moment and grabbed the back of her neck, Psyche quickly ran over and massaged her neck and shoulders. Goosebumps rose when those warm water bottle-like hands touched her bare neck.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m so happy I’m getting dizzy. By the way, could I know where your husband is right now……”

She wondered if she should go beat him up right now if he was somewhere alone.

“Probably in the underground parking lot. Um, they said the bachelor party would be held there.”

“I see.”

Then there would be many eyes watching. Those detestable men would be having fun together.

Thinking about how her prince who’s innocent as a lamb would be teased this way and that in the meantime, Daphne felt inevitably melancholic.

“Daphne, how did you meet him again?”

“Hm?”

Psyche, who had been hesitating for a while, asked in a sulky voice.

“……I heard he had gone somewhere.”

Like someone who had asked something they shouldn’t have, she watched Daphne’s reaction for a long time after speaking.

Psyche, who should have been happiest on this day, was trapped in a place like this. Psyche, who must have waited for her for a long time before giving up and heading to the deck.

In a way, Daphne was the one who broke the promise, but those blue eyes checking her reaction made her feel sorry.

“I met him on my way here. I guess he and I are destined after all.”

“What?”

It was the first time Daphne had mentioned something like ‘destiny’ in front of Psyche. She had particularly played the role of harshly telling Psyche about reality.

Therefore, as soon as she said those words, Psyche’s expression darkened instantly. Daphne felt a chill down her spine, like someone caught stealing.

“So the reason you didn’t come to me right away was because of that man, right?”

Where did this cold voice of Psyche’s come from? Daphne found it strange how she acted when talking about Celestian.

“Daphne, that man killed my father. And the place where I lived.”

“I know.”

Whether through the novel of her past life or this life’s gossip, she had heard this story many times. Daphne took a meaningless step to the side, like thorns had sprouted under her feet. 

 “But you still like him, right? It’s okay. If you like him, there’s nothing we can do, Daphne. I’ll think of it as similar to how I love Romeo.”

‘But you…… really don’t look okay at all.’

Psyche spoke like she’s making all the conclusions before Daphne could answer. As if that’s how it had to be.

Daphne didn’t argue separately, just kept rubbing the side of her neck with her palm.

Words have power, and sometimes they become reality. Psyche smiled brightly, her peach-like face beaming. She took a big step forward and grabbed both of Daphne’s hands. The blue eyes showed a kind of madness that made it even more strange.

“You have always gotten bored easily and only liked new things, Daphne. You’ll soon stop liking him, so I’ll wait.”

“Psyche.”

“You said everything would go as I wanted. That’s still valid, right?”

She had certainly said that when things were at their peak.

Daphne instinctively felt that something was going wrong.