Chapter 4 (Part 4)

Today, Duke Lennox felt especially unreasonable. Given the current state, she wouldn’t be able to show the training journals to His Majesty tomorrow, yet he had insisted on bringing them now…. How frustrating.

Caught in an unwanted situation, Reina muttered softly in frustration.

“I guess so.”

Standing at a distance, Patrick shook his head to shake off the water from his hair. Then he went inside the annex and came back with a towel.

“Please use this….”

Patrick’s movement stopped as he handed her the towel. It was as if someone had frozen him in place.

Why is he like that?

Reina, looking at him with a puzzled expression, quickly lowered her gaze.

Oh!

She realized that her dress was see-through. With only Patrick’s coat draped over her shoulders, it couldn’t cover the inside that was now visible.

Oh no!

Feeling embarrassed, Reina quickly covered her chest and turned her back to Patrick.

“I-I need to wash up quickly.”

The annex had spare dresses prepared. Since Lilith and she sometimes stayed there, everything they needed was ready.

Even knowing that, she couldn’t understand what she was saying. She just wanted to escape the awkward situation as quickly as possible.

Normally, Patrick would apologize and give her something to cover herself with, turning his head away out of courtesy. As a virgin, he would blush as well.

But his actions completely defied Reina’s expectations.

Patrick grabbed her wrist and turned her around, making her unintentionally show him her barely-covered body.

Patrick stared intently at the see-through lingerie without saying a word. His gaze wasn’t lecherous; rather, he frowned. It was hard to tell if he was angry or in pain.

Why is he like that?

Since Patrick didn’t blush at all, Reina felt more puzzled than ashamed. He had blushed just by holding her hand before….

She couldn’t understand his reaction. Not feeling embarrassed made it seem like he didn’t see her as a woman.

Is my body that unattractive? Or is it because he’s known me since I was young?

Feeling puzzled, she remembered she was wearing different lingerie today.

Oh, I’m wearing the lingerie Richelle gave me today….

And without an inner dress, just the seductive lingerie and the dress!

Wearing a light sky-blue dress with black and red lingerie underneath made it all too visible.

Oh my goodness!

Reina tried to cover herself more, hiding the lingerie.

“D-don’t look!”

She felt her luck had been bad since morning, and now she had shown her most private parts to the man she least wanted to see…. It was the worst.

What if he mistakenly thinks I enjoy wearing such provocative lingerie?

Her face turned red as she tried to turn her back to Patrick again, but he pulled her hand, preventing her from doing so.

“Who are you trying to show off such lingerie to?”

His cold, calm voice echoed in her ears. The spot where his gaze lingered tingled.

“Huh?”

Patrick’s interrogative tone left Reina flustered. She hadn’t committed a crime, yet he treated her like a criminal.

He was so kind the last time we were together; why was he acting like this today?

Does he think I’m a promiscuous woman? Is that why he’s angry?

She couldn’t understand why Patrick was angry, nor did she want to explain herself. There was no reason to be scolded for wearing provocative lingerie.

“What does it matter to you whether I wear such lingerie or not, Commander?”

It was absurd that a man with a fiancée would get angry over someone else’s lingerie, so Reina’s voice naturally turned curt.

“It doesn’t matter.”

Patrick sighed deeply and lowered his head. He remained silent for a moment, making Reina look at him blankly.

If it doesn’t matter, why is he so agitated?

Breaking the silence, Patrick answered with a troubled expression.

“But it bothers me.”

“What?”

It bothers him? What bothers him?

She knew he wasn’t the type to get excited over women’s lingerie. If he were, he would have lost his virginity long ago.

At that moment, her heart began to pound.

She wasn’t expecting anything from his words, but seeing him hesitate with a troubled look, she felt she knew what he was going to say.

No way….

Just as Reina’s head tilted in confusion, Patrick shook his head.

“No, I’m sorry. I said something unnecessary. Please forget what I just said. I’ll fill the bathtub with water, so you can wash up first when it’s ready.”

Bowing his head, Patrick went into the bathroom first.

After saying something that made my heart flutter, he wanted me to forget it?

If she hadn’t heard it, she wouldn’t know, but she had heard it, so how could she forget?

Before she could tell him to stop, Patrick had already gone into the bathroom, so Reina hurriedly followed him inside.

“Stop for a moment.”

Reina said to Patrick, who was filling the bathtub with water.

“What is it?”

He looked at her as if wondering why she had called him, as if he had already forgotten what he said earlier.

“How can you stop talking halfway? You need to finish what you were saying!”

“No. That’s all I have to say.”

Reina had called Patrick to ask what he meant by his earlier words, but he seemed to have no intention of explaining further.

If that’s the case, why did you even say anything? It would have been better if you hadn’t said anything at all!

She felt a surge of anger. She had never been angry at Patrick before, but now she couldn’t hold it in.

Why does he keep doing this when he has a fiancée!

Reina, her patience worn thin, shouted.

“Why did you do that to me?”

Her voice was cold enough to freeze the surroundings.

“What do you mean?”

“When I was kidnapped last time, why did you hold my hand!”

“I was merely following your command because you asked me to.”

His voice was so businesslike. The warmth she had felt from his hand back then now seemed like an illusion.

Reina had never given Patrick an order before. She had never thought of her words as commands. Asking him to hold her hand was more of a request.

But he had taken it as a command.

Would it have been so hard to say that holding hands was difficult because he had a fiancée?

It was the same just now. He said he had a fiancée but then casually mentioned that she bothered him, only to dismiss it as nothing….

It felt like he was playing with her feelings.

“Would you follow all my orders? You’re not that kind of person.”

“I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

His suddenly cold demeanor annoyed her. It kept getting on her nerves.

“I can’t understand you either. Why do you talk as if you can’t refuse an order? If I told you to crawl on the ground like a dog, would you do it?”

“Young Lady….”

“Answer me.”

“If it’s not an unreasonable command, of course, I would follow it.”

“Then lick.”

Out of spite, Reina took off her shoe and put her foot in front of Patrick. She expected him to refuse, saying it was an unreasonable order, feeling humiliated and ashamed.

Patrick, whom she expected to refuse, grabbed her ankle.

“Is this an order?”

When Patrick asked, Reina bit her lower lip and nodded. Then he started to carefully lick the top of her foot.

“Ugh.”

A strange sensation mixed with ticklishness made Reina let out a small moan.

“Don’t you think this is an unreasonable command?”

“Why would licking the top of the Young Lady’s foot be an unreasonable command?”

“It’s humiliating.”

“Not at all.”

Patrick acted as if there was no problem.

Even though standards are subjective, there was no way this wasn’t a problem. It didn’t make sense for a man who had risen to the rank of commander of the Imperial Knights to lick her foot.

If the other knights heard about this, they wouldn’t believe it, thinking it was a lie. Even she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own eyes.

Reina squinted as she carefully observed Patrick.

The man who usually exuded an overwhelming presence among the knights was now kneeling before her, licking her leg and body.

That fact stirred strange feelings in her chest.

The moist sensation that had been on the top of her foot gradually moved up to her slender ankle, smooth calf, and eventually her firm thigh.

Wherever the hot sensation passed, she felt a wave of heat.

She tried to act indifferent, but her heart kept pounding. The strange sensation made her body feel increasingly languid.

With half-lidded eyes, she looked at Patrick again.

Why are you doing this? There’s no need to follow this ridiculous order! You have every reason to refuse….

Reina couldn’t understand his actions.

“S-stop it.”

Only then did Patrick remove his lips and gently place her foot back on the floor.

The fact that he was just following orders made her even angrier. She felt even more suffocated.

This must be because Patrick didn’t have any feelings for her. She resented him for constantly making her misunderstand, even though he had a fiancée.

If I asked him to sleep with me, would he really do it?

It seemed like he would follow any order, even if she told him to take her body. Why!

The more she stayed with him, the more suffocated she felt, as if she couldn’t breathe. She couldn’t bear to stay with him any longer.