Chapter 87: Ah, Ah, Honey~

Night finally came.

The nuns were still healing the wounded.

Lady Euphemia and her army decided to stay and camp where they stood, mostly to protect everyone before they addressed Count Vesta’s case sometime tomorrow.

"You are welcome to stay with us, Nonie."

She tilted her head, smiling a little too warmly.

"My tent is quite spacious. And quite warm."

The knights nearby coughed into their fists, she was being awfully forward about it.

"Thank you, Mother Superior. But no."

Adonis declined with a polite smile.

"Prussia’s alive and well, so I’ll take a night carriage back to the convent and let her rest there. She’ll heal faster in a real bed and with less people around, but I’m grateful still."

"I’m fine. You really don’t have to do that." Prussia muttered beside him.

"Ah, ah."

He wagged a finger in front of her nose.

"Honey, I can’t let you sleep somewhere so rough after you fought so bravely today. Uhuhuhu~"

Prussia narrowed her eyes at him and shifted a step away.

’...Since when is he like this?’

She started walking without him, so he hurried over then slung an arm over her shoulders and started dragging her toward the carriage himself with a happy smile on his face.

Foreseeably, his hands became mischievous.

One hand slipped down to her waist to grab her.

...Slap, Prussia swatted it like a hand.

It went back.

Slap.

It went back again.

Slap, slap, slap, he was as persistent as an actual pest until Prussia gave him a stern look that made him quiet down and whistle innocently as he walked beside her.

Euphemia watched them leave from under her parasol, there’s a weirdly hungry, maybe longing, look in her eyes and in the way she gently caressed her rosy lips with her fan.

’So that’s the woman he likes.’

Her eyes narrowed.

She’d been staring so long her tea had gone cold.

Quite some hours later, just before sunrise, the carriage finally found its way back to the convent.

Adonis alighted the wooden wheels with Alpis in his arms. The little thing was out cold. After burning that much mana, she’d be sleeping for a while.

’Well, at least I have Prussia to keep me company.’

He smiled at her. She was walking beside him with a quiet look on her face, and when she glanced to her side, all she saw were his big, shining eyes and a wide grin.

Unsettled, she looked away again.

...Hm? Adonis felt a small itch of worry.

’She’s been acting off since she woke up. Is she mad at me? Maybe for showing up late... yeah, that could be it.’

Soon they were in the hostel room.

Prussia turned on the oil lamp while Adonis laid Alpis on the bed and tucked a blanket up to her chin.

Shortly after, Prussia sat on the other bed.

The OTHER bed... how very unusual.

The fact she’s acting so unlike her has Adonis eager to want to know what’s going on.

Not knowing how to approach her, Adonis walked to the oil lamp and tweaked the wick like it wasn’t bright enough, eyes sliding back to Prussia every few seconds.

"Can you stop that?!"

He lifted a brow. "Uh, where did that come from?"

Prussia pulled her neat feet off the floor and hugged her knees to her chest. Half her face disappeared between them, and her eyes were shaking like she might cry.

It was hard to talk... It’s always hard for Prussia to talk, so Adonis sat down next to her.

"Go away."

She turned on her butt, away from him, and faced the wall.

...Hrrmmm, the fifth prince tilted his head.

"Are you really going to be like this?"

She buried her face deeper.

"...Can you stop pretending?"

He edged closer and reached for her shoulder. She flinched, and his hand stopped in the air.

"Pretending how?"

Prussia’s tired eyes narrowed at the wall.

"All of a sudden you’re so clingy and caring. You’ve been like this for a while now. It’s not that I don’t like it. I’m bad at saying things or expressing my feelings, but I’ve made it obvious enough times. And you ignored it."

Her voice became weaker.

"So when you butter me up with love and affection, why wouldn’t I feel insulted? I can never tell if it’s real, or if you just want to use it to make fun of me. I just feel like some ugly pig you have to feed affection once in a while so she doesn’t leave."

She turned her head sideways as if to hide her cries more.

"...It’s annoying."

Adonis stood, walked around the bed, and sat down in front of her, where she could see him.

But Prussia looked the other way.

A teardrop flew off her lashes.

He took her wrist and she snatched it back and turned her face away again.

"Prussia, I..."

Sighing, he chose different words.

"...I’m sorry."

"..."

She didn’t even spare him a glance.

Adonis felt a little frustrated, but he took a deep breath and said it again.

"I’m sorry."

"I don’t need it—"

"Oh yeah? Then I take it back!"

Prussia whipped around.

"You can’t take it back! You already said it!"

"Well, you said you don’t need it! Since you’re soooo perfect, an apology just isn’t good enough for Her Royal Highness of Marsofia, so I’ll take my fucking ’sorry’ back!"

He folded his arms and turned away.

Prussia raised a fist.

"Hey! Don’t cuss at me!"

"Hmph, I might just do it again."

He waved her off like she was a fly.

If anyone can break Prussia’s composure it’s him, and as usual he succeeded whether he wanted to or not:

She grabbed her hair like she wanted to rip it out, threw both arms into the air, lunged like she’d strangle him, held herself back last second, then screamed into the ceiling.

"AAAGHHH! Why do you have to be like this?!"

Adonis gave her a side-eye. "...What?"

Bam! Her fist hit the mattress.

"So... so... so annoying! You never listen! You never treat me the way I want! You’re smart enough to know what I want, I know you are! But you do it with other women! Why is it never me?! Do you just like seeing me so miserable?! Why does it always have to be bickering with us?!"

She was screaming so loud she lost her energy and just looked away, appearing very vulnerable.

"I’m tired of it, you know."

Thud! Adonis pounced. One moment she was shouting, the next, she’s flat on her back across the bed, red-cheeked, staring up at the fifth prince above her.

He looked at her face. Then, without meaning to, down.

She wore cream-colored sleepwear: a loose sleeveless crop top and short shorts of the same cloth. Both were meant to be baggy. The shorts were, technically. But Prussia’s strong, thick thighs filled them so completely that he could make out every line.

If he squinted a little harder he could see the thick bulge and V-shaped form of her virgin fruit.

Prussia’s thing is quite fat.

Back on topic, the top was no better.

Prussia had quite large breasts, though few knew it, since she was always buried in the armor he made for her, skimpy as it was. Right now the loose cloth couldn’t hold the juicy, golden-brown melons that spilled apart across her ribs from how roughly he’d pinned her.

’...I’ve been staring for a while.’

He knew the rule.

Stare too long and it’s not sexual anymore, just weird.

And that was never good for a virile young man like him.

Moreso, he can’t be an indecisive Harem protagonist.

...Gasp, Prussia noticed where his eyes had gone, he’s been staring at that part of her body that’s always hot whenever she thinks about him. Her legs snapped shut.

"What are you looking at, stupid..."

Adonis leaned in close.

"If you don’t stay quiet, I won’t treat you like other women. I’ll treat you like Omyujin."

Prussia flared like a little bunny.

"The dwarven meat seller?! How da—"

She remembered what he’d said and her lips pressed shut so tightly that her cheeks puffed out.

...She was cute like that, honestly.

He leaned down to her ear and blew softly against it.

Prussia flinched, her whole body trembled under his.

"To think, you can take a hit and stay hard as stone, yet a little teasing in your ear makes you shake like a feather. You’re really attractive, Miss Prussia."

Prussia turned her face away, unbearably red.

’He can see my shame...!’