Chapter 327: Claire: Expectations vs Reality

And whenever she had to suit up on site during travelling, she would usually just wear leather armor instead of the heavy metal one because it was much easier to handle alone. Of course, she still put on the steel pieces that were easy to put on such as shoulder guards and such.

But right now, even though she was fully used to taking armor off in front of people, doing it in his private tent just felt completely different.

She opened her mouth, closed it, and then opened it again.

"Lord Adrian," Claire said softly. "You can’t just ask me to do something like that."

Adrian finally looked properly at her.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

Then he noticed the way her face was turning completely red, looking like a ripe tomato.

His eyes went wide.

"Wait," Adrian said out loud. "Don’t tell me you aren’t wearing anything inside."

Claire’s mind just blanked out.

For a solid two seconds she just stood there completely short-circuiting. She didn’t even know what to say to that level of assumption.

She finally opened her mouth again.

"Of course I am wearing something inside!" she practically yelled.

Adrian looked relieved. "Then what is wrong with removing your armor? Oh wait, are you only wearing your innerwear? Isn’t that uncomfortable under all that armor?"

Claire squinted her eyes at him.

She felt a little suspicious. She actively searched his face for any sign of mockery. But the only thing she saw was genuine, innocent curiosity. He wasn’t trying to tease her and nor was he trying to annoy her.

This man was just completely and utterly clueless about what was going on in her mind right now and that realisation made her want to cry.

Claire took a deep breath to calm herself down.

’Okay Claire, calm down,’ she told herself in her mind. ’You are just overreacting. It is really normal to take armor off in front of people. And it is not like he is actually telling you to undress.’

But right as she thought that, her brain fought back.

’No, that is exactly how it feels. It feels exactly like he is telling me to undress in front of him.’

She brought her hand up to the bridge of her nose and pinched it hard. She looked up at the ceiling of the tent and let out a long, heavy exhale from her mouth.

Finally it seemed like she calmed down.

She looked back down at Adrian.

"Okay then," Claire said. "Help me remove the armor."

Adrian blinked.

"Huh? Why should I do that?" he asked. "I am feeling a little lazy right now. Just go ask someone else."

Claire just stared at him.

His response was so completely unpredictable and blunt that she literally did not know what to do anymore. She felt embarrassed, angry, and she felt like step foward and smacking him right across the face.

But she couldn’t actually do anything because he wasn’t exactly someone she could just call a normal friend. He was literally her employer, the Baron of Oresfall. And she really didn’t know if they were close enough yet for her to actually smack his ass and get away with it without causing a massive incident.

She slowly clenched her hand into a tight fist.

Adrian finally noticed the way her knuckles were turning white.

He immediately sat straight up on his bed and looked up at her.

’Okay wait, I probably fucked up right there,’ Adrian thought to himself in a panic. ’I better just help her take her armor off or else there is a very high chance that she might just quit my army entirely and join someone else. And I really do not want that.’

He cleared his throat.

"Okay fine," Adrian said quickly. "How do you even remove this armor?"

Claire looked at him like he was an idiot.

"What do you mean?" she asked. "Like, how do you even wear your own armor then?"

"Well I kinda have a skill that helps me put on and take off my armor in a moment," Adrian explained. "It doesn’t really take me a lot of time. It just appears directly on my body."

He was obviously talking about his dungeon link, but he couldn’t exactly say that out loud.

Claire stared at him.

"That is a really convenient ability," she said. "Is it related to some sort of spatial magic?"

"Well let’s just say it is related to my blessing."

Claire’s mouth formed a small ’O’ shape. She just stood there for a while processing that before finally nodding.

"Oh okay," she muttered. "That is a really good blessing you have. I wish I had that."

Adrian chuckled.

"Well just tell me what to do and I will help you out."

Claire lifted her arm and pointed toward the side of her heavy steel breastplate.

"There are some thick leather straps and metal hooks right here that you need to remove," she instructed.

Then she started pointing out the various joints and locked areas around her waist and her legs where Adrian would have to untie things or unhook the clasps.

Adrian nodded slowly, taking in all the information before he started to help.

Claire stood there and waited. She blushed a little bit, fully expecting Adrian to actually stand up from the bed, walk over, and use his hands to help her take the armor off.

But contrary to her expectations, the guy just stayed sitting right there on his bed.

He didn’t even move.

Suddenly, she felt a strange pulling sensation around her waist.

One by one, the heavy leather straps automatically unbuckled themselves and the steel hooks slid out of their catches.

Her armor pieces began to fall off her body.

Clank. Clank. Clank. Clank.

The heavy metal plates dropped directly onto the dirt floor of the tent.

Claire just stood there in silence for a few seconds. She stared down at her expensive armor pieces scattered all over the floor like garbage.