Oriana knew in her head what she had to do, but she was frozen in place, unable to move. The moment she removed her clothes, there was no turning back. She didn’t want to think about what would happen next.
Seeing her acting like a scared rabbit, Arlan strode towards her and she took steps back instinctively, making sure the distance between them remained the same.
"Y-Your Highness, I can’t..."
Arlan continued to step forward as she continued to move back.
"Seems like you plan to waste time and delay me going to bed."
His words panicked her more. "I...let me..."
"Didn’t Roman teach you how to attend to me at night?"
"Mister Roman? He also...?"
"Isn’t it his duty to serve me?"
Her mind drifted to the interactions she observed between Arlan and his butler. Roman Chadwicke was an attractive older man, and though he did not look muscular nor imposing, his kind demeanor... and his seemingly odd sense of humor to the prince’s jokes about marriage...
’This pervert and Mister Roman have that kind of relationship?!’
Oriana had her mind blown away by the discovery. No wonder the Ahrens included warnings about being tight-lipped in their training— the scandals of the royal palace would alter anyone’s perception of the world.
She was too shocked to even realize that she had been cornered against the door.
Arlan leaned closer, his one hand resting on the door behind her. The intoxicating scent of red wine coming off him forced Oriana back to reality. He was too near for comfort.
He peered closely at her pale face and asked in a low yet calm voice, "Are you going to keep me waiting?"
"Apologies, Your Highness!" she cried out. "I can’t do it! I really can’t! I don’t want to remove my clothes. You can punish me in another way instead."
She closed her eyes shut, knowing she was done for disobeying her master.
On the other hand, her master had a wicked smile on his handsome face. He looked at the thin sheen of sweat on her forehead, as well as her trembling form. Realizing he had scared her enough, it was time to stop playing with the poor girl. freewebnoveℓ.com
He moved close enough to whisper in her ears, "I was talking about you helping me remove my clothes so that I can change into my sleeping robe, Shortie."
An indefinite duration of time seemed to have passed before a small, puzzled "Huh?" escaped her mouth. She opened her eyes and blinked. "Huh?" she dumbly repeated.
Arlan took a step back, appreciating the adorable expression of bewilderment on her face. From shock, to confusion, to embarrassment, it was entertaining to see the myriad emotions passing through her, allowing him to read her like an open book.
"What were you thinking, Orian?"
"I..."
"Let me guess. Something improper?"
She could feel her face burning at the misunderstanding.
The prince offered her a seemingly innocent questioning look, as if it was all her fault for reading too much into his instruction and he did nothing wrong to lead her mind to its desired outcome.
"A-Apologies..."
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