If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 118

“…” Sasha managed to restrain her reaction to no more than a slight lift of her brows.

 

“If you would only propose to me, I will take care of the rest myself. I will move His Majesty’s heart.”

 

“You sound very confident.”

 

“Because I truly am confident. You may trust me.”

 

“How interesting.”

 

“Indeed.”

 

With indirect words, Sasha conveyed her acceptance. “It seems it will be something I must do on a lady’s honor. Surely Lord Emilio wouldn’t publicly reject me.”

 

“Reject you? How could that be?” Emilio rummaged inside his coat and took something out. It was a ring. For an instant, Sasha’s eyelashes trembled sharply. The aversion that had surfaced was quickly covered by a look of surprise.

 

“Oh my, what is this?”

 

Emilio took the princess’s voice, pretending not to know while knowing everything, as coquettishness directed at him. He drew Sasha’s left hand toward him and slipped the ring onto her finger. As if mocking the darkness within the traitor who prepared it, a transparent diamond shone on her ring finger.

 

“As I have said repeatedly, Your Highness is my type. Excessively so.”

 

“…”

 

Before she knew it, the situation had taken on the outward appearance of an engagement. Sasha looked down coldly at her left hand, then did what was necessary. Smiling as if delighted, she stroked the ring.

 

“I look forward to the day I go to Lohengrin with Lord Emilio.”

 

“Yes. I, too, greatly look forward to the days I will spend with Your Highness.”

 

Thanks to Sasha’s efforts, a warm atmosphere befitting a man and woman promising a future together had been created. Yet the air inside the box seat was cold enough to raise the hairs on one’s skin. As though resonating with the mood of someone guarding the entrance.

 

“I would even like to share a kiss of promise.”

 

At those words, the killing intent that shot out felt as if it would pierce the back of Emilio’s head. Though he pretended to be fine, cold sweat crawled down the back of his neck. Emilio had no choice but to keep his distance from the princess.

 

“I will not rush. There is much to settle first.”

 

“When will everything be settled?”

 

“When the time comes for Your Highness to cross the border.”

 

Sasha read the plan hidden beneath Emilio’s words. So he intends to gather troops at the border. Elite soldiers who would eliminate Regenhart Lohengrin without anyone knowing. And in the process, it was obvious as daylight that he would attempt various tricks. Taking Sasha hostage, using deadly poison on the knight, and so on. Yet despite that, he had kindly placed a ring on her hand. It was deceit worthy of a traitor.

 

She indicated that all business of the secret meeting was finished. “There may be eyes watching. It would be better if we leave separately.”

 

“Yes, then Your Highness may—”

 

“You go first, Lord Emilio,” Sasha commanded in a gentle voice that could not be refused.

 

Emilio willingly bowed his head to the order of a noble woman who was not yet entirely his. “Yes. Then I shall take my leave.”

 

The back of the schemer disappeared from the box seat. Before long, only Sasha and Regen remained in the dim meeting place.

 

✦

The footsteps echoing through the hallway had gone far enough that they could no longer be heard. As if everything I had endured burst out at once, I deeply exhaled while frowning. The entire time dealing with Emilio Hwibrik had felt as disgusting as stepping barefoot into a puddle of filth. And I had even needed to smile and chat with him the way I did with Regen, so my stomach had nearly turned. If I felt this way, how must Regen feel?

 

Worried, I turned to look at Regen. Standing breathlessly still by the wall near the entrance, he looked like a lifeless still object. He had looked like that even when the Emilio I sent out first brushed past him.

 

“Regen.”

 

Had he locked himself away somewhere unreal in order to suppress his emotions?

 

Regen gave no answer to my call. I walked over to him anxiously and stood before him. His golden eyes, cast into empty space, looked hollow.

 

“Regen, it’s all over…”

 

Focus returned to his eyes in an instant. At the same time, I felt a strong hand wrap around the back of my head and yank me forward. The next moment, he devoured my lips. His tongue parted my teeth and swept hotly through my mouth, licking and stirring inside. Only then did the expression return to the handsome face within kissing distance. His tightly shut eyes, the corners twisted fiercely. Painful and affectionate at once, yet sensual. It was intoxicating to feel myself being consumed by him in a far rougher way than usual.

 

As if begging for more of that sensation, my hands grabbed his shoulders. Then he tightly seized my left hand and pulled it away from him. His dense touch rubbed and pressed across my palm until he found the object caught on my finger. He rubbed the base of my ring finger and slowly pushed the ring upward. The sound of it falling to the floor was swallowed by the carpet.

 

Only then was I allowed to touch him with my left hand as well. I immediately wrapped my arms around his neck and demanded a deeper kiss. After our tongues tangled for a long while, they finally parted, and our gazes entwined heavily in silence.

 

“…”

 

“…”

 

I felt as though I might drown in those beautiful golden eyes flickering with light. Meanwhile, the eyes he saw in me were surely shimmering with desire. The voice I heard from him after a long while cooled my fevered head a little.

 

“I dared commit discourtesy. Please punish me.”

 

“…”

 

Why was a kiss discourteous? I could not understand at all. Only after thinking hard for a while did I begin to understand his position. This noble, chivalrous man clearly believed that he had taken my lips as he pleased without permission. Then why had he failed to control the impulse and acted?

 

My heart, which I thought was already beating fast enough, cried out as it sped even faster. I barely managed to speak. “Why was it discourteous?”

 

“…”

 

“What meaning did that kiss have?”

 

“…”

 

At my questioning, Regen lowered his gaze in silence. He looked like a man declaring himself guilty. Then perhaps it was because he harbored feelings unbefitting a knight. I tried to guess the name of that feeling. One possibility crossed my mind, and it felt as though my heart would burst.

 

“Regen.” With the gentlest touch I could manage, I lightly lifted his chin. I caught his fleeing gaze and made him look directly at me.

 

“Could it be…”

 

“…”

 

“Were you jealous?”

 

“…”

 

Strength entered his eyes as he fixed them on me.

 

“Say it. Then I’ll forgive—”

 

I couldn’t finish my words. It was because Regen grabbed my shoulders and turned me against the wall. Switching our positions, he pressed me into the corner and braced both arms against the wall. Though I had no intention of escaping, he still imprisoned me in his embrace and stole my breath with his lips.

 

At last, the kiss, like payment for my provocation, ended. Suppressing his roughened breathing, he spoke. “Yes.”

 

“…”

 

“I was.”

 

“…”

 

“How could I not be?”

 

“…”

 

He seemed a little angry, but at that moment I wickedly broke into a bright smile. I knew I shouldn’t do this after trespassing upon the nobility he possessed as a knight. And I knew it was a bad thing that might make him hate me. But somehow, right now, it felt like it would be fine. Because I had something to rely on.

 

“I really am.”

 

“…”

 

“Exactly your type, right, Regen?”

 

When I smiled with narrowed eyes, his eyes trembled faintly. The handsome man’s wet lips moved reflexively as though to deny it, but in the end, they made no sound and closed helplessly. Because of that, I confirmed it. That there was a chance the one-sided love I held might actually look back at me.

 

“I’m happy.”

 

Pulling his cheek toward me, I kissed him first. At that moment, I desperately wished. That he would fall in love with me.