The Lion and the Royal Princess - Chapter 4

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His voice was mixed with a sharp rasp. Adelaine barely lifted her head to look at his face.

“…it’s okay.”

“You can’t do it alone, can you?”

“It’s fine. So just hurry up…”

She realized her hand was warm only after grabbing his forearm. The Lion King’s body felt as cool as the stones by the water. She felt tempted to rub her cheek against his forearm.

He flinched for a moment, but soon unhesitatingly undressed her.

The sweaty dress clung stubbornly to her skin and would not come off easily. He removed the dagger from his waist and tore the seam at the back of the dress. There was a ripping sound and cool air touched her burning back.

“Bite this.”

The Lion King brought the dagger handle to Adelaine’s mouth. She opened her mouth and tightly bit the handle wrapped in a soft cloth as he told her.

There was the sound of the lady-in-waiting coming in and the Lion King poured a sour-smelling liquid over her wound.

“Just endure a little.”

How little is that ‘little’?

Adelaine groaned faintly while being held sideways in the Lion King’s arms. He called for the lady-in-waiting to hold her so that she would not fall. A trembling hands grabbed her shoulder.

Soon, an immense pain engulfed her. Her vision whitened and her breath ceased. Unaware that the dagger she had been biting had fallen to the floor, Adelaine screamed and clenched her teeth.

A lukewarm liquid trickled down from her back.

“Bite this.”

He brought the dagger handle to her mouth again.

After removing the arrowhead, the Lion King did not say much while pouring disinfectant and stitching the wound. Although the treatment did not take long, it felt like an eternity to Adelaine. 

“P-princess… It’s over. Hang in there.”

The lady-in-waiting had been crying since before. It was amusing to receive such a worried voice from someone who was ordered to keep an eye on her. Adelaine did not suppress her sneer despite the pain. 

“It’s all done.”

He wrapped her body with wide bandages. She had no choice but to lower her dress below her chest and entrust her whole body to him. However, no one in the room seemed uncomfortable with that fact.

The sobbing lady-in-waiting covered Adelaine with a blanket. When she weakly opened her mouth, the dagger the Lion King gave dropped with a soft thud.

∘₊✧──────✧₊∘

Adelaine, who had fallen asleep on painkillers, opened her eyes only when the night had become pitch dark. Despite feeling somewhat better, it still felt incredibly pain. When she let out a shallow cough, a weak, raspy voice came out.

“Urgh…”

“Adelaine.”

The Lion King was still by her side.

Her head felt hot but she sensed a chill. When she opened her mouth, her jaw trembled as if her teeth would clash. As she struggled to pull the blanket, the Lion King threw the cloak he had taken off earlier.

“Your wound won’t get worse if you lie still. Is there a nearby place you can rest?”

Adelaine did not answer his question. Instead, she looked for her annoying knight who should be there.

“How much time has passed? Where’s Richard?”

“He went to retrieve the bodies of the assassins. He said he’s dispatching an investigative team…”

“As if that would happen.”

She sneered again. The investigation team would not be dispatched.

Richard must have rushed to the royal palace to explain the delay in her return. He would report that Adelaine Vita was badly injured but she was in a safe place and there would not be any more assassination attempts.

“I have to go.”

“Where are you going with that body? It’s a fascinating fact that you’re still breathing right now.”

“It’s okay. I won’t die. You’ve seen many people die, haven’t you? So you know, this won’t kill me.”

“Adelaine, you’re a patient.”

“And the princess of this country.”

Adelaine sat up and raised her chin. She wanted to look even a little confident but the Lion King got angry. His handsome face, usually expressionless, was noticeably distorted.

Suddenly, a doubt arose.

Why is this man so concerned about me?

They had no connection. It was not that they met fatefully in some distant past, that one of them lost their memories and forgot the other, or that they were lovers who broke up sadly due to opposition from those around them.

Could it be that he pities me?

If that were the reason, there was even less reason for her to stay there. She was enough in this world to be pitied by herself.

“Sigh…”

However, the Lion King’s sigh was longer and deeper than that of Adelaine. He placed one hand on his waist and swept his messy hair up with the other. His face which was usually gazing at people straightforwardly, now only stared fixedly at the hand he clenched into a fist. Then, as if reluctantly opening his mouth to say something he did not want to, he spoke in an annoyed voice.

“They don’t miss you but why are you so anxious to go back so quickly?”

“What?”

Adelaine wiped her eyes, moist with cold sweat, with one hand. What the Lion King had just mentioned was an undeniable truth that no one dared to mention in front of her.

Crown Prince Cesare Dixon, the royal family of Marma, and even this country did not welcome her.

She laughed.

“How did you know that? Is the miserable story of Adelaine Vita even a famous tale in the barren desert of Odium?”

“Do you think that’s someone else’s business?”

“As if.”

How can it be someone else’s business? Those were the years I suffered, experienced, and endured with this insignificant body.

Marma’s only princess, Adelaine Vita, was offered to the young king of the enemy nation, Nova 11 years ago, at the age of 17. 

The young princess cried. She pleaded to be spared and begged to be allowed to die in Marma even if she were to die. However, the nobles of Marma dragged the young princess like a sacrificial lamb and presented her in front of the enemy king.

It was her story that she had never told the truth to anyone even once.

“I heard your story in Nova.”

The Lion King spoke with a heavy voice. Adelaine replied lightly.

“In Nova? You know someone there?”

“I’ve met with Eisen Balzac.”

Adelaine took a breath while lying down again. The name she thought she would never hear again after leaving Nova had just popped out of his mouth.

Eisen Balzac was a man like an indelible scar to her. He was the king of Nova. after Adelaine ended up living in his bedroom, he became her intensely hated opponent for a long time.   

“Eisen… How?”

The Lion King’s expression was unreadable. He looked down at her face without saying a word. He scanned her eyes, nose, mouth, then her eyes again, forehead, and then looked at her shoulder, where blood was still seeping. Then, he reached out one hand and measured the temperature of her forehead.

“It was a year ago. He came all the way to the southern border.”

“You met him on the battlefield?”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you meet him?”

“We were in the middle of end-of-war negotiation.”

“He came all the way to the southern border?”

“Yeah.”

Adelaine chuckled.

Eisen rarely left his office desk. Not only on the battlefield but he was also reluctant to show his face at the nobles’ banquets. Especially after being with her, he became so seriously addicted to work that he would even handle business in the bedroom.

Eisen was also the one who gave her the nickname ‘tough cookie’. Adelaine was curious about what Eisen might have told the Lion King.

“So, what did he say?”

Adelaine asked with a smile. She did not have to look in the mirror to know that it was a twisted and dry smile. The Lion King’s gaze on her became even heavier.

“He knew that I was going to go to Marma. He even mentioned that the king of Marma, who had his eyes on me, would offer me satisfactory noblewomen.”

“And then?”

“He said that in fortunate cases, I could find a woman with at least two conditions among them. Otherwise, he said that both those women and I would become unhappy.”

Her throbbing heart sank quietly.

He was right. Adelaine’s father was a cowardly and greedy king. He was a man who would throw every woman of Marma naked in front of this man to get his hands on this man. 

Meunier Tamirren, who died tragically, came to her mind. The North Temple was the tallest tower in Sol-Marma. If she had fallen from there, her whole body probably would not have remained. 

Meunier, what number were you? And what number would I be?

“What are the two conditions?”

Adelaine asked. The Lion King said painfully.

“A woman who hates Marma.”

She kept laughing. Even though she was in pain, she still laughed while trembling.

Ah, Eisen, now you don’t have to feel guilty anymore. What the hell did you teach this innocent king of the desert? You terrible guy.

“Let me guess the other one.”

Adelaine sat up. The thin blanket slipped away, revealing her skinny shoulders, which had been bandaged, and her chest exposed above the sweat-soaked undergarments, but she paid no attention.

“A woman who was hated by Marma just as much.”

She spoke first before he could open his mouth.

Adelaine burst into laughter. The lady-in-waiting sleeping in the corner was startled and rushed over. Upon seeing Adelaine, she screamed and wrapped her body with the blanket. Adelaine laughed even louder. She did not know why the lady-in-waiting made a big deal out of her body with nothing left to protect.

“Adelaine.”

The Lion King called her name.

That was right. The woman who hated Marma and a woman who was hated by Marma that much.

Adelaine Vita. It was her.

The dry laughter echoed sharply in the quiet cottage. Adelaine laughed wildly like a mad woman, holding her hot face with both hands. Even as the lady-in-waiting cried and the Lion King’s gaze sank heavily, she continued to laugh nonstop. Until she was suffocated and her chest hurt.

And she asked one last time.

“So you were lucky to meet me. Now tell me the conclusion. What kind of tricks does the lion of the desert intend to put on?”

They looked at each other at the same time. Without any pretense or falsehood, they revealed their most genuine feelings.

The Lion King’s eyes, filled with pure greenery, and Adelaine’s eyes, filled with pitch-black malice, penetrated the opponent without giving an inch.

He opened his mouth.

“I intend to propose to you.”

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