Chapter 29
“Come here, quickly. Aren’t you excited?”
“Are you even thinking about the consequences before you speak?”
“Why do you just run your mouth? Do you think opportunities like this come often? Expensive man… Come here now.”
Odette waved her hand eagerly.
“Ah-ha! Come quickly. I’ll give you a gift.”
“The gift is you, I suppose?”
With an expression that clearly said, You can keep your so-called gift, Caesar clicked his tongue in disapproval.
If that’s how he wanted to play, she had no choice but to use her trump card.
Odette pouted her lips.
“If you come quickly, I’ll give you three kisses.”
“Ha, seriously…”
Caesar frowned as if he had just witnessed something utterly unbearable.
Yet, despite his obvious reluctance, he still stepped closer to the bed.
“I’m here.”
“You took too long, so no kisses. But I’ll let you touch me instead.”
“Touch you? What do you mean?”
“Like this,” she murmured.
She reached out and slowly traced her fingers along his damp skin.
Caesar’s face gradually turned red, as if it might explode.
“Hnn—!”
A low, involuntary sound escaped his lips.
Come to think of it, wasn’t this dream a little too vivid?
How can his skin be this smooth?
As she indulged in the firm yet velvety texture beneath her fingertips, Odette’s heart began pounding wildly.
She had never realized that simply touching someone could be so intoxicating—so dizzying.
What started as a game was quickly turning into something else.
Her hand kept drifting toward his abdomen.
Her fingertips tingled, trembling slightly, as an electrifying sensation spread through her. Her breath grew shallow.
She knew she should stop, but the way Caesar bit his lip, struggling to endure, was just too tempting.
“How are your muscles this firm? This really is an incredibly realistic dream.”
“It’s—ugh!—not a dream.”
“Mm, sure. Just keep believing that and stay in this dream for a long, long time.”
As her fingers pressed down more firmly, Caesar suddenly grasped her wrist tightly.
“Enough. Any more, and I’ll lose control.”
His voice was husky, a clear warning.
“So what? We’re engaged to be married.”
“Yes, but… here? In the barracks?”
Caesar’s eyes widened.
“What does the location matter?”
“My men will hear everything.”
But it’s just a dream, so who cares?
And if she didn’t acknowledge their presence, they wouldn’t exist. If she focused hard enough and willed them away, then—
“Ahem. My lord, I’ve brought the stew for the lady—”
“Aden! Do you have a death wish? Why the hell are you interrupting?!”
Caesar bellowed toward the entrance of the tent.
Instinctively, Odette turned her head and saw Aden’s shadow flickering against the fire outside.
“Eek—!”
She went completely pale.
Suddenly, she recalled—she had never seen shadows in her dreams before.
Odette yanked the blanket over her head.
What is happening?!
The realization that this wasn’t a dream was simply too much to process.
If this had been a typical dream, Caesar would have already pinned her down—or definitely done something by now.
Because that was just the kind of man he was.
“Ughhh…!”
Huddled under the blanket, she trembled.
Her heart pounded so hard it felt like it might burst, and her entire body burned with humiliation from head to toe.
“Why are you stopping halfway?”
Caesar grabbed the blanket and tried to pull it away.
“You can’t!”
“Why not?”
“Everything! Just—everything is wrong!”
She clung to the fabric desperately, only to lose her balance and tumble off the cot—
—straight into Caesar’s lap.
The blanket slipped off, and her tousled golden hair spilled over her face.
Caesar reached out to brush it away, but Odette clung to his wrist, pleading.
“I was wrong! Please… hic… please, just let me cover my shame.”
“…Shame? Since when did you care about that?”
“I’m not an animal! Of course, I have shame! I just… I just can’t face you right now.”
“You seemed perfectly fine admiring my body a moment ago.”
Odette shook her head furiously.
“I have committed an unforgivable sin. I truly thought this was a dream!”
“So, in your dreams, it’s fine to touch me? To toy with me?”
“H-Harassment… that’s not what I meant.”
Caesar finally brushed her hair back, tilting her face toward him.
Unable to meet his gaze, Odette squeezed her eyes shut.
“Hngh…”
She was so mortified she wanted to disappear on the spot.
“Not only did you run away, but now you’ve changed your method of tormenting me? You start something and then stop—how exactly am I supposed to endure that? Ha, this is ridiculous.”
“P-Please spare me. I was wrong.”
Tearing up, she pleaded desperately.
In response, Caesar flung her onto the bed along with the blanket, as if casting her aside.
Even then, his anger didn’t seem to subside. His rough breathing filled the tent.
“Damn it!”
“My lord?”
Aden’s voice called from outside. Caesar muttered a low curse before violently yanking open the tent flap and storming out.
“Did he really leave?”
After lying motionless for a long while, Odette finally groaned when she heard Caesar’s footsteps fade into the distance.
“Ughhh. What the hell did I just do?”
Kicking her legs under the blanket out of sheer humiliation, she suddenly recalled the way Caesar had bitten his lip.
Damn it, how is he that sexy?
Even now, her mind was running wild, and she grabbed her head in frustration.
“Ugh, no, no! This isn’t the time for that.”
Not knowing when Caesar might return, she pulled the blanket tightly around herself and fixed her gaze on the tent entrance.
One hour passed. Then two.
At some point, exhaustion won, and she fell asleep without realizing it.
When she startled awake, sunlight was streaming in from the tent’s entrance.
What was he doing all night that he didn’t even come back?
She felt relieved that she hadn’t run into him yet, but at the same time, guilt nagged at her.
She had done more than enough to provoke Caesar, and he might have spent the night outside because of her.
Her unease only grew as she thought about how much she had pushed him.
Just then, the scent of stew wafted in from outside the tent.
“Should I at least pretend to help with something?”
After tidying her clothes, Odette stepped outside—and immediately froze.
From the elevated grassy hill where she stood, the entire encampment was visible.
At least fifty tents stretched across the plains.
Burly knights moved between them, tending to their duties.
It seemed the entire order of knights stationed to blockade Raon Town had camped here.
All this trouble just to capture one person—me?
“Lady Odette, you’re awake?”
Aden approached with a welcoming smile.
“Sir Aden, I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”
She offered a slight bow in greeting before asking,
“Where exactly are we?”
“We’re at the entrance to the Hoan District. Once we confirmed you were at the Count’s estate, we set off from Raon Town at full speed… but, well, our lord rode so hard that we still ended up a day behind him.”
“So that’s why Sir Caesar arrived at the Count’s estate alone.”
The memory of him storming into the greenhouse on horseback flashed through her mind, making her clutch the hem of her dress.
“What exactly happened at the Count’s estate? When our lord arrived at the camp carrying you unconscious, he was radiating such a terrifying aura that none of us dared to ask.”
Caesar hadn’t even mentioned Erik to his own second-in-command, Aden?
Odette bit her lip in disbelief.
Sheltering a dark sorcerer was considered a grave crime in the Empire.
And for the son of a Count—who had once been the Emperor’s own mentor—to be revealed as one? It would shake the entire Empire.
The Emperor, unwilling to let his reputation be tarnished, will deal with Erik and the Count swiftly and ruthlessly.
Caesar was holding onto the most effective way to destroy the Count—so what exactly was he waiting for?
“Lady Odette?”
“Ah, well… the greenhouse was destroyed.”
“You fainted because the greenhouse was damaged?”
“…Something like that.”
“I see. His Lordship carried you into the tent looking deathly pale, but he assured us you just needed rest.”
“Yes… I’m fine now.”
Her body might have recovered, but her soul was on the verge of dying from embarrassment.
She still hadn’t figured out how to face Caesar.
Hesitating, she finally asked,
“Where is Sir Caesar now?”
“Our lord swam in the river all night, and at dawn, he left to go hunting.”
“He… went hunting?”
It seemed he had endured a rather difficult night.
Oh no! Did I set his body on fire?
