It Seems Like The Infamous Trash Can is Right Here! - Chapter 188
Serenia blinked slowly, heavy-lidded, gazing up at him through the haze of sleep.
Watching her like that made his mouth dry. His body, heedless and shameless, responded at once, but Lionel only smiled gently, calmly, as if nothing were amiss.
Deceived by that tender, harmless smile, Serenia relaxed again and melted back into his embrace. Holding her, Lionel stepped off the bed and headed for the bath.
“Serenia, should we leave for Hered a little earlier than planned?”
“I don’t mind… but why so suddenly?”
Adjusting the faucet, Lionel tested the water as the tub filled with warm water.
“The weather’s turning colder faster than I expected.”
“All right. We can have the rest of the things sent ahead. Let’s do as you say.”
She must have realized it wasn’t just the chill he was thinking of. The night before, they’d discussed all that needed to be resolved before leaving the capital.
When the bathwater was ready, Lionel seated her in the tub. He slipped off his jacket and vest, tossing them carelessly over the massage bed, then began to undo his cufflinks.
Rolling up his sleeves, Lionel stepped closer to the bath, and there she was, submerged to her shoulders, only her wide eyes peeking out above the surface.
The way she blinked with her big, bright, impossibly endearing eyes, would have made him smile on any other day. But he knew that look. She did that when something weighed on her mind. His expression stiffened.
“Serenia, what’s wrong?”
“Ah… it’s nothing.”
She shook her head quickly, then lowered her gaze, making Lionel’s heart plummet.
She’d avoided his gaze just now.
‘Did I do something wrong?’
There were things that had been gnawing at him.
She needed to try on her tailored dress and make final adjustments, but if they were to leave the capital immediately, that would have to be skipped and the same went for the accessories.
There were other things she must have needed as well, and yet he hadn’t made the time for her, too consumed by work.
He could never allow her to explore out alone. So every day, Serenia stayed cooped within this stifling mansion, unable to even enjoy a proper date.
And now, after all that, he was using the weather as an excuse to flee the capital. How could she not resent him?
But the gentle, considerate Serenia had said nothing, had only smiled and agreed to whatever he asked. That was what hurt most, and was what made him ache with guilt.
‘But… keeping her in the capital any longer would be far too dangerous.’
Unsure what to say, he bit down on the inside of his cheek and then felt the light touch of her fingers against his arm. They pressed gently over the raised veins along his forearm, as though testing their pulse.
When their eyes met, she startled and looked away again.
It happened over and over as he washed her.
Serenia’s gaze would dart toward the wet shirt clinging to his torso, toward the forearm exposed by his rolled sleeves, but the moment he looked her way, she turned her eyes aside.
‘What should I do…?’
He could guess what she was feeling, but finding the right way to address it was the hardest thing of all for Lionel.
* * *
‘What to do, what to do.’
I was doing everything I could to hold down the corners of my mouth which seemed to want to break out in dance.
Did you know that sometimes, not being naked is far more indecent than being bare.
Lionel was the perfect example of that right now.
From the moment he took off his jacket and vest, rolled up his sleeves with that deliberate ease, I’d been gasping under my breath nonstop.
And how about that wet shirt clinging to his torso?
‘I must be losing my mind…’
Whatever had happened at the Imperial Palace, it had left Lionel’s face shadowed. He said nothing as he quietly washed me, his expression unreadable. This was not the time to be staring at him like that.
But I couldn’t help myself, which was a big problem.
‘I wish I could take a picture of him. A hundred of them. Print them all, hide them somewhere,
and look at them alone…’
