Chapter 161
âDo you want me to cinch the waist tighter?â
Jamie asked from behind as she pulled on the laces.
I stared silently at my reflection in the mirror.
Wearing a proper dress instead of a shirt and skirt was exactly as complicated as Iâd expected.
Maybe because I wasnât used to it, I looked awkward and ridiculous in a dress â so different from when I saw one on someone else.
I wonder when I’ll get used to it.
It wasnât my first time wearing it, yet it was so uncomfortable I wanted to take it off right away.
“Letâs just undo everything.”
“You wonât look good like that.”
“Still, itâs so suffocating. I canât even breathe.”
Jamie slipped her fingers between the laces and waist, gently shaking them.
“Itâs loose enough, are you lying?”
“Jamie… Iâm a patient.”
I dragged out the end of my sentence in a pleading tone, but it was no use.
“Only when itâs convenient for you, huh? Youâve been getting great preventive treatment lately, so youâre fine.”
Jamie was completely heartless.
I gave up on comfort and turned my body, and Jamie tightened the laces a little more before asking,
“Are you really okay?”
“What do you mean?”
Jamieâs eyes scanned my body.
“Even with the treatment, Iâm wondering if itâs too much, you know⌠doing it so often.”
The look in her eyes made it clear what she was asking.
“No! It wasnât often.”
That was a clear misunderstanding.
Iâd only gone as far as Jamie was thinking twice, and the frequency, if weâre counting, was more like five or six times. But it was hard to scold Jamie for such a huge misunderstanding.
Thatâs because I was having just as much, if not more, intimate contact every morning.
Even if I wanted to escape Heliosâs touch, there was no time to. By the time I woke up, he was already touching me.
When I opened my eyes wide in surprise, he would smile like cotton candy and say,
âTime for your treatment.â
It was impossible to push away that beautiful face.
Everything went exactly as I expected.
Once we started sharing a bed, our mornings became longer, and the rumors spread far and wide throughout the palace.
It was boiling like a furnace,
Demyr snorted and even spouted some nonsense.
âAm I going to be a grandmother at this rate? Ugh, I hate kids. So, for the babyâs room, should it be pink, or blue? Actually, green is all the rage these days, right?â
Demyr was a bull. Considering the speed at which her drive and imagination spread, no adjective could be more fitting than âbull.â If I had to come up with another one, maybe a bulldozer?
Anyway, if the rumors spread any further, itâd be impossible to get married to another person in the future. I wasnât really one to care much about marriage in the first place, but there was a difference between having the opportunity and not.
While I kept feeling like everything was doomed, Jamie tightened the corset around my waist.
âOof!â
âYou’ve got to do this.â
I grabbed my stomach and looked back at Jamie, but she had already stepped back, her hands off me.
Jamie checked her watch.
“Thereâs about thirty minutes until His Majesty sends the carriage. Would you like a cup of tea?”
“Iâll just eat plenty when I get there, no need.”
I waved my hand, and Jamie started tidying up the scattered accessories.
What was Terman thinking when he called me?
I wasnât even meeting him with Helios.
I had naturally assumed Iâd meet with him and Helios, so when Helios told me to go alone, my mouth twitched in surprise.
His Majesty is rather troublesome.
Imagining such an awkward meeting made my palms sweat. I rubbed my hand against the fabric of my dress and headed toward the balcony.
Would the cool breeze help calm my nerves?
I didn’t tremble when I met Demyr, who was rumored to be vicious.
Why was I trembling now, just thinking about meeting Terman?
Is it because I have no information on him at all?
I had no idea what Terman might say. In the original story, his role was very minor, so his motivations and words were a mystery to me.
His name had been mentioned often, but there were no scenes where he played an active role.
It was all just passing descriptions.
– Helios cursed at Terman after meeting him.
– Terman and Demyr had a war of words.
– Terman entrusts Macaulay with the protocol of Byzantian Prince.
The author never directly revealed Terman’s thoughts.
So, he remained a vague character to me, like a cloud in the sky.
I stopped trying to imagine what he might say when we met. Without information, imagining was pointless. At this point, there was no choice but to meet him directly and face him.
I rested my arms on the balcony railing and propped my chin on it, watching the clouds drift by.
