Chapter 38 – Unyielding Spirits

“No, I don’t mean it like that…” Levisia attempted to remedy her carelessness, but Pel had turned his back from her as she tried to explain. “Forget it.”

“Wait, wait a minute.” Levisia snatched Pel’s arm just before he could turn the handle of the door. Pel looked down at her hand and then raised an eyebrow. He used to look arrogant before his identity was discovered; now, he looked rather menacing. Levisia continued hastily, “I just don’t think it’s right to let you share the room with the Second Prince.”

As she tried to come up with an excuse, Pel opened his mouth and said, “To me, both rooms are the same.”

“What?”

“For someone like me.”

“Ah.”

Pel must think that Levisia was stopping him because of their social distinction. ‘Well, I guess there isn’t a better reason than that.’ A servant sleeping in the same room as a prince or a princess, from Pel’s lenses, it was the same. He pointed out, “Sleeping in your room is even more out of the question.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Well, I do.” Pel’s eyes darkened as he spoke, “If not, should I sleep outside?”

“What? Of course not.” Levisia knew it was too late to begin a good relationship with Pel, but even so, making him sleep outside was out of the question. “You lost your bed because of me, so sleep in my room,” she insisted.

“Why is it your fault? If we are finding a fault that is.” Pel’s gaze shifted toward the center of the door, “It’s all because of the person inside the room.”

‘At this rate, Reign will overhear the conversation.’ Levisia grabbed Pel’s arm and pulled him. Pel protested, “I’m not going.” But Levisia was persistent, and spouted an excuse, “It’s lonely being alone.”

“Right, as if.” Pel snorted.

‘Was my lie too obvious?’ Levisia deemed it was understandable since Pel didn’t even like being touched; asking him to sleep in the same room might be… Suddenly, Levisia stopped walking at a sudden realization. She had been holding onto Pel’s arm right now. Baffled, she asked, “You… Why aren’t you avoiding it?”

Pel stared at her, “Avoiding what?”

“You normally don’t like coming into contact with other people.”

Then, as if he had only realized, Pel immediately pulled his arm away. Levisia narrowed her eyes at him, “Did you pretend to hate it until now because of the wig?”

Pel was silent. Instead of replying, a frown wrinkled his forehead. His expression alone was an answer. Then, he seemed to think of something else as he looked down at her and asked, “Then what about you, Your Highness. You avoided me until now but did you change your mind because of that person?”

His words caught Levisia by surprise. She felt she ought to reprimand him for referring to a person in such a way, but she couldn’t bring herself to. She felt as though she had been caught, but her words spoke otherwise. “You told me not to avoid you anymore.”

This time, it was Pel who was caught off-guard.

“Isn’t that what you said just now?” Levisia added, relief flooding her heart as she barely managed to save herself from another doom. Seeing his expression settle down, she thought her bluff must have been correct. ‘Maybe… he was upset about this?’ she wondered. Although she doubted it, she used it as an opportunity.

“Sleep in my room tonight. It’s an order.”

Pel let out a sigh in defeat.

* * *

‘Maybe I wasn’t actually afraid of Pel,’ she thought to herself as she looked at Pel who was sitting on folded blankets from the bed. Levisia asked, “Aren’t you going to take off your wig?”

“Why have you kept mentioning my wig since just now?” Pel retorted.

“Well…” Unable to find an appropriate response, Levisia turned her gaze away from him. Her eyes swept the open page of the book she usually read before falling asleep. Deep inside, she thought,‘Would it be weird if I said I wanted to see him without his wig on?’ Despite her effort, she found it difficult to not stare at Pel’s wig. ‘I want to tidy up that messy hair of his.’

As her gaze lingered on his disheveled wig, Pel turned to look at me and spoke up, “Do you not recall the contract?”

“Of course I do,” she muttered.

“Then why do you keep…”

“Stop digging, I get it. I didn’t know we weren’t allowed to even refer to it.”

“It’s the same thing.”

“Oh, is it?” Then, Levisia was left without a choice. Withdrawing her interest, she diverted her attention to the book. She intended for the consequences of breaking the contract to remain a mystery to her. After flipping a few pages, Pel was still seated in the same position. Curious, Levisia asked, “Aren’t you going to sleep?”