At the same time the scheming royal sister and the cold-blooded noble lady were laying their cards on the table and testing each other, Caine stared at the ice-blue lip prints on his lower body and fell into silence.
The good news was that, unlike the previous two times, things weren’t a complete mess or a total disaster that made it obvious he had been used intensely. The bad news was that although there were no signs of heavy use, full kiss marks had been deliberately left on his lower abdomen and the side of his shaft.
This clearly gave Caine a feeling of provocation, as if saying, ‘I could have done it, but I deliberately chose not to.’
Caine was certain he didn’t have them when he left that morning. Therefore, these kiss marks could only have been left by someone who had snuck into his room while he was sleeping at the inn.
“…Seriously, do they really want to make me angry that much?”
Caine cleaned up the evidence of the crime while frowning as he pondered the current situation.
Looking at it now, he was most likely being thoroughly toyed with, as if someone wanted to make him worry on purpose. Altina and Vita both claimed they had been waiting downstairs for Caine to wake up, unless they were the ones ‘abusing their position to steal a taste’ themselves. Otherwise, someone else must have taken advantage of the moment when both of them were away to sneak into the room and do this to him.
While the latter was more probable, the possibility of the former couldn’t be ruled out entirely. The main issue was that Caine had no way to verify it. After all, he couldn’t just ask those two who had sexually assaulted him in his sleep and applied the Queen’s lip makeup to leave kiss marks on his body, could he?
If it was one of them, it would be one thing. If it wasn’t, things would get interesting. What kind of humiliation play was this? It made it seem like he was the pervert for even thinking of asking a duke’s daughter and a princess such a question.
Perhaps because it was already the third time, Caine didn’t react as strongly as he had the first two times. After his initial shock, he quickly regained his composure, wiped away the glaring evidence of the crime, and then left the bathroom as if nothing had happened.
He returned to the room where Vita and Altina were. As it happened, the two were still playing chess, and they had engaged in quite a bit of dialogue before Caine returned.
Noticing Caine’s return, both Vita and Altina tacitly chose to withdraw the tense atmosphere from before. Vita dropped her serious expression and regained her bright smile, while Altina also gave a blank-faced nod toward Caine as if nothing were wrong.
“It’s getting quite late. Let’s play for a little longer and then head back. What do you two think?”
When Caine spoke with a refined and gentle smile, the two naturally agreed without hesitation.
“Of course! My dear Big Sister~”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
“…You two are still calling me that? I won’t help you if Corellia scolds you.”
“Ahaha, don’t worry. Her Majesty won’t be that petty, right, little Altina~?”
“…Please do not ask me about such things, Princess Vita.”
Although the three of them had their own secrets at that moment, they still got along as amiably as usual. Caine did not show any signs of suspicion toward the two, and they did not exhibit any explicitly suspicious behavior. In this manner, no further conflicts occurred until they returned to the Royal Palace.
However, once Caine said his goodbyes and returned to his lounge alone to ‘rest,’ the two who remained in the corridor quickly shifted their mindsets.
“…Then let’s compete fairly as agreed, little Altina. I won’t hand Big Sister over to you, okay?”
Setting aside her usual flighty attitude, Vita wore a confident and sunny smile as she extended her right hand to Altina, indicating that she had no intention of backing down just because she had heard about Altina’s feelings.
“…The one chosen by Her Majesty stays, and the one not chosen gives up. I have no objections.”
Altina remained as intimidatingly serious as ever, but she also extended her right hand and responded to Vita. To an outsider, it looked as if the two had reached some kind of gentleman’s agreement… or rather, it should be called a lady’s agreement. After all, neither of them seemed to plan on falling out or sabotaging the other’s actions.
However, this was ultimately just a facade.
‘Heh, how easy to fool. Altina, you can just go ahead and follow that boring treaty. That man belongs to me. Who’s going to compete with you fairly? The winner takes all!’
‘…Although this violates the noble spirit and is disrespectful to the royal family, I have long been prepared to pay such a price. I’m sorry, Princess Vita, but I must be the one to assist His Majesty.’
Neither Vita nor Altina had any intention of following some lady’s agreement. Both planned to continue their own pursuits of Caine in their own way. Neither was honest; both were bad women in different senses.
Just as the two were engaged in their overt and covert struggles at the door, Caine was having a conversation with someone who shared their same intentions.
“All of these were bestowed upon me by Corellia… no, by Her Majesty?”
Upon returning to his room and seeing even more various styles of clothing on his bed, Caine looked in surprise at Edwina, who was standing properly in the room. He had thought a few outfits would be enough. How could there be even more clothes prepared by the Queen waiting for him in his room upon his return, with the Princess herself waiting for him to tell him about it? This was a level of kindness that simply couldn’t be ignored.
“Yes, Mother. Her Majesty prepared these for you. They are special styles specifically custom-made by someone. I hope you like them.”
The obedient and gentle Edwina remained as respectful as ever. She was carrying out her ‘evil’ plan to make Caine and Corellia a couple so that she could be pampered by both of them.
“…I see. In that case, I shall accept them. Please thank Her Majesty for her kindness on my behalf. Also, I hope she doesn’t prepare too many things. If this continues, I will only feel guilty.”
Since the clothes were already there and custom-fitted to his measurements, Caine couldn’t say he didn’t want them. Therefore, he had no choice but to accept them while hoping Edwina could convey his thoughts to the Queen.
“Yes, I will convey that to Her Majesty… By the way, Mother, did you go out with Lady Altina today? Um… if possible, could you go out with me next time?”
Edwina naturally promised to pass on his message. However, after agreeing, she became somewhat fidgety. Her small face flushed as she summoned her courage to launch her own offensive toward Caine.
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