Luo Lan looked at her helplessly.
The girl under the quilt felt uneasy under his gaze, so she slid down a little further.
“Your Highness, if you slide down any more, you’ll end up sleeping on the floor, quilt and all.”
He sighed helplessly, picked up the bowl of porridge from the tray, and sat down at the bedside. Only then did Chloe slowly poke her head out from under the covers.
Luo Lan had thought she was just acting spoiled as an excuse, but when he scooped up a spoonful of porridge and offered it to her, Chloe really did lean back against the headboard, lips slightly parted, waiting for him to feed her, as if it were only natural. She couldn’t even be bothered to move her hands, just letting them rest crossed atop the quilt.
One spoonful, two spoonfuls.
The young man lowered his gaze and saw Chloe tilting her face up, looking at him with an almost innocent expression.
He sneered inwardly.
—All right, let’s see how long you can keep this act up.
Chloe swallowed the last mouthful of porridge, then licked the corner of her lips with her pink tongue, still unsatisfied.
“Mr. Luo Lan, help me wipe my mouth.”
Without changing his expression, the boy put down the bowl, and very slowly picked up a napkin from the edge of the tray to wipe her face.
Just as Chloe was about to make an even more outrageous request—like having him wait on her for her morning wash—the door was knocked.
Luo Lan raised his brows, and, in the instant Chloe’s eyes widened, leisurely withdrew his hand.
—Heh, here comes someone who can keep you in check.
“Your Highness.”
Elia’s voice sounded from outside the door. Chloe’s gaze shifted instantly from hopeful to resentful, and she glared at Luo Lan. The latter, however, got up in good spirits and went to open the door.
Elia stood outside, slightly out of breath, her fair cheeks tinged with pink—it looked as if she’d hurried over. She greeted Luo Lan with a slight bow, and her voice softened considerably.
“Thank you, Mr. Luo Lan, for your help.”
After he stepped aside, instead of leaving, he leaned against the wall, half-smiling as he looked at Chloe on the bed. Elia entered the room, but sensed the atmosphere was odd. She looked at Luo Lan, then at Chloe, who was bundled up like a silkworm, and asked with some confusion,
“Her Highness…”
“Her Highness said she was so weak she couldn’t even hold a spoon, so I was just about to double-check Her Highness’s condition.”
As soon as he finished speaking, Chloe’s gaze turned even more resentful.
But Elia didn’t mind these things. She turned and signaled to the maids waiting outside the door, then personally wrung out a hot towel and bent down to wipe Chloe’s face.
Luo Lan leaned against the wall, watching Chloe’s lips tighten under Elia’s care, seeing the flash of annoyance in her eyes, and almost couldn’t hold back his laughter.
As expected, everyone has their nemesis—Elia is the only one who can handle her.
After the washing was done, the room grew quiet again. Luo Lan looked at Chloe sitting on the bed, staring fixedly at him from beginning to end, and blinked.
“From what I can see, Your Highness’s health… seems just fine, doesn’t it?”
Chloe pressed her lips together and turned away in a huff. Seeing her stubbornness, Luo Lan didn’t say anything more, and turned to leave with Elia.
He had just reached the door when the girl called out from behind.
“Luo Lan!”
He stopped and looked back at her.
“Do you… have any plans for today?”
Chloe’s fingers twisted the edge of the quilt. Before she could finish her sentence, Luo Lan nodded and replied, “Come to think of it, I do have things to do today…”
“…You can’t use Teleportation Magic in your condition, so it’s time to start packing for the trip to the royal capital.”
“You’re going with me?”
Luo Lan nodded, “That’s right.”
Chloe stared at him intently. After a brief silence, she suddenly threw off the covers and stood up right on the bed.
Luo Lan stared at her in shock, and the moment his gaze landed on the hem of her nightgown, he quickly turned away, covering his forehead.
The girl’s nightgown clearly couldn’t cover her completely. When she stood, the hem rode up, revealing her smooth, pale thighs, and… the faint outline of her white lace-trimmed panties.
The air froze for a moment.
Elia’s face turned instantly as dark as the bottom of a pot. She darted forward, yanked the quilt up, and wrapped Chloe tightly in it.
“Your Highness!” The Chief Maid’s voice was furious. “Do you have no sense of decorum as a noble at all!”
When Luo Lan returned to his own room, it was already afternoon.
He closed the door behind him, shutting out the sound of the maids’ hurried footsteps in the corridor. The only sounds left were the occasional crackle of the fire in the hearth, and his own breathing.
There wasn’t much to pack, really.
Standing in the center of the room, Luo Lan looked around at the place he had lived for seven years.
The bookcase was crammed with Magic Tomes, the titles on the spines glimmering faintly in the firelight. On the windowsill sat a pot of long-dead flowers—Chloe had given them to him three years ago. But Luo Lan had forgotten to water them once, and by the time he noticed, it was too late to save them. A map of Northern Yankton County hung on the wall, densely marked with every place he’d visited over the years.
He pulled a few changes of clothes from the wardrobe, all prepared for him by Elia over the years.
Next was the map—Luo Lan drew out a detailed map of the entire Kingdom, marked with the location of the royal capital, Valgard.
He had visited that grand city countless times in his previous round, and it was as familiar as his own home. But this time, as his finger touched the circled spot, a strange sense of unfamiliarity welled up inside him.
He grabbed a few books to pass the time and, after a moment’s hesitation, stuffed them into his Magic Backpack. As for travel supplies like Mana Crystals and Healing Potions, he had already had Elia prepare them; now they sat neatly stacked in the corner of the desk.
The Magic Backpack was a convenient and common magical tool; it looked just like an ordinary backpack on the outside, but inside, it was linked to a stable space.
Luo Lan packed his things one by one, his movements somewhat mechanical.
He remembered when he first arrived, Chloe had to stand on tiptoe just to hand him the backpack. Back then, her silver hair only reached her shoulders, and her voice was sweet and clear—not at all like now, when she would secretly play tricks on him.
Footsteps in the hallway grew more frequent; the maids were busy making final preparations for tomorrow’s journey. This time, Elia would be going as well, to take care of Chloe’s daily needs, while Slood would stay behind to look after the house.
Luo Lan lay down on his bed, hands behind his head. After a while, he opened his palm and summoned the cool, exquisite little cube. With a tap, the pages unfolded in midair, the golden and purple lines lying quietly there as always.
For a moment, Luo Lan felt as nervous as a scholar traveling to the capital for the imperial exam.
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