Zero pillows

“Hmmhm…….”

Katya, who had been traveling in dreamland for some time, leaning on Nikolai’s shoulder, woke up and rubbed her eyes.

She opened her eyes to find herself in a swaying carriage.

Nikolai, whose head was slightly tilted down, looked up and locked eyes with her.

“You’re awake?”

“Where are we going?”

“I heard there was an empty room at a hotel in the city center, so we’re on our way there. We’ve both been up all night. I thought we might as well get some rest.”

Nikolai didn’t bother to add that Boris had saved the day.

He, who has given his best as an aide, will undoubtedly feel deeply pained once he realizes that his efforts have been buried in oblivion.

But that wasn’t what mattered to Nikolai right now.

His eyes dropped back down.

Katya followed his gaze to where it had stopped, and then panicked.

He was looking exactly at her legs.

She sucked in a breath as his gaze seemed to pierce through the fabric of her skirt.

‘Why is he looking at my legs like that?’

It wasn’t a leer, it was blatant.

At that time, the words Katya had heard from Alyona since childhood came to her mind.

“All men are predators!”

“Aren’t there any herbivores? Squirrels, rabbits, something like that?”

“I’m sure there’s a herbivore out there somewhere, but when do you sit down to find out what kind of man you’re dealing with? It’s best to just be careful of everything at first.”

“Be careful of what?”

Alyona paused for a moment, unsure of how to answer the young ladies’ question.

“Well, the short answer is that you princesses shouldn’t trust anyone except for our duke!”

Is this the kind of situation Alyona was talking about when she said to be careful?

Even if I hadn’t been taught, I knew intuitively.

The look in Nikolai’s eyes was different than usual.

“He even likes me, doesn’t he? I mean, does that mean I can trust him like my father?

After a moment of quick thinking, Nikolai suddenly reached out to her and grabbed the hem of her skirt.

“Grand Duke, what are you doing?”

“I can’t think of anything.”

“Can’t think of what?”

“My whole nerve is there, and I can’t stand it, and I think I must see for myself, so please forgive my rudeness.”

Katya caught the hand that was about to lift her skirt.

This was a small area, and the man in front of her was fondling her and spouting strange-sounding words.

Sensing danger, she stuttered.

“I mean, what do you want to see?”

“Can you give me a minute, I’m in a hurry.”

Nikolai said pleadingly, his blue eyes shining.

No, I mean, what’s urgent!

“Sorry. I’ll hit you later.”

Without any hesitation, he lifted up the hem of her dress to her knees.

As the fabric covering her legs was lifted, an instant chill ran down her legs.

It was the first time she had shown her bare legs to a man, and it made all the hairs on her body stand on end.

“Grand Duke, we’re not like this yet!”

Katya exclaimed, rolling her eyes.

“Ha……. Oh, my God.”

A muffled sigh made her open her eyes.

Nikolai was looking at her legs, his brow furrowed.

“You’ve been putting up with this all this time?”

Katya finally realized that her knee was torn and bleeding.

She got a cut on the hardwood floor when she’d fallen over to change Judith’s item at the hotel.

By the time she realized it, the blood had hardened into a crust.

“I didn’t even realize I was hurt.”

“It’s my fault. I saw you fall earlier and didn’t pay attention. When I put you in the carriage, I saw the blood on the front hem of your skirt.”

“My skirt?”

She unfolded her skirt and saw that there was indeed blood on it.

It was a commoner’s dress, so it didn’t have a layered design, and the fabric was thin, so it had soaked through quickly.

“I waited until you were awake before I lifted your skirt, but it had been a long time, and I kept wondering if it was an emergency.”

“No, then you should have said so! Instead of just saying it out loud and without a purpose. You’re misleading people!”

“Sorry. All I could see was your knee.”

He pulled out antiseptic and ointment from the first aid kit he kept under the chair.

“It’s going to sting a little, no, a lot.”

“Then can’t you just not do it?”

Katya said, looking horrified, before he could reach for the disinfectant-soaked cloth.

“It’ll only make the wound worse.”

“And how many scars do you have on your body, Grand Duke?”

“One raw slash on your body hurts me more than the dozens of scars on mine.”

“…….”

“I would rather have dozens more scars on my body than to see you hurt again.”

What does it feel like to have someone else’s small scars hurt more than your own big scars?

Katya wondered.

I suppose it depends on how much you love that person.

Of course, whenever Bianca had been sick in the past, she’d wished it was hers, but that was different.

Bianca is family to her, flesh and blood.

But for Nikolai, Katya was someone else who would have been someone else for the rest of his life if they hadn’t ended up married.

“Isn’t it too much to trade one scar for dozens? I’d much rather have another shattered knee.”

“You and I are different.”

“Different in what way? Because you’re a man and I’m a woman?”

Nikolai shook his head at that.

“I am a man of many scars, and here they are barely noticeable, but you were raised by your parents with nothing but love and pampering. I have earned the right to be the guardian of such a precious daughter, and I will not hurt you. I am obligated to return you safely to my father-in-law at the end of this contract.”

“…….”

“So it’s a big deal, because I’m already starting to regret not sending you home.”

There’s no way I could argue with that.

Katya finally gave in and grabbed her skirt with both hands.

Nikolai quickly finished disinfecting and treating her, grimacing as if he were sick himself whenever she squeezed her eyes shut in pain.

As he bandaged her ointment-covered knee, he paused and slowly looked up at her as a thought occurred to him.

“By the way, did you have a misunderstanding…… earlier?”

Nikolai trailed off, a coy glint in his eye.

The corners of his mouth curved into a gentle smile.

“What could our Grand Duchess have misunderstood?”

“Oh, nothing!”

“You said we weren’t together like that yet. If not yet, does that mean you intend to one day?”

“No!”

“Any relationship would be fine. In fact, I wouldn’t mind if you wanted to undress me right now. If it’s you, I can give you access to my body.”

As he said this, he pulled down the buttons of his chemise with one hand.

As his pectoral muscles became more and more exposed, the more vulnerable Katya clutched at the hem of his open garment with both hands.

Then she yanked it open and buttoned it up to his neck.

“This is awkward.”

“What married man would want to expose himself?”

“Can’t I show my wife?”

“No, no, no, you have to keep it wrapped up as tight as possible, even in front of me!”

“What, are you wrapping fresh chicken at a butcher shop? You don’t need to be so uptight.”

“If you don’t wrap it tightly enough, the bugs will fly in and it will spoil, so it’s just as dangerous!”

“If the bugs get tangled up, you can catch them.”

Nikolai whispered, tucking a strand of strawberry-gold hair behind her ear that had fallen across her forehead.

“I don’t care if it’s a bug or something, you’re just dangerous in your own right!”

“Why is it dangerous? Is it because when I undress, it becomes too captivating, and your gaze keeps wandering? If you want to attack, you can strike anytime. After all, my body doesn’t belong to me; it belongs to you.”

“Honestly, it’s you, Your Majesty, who has caused me to misunderstand.”

“I did?”

“Why do you look at me like that? Your eyes seemed menacing, so I thought you were planning something.”

“By like that, you mean something like this?”

His playful expression suddenly changed.

Katya was startled by the lascivious look on his face and covered his most dangerous eyes with her small hand.

Nikolai, whose vision was suddenly obscured, let out a gasp without removing her hand.

“Prohibited, prohibited! All prohibited!”

If a man could be guilty by the look in his eyes, he was certainly guilty.

With a smirk, he snatched her hand out of her grasp.

“Did I make you expect something? If so, you should have said so. I am more than willing to fulfill your expectations.”

“I wasn’t expecting anything.”

He gently turned her clasped hand over and kissed the back of her soft hand.

“Shall I start from the lips? If you’re into something classic, we can begin by holding hands, then move on to hugging, and eventually, a kiss would be okay too. Now that we’re already holding hands, should we go for a quick kiss all at once?”

“Seriously, why are you doing this…….”

Katya said in exasperation, as if she couldn’t win.

“I’m not a manipulative person who’s going to force my feelings on someone who doesn’t have a heart. So there’s no need to worry.”

Nikolai stopped teasing.

The hotel lobby was thankfully quiet, probably due to the usual evening rush of check-ins and check-outs.

Once inside the room, Nikolai stripped off his robe and lay on his side on the bed first.

“Come here, Tia.”

“I’ll sleep on the couch.”

His brow creased in disapproval.

“They say a married couple should share a bed no matter what.”

“But I thought they didn’t do that at the palace. I’ve read in books that the monarch and queen usually have separate bedrooms in any country.”

“So we’ll have to share a bed even before we enter the palace. Why waste all this time?”

Nikolai stretched his left arm out to the side as if it were an arm pillow, and then gestured for her to come over and lay her head on it.

“Why when I already have two pillows?”

Katya said, pointing to the pillows lying on the bed.

With that, he grabbed all the two pillows he could get his hands on and threw them out the window.

“Now there’s zero.”

Said the shrew, who had eliminated the remaining alternatives in one fell swoop.