Chapter 202 : Caught By Princess

And here it was—the problem.

The biggest headache of all.

With every other issue, Felyn could just say,“I’ll give you an answer tomorrow.”

But not this one.

Adelina’s question was far too direct, far too pointed.

She was clearly asking:“After our contract ends… will you still like me?”

But love wasn’t something you could brush off like that.

What was he supposed to say?

“I’ll like you tomorrow instead?”

Or maybe:“My feelings are still kind of unclear, so let me think it over and tell you tomorrow.”

But even unclear feelings were a kind of answer.

You only felt “uncertain” when you’d already developed improper emotions toward a client.

And Felyn had always made his stance clear—never develop feelings.

Even when something inappropriate tried to bloom, he made sure to stamp it out right away.

So what now?

How should he respond?

Felyn understood how Adelina felt about him.

If he rejected her outright now, there was no telling how she might react. Emotional instability could harm both her and himself.

As he hesitated, a familiar silhouette appeared at the end of the corridor.

That distinctive shade of pink—

“Viloti? What are you doing here?”

The moment Felyn saw her, he called out—not just to greet her, but to make sure Adelina heard him too.

Sure enough, at the sound of Viloti’s name, Adelina took two steps back and instinctively reached up to fix her hair.

“Miss Viloti! What a coincidence, running into you here.”

Viloti shot Adelina a look.A coincidence?

They had arrived together just earlier. What nonsense.

Viloti had come with Adelina but had slipped away from the banquet hall. She wasn’t fond of social events and had ducked into this secluded corridor.

She hadn’t expected to run into Adelina and Felyn here together.

“Adelina, what are you doing out here?”

“I—I just wanted to ask Felyn a few things.”

“No.”

Viloti stepped forward, positioning herself protectively between Adelina and Felyn.

“What…? Miss Viloti, what did you say?”

Adelina blinked, confused.

“You can’t ask him anything. Not tonight.”

Felyn stared at Viloti’s back. Something about her felt unusually insistent tonight.

Had she overheard their conversation just now?

Had Adelina already gotten her answer?

Felyn was overthinking.

Viloti had known about Adelina’s feelings for a while. But of course, she didn’t want Adelina to hear the answer tonight.

The sooner Adelina found out that Felyn didn’t like her, the better it would be for Viloti.

But right now, she’d seen the reluctant look on Felyn’s face—how he was struggling to answer.

If Felyn didn’t want to answer…

Then she would be the one to step in and protect him.

“Miss Viloti, I just want to talk to him. We can settle things between us afterward, alright?”

Adelina still thought Viloti was acting out of jealousy—upset to see her alone with Felyn.

She hadn’t noticed Felyn’s troubled expression while she was speaking.

“No.”

Viloti didn’t bother explaining anything.

She simply stood guard, shielding Felyn with her presence.

“Miss Viloti, what are you doing?”

Adelina reached around her, grabbing hold of the arm Viloti had wrapped around Felyn.

She tried to pull him to her side.

Viloti pulled back.

Felyn stood caught between the two, just about to speak when—

He felt it.

The air was growing colder.

A faint purple shimmer appeared in his peripheral vision.

“Your Highness…?”

The side door creaked open.

Felyn looked up to see Dorothy—and Zervanie—standing at the entrance.

Crap.

He was being pulled between two beautiful girls… and now Dorothy had seen everything!

He had just been thinking:As long as I’m in a public setting… as long as I don’t run into Dorothy and Adelina at the same time… there’s no real risk.

And now he’d managed to screw up both.

Dorothy’s face looked exactly like it had the night she had spun him around in a jealous rage.

Was she going to snap again—in front of everyone?

Dorothy’s mind went completely blank.

She couldn’t accept what she was seeing—Felyn, touching other girls.

In truth, she didn’t even want him speaking to other girls.

“Felyn, your eyes should only see me. Your world should only include me…”

Because her world already only had him.

But now, not only was he talking to girls…

He was holding their hands.

Two of them!

Dorothy could feel her magic surging wildly inside her.

Her vision was starting to glow violet.

What she wanted to do right now was pull Felyn into her arms, tear down the banquet hall, and drag him away to her private chambers.

There, she would cuff him to the bed.

She’d take off all his clothes herself and carefully wipe every inch of his skin with water.

Just to make sure there wasn’t a single trace of another woman left on him.

Then she’d cuddle up beside him, wrap him in her arms, and sleep peacefully.

Even if she never woke up again—that would be fine.

But she couldn’t do that. Not yet.

Dorothy forcibly suppressed her emotions.

When I become Queen…

That’s when I’ll finally be able to keep Felyn by my side forever.

Right now, she was still too weak.

Too powerless to claim him.

“Apologies for arriving late,” Dorothy said, voice calm.

She and Adelina exchanged polite smiles, their gazes clashing like swords in the air.

“Traffic in the capital is just awful tonight. Is everyone enjoying themselves?”

Dorothy emphasized the last few words, her smile icy as she stared at Adelina.

“I just got here too, Your Highness,” Adelina replied with a smile of her own. “I came here to ask Felyn a few questions before heading into the banquet.”

Dorothy’s eyes fell to Felyn’s hands—still held by both girls.

He didn’t even seem to notice, too distracted by his fear of her snapping.

Her eye twitched. The corner of her smile stiffened.

“What are you two doing? Why are you still holding Felyn’s hands?”

“Are you addicted to touching him or something?! Let go! Let go, right now!”

“You’re doing this on purpose, aren’t you? You’re deliberately trying to touch him!”

“This isn’t the place to talk. Let’s all head to the banquet hall.”

Dorothy stepped forward and reached out, prying the girls’ hands off Felyn’s arms one at a time.

She wasn’t going to let them keep touching her Felyn.

In her mind, this wasn’t over.

She just needed to get them away from him for now.

There would be more chances tonight.

And so the three girls—Dorothy, Adelina, and Viloti—walked together toward the banquet hall, arms linked in seemingly perfect harmony.

But each girl’s heart was anything but calm.

The harmony didn’t last long either.

Viloti slowly pulled her arm free from Dorothy’s grasp.

As someone who was extremely socially anxious, she wasn’t used to such close physical contact.

Behind them followed Felyn and Zervanie.

Zervanie stared at the three girls ahead of them, completely lost as to what was going on.

Still… if the Princess could keep Adelina and Viloti busy for the rest of the night, then none of them would be left by Felyn’s side.

Zervanie glanced at Felyn.

Maybe… just maybe… this would be her only chance tonight to finally be alone with him.

(End of Chapter)