I Accidentally Kidnapped The Ultimate Villain – Chapter 35

Ch 35

“There’s something I want to ask.”

“Yes.”

Aria looked directly into Killian’s eyes. She started to speak, recalling how he had been following her when she went to meet Melina earlier.

“Why did you think it was dangerous for me to meet Killian’s fiancée?”

“……I don’t know. I just didn’t want Aria to meet that person.”

“The memory…….”

“I don’t remember, but that’s how I felt.”

She almost instinctively lowered her gaze, but realizing that two minutes had probably passed, she looked at his eyes once before lowering her gaze. He knew that two minutes had already passed, so he felt somewhat disappointed. Seeing his disappointed expression, Aria quickly looked away again.

Because I was afraid of the aftermath.

It felt like all of his actions were my fault.

I could understand why Killian relied on me.

It was said that a duckling recognizes the first person it sees as its mother. After losing his memory, Aria was the first person Killian saw. If that’s the case, then it was clear that he was relying on me, his kidnapper, like an imprinting effect.

Perhaps that’s why Aria started to feel afraid as if half of her lifespan had been cut short.

◈◈◈

Since Aria’s room was on the third floor, she had to enter through the back garden that connected to the terrace.

However, there was one problem.

“Why are you only coming now?”

She thought it was a good thing that she had opened the terrace door before Killian. If she hadn’t, they would have been caught.

“Your Highness?”

Lionell was sitting leisurely on the sofa with his arms crossed, looking at her. Aria thought she might have seen Lionell wrong and looked again. She realized she wasn’t mistaken when he smiled and made eye contact with her.

So, she looked apologetically at Killian, who was following behind, and he gave a bitter smile and hid to the side. She felt guilty about his actions for some reason.

‘I’m sorry.’

She whispered softly, and he grabbed Aria’s hand tightly before letting it go.

“Aren’t you coming in?”

Because of his urging words, she had no choice but to turn around.

She was annoyed at how he was sitting on the sofa like a sculpture, so brazenly. He had said he was sorry to her earlier and left, yet here he was, in someone else’s room.

And in a room where the owner wasn’t even present.

“Your Highness, why do you keep entering other people’s rooms without permission?”

Then, he got up from the sofa and approached Aria. However, she deliberately walked towards Lionell because Killian was on the terrace behind her. She felt anxious that Killian would be discovered if she stayed near the terrace.

“I said I’d wait outside.”

“……Liar.”

“I’m serious. Duke Dolorein told me to wait here.”

She couldn’t understand why Duke Dolorein, who had clearly said that any man was fine for her, was suddenly acting like this.

He had proceeded with the engagement as quickly as lightning striking a bean.

Then, she wondered if perhaps, from the Duke’s perspective, he knew his daughter better because he had seen her for so long. He had suddenly said he hated the person he had loved for almost 15 years.

A father who cherished his daughter like his own life might think that her words were just a tantrum. In the original story, he had never sacrificed Aria for political reasons.

Her actions must not have seemed genuine to the Duke.

So, Aria thought that maybe he was avoiding her now.

“You have a maple leaf in your red hair.”

“Ah……!”

She was startled and flinched at the touch that was removing the maple leaf from her hair. Then, he looked at Aria, laughing as if he found it amusing.

“Your hair often does that. It suits you well.”

Aria was flustered as he handed her the maple leaf with a pretty smile. Then, he tried to take her hand. When Aria tried to avoid it, Lionell thought it was a joke and tried to grab it again.

“D-don’t……!”

―Screech!

“Oh my!”

Aria was startled when the hawk on the perch flapped its wings, and she leaned forward and headbutted him. The problem was that it was Lionell’s chest.

“I, I was very surprised…… Ugh.”

His hands, as if lost, were flailing behind her back before he unknowingly pulled her into an embrace.

“This…….”

“It’s okay.”

He hugged her very tightly under the pretext of comforting her. However, Aria thought it was very strange. Usually, when someone is being comforted, they pat your back, which is normal.

Lionell hugged her so tightly that she was almost suffocating.

She felt like the head she had bumped hurt even more than the previous bump. Her heart was pounding with surprise and wouldn’t calm down, but Lionell’s heartbeat was also pounding loudly.

Of course, in a different way.

She was sure that he was acting like this because he was also scared of the hawk.

“Let me go.”

She began to calm down as the hawk didn’t move and only tilted its head. And she gradually began to regain her reason. She gestured as if to ask him to let her go, feeling uncomfortable being held by him.

Then, Lionell hugged her very tightly as if he was reluctant before letting her go.

“Are you okay?”

“Yes…….”

She looked at the perch on the table as he let her go.

Only then did she realize. What Lionell had said to her earlier was about this hawk.

The hawk had a small sign hanging around its neck, with writing in elegant cursive.

『I’ll be at Ice Flower from 12 o’clock.』

Oh my goodness.

Did he really want to be kidnapped so badly that he asked me to come?

She recalled how he had readily agreed when she asked him if he wanted to be kidnapped by her, and her head began to throb.

“Is your head okay?”

Aria, who had been distracted by being wary of the hawk, belatedly noticed Lionell’s hand stroking her head. However, this time, he wasn’t touching her pigtails like before, but was pressing down on the top of her head as if he was worried about the spot she had bumped, as if hoping a bump wouldn’t form.

“Your Highness.”

“Call me by my name.”

“Your Highness, why did you come?”

At her cold attitude, he was looking at her with a disappointed face.

She couldn’t understand why everyone liked being called by their name so much, but she began to feel guilty as his expression changed to a disappointed one.

He was the one who had almost been kidnapped.

“Lionell-nim.”

“Uh.”

When she reluctantly called him by his name, he smiled like a child who had received what he wanted. His smile, as bright as the sun, and his silver hair suited him well. His jewel-like red eyes curved into crescents, and he looked like a true male lead.

“You have a three-day vacation?”

“Uh.”

“Then, will you be staying for three days?”

“Uh.”

“What about your official duties?”

“I finished all of that beforehand.”

She remembered that in the original story, Lionell was a diligent and virtuous ruler. He never had any backlog of work, and his aide trusted him greatly.

Even though he looks like this, he was also a very responsible person.

“Did you really do everything without missing anything?”

“Yes. My father also reviewed it. And he cheered me on.”

“Huh? What did he cheer you on for?”

“What do you think?”

When Aria rolled her eyes away to avoid his chilling words, her head was grabbed.

“I’ll be staying in the room in front of yours for the next three days.”

“That’s inconvenient. Couldn’t you stay in the annex?”

“No. I originally intended to use this room together.”

“Are you crazy? How can we use the same room when we’re not even married……!”

Ah, why am I thinking of Killian?

When she thought of that, she was at a loss for words, like a cornered mouse, and she felt like she was breaking out in a cold sweat.

“Yeah. I knew you’d be embarrassed. That’s why I said I’d use the room in front of yours.”

She thought that this place didn’t seem to have such a closed-minded view of relationships between the sexes as she had thought. Now that she thought about it, Melina, who had broken off her engagement with Killian, had even become the Empress, hadn’t she?

Even so, using the same room was a separate issue. Especially since they weren’t even married. Of course, they were about to be engaged soon, even if it was one-sided.

“And this.”

He pulled something out from his chest, and a blue box appeared.

She thought she knew what it was, so she hurriedly shouted.

“I don’t want a ring!”

Aria quickly spoke in a cold sweat as Lionell was about to open the box and show it to her. If there had been talk of an engagement, then there would surely be a ring in that jewelry box.

“It’s not a ring.”

“Ah, is, is that so?”

She became embarrassed and stammered without realizing it. Then, he smiled happily, and whenever she saw him smile like that, she felt strange in her heart as if he was the kind Lionell she knew. As if she couldn’t be harsh to him.

But she needed to be harsh to break off the engagement.

“It’s earrings?”

“Yeah. We said we’d pierce each other’s ears before we got married, didn’t we?”

‘Your Highness, this is proof that Your Highness belongs to me. Since my marks are all over your ears, Your Highness is now completely mine.’

Aria unknowingly forgot to breathe. For a moment, she thought of how Aria Dolorein in the original story had pierced Lionell’s ears with earrings all over.

“I already have my ears pierced, though?”

“I know. Let’s pierce each other’s ears, one by one.”

“I’m scared of getting more piercings…….”

“Did you forget that I pierced them for you before?”

“Ah…….”

She was afraid of getting more ear piercings. But Lionell was smiling boldly as if telling her to say more.

The problem was that she couldn’t think of any more excuses.

“B-but, Your Highness.”

“Uh.”

“Usually, if you made me cry like that during the day, shouldn’t you come back after a day?”

“I was going to, but you were going around with some trash, saying he was your lover.”

“Trash? That’s harsh.”

“Don’t you remember what you said to the women I was involved with?”

‘You dirty b*tch! Did you seduce His Highness?’

The words of Aria Dolorein from the original story that she had seen flashed through her mind like a kaleidoscope.

‘You dare wag your tail at His Highness? You bug! I’ll cut off all your hair!’

‘You act so vulgar, like the child of a concubine. I’m with His Highness, how can His Highness be with a bastard like you?’

Aria, whose mouth was as tightly shut as if she had eaten honey, unknowingly lowered her gaze.

“If I do that, will you let me rest today?”

“Yeah, I’ll let you rest in bed.”