Chapter 18. Romance Practice

A bit late, but first post of 2024! I hope everyone’s year will be a good one! I do have other series I want to pick up, but I’ll leave those to when I actually have a decent amount of chapters stocked up. If you’ve joined the Discord, you probably have an idea of one of them.

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Asher sat by himself and sighed. He bitterly lamented himself for constantly crying ever since coming to this world and stared at the flower in front of him. Not long after Theodore left, another soldier came by to take Noah back to Jeffrey. As he was getting taken away, Noah apologetically glanced back at Asher, so Asher made sure to put on a smile as he waved goodbye to his little brother, which made Noah return a bright smile back. Now left alone, Asher got up from the bench to leave the garden as well since it was almost time for him to visit the soldiers. Besides, if he kept sitting here, he would end up thinking about that again. He quickly walked through the hallways in his best attempt to avoid people, but the thoughts he had been holding at bay filled his mind.

What… what really happened?!

His face grew hotter and his eyes moved to the source: his finger. The finger that… was licked. But, why? Why was it licked all of a sudden? This wasn’t normal, and Theodore of all people wouldn’t do this.

Theodore’s face was usually stoic, but at that time, he looked extremely flustered or angry when his lips encompassed Asher’s finger and his tongue ran over it. Asher was rendered speechless and immobile from the shocking event happening before his eyes. As Theodore’s tongue ran back over his lips, it painted them crimson with Asher’s blood. It looked somewhat—

“Oho? Well, if it isn’t Prince Asher? What are you doing over here?”

“Whoa!” Asher jumped up when he heard his name suddenly called from behind. Turning around, he came face to face with a smiling Ward, his smile captivating enough to make any woman swoon. He called out, “Ward!”

“I heard that you’ve been going to visit the soldiers in the infirmary every day… Could it be that you are on your way there now?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m on my way—” In the middle of Asher’s sentence, Ward suddenly drew his face, surprising the prince.

“Then, why is your face so red? What has gotten you aroused— Oh, did something perhaps happen?”

“A-aroused…?!” When Asher saw Ward’s smirk broadened, he quickly retreated to get away from Ward’s face.

“Come to think of it, you made the same face when Lewis reported how he saved you after you two fell into the river… Could it be…?”

When faced with Ward’s probing look, Asher realized that he was similarly shocked as when he learned that he lost his first kiss to Theodore when Theodore had unknowingly given him mouth-to-mouth resuscitation. However, this time, he was only embarrassed about getting shocked, nothing more. More importantly, he couldn’t understand how that had any relation to the supposed “aroused” look according to Ward.

Ward opened his mouth again. “This means that our Prince Asher is on his way to becoming an adult.”

“Huh? No, that’s not—”

“In the past, you wouldn’t care about that kind of thing… Or rather, you would accuse me of disrespecting the crown. Yet, here you are, conscious of it and troubled. Hm~. Let’s see. How about I teach you the more profound ways gentlemen can have fun together?” With natural movements, he gracefully took Asher’s right hand in one hand and used his other to lift up Asher’s chin. 

“What are you doing?!” At that moment, Asher broke into shivers and forcefully shoved Ward away. Unfortunately, despite using all his strength, it only created a small little distance between them. Nevertheless, it was only enough to surprise Ward.

“How strange~. I was sure you would’ve punched me cleanly in the face for that…”

“I-I wouldn’t do that! But, please don’t touch me in such a weird way!”

“Why not?”

“It’s wrong, isn’t it?! We aren’t even lovers. Besides, I’m a p-prince!” Asher disliked using his status as an excuse, but his hand was forced and he made sure to sound resolute. However, it had absolutely no effect on Ward.

“Oh, don’t be so cold… A little fling between a prince and a knight sounds fun, yes? I’m sure all the ladies and gentlemen in high society will eat it up. Previously, you were nowhere near my preferences— Oh, excuse my rudeness. You look so young, but you do hold a certain allure in your youth now. And you’re already fifteen years old… I think you’re old enough to start learning how adults have fun.”

“I-I don’t need to learn that!”

“I would be the perfect partner for you. I have plenty of experience with both ladies and gentlemen, and if you do find yourself a partner, we can easily split without any qualms.”

“Wh-what?”

Asher couldn’t believe that Ward was essentially proposing a solely physical relationship with him. No one had ever brought up something like this in his previous life, and he had upheld the ideal of pure love he had seen in comics and movies. This invitation was so immoral that he accidentally let slip…

“How debauched!”

By the time he realized he had vocally expressed his genuine disgust, he saw the smile on Ward’s face gradually disappear.

“D-debauched?” Ward repeated after Asher. Asher thought he angered Ward and immediately went to apologize when—

“Pft!” Ward held his sides and burst out into loud laughter. Asher was caught off-guard, blinked several times, and stared at Ward. “Ahahaha! Debauched, you say?! I guess that’s one way to describe it! Hahaha!”

Asher didn’t know what to do as Ward continued to laugh. He hadn’t said anything that humorous… so why?

Ward showed no signs of stopping, so Asher slowly puffed his cheeks. It was only some time later when Ward noticed this did he apologize with tears in his eyes. “M-my a-apologies… Seeing as you haven’t gotten angry despite how long I’ve laughed, you have indeed matured, hehe.”

“That doesn’t sound like an apology at all.”

“No, no, I really mean it. What you said was just so, pft— a-a-adorable.”

“Holding back your laughter isn’t helping your argument…”

“No, I really mean it! I truly thought it was adorable, and I wasn’t joking about us men getting to intimately know each other.”

Ward’s smile reappeared, but Asher frowned and looked suspicious. “I can’t do that with someone I don’t l-love.”

“That’s unfortunate. However, everything requires practice, Prince Asher.”

“But I don’t think love really requires you to practice…”

“It does. Without practice, would you notice that you’re in love or someone is in love with you? Moreover, it’s dangerous for you to be by yourself if you wear that expression from before. You’re too defenseless, you know?”

“Defenseless?”

“What do you think would happen to someone—who never smiles at others, treats everyone coldly, and is seen as unattainable—if he were to suddenly show a gentle smile and even call out to you? Especially if that someone is like a beautiful piece of art.” While Ward kept the same smile on his face, his tone now had a sharpness not present before. “There aren’t many like me who will so openly propose this to you. However, there exist plenty of crazy fools who would fully lose themselves in their desires.”

Ward’s mouth formed a smile, but his eyes were serious. Feeling this gaze, Asher realized, albeit a bit late, that Ward was reprimanding him for his conduct that Ward had observed from afar for the past several days.

“That… wasn’t my intention.”

“You had never let anyone near you before, but you’re the complete opposite now. I’m not saying that it’s a bad thing… but I can’t let you walk around by yourself.”

It was true that for these past few days, Asher had been sneaking out through a hidden door to avoid the soldiers in front of his room. The reason for the secrecy was that the numerous soldiers Angela assigned to him made any activity, such as visiting the soldiers as promised, difficult. And above all, Asher wanted to be alone.

“I have not notified Queen Angela about this, but the soldiers are in a panic. This includes the beastfolk soldiers,” Ward explained.

“All I did was greet the people I passed by…”

Asher wasn’t aware of this himself, but his behavior these few days shocked the soldiers who were present to see. One group had their hearts stolen when Asher smiled at them, and Ward had caught sight of these people peering into the infirmary to catch another glimpse of his beauty without his knowledge. Another group was raising a fuss, fearing this was foreshadowing the end of the world. They ended up bawling their eyes and collapsing on the spot from absolute terror. The remainder were of equal parts people slowly warming up to Asher and people growing increasingly wary of the prince. Incidentally, a majority of the latter of this last group were beastfolk, and naturally, Asher wasn’t aware of this.

“I’m sorry for sneaking out of my room without telling anyone…” Asher apologized.

“I ask that you please have someone escort you next time.”

Ward’s advice was reasonable, but Asher still had an issue with something. He brought up, “But, romance practice and escorts are too different things, no?”

“You’re still skeptical about that?” Asher pouted and raised an eyebrow, and Ward disappointingly shrugged his shoulders. “Let’s see. Allow me to ask you this. Prince Asher, why didn’t you do anything in retaliation when Lewis licked your finger?”

Asher’s jaw went slack and he couldn’t respond when he was hit with this unexpected question.

Ward continued, “You run away as soon as I touch you, yet nothing with Lewis. Why is that?”

“No, that’s not— Wait, you were watching?!”

Ward’s eyes narrowed and his smile became bolder as he looked down at Asher. “I found it so strange. You won’t let me touch you, but you’ll let Lewis?”

“It’s not like that…” Asher couldn’t speak. Or rather, no matter what he could say, Ward would find a way to turn it against him.

“If it’s not like that, then you’re saying that I can touch you, right?”

“No! I didn’t say that!”

“But Lewis is okay?”

“…”

Being asked this, Asher instantly recalled the sensation of Theodore’s lips on his finger. The image of the red blood on Theodore’s lips had been burned deeply in his mind. And the word Ward told him echoed in his head.

It was, how did Ward put it again…?

Arousing…

Asher’s cheeks grew hot and he couldn’t speak.

“Do you understand now? Your first lesson on love has already begun.”

“What?! Since when?!”

“Remember what I said? You need practice, or how else would you notice that you’re in love? It’s fine. I shall thoroughly teach you all about romance. Rest assured.”

Shivers ran through Asher’s whole body. He didn’t know how to respond. It was no good. His words weren’t getting through. He tightly shut his mouth and quickly walked off. Ward followed after, cheerfully giggling to himself.

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