The Cursed Prince

"Sorry, wifey... I think I was too drunk to realize where I was." Raphael looked at her like a guilty puppy and made Harlow was at a loss for words. Why was it so hard to stay mad at this man?

"Yeah, don't do it again," she complained. Somehow, she coudn't find it in her heart to lash out at this man. His being drunk was her fault. "You seemed to need the rest. I will stay here with you until you sleep, just to make sure that you won't do anything weird again."

Harlow realized she must make sure Raphael was truly asleep before she could continue exploring his castle and find his secret chamber where he kept his magical artifacts.

"Oh… how sweet," Raphael gushed. He rolled to the side and hugged Harlow from the back. "I am sure I can sleep well if I can hug you like this."

Harlow's eyes bulged in surprise. She cursed the demon king for being shameless, but also herself for getting into this mess on her own.

"It's too tight," she complained. "I can't breathe."

"Oh, oh, sorry, wifey," Raphael yawned and loosened his hug on the girl, just a little bit.

"Uhm, more?"

"Oh, okay." Then a little bit more.

"More."

Raphael didn't reply. He pretended to have already fallen asleep. If Harlow was a minotaur, she would already let out vapor from her nose, out of anger. Or, if she was a dragon, she would breathe fire and burn the entire rose petaled bed.

She knew it was useless to argue with this man. He was called demon king for a reason. Harlow shouldn't think of him as a regular man who played by the rule. He would ALWAYS, always find ways to cheat and take advantage of her.

Therefore, she should be more careful with how she handled the situation. Finally, she loosened up her tense body and let the man hug her. If that would make him fall asleep faster, it was worth the trouble.

She closed her eyes and sniffed his arm sleeve which was hugging around her shoulder. This must be her imagination, but the man's scent felt familiar. It was… like musk and something sweet, but she couldn't really figure it out.

'Uff… what do I care if he smells good?' she thought to herself. She brushed off the thought immediately and focused on the mission, why she was here in the first place. She must help Julian to find the magical artifact and, in return, he would help her break the oath that her mother made with Raphael.

Slowly, the man's hug started to loosen and she could feel his breathing become soft and regular.

Did this mean, he was already asleep? For real?

She decided to wait a little bit more just to make sure. She would get up and start exploring his chamber to look for this secret chamber where he kept his treasure. If he suddenly woke up, she would tell him that she was lost on her way to find her own chamber.

Piece of cake.

After what felt like forever and a half more, Harlow finally managed to escape the bed and pried herself out of Raphael's arms. She rolled out of bed, landed on her feet, and then immediately darted out from the chamber of the Demon King.

She was always swift on her feet. Gewen once called her as quiet as a mouse because Harlow learned how to be silent when she was out hunting for Icecube's food in the forest.

Once she was out of the Ice Prince's love chamber, Harlow let out a sigh of relief and immediately wiped the sweat off her brow. 

Her face was red and her heart was pounding hard after everything that happened between the two of them.

Shit. He managed to steal a kiss from her and even hug her to sleep. It was not intercourse, but for Harlow who was always busy with her archery, sword training, flying with her dragon and countless other activities… she never actually had the opportunity to become close with a man before.

Intimacy like that was enough to render Harlow completely immobile.

Most of the males that were present in Harlow's life were related to her or younger than her, so she didn't bat an eye at them at all. Louis, Loran, and Jorei were her cousins, and then there were her two twin brothers, Damien and Dimitri and the last male was Henry.

Henry was cute and was like a miniature Gewen, but he was obviously not Harlow's type even if he was not much younger than her. If she had to give qualities that she admired in a man, then she actually liked how her cousin Louis acted since he was mature, kind, and ever polite.

Which was the complete opposite of this stupid Raphael!

Harlow's face was still flushed from the near heart attack she was having from being so close to this Demon King. She had to admit that he was considerate for not forcing her to sleep with him, but that was all.

"Uff… I thought I wasn't going to make it out alive," Harlow whispered to herself and gulped a little. "He was too shameless."

The princess started to walk across the hallways and immediately started her mission. The main goal was making sure that Raphael fell asleep when he was drunk and that the first part had been… successful?

"Moderately successful." Harlow placed a hand on her chest and slowly glanced around the hallways of the castle. There were a lot of places that she could visit so it was necessary for her to do it fast. 

She was prepared to give an excuse if she were to encounter any servants traveling along this part of the castle, however, Harlow quickly realized that there was not a living soul around this place.

Maybe the demon king didn't allow people to roam around this part of his residence and preferred to keep it private?