Chapter 317: Caught Sera

"It will be my honor to have the princess of House Cendral in my humble abode," Vlad answered in a surprisingly formal tone.

Seraphina raised an eyebrow as she turned around. "You can speak surprisingly well, like a noble."

"Well, my mom’s etiquette lessons were really scary, so I had no choice but to learn a thing or two," Vlad chuckled, rubbing the back of his head.

A shadow was cast over his face as Seraphina stood before him, her hands clasped behind her back.

"Give me clothes to change into," Seraphina murmured, her fingers fidgeting behind her back.

"Take anything you like," Vlad said, pointing at the wardrobe beside the bed, parallel to the wall.

As Seraphina opened the wardrobe, her eyes instinctively fell on Vlad’s boxers, placed neatly in the corner.

A faint blush appeared on her face, her eyes lingering on the boxers longer than necessary.

She had been standing before the wardrobe for a minute, her upper body hidden behind its door. Vlad noticed that she was suspiciously still for some reason.

He rose from the bed and reached behind her. "Haven’t you found anything..."

His words stopped midway, his jaw dropping as he found her holding his boxers out before her with both hands, dangerously close to her face.

The moment she heard Vlad’s voice behind her, shivers ran down her spine and the boxers fell from her hands.

---

"Sera... it’s completely alright," Vlad coaxed in a gentle tone. "I’m really not—pfft...judging you."

She was sitting in the corner of the room beside the wardrobe, hiding her face in her knees, her hands gripping her legs tightly.

"Please kill me," her shaky, almost tearful voice came from behind her knees. She had never been more ashamed in her life. What had she been thinking, grabbing his boxers like that when he was right there in the room?

Vlad lowered himself to the floor in front of her, stroking her head. "You don’t need to feel embarrassed. I don’t mind—pfft—ahem, if you took a sniff."

"I wasn’t!" Seraphina exclaimed, her body squirming. "I...I was just curious."

"Curious—pfft—about my scent?" Vlad asked, which only made her squirm even more.

"Why don’t you just laugh out loud?"

The moment the words left her mouth, Vlad broke into laughter.

"Bwahahahaha! What was going on in your mind to make you do something like that?" Vlad laughed, repeatedly slapping his thighs. "Oh god! I have never seen a girl as perverted as you! Like those old men who go around sniffing women’s undergarments!"

He playfully covered his chest with both hands and continued, "This is the most shocked I have ever been in my life!"

He tapped her head as if knocking on a sealed door and suggested, "Should I give you one as a gift?"

His ruthless comments, one after another, exponentially increased the embarrassment of the poor girl. Fumes began rising from her head. She couldn’t even come up with a proper excuse.

For a whole five minutes, the room was filled with Vlad’s unrestrained laughter. When he had finally somewhat digested what he had witnessed, his focus shifted back to the princess in the corner.

"Sera..." he called softly.

"Get lost!" Seraphina muttered in a sharp tone.

"But this is my room," Vlad replied with a shrug.

"Then I’m leaving!" She rose from the corner and ran towards the window, hiding her face behind her hands.

She had taken only a couple of steps when a hand grabbed her forearm from behind and pulled her back. Vlad’s other hand held her by the waist.

"Leave me alone!" Seraphina muttered, trying to move out of his grip. "I hate you!"

"Ngh," Vlad groaned lightly, the wounds on his hands hurting.

Seraphina immediately relaxed her body, her hands lowering from her face.

"I’m so sorry. Did I hurt you?" she asked in a worried tone, her eyes shifting to his hand at her wrist.

Vlad shook his head, a playful smirk on his lips as he finally saw Seraphina’s embarrassed face. Her face was as red as a tomato, her lips trembling slightly as she realised it had all been an act.

She couldn’t even move away, afraid that his hand at her waist might really hurt.

"Y-you...you are so mean," she whimpered, pinching his cheeks with both hands. "I’m not talking to you anymore."

Vlad released his grip on her wrist and whispered, brushing his fingers on her cheek, "You are so adorable when you are flustered."

Before she could react, he leaned closer and kissed her cheek softly. "Go and change into something comfortable... except my boxers, of course."

"Y-you!" By the time she reacted, Vlad had already let her go and moved back to the bed.

Her hand moved to her chest, where her heart beat loudly from the sudden kiss. She reached the wardrobe in quick steps, grabbed a dark brown sweater, and entered the bathroom with similarly quick, flustered steps.

She came out a few minutes later. The sleeves of the oversized sweater completely hid her hands, and its hem reached all the way to her lower thighs, revealing her smooth, rose-kissed legs.

Her silken crimson hair swayed with each step as she walked towards the bed where Vlad lay.

Upon reaching the bedside, she ordered, "Move to the other bed. I will sleep here."

Vlad raised an eyebrow. She was clearly holding a grudge for all the brutal teasing.

"This is my bed," he scoffed, shrugging his shoulders. "I’m not moving."

"Then I will sleep on that bed," Seraphina said, pointing at Noah’s bed on the other side.

"You dare?" Vlad’s brows knitted in annoyance.

Now it was Seraphina who was surprised. She had only said it playfully, but she hadn’t expected such a reaction from him. If her suspicion was correct...

"What if I do?" Seraphina asked, crossing her arms.

"I will throw that bed outside along with you," Vlad answered instantly, without hesitation.

Her lips curved slightly upward, as if she were genuinely glad. She leaned forward, placing her hands on the bed beside Vlad’s legs. Her knees followed as she crawled upward. "So my cutie can actually get jealous."