90: I Am Not Affected

I Am Not Affected

The way Arlan's ocean blue eyes deeply stared at her made Oriana shudder. She did not understand why, but she trusted her instinct. Today's Lord seemed very, very dangerous.0

Oriana belatedly noticed Arlan was still wearing the same clothes from yesterday. "I…shall I prepare your bath for you, my Lord?"

Even without his agreement, Oriana hurried towards the side chamber, confused about his current mood as well as his earlier disappearance. She checked the bed and all the side chambers. Unless Arlan hid under the bed, there was no way she could not have found him.

'Perhaps he went for a very early morning stroll?' She could only justify it like that in her mind. 

Imbert and Rafal reached Arlan's chamber a minute later. Imbert entered after knocking and saw his liege standing by the window.

"Good morning, Your Highness."

Arlan just nodded before looking at the scenery outside. 

Imbert guessed his liege was not in the mood to talk. He turned around and left, not wanting to disturb his morning. 

When he stepped out, Rafal asked, "His Highness is back?"

"He is back," Imbert replied. The two knights walked away as if this was not a strange situation for them. 

Oriana, along with the other servants, prepared the bath for Arlan in no time. The confusion that morning had already been thrown at the back of her mind. Her goal for the day was to increase Arlan's favorability towards her. 

She was the epitome of a diligent servant as she approached him with a smile. 

"My Lord, your bath is ready."

In response to her high-spirited mood, Arlan walked inside the side chamber without a word. His handsome face was hard and unmoving, as if turned into stone, causing the ignorant Oriana to be at a loss at his reaction.

Oriana hurried to follow his steps and helped him take off his garments. While unbuttoning his shirt, she happened to lift her gaze a little to look at him, wondering why he was acting like she didn't exist. 

It was so strange. Unlike the previous day, no, unlike their previous encounters when Arlan either consistently staring at her or finding faults with her, this time, he was looking straight ahead as if her presence didn't matter. 

'What's the matter with him?' She puckered her lips. 'Have I offended him by chance?'

As soon as she removed his upper garments, Arlan wordlessly entered the bathtub, leisurely leaning with his back against one end of the tub as usual with his arms outstretched on his sides. 

She had been ignored once more. 

'Are all nobles this moody? One day, he's a pervert, the next he's an ass. Today, it seems he's back to being a brat that's throwing silent tantrums. It is like he has multiple personalities,' Oriana silently criticized as she sat outside the tub and began washing his body. She started with his broad shoulders, then those strong arms, before moving her hands towards his muscled chest. 

Unknown to her, the entire time, Arlan had been silently admonishing himself in his head, hating how pathetic and embarrassing he had been the night before. He had been somewhat successful in preserving his 'lordly image', but his hard work all crumbled into nothing the moment Oriana touched his body.

Arlan inevitably sucked in his breath and his body was stiff like a stone carving. 

'This is nothing. Such a lowly woman can never affect me. Her scent is the only good thing about her. I am not affected. No way am I letting her affect me—'

Arlan tried to not focus on the small hand touching all over his body, as if teasing, testing his patience, but all he did was close his eyes. 

Oriana adjusted her position to ease her cleaning his chest with soap and washcloth. She glanced at that handsome  face but realized he had this crease in between his eyebrows, and it would clench a little more every time she scrubbed his torso. 

'Don't tell me…I am rubbing too hard for his liking? Why can't he outright say that to me? Does admitting he's delicate hurt his manly pride? Shall I be a little more gentle?'

She moved the wet cloth gently around his chest and stomach. 

'Haaa, his body is truly an artwork. I am so tempted to touch those muscles with my fingers but I have to control myself or else he might pull me in the water like last time.'

Her eyes greedily appreciated the hard lines on his chest, and along with her gaze, her hand slowly moved up towards his collarbones and throat. 

'His side profile, along with the view of his neck and shoulder. How masculine…I never expected staring at him from this angle could be so…heh, I guess  beautiful people are beautiful no matter which angle you stare at them.'

While she was admiring his beauty, the target of her admiration had forgotten to breathe. He only wanted this to be over quickly. 

'She doesn't affect me at all. She doesn't affect me at all. She doesn't—why is she taking her sweet time rinsing the soap out?!' 

Arlan was fighting against his most primal instincts, yet the idiotic woman was proving to be the bane of his existence. 

'How dare this bold woman take advantage of my royal body again and again? Did she not learn her lesson yesterday? Does she truly think I will let her off a second time?'

As he roared those words in his mind, Arlan felt the softest touch on his face, causing a vein in his throat to throb. 

Oriana began wiping his face. Her fingers rested below his chin, her twinkling hazel eyes appreciating those refined features of his face. 

Thick brows, a tall elegant nose, high cheekbones and angular jaws, thin lips lightly pressed into a line, a balance that was both masculine and beautiful. 

She dabbed the folded wet cloth on his cheek, not realizing she had leaned forward closer to him. A little distracted, she pushed away the few remnant tendrils of his long ash brown hair stuck on his face. Long hair in men was an aristocratic look that not many could pull off, but that was obviously not the case with Arlan.

'Such a beautiful man. To be blessed with such looks, his parents must be both good-looking people.'

Those hazel eyes happened to meet blue ones, precisely because Arlan opened his eyes and found her face way too close to his. His heart, which was already not stable, started to beat even faster. 

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