Try Crying Prettier - Chapter 71

Damia searched the floor with her eyes.
Reluctantly, she headed for his room.
She swore she didn’t mean to eavesdrop from the beginning. She knocked on his door like a guest with common sense.
No, Damia was going to knock.
Then she heard her name pop up.
“So, have you ever met Lady Primula in person? What do you think?”
Damia’s hand, just about to knock against Akkard’s room door, froze.
Perhaps he already had a guest?
No, there wasn’t. Damia saw a bluish light peculiar to the magic communication, flickering through the bedroom door.
Akkard must be on a call with someone now.

‘But why did you mention me?’
Curious, Damia hesitated. But it was a mistake.
Since then, the revelations she heard from beyond the door were so great that she could never interrupt.
‘I should have knocked without hesitation,’ Damia regretted.
If she missed the timing, she should have turned right around and left. But she hesitated and never left and now the result was being caught red-handed eavesdropping by Akkard.
“How absurd.”
Akkard’s cold expression froze her in fear.
“I thought I’d brought a sick patient into my mansion, but now I see it was an eavesdropping rat.”
Damia blinked.
His quiet, unhurried words held a dangerous edge, harsh as Northern winters.
Perhaps this was Akkard’s true nature.
Most would have been shocked, outraged, or deeply hurt.
But Damia wasn’t too stunned.
She had the presence of mind to realize Akkard was being defensive since she had overheard such critical and sensitive information.
“I understand you are angry. It is warranted.”
A calm voice came out of the mouth of the woman he had lashed out at.
An irate Akkard was taken aback by her unexpected response and was stunned into silence.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Damia continued,
“First of all, I want to sincerely apologize. I can’t pretend it didn’t happen but I never meant to spy on your conversation.”
Damia’s face, with his head slightly lowered, showed signs of her exhaustion after her days-long illness. Perhaps because of that wariness?
Her apology came out with a particularly believable sincerity.
Akkard’s heavily frowning brow, slightly loosened.
But he couldn’t let her go like this. What she heard was classified matters.
Fortunately, it seemed Damia had no intention of just going. Damia, who opened his eyes gently, looked at his eyes. After confirming that Akkad’s anger was somewhat assuaged, she flashed a pure smile, like a young girl.
“Well, I’m a little brazen to request this amidst a situation where I eavesdropped on you but……..,can we have a conversation, if possible?”
“Conversation? What?”
Akkard asked, completely blindsided, while masking his expressions.
Inwardly he was trying to get over his embarrassment.
Since they met, Damia kept circumventing his expectations.
It made Akkard suddenly realize: The fact that he didn’t know anything about ‘Damia Primula.’
He had only been preoccupied with sleeping with her, which had no requirement of getting to know each other seriously in the first place.
So he had never wondered about Damia’s personal history. About what her likes and dislikes are, what she’s preoccupied with, and her interpersonal relationships…. all the things that make up the person called Damia Primula.
But at this very moment, Akkard was overwhelmed with an intense curiosity, wondering what she was thinking.
The first woman to arouse his private curiosity shyly lowered her eyes.
“I thought I could help you with your plan.”
Her red lips, as if they had been stained with wine, continued to move, declaring that he would not regret it.
Akkard blinked, finally overcoming an enchanting temptation that even a stoic king would fall to.
“……Okay, I’ll hear you out.”
He uncrossed his arms and nodded inward. Damia, who was taking steps without much thought, suddenly became conscious of their attire.
She was now only dressed in a robe over a pajama chemise.
With his long hair down, she suddenly became nervous to enter his personal space. Damia’s shoulder cowered a little as she passed by in front of him.

She could feel it even if she didn’t see it. Akkard’s sharp gaze grazed the side of her face to the back of her neck and eventually down her back.
Damia swallowed her saliva quietly.
She felt like she was being observed by a beast, so her backbone was crushed.
Maybe she was making a big mistake right now.
The fact that she overheard Akkard, and was about to make a life-altering proposal to him.
‘Still, I don’t know without trying.’
The moment Damia heard the name of Cesare from Akkard’s conversation, her mind flashed.
Damia immediately realized what her next move was.
‘There is a saying that the enemy of the enemy is a friend.’
***