Chapter 108.1

Chapter 108.1

Jasmine stiffly agreed. A smile slowly leaked from Richard’s lips.

“No, it’s just…”

“Just?”

“I had many thoughts. Felt depressed, and a bit irritated.”

“And?”

Jasmine asked back. It seemed like there was more to come. Under her needle-sharp gaze, Richard let out a long sigh.

“And some unnecessary thoughts.”

“What thoughts? Are you imagining how much I’ve kissed that man or something like that?”

“Did you?”

“Good heavens.”

Jasmine was exasperated. She narrowed her eyes and spoke tersely.

“Why are you so interested in others’ past affairs? Have I ever asked Richard who he’s dated or who his first love was?”

The last word ‘first love’ carried extra emotion, but fortunately, Richard didn’t seem to notice that peculiarity. Instead, he furrowed his brows.

“My past is nonexistent since meeting you.”

“Someone might think I’d been unfaithful.”

She responded cynically. Jasmine had nothing to feel guilty about. At least she’d met others when she wasn’t dating him, when they were apart.

Richard knew this too. That theoretically, he had no right to be angry. But emotionally, he couldn’t help but keep worrying and acting petty about it.

If he hadn’t seen it, he might not know – no, even without seeing it he’d nearly gone mad with anger – but seeing Jasmine chatting amicably with a man who was her former lover made him feel like he was losing his mind.

If not for years of political experience, even pretending to be calm like this would have been impossible. Though it seemed Jasmine could already see through it. He couldn’t understand why emotional control was so difficult in front of her.

Seeing his gloomy face, Jasmine finally sighed. She changed her approach and explained soothingly.

“Raymond is a friend I’m grateful to. I’m indebted to him. That’s all it is. There’s absolutely no lingering attachment or anything messy between us. How deep could emotions run in a mere two-month relationship?”

“Weren’t you and I together for less time than that?”

“That’s! We did a lot of, well, all sorts of things! How can you compare that!”

How did this conversation even get here? When Jasmine burst out in embarrassment mid-sentence, Richard’s sullen eyes narrowed subtly. Then, with a pretty eye-smile, he said,

“Ah, so you do remember. I thought you’d forgotten everything.”

“Unless I’m a goldfish, how could I forget?”

“True. Even on the battlefield, I only thought of you.”

Richard tilted his head, resting his chin on his hand. His lowered voice resonated in the carriage.

“Especially at night, I longed to see you more desperately.”

“…!”

His languid voice tickled her ear. Jasmine glared and backed away. What a sly wolf.

“Come to think of it, do you know?”

“Know what?”

When Richard asked as if in exclamation, Jasmine wrinkled her eyes. When he gestured seriously, she brought her ear closer, wondering what it was. Then, pressing his lips to it, Richard whispered in a secretly lowered voice.

“We’ve never done it in a carriage.”

W-what, what?

“We’ve done it in the forest, the library, the stable. Why didn’t I think of this?”

Has this man gone mad? His low laughter rang loudly after he slightly bit her earlobe and kissed it, while she stared in shock.

As she startled and hurriedly backed away, a more relaxed Richard watched her with a subtle smile. His tongue wetting his lips was red.

While she stared dumbly at those sensual lips, the carriage suddenly stopped.

Richard calmly said “Ah” while looking out the window.

“We’ve arrived. Let’s go. For dinner.”

Y-y-you…

“Aren’t you getting out? You must be hungry.”

You sly wolf!

***

Seeing Jasmine roughly cutting her steak with a sullen face, Richard switched her plate with his, where the meat was neatly cut.

Even looking at the meat cut into perfect bite-sized pieces, Jasmine’s lips remained pursed in a pout. How annoying. It frustrated her how helplessly she was swayed when he deliberately exuded sexual charm with that smile, and it irritated her even more that he knew it.

The biggest problem was that she had no way to counter this. It irritated her more to feel completely defeated from the start.

She glared at the man who was elegantly eating the meat she had mangled. A tooth for a tooth, an eye for an eye – should she try seducing him back?

“Jasmine, your food is getting cold.”

But she wasn’t sure. If she was already aroused, and he got stimulated too, wasn’t the outcome obvious? That’s how they’d ended up creating those various incidents she’d mentioned earlier. The current Jasmine wanted to pass on that.

Sighing, she reluctantly put a piece of meat in her mouth. Indeed, the restaurant that Richard had specially reserved through his busy aide had excellent food.

Eating something delicious improved her mood in many ways. Richard noticed her furrowed brows gradually relaxing in real-time and smirked, but Jasmine didn’t notice.

She poked at the pudding that came as the final dessert with her fork, glancing sideways at Richard’s softened expression.

“So.”

“…?”

She asked as he lowered his teacup.

“Are you feeling better now?”

“Ah.”

Richard rested his chin on his hand and smiled faintly.

“Why, are you concerned?”

“Of course I am. Despite not looking like it, you’re the king of holding grudges.”

Better to be considerate beforehand than deal with the consequences later. Besides, after yesterday’s events, she hadn’t expected to immediately encounter a former lover. It must be hard for him not to feel bothered.

Actually, Jasmine felt somewhat apologetic too. Though she’d said those things, honestly, she had no desire to meet other men. It was half spite.