"Arielle, am I the only one feeling this attraction?"
Ronan loosened his hands to give Arielle a chance to get up. But the girl did not get off his lap, instead, Arielle actually grabbed the man's mask strap.
"I almost forgot to take off your mask earlier. This way, we can talk as friends, right?"
Ronan swallowed his saliva with difficulty. Now Arielle could see the man's face completely. The girl smiled gently, making Ronan smile too.
"Are you always this kind?" asked the king. He found it strange to get someone's kindness like this.
"Hmm? Kind?"
"Yeah. You worry about a maid, feel bad about bothering others, care for small animals, and pay attention to someone you just met?"
Arielle did not know the direction of their conversation, but she tried her best to answer.
"I guess I'm simply just doing what a normal human would do and that is to follow their heart. Tania is not just a servant to me, she has taken care of me since I was brought to the palace until today. She is my family, and I should be worried about her when something bad happened to her, right?"
Arielle smiled at him then continued with her answer.
"And of course, I don't want to bother other people. What if that person has had a bad and exhausting day? And there's a chance that I might add to the burden when I give orders if I know that I can do it myself. That's what I call selfish. This is also the reason why I always share kindness with strangers. At least by me being nice and giving them some attention, I want to be able to lighten their bad day."
Ronan was quite impressed by that answer. Arielle was right, the girl just did everything like a normal human being. Ronan wanted to laugh at how his attitude contradicted her.
He didn't care how bad William's day was. As long as he could still breathe and walk, Ronan would send him to work.
Maybe… maybe someday, he could be a normal human being too? But Ronan himself didn't know when he would ever thank William for his hard work. It felt unnatural. Sigh.
He just hoped that William or anyone else in the palace would never tell Arielle about the bad things Ronan had done.
A rabbit suddenly jumped at his feet and he frowned.
Meanwhile, Arielle bent down to carry the rabbit to her lap. Ronan, who saw that, was not too interested in the animal and looked back at Arielle, who was smiling gently at the white furry creature.
"And for these animals, for some reason, since childhood, I always have more sympathy for them. And strangely, they can also quickly get close to me," said Arielle as she lifted the rabbit.
Ronan backed away slightly as Arielle brought the small animal's face towards him.
"Since childhood?"
"Uhm-hm. I once took care of the chicks from the time they hatched to adulthood and then I released them into the forest because the head of the kitchen said they were big enough to cook," Arielle explained.
She added, "Then, I once took care of a cat that was injured but it was only for a few months. He died from accidentally eating rat poison… I also once nursed a pig until it was big and had to be sold by Tania to buy a dress for me. And in the last few months, there have been five birds that always waited for me at the window for me to feed."
"Five birds?"
"Hm-hm, they'll knock on the windowpane if I don't wake up on time."
"How could that be?" asked Ronan in amazement.
"I don't know either, I just stroke their heads like this, and they will become more docile."
Arielle gave the example of stroking a rabbit's head in her lap, and then the rabbit closed its eyes. The creature rested its head to sleep.
Ronan still couldn't believe what he saw, he thought the rabbits following Arielle was just a coincidence. He himself could never get close to other animals except for his horses.
Ronan never tried to touch a small animal like this rabbit because he knew he would only scare them.
"I've never been able to get close to animals like this," the man said. He was a little envious of the stupid rabbit because Arielle's hand continued to rub its head.
Ronan looked around the room and saw two other rabbits sitting, watching him on the couch by the fire. However, a second later the rabbit fled to hide under the chair.
"Why?" Arielle asked curiously.
"Maybe because I'm scary?" replied the king with a shrug.
Arielle turned to the man and examined Ronan's face carefully.
"Why do you always say that? I told you, Your Majesty, you look like everyone else. Hm… I'll say this because it's my honest opinion. You are quite handsome and, in my opinion, even more handsome than my eldest brother, Prince Alexis."
Ronan was silent for a moment, but after a few seconds of looking for a lie on the girl's face, the king shook his head and laughed a little.
"I mean it," Arielle said seriously.
"Thank you, but I hope you can say the same after seeing the other side of me."
"The other side?"
Ronan grabbed Arielle's face. "You remember the drama in the town square at that time? Didn't they say this red iris shows how I'm a monster?"
Arielle tilted her face to pay close attention to the red iris. "Then is Your Majesty a monster?"
Ronan couldn't answer the question.
But when the man remained silent, Arielle smiled sweetly.
"You have the most beautiful eyes I have ever seen. Maybe… at the beginning of our meeting, the red iris looked quite intimidating." Arielle brought her index and thumb closer. "It's really just a biiiiit intimidating. However, after getting to know Your Majesty, I know you are a good person. Therefore now I see your red iris is so beautiful. So nice."
"Not scary?" asked Ronan again. "Not at all?"
His heart pounded so hard because this was the first time he had received such a sincere compliment. Even those closest to him, such as his cousins were afraid to look him in the eye.
They said his red eyes were evidence of a curse passed down in the king's lineage. Even his own mother hated his eyes.
Ronan touched his scar uncertainly. William, Lucas, Priest Elis did see his eyes, but they never said anything.
"Arielle..."
"You should know, Your Majesty. Eye color can't determine if someone is a monster or not. Even though sometimes one can stipulate another a monster just because the hair color is different from the others."
Arielle didn't want to talk about herself cutting her hair a long time ago because her sisters made fun of her and said that she was descended from a witch.
However, fortunately, Prince Alexis intervened and said that Arielle was a descendant of the king. Since then, the ridicule about Arielle being a descendant of a witch had stopped.
The bunny on her lap started to wake up, and Arielle touched the little nose with a chuckle.
"You want to try petting him? I promise they're not fierce," said Arielle. She laughed heartily when she looked at the king's doubtful face.
Arielle held the rabbit gently so it wouldn't jump from her lap. She pulled the king's one hand closer.
"Ack!"
Arielle gasped when the rabbit suddenly bit Ronan's index finger until it bled. "Y-Your Majesty, I'm sorry. I thou-"
"It's okay, this wound doesn't bother me too much," said Ronan calmly. To be honest, he was quite surprised by the sudden attack, but he was used to the other beings' rejection attitude towards him.
Arielle took the king's hand and sucked the injured man's index finger.
Ronan's body instantly stiffened.
"Tania always does this to me when I cut my finger," Arielle said quickly and sucked the blood out of the king's index finger again.
Ronan didn't blink for a second. It made him notice the natural blush on the girl's cheeks. The king held his breath as he wrapped his free arm around Arielle's hips to pull the girl closer.
Arielle, who was surprised, released the king's index finger from her mouth. But who would have thought that as soon as his hand was released, Ronan cupped Arielle's face and put his lips on hers?
He couldn't take it anymore and planted a deep passionate kiss on her lips. Oh, those luscious lips did taste as sweet as he had imagined they would be.
Arielle wanted to break free, but Ronan had hugged her body tightly. The long kiss on the lips slowly turned into a much fervent kiss. Ronan started by sucking Arielle's lower lip. Every now and then his tongue stuck out and demanded the girl to open her mouth.
Unfortunately, Arielle did not understand anything. Her lips were still tightly shut, as were her eyes. It was a sudden thing, but weirdly she didn't dislike it.
Ronan started biting Arielle's lower lip lightly. His hands didn't stay still at all. He wrapped his arms around her tightly and removed the distance between their bodies.
Arielle gripped Ronan's shoulder tightly. She unconsciously opened her mouth, and Ronan used his best opportunity to deepen their kiss.
Ronan kept on kissing, sucking, and sometimes biting Arielle's lips. The man was relentless, he always used his tongue to deepen the kiss when Arielle unconsciously opened her mouth. After a long time, Ronan finally moved his face away, and Arielle could breathe normally again.
Her panting breath slowly subsided, and Arielle looked at the man's reddened lips with a fervent look all over her face.
Ronan no longer waited for Arielle and returned to his actions. Arielle herself couldn't think straight. Her heart pounded so loudly. Her body felt warmer and secretly she wanted the man's body to continue to cling to hers.
Arielle didn't understand all of this, she felt like there was a magical pull that made her unable to refuse or dodge. It was weird. Something like this had never happened before.
Suddenly Ronan's question was back in her head.
'Arielle, am I the only one feeling this attraction?'
Was she not feeling it?
Arielle couldn't answer right away because Ronan had resumed kissing her and kept her lips preoccupied.
Every now and then Ronan gave Arielle a break but his self-control wasn't that good. Especially when he saw Arielle's wet and red lips. He wanted to keep tasting them. He wanted so much more….
To hell with their friendship!
Ronan wanted Arielle. Whatever it was that made him so attracted to her, Arielle had to be his as soon as possible.
It's happening! OMG!!!!
It literally need 50 chapters for the kiss hehehe...