Kingdom Bloodline

Chapter 281 An Awkward Dinner

Thales stared intently at the sausage on his plate, held his breath, and slowly raised his knife, mimicking Professor Ginny's gesture from memory.

one second.

two seconds.

three seconds.

Finally, the prince let out a deep sigh.

He loosened his grip, placing the knife and fork back on either side of the plate, abandoning his plan to eat.

Thales raised his eyes with a headache and looked at the other side of the table—a blonde girl stared at him with her blue eyes, pouting, and not touching the food in front of her.

After they entered the Grand Duchess's dining room, Selma, despite the unanimous objections from Jinx and the two maids, coldly dismissed them. Surprisingly, Lady Jinx only symbolically expressed her opposition before yielding to the Grand Duchess's wishes—something very rare in the past.

“Alright,” Thales had no choice but to say, “Does our esteemed Grand Duchess have any objections to my dining manners?”

Selma first gave a soft snort, then stared at him for a full three seconds before pouting and saying:

"here we go again."

Thales paused in surprise: "What?"

“You’re talking to me like that again,” the girl said sullenly, annoyed. “‘Your Excellency Grand Duchess’—that’s the kind of tone that makes me want to punch you.”

Thales widened his eyes, looked at her helplessly, and laughed, "But that's the proper way to address a Grand Duchess, especially one as lovely and charming as ours..."

A sudden metallic clanging sound rang out:

"Den!"

Thales stared blankly at Selma: the gloomy-faced girl had just stabbed a plate of beef in two.

The incision is smooth.

Selma continued to look at him with a frown, her eyes filled with unhappiness.

The young prince's throat bobbed.

He took a deep breath, suppressed his smile, and buried his intention to tease the girl in a playful tone deep inside.

It seems she's really in a bad mood.

so……

"Thump!" Another crisp sound of metal colliding with the plate rang out, and the beef on Selma's plate was broken into three pieces.

Thales felt a chill run down his spine.

alarm.

alarm!

It's even more terrifying than when she was two years ago...

Thales immediately composed himself and calmly looked at Selma, who had a pouty mouth.

“I’m sorry,” the prince said sincerely, looking Selma into her eyes. “It’s my fault… I’ve been neglecting your feelings from the moment we met.”

Selma's eyes flickered, and her stern expression relaxed slightly.

Seeing her dejected appearance, Thales lowered his head and sighed.

The next second, the prince decisively left his seat and walked towards the girl.

Selma was slightly startled.

As Thales drew closer, she seemed a little uncomfortable, shrinking back slightly like a hedgehog.

The girl pouted and muttered under her breath, "What?"

Thales did not answer her.

The prince walked straight to Selma, who was looking at him suspiciously, pulled out a chair from the side of the table, and sat down silently.

“Hey, remember, I’m your friend,” the prince leaned forward, lowered his arms and rested on the table, looking at Selma earnestly with a gentle smile. “You know you can trust me.”

"You can tell me anything."

Selma's breathing became slightly erratic, but she still tried her best to maintain that dissatisfied expression and snorted through her nose.

But Thales remained patient, looking at her gently, his gaze never wavering.

one second.

two seconds.

Now, Selma, who had been keeping a straight face the whole time, felt a little embarrassed by his gaze.

The girl cleared her throat awkwardly and turned her head away.

But Thales still stared intently at her.

Finally, unable to bear his gaze any longer, Selma reluctantly took a deep breath and blew it upwards with all her might.

She looked up and saw her hair being blown across her forehead.

"never mind."

“It’s nothing,” Selma pouted, glanced at Thales, and lowered her head with a gloomy expression. “It’s just that I have a bad temper.”

“No.” Thales shook his head.

“Selma,” the prince exhaled, trying to slow his speech, “good girl.”

"I know today must have been a tough day for you."

"On the day of the court hearing, those disobedient vassals..."

Selma abruptly turned her head back, her breathing quickening.

"Hmph." She glared at Thales, her cheeks puffed out, and retorted sarcastically:

"Difficult? How could it be?"

"I am the Grand Duchess of Dragon Sky City, the only one in nearly seven hundred years..."

“I control the most powerful territory in Exter, how could it be difficult…” Selma’s breathing grew heavier, the girl crossed her arms, and said with a grim expression:
Thales watched her quietly.

"...My vassals are all among the most loyal and devoted men," Selma snorted angrily. "They are powerful and intelligent. With them around, Dragonsky City is as stable as the Sighing Mountains..."

"I don't have to worry about anything—including my own affairs. Everything in Dragon City is running smoothly, and the Walton family is as prosperous as ever..."

Selma seemed to have opened a floodgate, her mouth opening and closing wider and wider, and the girl's expression becoming increasingly angry.

"So how could I be having a hard time? Compared to that trembling, pitiful hostage prince who's afraid I'll devour him whole one day, I'm the happiest woman in the world... um!"

The girl was stunned.

Her mouth was gagged.

Selma stared in astonishment at Thales's actions, feeling the contents of her mouth.

The prince had somehow already sat down next to Selma.

Thales looked directly into Selma's clear eyes.

The girl seemed a little flustered, her face slightly flushed.

then.

The second prince exhaled and calmly pulled the spoon from Selma's stunned mouth.

“If this spoonful of beans isn’t enough to calm you down,” Thales said with a smile, turning around to scoop another spoonful of beans into the plate and waving it in front of Selma. “Then I have another spoonful.”

Selma then realized what was happening, her slightly flushed face showing signs of embarrassment and anger. With her mouth full of beans, she made a few extremely dissatisfied "hmm" sounds. Thales, still smiling with his eyes narrowed, waved a spoonful of beans in his hand at her.

"That's right!"

"Crush them to pieces!"

"That will make you feel better!"

Selma pouted, her mouth stuffed full of beans, and glared at him for a full three seconds.

Thales responded with a smile.

Finally, the girl, looking displeased, let out a heavy groan.

She turned her head away, glaring at Thales, and chewed the beans in her mouth vigorously as if in a fit of pique.

The chewiness—it was as if she wasn't chewing beans, but Thales's flesh.

The prince winked at her, his eyes smiling.

Honestly, she used to treat me so well...

Where did that lovable, pitiful little rascal who liked to hide behind me, speaking softly and gently, go?

Thales looked at Selma with a mixture of amusement and exasperation.

He looked at the girl who was glaring at him defiantly.

Watching her cheeks bulge out with each chew, jiggling as she chewed harder and harder.

“I already said that… um, I already said that,” the girl finally managed to chew and swallow the mouthful of beans, and said angrily to the prince, “I’m not unhappy at all… ugh!”

Thales, expressionless, served Selma a second spoonful of beans, silencing her.

The prince suppressed a laugh and tried to pull the spoon back, but found he couldn't: Selma had bitten the spoon hard, and her eyes were now murderous.

“Look, sweetie, the most important thing in life is to be happy…” Thales suppressed the twitching in his shoulders and finally managed to pull the spoon away from her lips, watching Selma angrily begin to chew even harder than the first spoonful.

Although the Grand Duchess's gaze was still terrifying, the prince suddenly felt that life wasn't so bad after all.

Fortunately, she's still quite cute even like this.

Thales gradually became lost in thought.

When did she transform from that cautious girl into the person she is now?

Ah, it was probably one day.

Two years ago, before dawn, she came to find me, still half asleep, with red eyes and a bloodstained sheet in her arms.

After that day, he was chased from his sixth-floor room to the Blood Court by Lady Jinx, who came upon hearing the commotion.

It was a year ago, the day she blushed and put on her corset, the day she was mocked by herself with her eyes in the library.

Thanks to Lady Jinx, who tirelessly taught her lady to adhere to the doctrines of being a noblewoman.

Or perhaps it was the first time she stood before him, dressed in a formal gown and with her hair styled like a lady, feeling both nervous and excited, only to be turned away in anger by the prince's hearty laughter.
I don’t remember.

Anyway, it just turned out like this without me even realizing it.

That once naive and timid girl.

It has been slowly growing amidst the high walls and snow of Valhalla and Dragonsreach.

Ultimately, they will transform into something they are no longer familiar with.

Grand Duchess Selma Walton.

but……

Thales felt a pang of sadness as he recalled how they had met.

Is this really what she wants? Will she truly be happy?
To become a... Walton?

With a heavy heart, Thales sighed and ate a bean.

Just now.

"Hey!"

Selma's anxious voice interrupted him.

The girl's voice sounded somewhat surprised and hurried.

Thales snapped out of his daze and looked at Selma's expression with surprise: the Grand Duchess's face was unusually red, and she hesitantly and nervously extended her right hand to him, as if to remind him of something.

"Hmm?" The prince finished chewing the beans in his mouth in a few bites, raising an eyebrow in confusion: "What?"

Thales noticed something was wrong: Selma's face was now completely red, even her ears were flushed, which was especially noticeable against her blonde hair.

Why do I blush?
The last time I saw her like this was when she came to ask for my opinion, dressed in a formal gown for a banquet.

what happened?

“Um…” Selma stared at him blankly, hesitant to speak, her flushed face twitching slightly, as if she was very embarrassed.

That hesitant, timid look reminded Thales of her childhood.

Finally, under Thales's questioning gaze, Selma lowered her head slightly, covering her face with her bangs, and whispered as softly as a mosquito:

"nothing."

The Grand Duchess stopped speaking and just stared blankly at the table.

Thiel shrugged, still puzzled as to why Selma had blushed.

The prince shook his head, sighing that women were indeed strange.

Just as he lowered his head to put the next bite of the cold stew into his mouth...

Thales's gaze swept over the spoon he had just pulled out of his hand.

"Clang!"

The prince's heart skipped a beat, and the spoon in his hand fell onto the plate, making a loud clattering sound.

Thales sat there blankly, looking at the familiar spoon and then at Selma, whose face was flushed red to the roots of her ears, feeling incredibly embarrassed.

It seems that this spoon was just used...

The prince's gaze kept shifting between the spoon and someone's lips, and he unconsciously smacked his lips.

So embarrassing...

He couldn't help but chuckle awkwardly, "Um, well..."

“I was just about to remind you,” Selma’s voice was high-pitched and almost inaudible, “that you were just too fast.”

Thales was in a terrible predicament. He was relieved that no one had witnessed the scene, but with the last shred of his sanity, he swallowed back the words "It's okay, I don't mind" that were on the tip of his tongue.

The atmosphere at the dinner table suddenly became very awkward.

However, Selma, who had just lowered her head, seemed dissatisfied with Thales' reaction.

She slightly raised her gaze.

"Hmph, you did that on purpose, didn't you?" the girl scoffed. "Jinx said..."

"Ah, right!" Thales slapped his forehead, abruptly changing the subject: "I remember now!"

Under the Grand Duchess's indignant gaze, the Second Prince took out a small but exquisite wooden rectangular box with simple carved patterns from his breast pocket.

“Well,” Thales said nonchalantly, his only thought being to use this incident to ease the current awkwardness:
"Your birthday present... even though it's still two months away."

(End of this chapter)