"Hoho…" Anna looked at him with a smirk. "Why are you blaming someone Noel? What a pervert…"
"What?" Noel gritted his teeth. His eyebrows were twitching. If Dimitri was here, he would definitely fight it out with Dimitri.
"Just admit it, it's you who asked your butler to do this. To think that you would do something like this… Don't tell me, you have fallen head over heels for me that you are trying to merge our beds together so that we can always sleep together. What a sly guy."
"I never asked that!" Noel glared at her. He obviously never intended for this to happen. At the same time, he never thought that Dimitri would do something like this.
"There is nothing wrong in admitting your desire." Anna made a smug smile. Despite being one of the most beautiful women in the kingdom, Noel had never shown any reactions to her. So, this incident couldn't help but boost her pride.
Noel had always teased her in this type of scenario. But this was the first time Anna could satisfy the taste of paying him back.
On the other hand, Noel realized what led to this scenario. Due to the training as well as all the matters he had to consider during the past few months, he actually forgot about the time when Dimitri prepared a bed for them. It was during the abandoned campsite.
It looked like Dimitri was trying to tease them at first. But he never expected that Dimitri was actually serious about it.
"…" Noel bit his lips and took his pillow. "Then, I will just sleep on the floor."
"What are you doing?" Anna squinted her eyes.
"What? Are you that happy to be able to sleep with me?" Noel tried to use this to turn the situation around.
However, Anna raised one finger and said, "Did you forget what Old Ru said? We are only given one set of everything in this room… It's just the whole time, there are two beds, which is the only exception. Then, since the bed has become one now, the concept is fully materialized. There is nothing wrong with it… It's just… you are probably too embarrassed to sleep with this beauty after knowing this fact."
"…" Noel clenched his fists when he saw her looking down on him.
On the one hand, it was never a problem. They had traveled together and even shared everything they had brought, including the tent. They even had slept on the same bed before. On the other hand, there was a big difference between the past and the current situation.
In the past, they never intended to sleep together. Even if they did, it was just to tease each other or the condition forced them to do so. However, Dimitri was playing tricks this time with the intention of making them go further than this.
He was afraid that the moment he let Dimitri do whatever he wanted, Dimitri would push for more.
Noel was contemplating the whole matter of what would happen in the future. Meanwhile, Anna was using this opportunity to continue teasing him.
"You are a coward. You've always been saying that it'll just ruin my reputation, but in this place, no one is going to know about it."
"You are the only one who can ruin my reputation."
"I was supposed to die earlier, but you actually protected me. What? Is it like what I think it is?"
"That's right. You just can't bear to see me dying."
"Do you know that you were continuously uttering my name when you were unconscious?!"
"That's a lie!" Noel suddenly raised his voice, reacting to the last one. However, he forgot that responding to her teasing just meant he was actually admitting the teasing.
"Hehe…" Anna had a huge grin on her face.
Noel clenched his fists and tossed his pillow back on the bed. "Just make sure that you're not regretting this. I'm pretty sure that Dimitri is not going to stop with only this."
"Is that a problem?" Anna smirked. "You're simply going to take responsibility for it. Right? Do you remember the time you introduced yourself as Noel Stargaze? It had a nice ring to it. How about introducing yourself like that again?"
He wanted to get angry again, but he suddenly stopped. If he continued to respond to her, she would just become even more prideful.
In addition, there were a few reasons why he never planned any of this. First of all, he had a clear goal he had made when awakening his spirit. And that goal would surely cause some trouble to the one who accompanied him. That was why he was skeptical about relationships.
The second reason was related to Ardagan. After knowing the fact that Ardagans could only bear one heir, it was enough to know what kind of future problems he would face.
Having multiple children was normal in this period. Even Anna had a brother. But because his talent was incomparable to Anna, he had been sent to train elsewhere. That was also why the royal family wanted to force Anna to marry into their royal family since her family couldn't use the successor's reason to reject them.
The third reason was the current condition of the Ardagan Family. Even if he could reinstate the Ardagan Family, there would be numerous problems he constantly faced on a daily basis, such as the Royal Family and the Supreme Devil Organization. There was a high chance that whoever was with him would be targeted.
Last but not least, it was Anna Stargaze. Although he knew the relationship between the Ardagan Family and the Stargaze Family, the moment he made this decision, the relationship between the two families could go either for better or for worse.
Noel simply had to consider all this. These were probably the reasons why Noel, in the past life, had never been with a woman.
However, Anna's cheeky smile truly pissed him off.
"Teasing is fine, but have you ever thought what will happen once the people know about this?" Noel asked with a sigh.
"I know some implications, such as the Stargaze Family and the Royal Family's relationship or the fact that your uncle will try to aim at me as well. Those two are probably the biggest problems, right?" Anna asked.
Noel couldn't answer her questions. Despite knowing about this, Anna actually paid no mind and kept provoking him.
"More like I don't care about them. The relationship between the Stargaze Family and the Royal Family is already sour to begin with. They even tried to force me to marry their prince or whatsoever by employing all those dirty tricks. So, I would rather marry a commoner than the prince." Anna harrumphed.
"In addition, your uncle should have been aware of my situation, no? If the Supreme Devil Organization is that strong, it will just be a matter of time for him to come after me. Rather than facing it alone, it's better to prepare everything with you, don't you think?"
Anna kept spouting all the facts, except for the first one, where she just prioritized her own feeling.
Noel looked at her in silence as if he was astonished by her words.
Anna grinned and teased him again. "What? Did what I said make you fall for me? What am I going to do… I have to blame my charms for being too effective! I'm sorry that I'm too beautiful."
"On the outside, not on the inside," Noel interjected with a sigh. "I somehow want to slap you right now."
"What's wrong? You usually said you're going to punch me instead of a slap. Since when did you become soft?"
"I'm just holding back since you're still injured." Noel snorted. "Whatever. I don't care anymore."
Noel pushed her back to her side of the bed, laid down on the bed, and put the quilt as if he was going to sleep.
"Tsk. Are you running? I guess this time it's my win." Anna made a victory sign with her fingers.
Unfortunately, Noel didn't react, taking a bit of her fun away.
"…" Anna pouted. Even though this was her victory, she couldn't enjoy it as much.
'Should I just get some sleep? I have to condition myself for the treatment tomorrow as well…' Anna sighed. She would just continue teasing Noel tomorrow.
She didn't realize that Noel was actually not asleep. In fact, his mind was occupied with all kinds of thoughts. He might not have realized it, but he began to consider his future, especially as the head of the Ardagan Family like Dimitri wanted.
On the other hand, Anna covered her entire body with the quilt. Now that the joy of victory had begun to fade, all that was left was the embarrassment. She never thought she would say all those words to Noel. Her face was flushed red, so she had no choice but to turn around and hide her face from Noel.
Unbeknownst to them, the shadow of the bed flickered for a second.
Upstairs, Dimitri was sipping his tea with a smile on his face. He looked at the moon through the window and muttered, "I'm sorry, Master. Everything is for you… Since you will soon rebuild the Ardagan Family, we definitely need an heir so that the Ardagan Blood will live on. I don't care if you choose Anna or someone else as long as this problem is taken care of. That's my job as the butler… Other official stuff is left to the other divisions. That's probably why your father assigned me to this job."
As someone who had been betrayed by Laufey Ardagan during his time in the Demon Banner Army, he knew how hard it was to be betrayed by someone. So, he had been doing everything to solve the knots in Noel's heart that prevented him from searching for spouses. That was one of the most important things for a noble after all.
