The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1274 - 196 - Boiling Point (3)

The next morning...

A faint glow of morning light crept in through the window, gently pushing away the quiet darkness that had settled over the room during the night. The air felt calm, almost lazy, and it was the kind of peaceful silence that only early mornings seemed to have.

We had slept together in the same bed.

But strangely enough, nothing actually happened between us.

We didn’t have sex.

Honestly, thinking about it now, it was kind of surprising. With the two of us sharing the same bed, lying so close to each other the entire night, it would have been pretty easy for things to escalate. Anyone else would probably assume it would naturally go there.

But it didn’t.

And that was... oddly nice in its own way.

There was something peaceful about it. Just sleeping beside someone without anything else happening.

Of course, that didn’t mean the thought never crossed my mind. I’m still human, after all.

Still, nothing happened.

And now it was morning.

After sending letters to several people the previous day—important people as well as many influential ones—the Princess had basically made her move. Those letters were requests for support. Not casual requests either. They were the kind that could decide the fate of the entire kingdom depending on how people responded.

Now all we could really do was wait.

Wait for replies.

Wait to see who would stand with her... and who wouldn’t.

One of the people she had contacted was Galdea.

Administrator Galdea.

She was one of the administrators of the Academy, and despite her relatively young age, she already held a position that many older and more experienced people had spent decades trying to reach.

She was actually the youngest person to ever be appointed as an administrator in the Academy’s long history.

Of course, some people liked to whisper that it was because of her father.

Her father had once been an administrator as well. A respected one, too. But he passed away a few years ago, leaving the position open.

And Galdea stepped into it.

Some people had expected her to fail. Others thought she would just be a symbolic replacement.

Turns out, they were all wrong.

She proved herself pretty quickly.

In fact, she proved herself a little too well.

Anyone who paid attention to the way the Academy was run could see it clearly. Her work was sharp, efficient, and organized. She didn’t hesitate when making decisions, and when she did make one, it usually worked.

To put it simply, she was good at her job.

Maybe even better than some of the other administrators.

Which, unsurprisingly, made her extremely unpopular among them.

Turns out people don’t like it when someone younger starts outperforming them.

Funny how that works.

When I finally opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was that Myrcella was already awake.

The bed beside me was empty.

I pushed myself up slightly, blinking away the remaining sleep from my eyes, and glanced toward the small kitchen area.

Sure enough, she was there.

She seemed to be preparing something.

Breakfast, most likely.

"Oh, you’re awake already?" she said when she noticed me looking over.

Her voice was calm, but there was a small hint of surprise in it.

"You could still rest a little longer, you know," she added while turning slightly toward me. "You’ve been working a lot lately, haven’t you?"

I let out a quiet breath.

Well... she wasn’t wrong.

I had been busy.

But compared to her, I was practically on vacation.

She had been pushing herself nonstop lately. Meetings, planning, sending letters, coordinating with people, thinking about the political situation, honestly, it was exhausting just watching her deal with it.

And last night?

She stayed up late finishing those letters.

So if anyone deserved to sleep in, it was definitely her.

But there she was, already awake and making breakfast.

She really was taking this whole situation seriously.

Which made sense.

The situation itself was serious.

While I watched her move around the kitchen, something else caught my attention.

She was wearing an apron.

That was it.

Just a simple apron over her clothes while she worked.

And somehow... it looked ridiculously good on her.

I leaned back slightly, resting my head against the pillow as I watched her cook.

Honestly, she looked kind of sexy like that.

There was just something about someone confidently handling a kitchen while wearing an apron that did things to a man’s brain. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖

Not sure why.

Science probably has an explanation for it.

Or maybe not.

Before my thoughts could wander too far, her phone suddenly rang.

The sound cut through the quiet room.

She paused, quickly wiping her hands on a cloth before reaching for the phone.

After picking it up, she glanced at the screen.

A message had arrived.

Her eyes scanned the text for a moment before she spoke.

"The Sword Saint just received my message," she said.

Her tone shifted slightly, becoming more focused.

"He said he’s going to support me in this fight. He also said that his allegiance is to me."

I nodded slowly.

That made sense.

The Sword Saint wasn’t the type to get involved in political matters easily. For someone like him to openly declare allegiance meant something.

Still... I had a feeling Johanne might’ve played a role in that decision.

"If only I knew Administrator Galdea’s phone number," Myrcella continued, tapping lightly on the side of the phone. "Then I could’ve just asked her to send me a message through this instead."

I shrugged slightly.

"Well, if you ask me, I could easily get you her number," I said.

She glanced over at me.

"I mean, I am the owner of the company that makes phones," I continued casually. "And I’m also the one responsible for the signal system that lets phones send and receive texts."

Perks of being the CEO, I guess.

You end up knowing things.

A lot of things.

She shook her head slightly though.

"Well, obviously I can’t just message her like that," she said. "Because if I suddenly contact her through a phone without any warning, she might think it’s someone pretending to be me," she explained. "Especially if the message comes from an unknown number."

She had a point.

"I mean," she continued, "people have already started doing those kinds of things. Pretending to be someone else just to get what they want."

That was the unfortunate side effect of new technology.

Now that it was easier than ever to contact people instantly, a lot of shady individuals were taking advantage of it. They’d target weak-minded people and scam them, pretending to be someone else just to get what they wanted.

As modern technology slowly entered this world, the bad side of it came along too. Phones, for example, were now tools that could easily be used for deception with people posing as someone else to scam others or manipulate them.

Turns out when you introduce modern technology into the world, you also accidentally introduce modern crime along with it.

Progress, I guess.

After waiting quietly for a bit, the sound of something sliding through the mail slot suddenly echoed from the door.

A letter.

"Oh," Myrcella said, turning toward it. "That might be her."

She walked over and picked it up from the floor.

The envelope looked official enough.

She examined it for a brief moment before tearing it open.

Pulling the letter out, she unfolded it and quickly read through the contents.

Her eyes moved across the page for a few seconds before she smiled slightly.

"Oh, it is her," she said.

Looks like the letter reached its destination.

"It seems she received my message," she continued. "She wants us to meet her."

Then she looked over at me.

"Do you want to come with me, Leon?"

Normally, Angelica would be the one standing beside her in situations like this.

Angelica had always been her closest guard.

But recently, Angelica had joined the heroes on that village to guard them.

Something that she clearly wasn’t very happy about.

Angelica herself wanted to stay and protect the Princess, but circumstances pushed her toward the heroes instead.

Which meant...

Right now, Myrcella didn’t really have anyone guarding her.

Except me.

And considering the situation in the kingdom right now, with the danger spreading everywhere, enemies moving behind the scenes, and the Princess herself being one of the main targets, it only made sense for someone to stay close to her.

Right now, that someone was me.

"Yes," I said. "If you don’t mind."