12 Taking off My Clothes

Mineah grabbed her magical pouch and pulled out the personal letter Niran sent her. 

She then read it, taking in all of its contents before she made the letter disappear with a but a simple spell. With a wave of her hand, the piece of parchment disintegrated, leaving nothing but a cloud of smoke before that too disappeared into nothingness.

Letting out another sigh, she then took a quick scan of the other reports sent by both Laura and Niran. "This is all giving me a headache," she shrugged before putting them back into her magical pouch. 

She then stored the same pouch back inside her personal chest, ensuring its privacy. 

She then removed her gown and walked inside the private privy naked. She sat in the warm bathtub that Zaila had prepared for her. As was her usual routine, it was filled with oils and lavender petals, as well as a bit of chamomile and frankincense to help her relax. 

Leaning into the tub, she absently stared at the ceiling as she lowered her entire body into the warm water, her face being the only thing out of the water as she comfortably rested her neck on the headrest of the tub. 

They were currently staying at one of the more luxurious inns in their kingdom. It wasn't her first time being in this place. After all, she often explored the surrounding areas of the palace, mostly in disguise to go look for wild plants and herbs in the vicinity of their kingdom. 

In a way, she already knew what Ebodia had in store before she had officially been outside the capital.

She let out another long sigh as she thought about how she was about to completely set foot outside of their kingdom come tomorrow. 

They would reach Ebodia Harbor tomorrow night, and from there sail across the Miran Ocean to get to Valcrez. 

She had never traveled outside of their Kingdom before, even as a child she wasn't allowed outside the borders of Ebodia, so everything, as soon as she was aboard her husband's ship would be new to her.

"Everything will be worth it, I'm sure," she weakly hummed to herself as if to cheer herself on. "I need to stay focused…"

She slowly closed her eyes in retreat as she stopped herself from thinking too much. Deep inside, she already missed her family, her parents, her siblings… her home… 

"This feels nice..." 

She let out a satisfied sigh as she inhaled the pleasant aroma emitted by her bath. She was honestly a bit drained from all of the energy she used up from reading minds today. Even if doing so wasn't that much of a drain on her inner energy like whenever she used her right eye to compel people, it was still rather exhausting to do.

She gently pinched the bridge of her nose. 

Mineah felt like she had a lot to learn firsthand. Obviously, not all things were written in the books, and even fewer of them would be accurate enough for her needs. Some important details might also be missing based on the quick scan that she did on Laura and Niran's reports.

She still had a lot of studying to do seeing how complicated Valcrez's political system was. Maybe her husband's vassal Gregory had a point. 

She was just about to let out another sigh when she felt a sudden presence enter the private privy. Frowning, she slowly opened her eyes, only to see Nikolai leaning against the wall nearest to her while he watched her. 

Unknowingly, she crossed her arms over her bare chest. It was fortunate that a few well-placed bubbles hid her exposed privates.

"Milord?" she murmured. "What are you doing here?" 

"I just wanted to check on you," Nikolai simply answered. "It's been a while since you began your short dip…" 

Mineah was about to retort, but before she could do so, Nikolai did something that made her jaw drop. "W-what are you doing?!"

"Taking off my clothes obviously," Nikolai casually replied.

"But why?!" 

Mineah said that, but she still couldn't decide on whether to close her eyes or watch while he stripped off his clothes before her…

In the end, Mineah couldn't help but look at Nikolai. 

He was irresistible to look at with those toned muscles of his, and the way the dim light illuminated the room and fell on all the right places wasn't helping to give his pale skin that golden shimmer. She gulped as she closed her eyes upon realizing how he was about to remove his trousers.

"Why are you stripping naked in front of me?" she questioned with a frown, doing little to hide the irritation in her voice. For a second, she had almost forgotten about her goal of seducing this vampire. Still, her goal was to capture only his heart, not his whole body!

"Am I not allowed to have a bath with my wife?" he remarked with a cold tone. "I purposely asked for a big tub to just make sure that the two of us will fit in it together."

Mineah's jaw tightened. 

His voice sounded too endearing, but she managed to remind herself that she must have control over every situation she found herself in with him. She was the hunter, and Nikolai was her prey. 

Opening her eyes to meet his unwavering gaze, she was still feeling turmoil around him with how little she knew right now. It was a great disadvantage for her that she was unable to read Nikolai's mind, and it was annoying as hell, especially when he was being too stoic like this!

'Is he really serious?' she screamed at the back of her head.