The Princess And Her Alpha Bodyguard

23~ ONE WRONG MOVE

Edward Bure. I repeated this name inside my head as I rode on the back of his wolf form.

I knew nothing else connected Edward's resemblance to Valdemir except for his towering height. Although his eyes were similar, it was too weak to make a conclusion. After all, I couldn't see the shape of Valdemir's eyes clearly, given the mask on his face. Besides, the colors of their eyes were different. Gerold already told me that the eyes' color of werewolves could only change for several seconds when they shifted. But with Edward, his dark pupils remained the same during the entire fifteen minutes that we talked in the forest.

"We're here," said Mez.

I opened my eyes and sat up straight on the wolf’s back to see that we'd arrived at the training camp. Mez and Gerold had already shifted back to their human forms and they were standing before me.

"Come on, woman. Get down. How long do you plan on staying there?" Gerold walked toward me and reached out his hands.

"For the last time, my name is Lae," I said, letting him hold me by my underarms and helping me get off the wolf's back.

He rolled his eyes and brought me down gently until my feet landed on the ground. "For the last time, I don't care. I do whatever I want. If one day I feel like calling your name, I will," he said.

I suppressed the urge to groan in frustration. I already made peace with his girlfriend; yet, this guy refused to give me any.

"Alright. Shall we go back to training?" I asked.

"Woah. Did you fall and hit your head?" Gerold looked at me in disbelief.

"What do you mean?" I frowned.

"You looked enthusiastic to practice. I didn't remember seeing this in you the last time we parted." Before I could say anything, he turned to Mez. "Babe, did you do anything to her?"

"Don't call me that in public, especially on the training ground," said Mez as she stepped closer to us. "And to answer your question, I didn't. Lae finally knew what she had to do." She then turned to me. "Right, Lae?"

"Right." I nodded. Then, I turned to Gerold. "I..I... well,..."

"What?" Gerold's brows furrowed as he looked at me stuttering.

I cleared my throat and said, "I'm sorry for behaving like that toward you back then. I knew I was rude and disobedient for a trainee."

After making my first apology to Mez, the second one didn't seem so hard at all. I learned to face my mistake and accepted the wrong things I’d done. It felt so much better to say sorry rather than keep the guilt in. It was like taking away a mountainous pile of rocks off my chest.

"I felt like dealing with the old you was better. When you become reasonable like this, I don't have the heart to make things difficult for you." Gerold looked away and murmured in a low voice. Still, it was loud enough for me to hear.

"That's enough." Mez nudged him. "Don't tease Lae. She's my student now."

"Wait. What did I miss? How could you two..." he trailed off. His eyes widened as he looked at us. It was as if he couldn't believe that Mez and I weren't at each other's throats.

It wasn't just him, though. I was also surprised that we could make up this fast. I guessed it had something to do with what had happened on the hill.

"Come on. It's time for lunch. We need to hurry before training resumes," said a hoarse voice that belonged to none other than Edward.

I had no idea when he had left. Maybe he walked away since Gerold took me off his back. But now, he's already returned to his human form. I had no idea his footsteps could be as light as a feather. He made not a single sound for his round trips. If his feet weren't touching the ground, I would've considered him a ghost.

Unlike our first meeting in the forest, there was enough sunlight shining on him since we were standing in the open space. I couldn't help but find him to be one hell of a hot, dishy and hunky bodyguard. I knew it wasn't the right time to think about this. Still, he looked too princely to be a mere bodyguard. Besides, the more I looked at him, the more he resembled Valdemir.

"Lae? What's wrong?" asked Edward.

His question snapped me out of my mind. I cleared my throat and feigned ignorance. "What is it?"

"Is something wrong?" he repeated.

"Nothing." I shook my head.

"Then why are you staring at me without blinking?" He raised his eyebrow, giving me a challenging look.

"Because you're too handsome, dude," Gerold chuckled and put his hand on Edward's shoulder.

Heat crawled up my face upon hearing Gerold's words since I didn't know if he was only teasing or if he could see right through me.

"Shut it. Come on." Mez grabbed her boyfriend's arm and dragged him away. I could still hear his chuckle, even though he was no longer standing here.

Now that Mez and I seemed to get along, Gerold was like a different person. In retrospect, I'd never believed that this was the same guy who tried to strangle me—or ripped me to pieces—on our first encounter. I was glad to see this side of him, and I had no complaints about this change. I only hoped he would keep it this way forever.

"Shall we join them?" Edward turned to me.

"Wait. I have a question." I said, finding it hard to hold it in any longer. My curiosity was killing me.

"What is it?" he asked.

"Are you Valdemir's twin?" I looked at him, waiting to see any reaction I could notice. But there was none.

"No." He shook his head, maintaining his solemn face.

"Then why are you—"

"Why am I looking a lot like him?" He cut me off.

I nodded.

"This isn't the first time people ask me this," he sighed. "I thought I'd get used to this question, but I guessed I wasn't." Before I could say anything, he picked up his word. "Have you ever heard of the term doppelgänger?"

"Yes, I've heard of it. It's just that I've never seen one," I said.

"Well, you're looking at him now." He pointed to himself.

I narrowed my eyes, wondering if he was telling the truth. This guy was good at mastering his expression, so it was hard for me to tell.

But I had my way.

"Alright." I shrugged. "Let's go then."

"After you." He stepped to the side. "Lady first."

"Thanks." I suppressed the urge to smile, knowing this was my opportunity.

As I walked forward, my eyes fixated on the strand of his long, black hair that rested on his shoulder. The wind must have fluttered it to the front. I could say that luck was on my side. When I was only one step away from where he was, I pretended to trip. Instead of falling forward, I let my body sway to the side toward where he was.

"Kyah!" I yelped and grabbed the end of his hair as I fell into his chest. I aimed for it because I wanted to confirm if he was wearing a wig. If that black hair was a wig, it'd fall off with the force I used here.

However, it was a very wrong move.

As I pulled his hair down, his head followed, bringing his face so close to mine. And that was not all. My nose came into contact with something warm and soft that carried a chamomile scent.

I widened my eyes in shock when I figured out what was happening.

I'm kissing Edward on the cheek! An alarming thought popped up in my head.

I didn't think it was possible, given our height difference. I had no idea what was going on right now. Well, except for the fact that my head was lying on his shoulder and my nose was kissing his cheek. And let's not forget that Edward's hands were on my waist as he helped support me when I faked the fall.

I bet if people were looking at us, they would've thought we were hugging and kissing each other.

"S-sorry." I broke away from him and looked to the ground, wanting to hide the face that must've turned red like a ripe tomato. I could feel the heat radiating from every inch of my skin.

"Are you okay?" he asked in a worried tone.

"Yes. I'm fine." I did my best to control my voice, hoping it didn't come out as shaky as the turbulence in my heart. "I tripped. I didn't hurt you, did I?" I asked. My eyes were still on the ground since I didn't have the courage to look at him.

"It was nothing. That kind of thing won't injure me easily," he said. "Besides, I could barely feel your weight. Are you eating enough?"

"I'm fine. It's okay. I mean, I eat more than enough." I tried to find words to say so that the air between us wouldn't be awkward. Though, I doubted that it was any better.

"Alright. Well, speaking of eating, it's lunchtime now. We should hurry before the food runs out. We, werewolves, tend to eat a lot," he said.

"Okay." I nodded.

"I'll lead the way this time. In case there is any uneven ground, I'll help flatten it so that you won't trip again."

His words caused the heat to creep up to my face again as they made me remember what had just happened.

Stop it, Lae. An inner voice scolded me at the back of my head. It was only an accident. Besides, it was just the cheek. Not the lips. Stop making a big deal out of it.

"Yes. Stop it."

I didn't notice I said some words aloud. Not until Edward asked me.

"Stop what?" he asked in a confused tone.

I looked up at him in surprise, wondering if I spoke the entire inner thought aloud. "What?" I asked with my eyes widened.

"Did you say something? I seemed to hear you say 'stop.' What do you want to stop?" He looked at me with his brows furrowed.

Good. I didn't blurt everything out. I let out an inner sigh of relief after knowing I didn't speak what shouldn't be spoken.

"Well, I must've talked to my stomach. It was rumbling just now, so I told it to stop embarrassing me," I said, making up a story on the spot.

"Then we shouldn't wait any longer. Let's go." He turned around and started walking.

As I followed him, my eyes fixated on the black hair on his broad back.

It can't be, I thought to myself.

The hair color and styles were different. Valdemir wore his red hair in a high, half ponytail, while Edward styled it in a low, half ponytail. I already confirmed that the black hair was real, not a wig. This should've already proved they weren't the same person.

Besides, didn't Valdemir say he has a scar on his face? That was the reason he wore the mask. I already asked Dila and Lumina about this. They said that it was true. Looking at Edward's face, there was no trace of an old or new scar.

If these two points were still too weak to prove that they were different people, I had another one.

Their scents.

No matter how skillful the disguise was, one could only use the appearance to fool others. No one could imitate a person's scent.

When I kissed Edward back then, the scent that hit my nose was chamomile. It wasn't sandalwood like the one that I'd smelled on Valdemir.

Maybe I was overthinking. There was no way Edward could be Valdemir. I thought to myself. After all, why would an Alpha King have time to play disguise with me?

And with that, I brushed the thought out of my head and followed Edward toward the lunch tent, where Mez and Gerold were waiting.

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