Picked Up a Beast, Turns Out He's an Emperor (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 68

Splash, splash.

Warm water rippled gently, soothing her weary body. Careful hands, washing away every bruise and scrape from her skin, moved with utmost respect.

Her eyelids slowly lifted, revealing round eyes as she began to awaken. Fluffy clouds of sweet-scented soap bubbles filled her vision.

The mingled scents of jasmine and tea rose cleared Arabella’s mind, reminding her she was lying in a bathtub.

She was inside a vast, perfectly square porcelain tub, so large its edges vanished from sight. Humid warmth, like that of Lake Innis, filled the spacious bath chamber with a soft mist.

Her body, which should have pressed against the hard tub, felt inexplicably comfortable. Though harder than steel, the porcelain possessed a fine elasticity and enveloping softness that calmed her heart.

She had grown used to the warmth of his body, his scent, and the contours of his muscles.

Remembering the morning in the cave—when she’d woken beside the man restored to human form and nearly fainted from shock—brought a gentle curve to Arabella’s lips.

His rough thumb surfaced from the water and traced lightly over her pink lips, then pressed slightly, stealing away her smile.

A low, slightly hoarse voice dropped softly onto the crown of her head.

“At this very moment, smiling is strictly forbidden.”

The round head resting comfortably against his chest lifted slightly to the side.

Her wide eyes followed the stretch of his long throat upward until they met the Emperor’s crimson gaze.

Seeing his eyes no longer stained with pain’s bloody hue, but instead shimmering with cool, beautiful ruby light, Arabella’s eyes crinkled into crescent moons.

“Also forbidden,” he added seriously, “is looking at me like that.”

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