The Prince Who Loved Me - Chapter 16

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Chapter 16

* * *

The next day, Bada opened her eyes in bed with a much lighter feeling in her body.

As her mind cleared, she finally remembered that she had missed her flight to Korea yesterday.

Bada sat up and sighed.

“Sigh, taking that flight yesterday would have been too much anyway.”

She quietly looked around the serene bedroom and thought.

What should I do now.

She couldn’t impose on this place indefinitely.

‘First, let me get my luggage from the guest house and then search for flight tickets.’

Having finished her thoughts, Bada got out of bed, took a shower, and changed into River’s t-shirt that was placed on the nightstand.

It was a uniquely designed t-shirt with a skull drawn on a black background and the logo of a band called Metallica.

When she went downstairs to the first floor, for some reason there were groceries piled up on the island counter in the kitchen.

Tropical fruits, bread, cheese, snacks, and even several bottles of wine.

It looked like enough for several weeks.

Just then, River, who was carrying grocery bags, spotted her and winked.

“My t-shirt looks good on you.”

“…The Metallica t-shirt?”

“Yeah.”

He seemed quite pleased with the fact that she was wearing his clothes.

‘Come to think of it, the clothes smell like River.’

Not knowing what else to say, Bada hesitated before quietly opening her mouth.

“Anyway, thank you for taking care of me all this time. I don’t know how I’ll ever repay this debt…”

At her words that sounded like she was about to leave soon, River looked down at her with an expressionless face.

“Where are you going?”

“Huh? Oh, actually I was supposed to return to Korea yesterday but I missed my flight. Now I need to pack my things and look into return tickets.”

He put down the grocery bag he was holding onto the table and strode toward her.

“You’re probably not fully recovered yet.”

He placed his hand on her forehead. His voice sounded somehow displeased.

“See, you still have a fever.”

“…Do I? My body feels fine though. Anyway, I should go to the guest house first to get my luggage.”

“I had Morgan bring your luggage to the dressing room in the bedroom.”

“When?”

Just then, Morgan appeared from the pantry room and bowed silently to River before speaking.

“Then I’ll head to the guest house annex now, Your Highness.”

Suddenly, a strange silence filled the air. Bada looked at Morgan with a bewildered expression.

‘Your Highness?’

Morgan tried to manage his expression while avoiding River’s cold stare and spoke to Bada.

“It’s a joke.”

“Excuse me?”

“He keeps ordering me to buy this and move that, so I was joking. Wasn’t it funny?”

Looking at Morgan’s cold eyes, she felt like she had to laugh no matter how unfunny it was.

“…Ah. I get it.”

“Well then, I’ll head to the guest house annex now.”

Morgan bowed respectfully like a soldier and left the villa.

‘His sense of humor is a bit dry.’

Bada shrugged as if it was no big deal and asked River.

“By the way, why did you buy so much stuff?”

He put down the paper bag on the table and answered nonchalantly.

“Well, since we can’t go outside.”

At those words, Bada tilted her head.

“Can’t go outside? Why?”

As Bada frowned and fell deep in thought, she remembered that night when they had fled from Devil’s Den.

Her pupils gradually filled with fear.

‘Could it be that those gangsters are chasing us?’

Noticing Bada’s troubled expression, River placed his hand on her shoulder as if to reassure her.

“Because if I go out now, I might end up in prison.”

“…Prison? What are you talking about!”

River was looking down at her with an unreadable expression.

Something seemed seriously wrong.

He spoke in a monotone voice.

“If you’re going to stay by my side, shouldn’t you have been prepared for that much?”

Bada, who looked up at him, couldn’t continue speaking.

I thought his identity was suspicious. So there really was something.

As he looked down at her pale face, the corners of his eyes crinkled into crescents, and he burst into hearty laughter.

“What, why are you laughing.”

Bada frowned in confusion.

He finally stopped laughing and pinched her cheek lightly as if she was cute.

“You should have seen that expression of yours in a mirror just now.”

“…”

“Today is Nyepi Day, didn’t you know?”

“What day?”

“Nyepi Day. Today is a day when you can’t go outside.”

After thinking for a moment, Bada exclaimed as if she just remembered.

“…Oh, right! I completely forgot!”

So Nyepi Day, also called the ‘Day of Silence,’ was one of Bali’s biggest holidays.

On this day, not only internet and electricity but even mobile phone communications were cut off, and even the airport was closed.

Travel was also prohibited, and if you broke the rules and went outside, you could even be punished with imprisonment.

Even foreign tourists received no special treatment.

In other words, they had no choice but to be trapped inside the house for the entire day.

Only then did Bada remember that she had deliberately bought her return flight ticket for the day before to avoid Nyepi Day.

River winked and said.

“Don’t worry, I bought food and necessary supplies in advance.”

Bada looked at the groceries on the island counter and said.

“We’re only trapped for one day, but this much?”

“Well, you never know what might happen.”

After finishing his meaningful words, River calmly stocked the pantry with groceries.

But inside, he couldn’t contain his wild excitement.

While he was upset about Bada getting hurt, he was thrilled to the point of trembling that she had fallen into his grasp as he had wanted.

‘It would have been nice if Nyepi Day lasted a few more days. But well, one day is enough.’

He had only one day given to him.

He planned to firmly capture her heart during this one day.

* * *

Since not only mobile data but even TV was dead, the two had nothing to do except stick close to each other.

So they killed time lying on the sunbeds by the swimming pool, listening to music through a Bluetooth speaker.

River, who was reading a newspaper, glanced at Bada who was sipping an orange-colored Aperol Spritz.

“By the way, what kind of work did you do in Korea?”

“Packaging work.”

“Packaging work?”

Bada stirred her cocktail with a straw as she spoke.

“Yeah, double-packaging bullshit with fancy PPTs so that the plausibly packaged nonsense wouldn’t get caught?”

He laughed, finding her expression amusing.

When she said she worked at an investment bank, people often thought she did something incredible.

But in reality, the core of what Bada did was digging through vast amounts of data to create plausible materials that matched the conclusions the executives wanted.

It was also routine to mix in difficult English to deceive investors.

“Do you know what our team leader’s nickname was? ‘Business Bullshit Generator.'”

“What was he like?”

“For example, he’d say things like this: ‘Analyze the data more granularly, and considering our core competency, derive disruptive action items…’ Sounds like complete bullshit, right?”

Damien let out a quiet laugh at Bada’s imitation of her team leader’s voice.

“Oh my. I had plenty of bullshitters around me too.”

“How so?”

“Well, for example, they’d say something like ‘That’s quite an original proposal. I’m sure I’m mistaken, but it’s a bit different from what we expected, so let’s review it again.'”

“What’s wrong with that? Doesn’t that mean they’ll review it again?”

“No. It means ‘Your proposal is unpredictably garbage, and talking about it would just waste my breath, so I’ll say I was mistaken to end this, but there won’t be any actual review.'”

“Ugh, that’s incredibly roundabout! I wouldn’t be able to understand that.”

“Wasn’t there anything else that was difficult?”

“Don’t even get me started. Plus, working 80 hours a week was standard. I’d fall asleep in taxis at 3 AM every day.”

Bada was quite good at her job and received recognition, but she felt fundamental doubts about the industry.

“Will you go back to that work when you return to Korea?”

“I don’t know. It’s familiar since it’s what I’ve been doing, but honestly, more than that… I want to do something more meaningful.”

“Meaningful work?”

“Yeah. The presentations I made brought hundreds of billions in funding to the company, but I didn’t actually create anything of substantial value. You could say it was just moving money from one person’s pocket to another’s.”

Damien felt a deep sense of kinship with her. He too was sick of the pretense of the royal family and high society, with their empty, flowery words.

He asked.

“So what do you want to do in the future?”

“I’m still thinking about it. Actually, that’s why I came to Bali—to find that. It’s not like I’m looking for something grand though. For instance, I think making a cup of coffee that makes someone’s day happy is also meaningful.”

“I agree.”

“…What about you? What do you want to become?”

River, who had been lost in thought for a moment, said.

“An invisible man.”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————