The Prince Who Loved Me - Chapter 75

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 75

“It’s just a place I sometimes go to volunteer. If you don’t feel like it, you don’t have to…”

“Oh, no. I’ll go! I want to go!”

Bada had been feeling suffocated being confined to Windswood House since the egg terror incident.

And now he was suggesting they go out together? Was the sun going to rise from the west tomorrow?

She didn’t know what had made him change his mind, but she couldn’t miss this rare opportunity to go outside.

“Let’s go together. Thank you for suggesting it, Damien.”

“Alright, then we’ll leave at 10 AM tomorrow morning, so get ready.”

“Okay!”

Damien, who had been staring at Bada’s bright smile, shifted his gaze and focused on his knife work again.

* * *

The next day, Bada went out to volunteer at an orphanage located on the outskirts of the capital as promised with Damien.

But for some reason, Damien was wearing a knit sweater and jeans instead of his usual expensive suit.

His black hair, which was usually swept up without a single strand out of place, was naturally down today.

Hiding her excitement at this different appearance, Bada asked as casually as possible.

“What’s this? You look a bit different today?”

“I need comfortable clothes to play with the kids.”

“Ah.”

Bada looked down at her tweed jacket and dress pants.

“Is this too much?”

“No, it’s perfect. Let’s go.”

“Wait a moment. Let me take this off.”

Bada removed the brooch from her chest and put it in her bag. When Damien raised an eyebrow questioningly at this, Bada explained.

“Actually, I don’t like wearing brooches. They’re a bit bothersome. I wanted to take it off if it’s okay to dress comfortably.”

“I see.”

Damien nodded after listening carefully to her words.

As if he was trying to store every small detail about her in his mind.

The two got in the car and soon arrived in front of the orphanage building. The staff waiting at the entrance welcomed them warmly.

“Welcome, Your Highness. It’s nice to meet you for the first time, Lady.”

While chatting with the staff, they heard energetic footsteps coming from the corridor inside the building.

Soon, a boy with brown curly hair and freckles on his face appeared.

The child saw Damien and widened his eyes as he shouted.

“Uncle River! Uncle River!”

Damien swept up the child who came running toward him in a hurry into his arms.

“Hey, Pickle. Let me see, you’ve grown a lot taller?”

“Yes! I ate three eggs a day and didn’t skip eating Brussels sprouts and carrots either.”

“My goodness, you’ll soon be taller than me?”

‘Uncle River?’

When confusion appeared on Bada’s face, Lancaster, who was standing beside her, whispered.

“The children here don’t know that His Highness is the Crown Prince. They just think he’s an uncle who visits often.”

“Ah, is that so?”

Since he looked different from his usual stern appearance in formal suits on TV, they seemed unable to recognize that he was a prince.

‘So River was the alias he uses at times like this?’

The child in Damien’s arms stared at Bada with sparkling eyes.

“Is she Uncle River’s girlfriend?”

“Yes. This is my girlfriend… Lizzy. Lizzy, this child is Owen. His nickname is Pickle.”

Bada glared at Damien for introducing her as ‘Lizzy.’

It couldn’t be helped. To keep up with his double life, she would need a fake identity too.

Bada shot him a look that said she’d let it slide just this once, though it was annoying, then smiled at Owen.

“Hello, Owen! Nice to meet you.”

The child grabbed Bada’s finger with his tiny hand and shook it.

“Hello! Uncle River saw me throwing a tantrum about not eating pickles, so my nickname is Pickle. But now I eat pickles well.”

“Haha, your uncle is mischievous, isn’t he?”

“Yes. That’s why he hasn’t had a single girlfriend until now. Thank you for taking in our uncle, beautiful lady!”

“This little guy. Where did you learn to say ‘taking in’?”

When Damien tickled his armpits, Owen laughed hysterically.

“Ahahaha! It tickles! Put me down, put me down!”

“Alright, alright. I got it.”

When Owen was put down on the floor, the child ran around the corridor shouting that Uncle River had come.

Then doors in the corridor opened and a group of children began pouring out.

Cute children in colorful clothes ran toward Damien like a pack of puppies and surrounded him.

“Wow, Uncle! Uncle!”

“Why did you come after such a long time?”

“Did you bring presents?”

They hung on Damien’s neck, buried their faces in his back, and hugged his legs. It was complete chaos.

Bada burst into hearty laughter at the sight.

“My goodness. Even a superstar’s popularity wouldn’t be this much.”

Just watching that adorable scene made it feel like the troublesome problems that had been bothering her temporarily disappeared.

* * *

After the orphanage tour and gift presentation ceremony, a barbecue party was held in the outdoor yard.

Damien put plenty of meat, vegetables, and sausages on the barbecue grill and began cooking them himself.

As delicious smells filled the yard, the children gathered around one by one with their mouths open.

Meanwhile, Bada helped the orphanage staff set up plates and drinks on the outdoor tables.

Just then, Owen playfully approached the grill, snatched a sausage, ate it, and ran away.

Damien shouted at the fleeing Owen.

“I told you to be careful because you’ll burn your hands!”

“Ahahaha!”

Bada asked a staff member who was setting up tables beside her.

“His Highness always cooks the barbecue himself, I see?”

“Yes. Every time he comes. Even with the same meat, I don’t know why the barbecue His Highness cooks is especially more delicious. Hoho.”

“He seems to visit here often. I didn’t know.”

“Ah, that’s probably because His Highness has never once released an article about visiting the orphanage to the outside. It’s all secret. That’s also why he uses an alias in front of the children.”

Suddenly, Bada tilted her head in curiosity.

“Why doesn’t he release articles?”

“He said he was worried it might look like he was using the children for his own image.”

“Ah…”

“You don’t know how thoughtful His Highness is. The government’s welfare-related budget was greatly reduced a few years ago, and if His Highness hadn’t supported us through the foundation he runs, we would have closed long ago.”

“…I didn’t know there were such circumstances.”

“As you saw earlier, he doesn’t just give gifts to the children either. We give stickers to the children when they read books or help with cleaning, and they get gifts when they collect those stickers. He considered this so the children wouldn’t think of it as charity.”

Bada gazed at Damien grilling meat in the distance with moved eyes.

As the Crown Prince, he would have grown up in an environment where people treated him specially from childhood.

A person born and raised in such an environment would naturally be prone to developing a sense of privilege and superiority.

‘How much must he have disciplined himself to become like that? Amazing.’

It would be so nice if people knew his true nature.

If he had really been the arrogant prince who constantly rebelled as the media portrayed, would she have loved him less?

While having such thoughts, she happened to meet eyes with Damien who had just looked up.

When he smiled at her, Bada quickly averted her gaze like a girl caught stealing glances at her crush.

Bada stared down at her toes and slowly closed and opened her eyes.

‘Ugh. I must have looked like an idiot just now, right?’

As she was dwelling on her embarrassment, a curly-haired blonde girl approached her side and tugged at Bada’s collar. It was Nina, who had turned 7 this year.

Nina, who had been staring intently at Bada, gestured as if asking to borrow her ear.

“Hm?”

When Bada bent her knees, Nina whispered in her ear.

“I know everything.”

“…Know what?”

“Uncle River. He’s a prince, right?”

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