“Sour.”

Amid the tense atmosphere, a whiny tone broke through. After tasting the lemon in Adam’s hand, Badin grimaced and pushed his arm away.

‘This is it!’

Finding a way to divert Cahill’s attention, Holly’s face lit up with an idea.

“Good timing, Cahill. Try one of these.”

She snatched the jar of lemon preserves from Adam’s hand and popped a lemon slice into Cahill’s mouth.

The sour taste made Cahill’s face contort dramatically.

He covered his mouth with his hand, determined not to spit it out unconsciously, and chewed. As she smiled softly, seeing him successfully swallow the lemon, he felt his effort was worth it and smiled back at her as well.

“Wow―”

An exclamation arose from the crowd.

Holly flinched, realizing that Cahill’s slightly deficient smile had drawn everyone’s attention, regardless of gender or age.

On the other hand, oblivious to the warm gazes from around, Cahill only had eyes for her. He casually brushed back his wet hair, causing a sigh of admiration from someone in the crowd.

‘It’s wet…?’

Holly noticed that it wasn’t just his hair that was wet. His thin shirt was also soaked, subtly outlining his abs.

“Why are you so wet? Did you go swimming or something?”

She asked, mindful of the onlookers. Cahill seemed to remember something he had forgotten as his silver-gray eyes sparkled.

“I have something to show you.”

He then grabbed her hand and pulled her along. He looked excited yet triumphant. Adam, ever the loyal follower, quickly chased after them, not wanting to miss out. Badin casually strolled behind as if on a leisurely walk.

* * *

Led by Cahill’s hand, they arrived at the spot where he had been fishing earlier. Holly was taken aback not by him but by the large shadow occupying his place.

“What is that?”

A giant fish, larger than herself, lay upside down on the deck. The elder who had taught Cahill to fish stood nearby, holding a hook and eyeing the fish cautiously.

“I caught it.”

Cahill boasted with pride.

The fish’s eyes rolled towards Holly, unnerving her enough to make her instinctively grab onto his arm.

“It was so strong that the fishing rod almost broke.”

As he continued, he laughed with excitement. The splash while hauling in the fish had wet his clothes. The fish, having bitten the bait, tried to swallow Cahill whole but ended up crashing upside down onto the deck.

“We could eat it as sashimi until we’re sick of it, right?”

Holly’s fear subsided at Cahill’s words and lit up with anticipation.

“This cannot be eaten as sashimi.”

The elder’s comment dashed their hopeful expectations. Cahill’s previously elated expression instantly soured.

“Why not?”

A chill emanated from him as he questioned the elder.

“This fish is infested with parasites. If ingested, they can consume human organs…”

The elder trembled as he explained why consuming the fish would be dangerous. The graphic description whitened Holly’s face.

“Stop.”

Cahill, noticing her discomfort, interrupted the elder.

“Let’s change out of these wet clothes before you catch a cold.”

Feeling nauseous, Holly covered her mouth with one hand while tugging at Cahill’s wet clothes with the other. He nodded and began to walk away, his subordinates naturally ready to follow.

“Stay here and watch the fishing rods. Don’t come in until we catch something edible.”

As Cahill ordered Adam and Badin not to follow them to the room, Badin’s face contorted with displeasure.

“Dispose of that fish immediately.”

Cahill casually dismissed the worthless catch with a glance.

“…Understood.”

Badin sighed and answered. Despite treating Cahill with familiarity, he was still a prince to them. Meanwhile, after hearing their response, Cahill stopped and turned around, giving Adam a cold look.

“From now on, you are not to come within one meter of Holly.”

Adam stiffened at the stern warning.

“Why? I was merely treating a valuable person with the respect they deserve!”

Adam protested, his face showing injustice.

‘…Since when did he consider me so valuable?’

Even Holly looked at Adam strangely. His treatment of her had changed significantly from his previous attempts to keep her away from Cahill, but she had never felt particularly cherished by his actions.

“I warned you. If you pull any more tricks, you’ll never see my shadow again.”

Cahill’s voice was stern. It was a brazen threat as he knew deep down that Adam was his follower. It seemed to fully resonate with Adam, whose face turned pale at the words.

“Though I didn’t mean to, but… I’ll be careful.”

Adam glanced at Holly with a lingering look of regret but quickly averted his gaze under Cahill’s threatening glare.

* * *

Cahill pushed Holly into the room like guiding a flock of sheep.

“Why lock the door?”

Clack.

The sound of the lock clicking made Holly ask with a chuckle in her voice. Instead of replying, he buried his face in her shoulder.

“Were you really going to accept what Adam gave you?”

His voice was muffled.

Holly hesitated, remembering how she debated whether to accept Adam’s offer, which left her unable to answer his question immediately. Taking her silence for confirmation, Cahill lifted his head to look at her with reproachful eyes.

“Don’t get too close to other people.”

She lifted her hand to caress the back of his head in response to his cute sulk.

“Who could be closer to me than you?”

Holly leaned into Cahill deliberately, and their bodies pressed together without any gap. Cahill raised his head to glare at her.

“That’s not what I meant.”

Even as he growled, her lips only curved into a wider smile. Seeing her smile, his eyes drooped slightly.

“Everywhere I look, there’s only people eyeing you.”

Though he had calmed down a bit, he still gritted his teeth, unable to completely hide his irritation.

Holly glanced at Cahill’s scowling face and reached around to his back. She pulled him into a firm embrace.

“You’re the only one for me.”

At her affectionate reply, Cahill’s eyes widened. Looking down, Holly felt her cheeks burning with heat.

“Looks like Badin and Adam won’t be able to return tonight.”

She murmured with a meaningful smile. Cahill, who had commanded Badin and Adam with no particular plan in mind other than wanting to be alone with Holly, tilted his head in confusion.

“We’ve been sitting all day without catching a single fish.”

Holly continued in a low, secretive voice and raised her eyes. She slid her thigh against Cahill’s firm leg.

“That means it’s just the two of us until tonight.”

Gazing at Cahill with moist eyes, she began unbuttoning his shirt, one button at a time. Only then did he catch on to her intentions, looking down at her with an anticipatory gleam in his eye.

“I got wet because of you…”

Cahill had hugged her so much that he had transferred his wetness to her. After hearing her words, he realized he had made her wet as well, and his face fell with a sense of defeat.

“Sorry. Are you cold? Let’s change into something dry.”

He began to fuss around, looking for dry clothes.

‘Why does this have to be so complicated?’

Imagining Cahill that would attack her right away, Holly sighed softly.

__