Chapter 4 Meet with Charles
1181 Words
If my female identity was exposed, not only would I lose my job and my father's medical expenses, but I could also face severe punishment for deceiving the prince.
Murphy might even find out that I was the woman who slept with him that night and left a thousand bucks before running away.
My mind was filled with images of cruel punishments, and I started trembling. Just then, Murphy's voice sounded above me.
"Charles, did you get in? My servant should be home now."
I froze on the spot. The voice sounded odd, like it was coming from the phone.
Taking a deep breath, I mustered the courage to look up and peek through my fingers. A guy with brown hair and purple eyes stood by my feet with a phone in his hands.
He looked at me with a playful smile. "Are you Murphy's personal servant?"
I eyed him in alarm, too scared to speak.
Murphy's voice came from the guy's phone again. "Did you see Peter? Tell him to bring you the painting I just finished from my room."
"Sure thing," the guy named Charles replied before hanging up the call.
He then fixed his purple eyes on me, making me swallow to conceal my nervousness.
He bent down with a grin on his face, clearly enjoying the situation.
"So, you're Murphy's servant Peter? Does he know about your cross-dressing habit?"
'Cross-dressing habit? What the hell!'
His words were a ray of hope to me. It seemed he hadn't figured out my true identity, or at least he wasn't planning to expose me.
Breathing a sigh of relief, I lowered my hands from my face and pretended to be embarrassed. "Yeah, uh, as you have seen. I used to work as a drag queen in a bar to make a living and then discovered it was something I enjoyed."
To cover one lie, I had to tell more lies.
I was getting quite good at making up stories.
I looked at him with pleading eyes. "But this is a private hobby. I don't want Prince Murphy to know this. Can you keep this secret for me?"
"Of course, if it's just a cross-dressing habit," he said with a knowing smile. "After all, you know Murphy doesn't like being around women."
I forced an awkward smile. "Sure, it's just a cross-dressing habit."
Charles looked down at me, his gaze traveling from my face to my neck, and then to my chest.
"Your chest doesn't look fake," he teased.
I quickly scrambled to my feet and adjusted my collar to hide my breasts.
"It's fake, really. I'm wearing a silicone chest piece," I said and suddenly recalled Murphy's request. "Oh, right, you need Prince Murphy's painting, right? I'll get it for you."
Just as I was about to leave, Charles stopped me.
"No need." He glanced at my ankle and said, "You've twisted your ankle. I'll get it myself."
I followed his gaze and noticed my swollen ankle, which was worse than I thought. 'No wonder it hurt so much.'
He helped me to the sofa and went upstairs to get the painting. When he came back, he brought a bag of ice with him.
He crouched beside me and pressed his hand on my calf.
"What are you doing?" I exclaimed, instinctively trying to pull away.
Yet he held my ankle firmly and said, "You need to treat your sprain right away, or it'll get worse."
The next moment, the cold touch of the ice pack on my injury brought relief from the pain.
He carefully positioned the ice pack, and as I looked down at his handsome profile, I couldn't help but feel a little flustered.
Charles was extremely good-looking, a different kind of feeling from Murphy. Murphy had an aloof charm that was hard to approach, while this guy exuded a romantic, flirtatious vibe, with his purple eyes full of emotion.
"You need to ice it for 20 minutes at a time, every two hours."
"Got it. Thanks."
I thought he'd leave after giving these instructions, but to my surprise, he sat down on the sofa opposite me.
His posture was relaxed, with one elbow resting on the armrest. Noticing my puzzled look, he smirked.
"I don't think you'll actually do it properly, so I'll stay and make sure you ice it this time before I leave."
'Fine. He's kind of sweet.'
Given my current situation, going out wasn't an option.
So, I texted Selena to explain the thing. She told me to take care of my injury and rest well.
I texted Selena: I guess I'll have to meet you and your boyfriend next time.
Selena: Sure, I'll introduce him to you then. He just messaged me saying he had a last-minute thing come up and couldn't make it anyway.
I put my phone away and noticed Charles was still staring at me with a playful, thoughtful smile.
His gaze made me uncomfortable, so I tried to break the ice with a smile.
"Hey, I don't think I caught your name," I said.
"Charles Taylor."
'The name sounds familiar... Oh, right, I'd heard someone at school talking about him.'
"Did you hear Charles Taylor has a new girlfriend again?" said one of the guys.
"That's not surprising. None of his relationships last more than a month," replied another.
"I was just surprised that even the twin beauties from the neighboring school couldn't break his one-month curse."
Charles was the heir to one of Austentia's four great families, the Taylor family, and he was known for being a playboy with a carefree attitude.
'He's definitely someone to keep at a distance. I can't afford to offend him.'
"Were you planning to go out?" Charles's voice pulled me from my thoughts.
"The fridge is out of food. I was going to do some grocery shopping."
That wasn't entirely a lie. I had planned to go shopping after meeting Selena.
"Oh, I see. But with your ankle like this, you can't go shopping now," Charles said, sighing in mock sympathy.
Then, after a moment of thought, he radiated a bright smile and suggested, "How about I go with you?"
"Don't bother, really." I declined his proposal without thinking.
He was a friend of my employer, Prince Murphy. I couldn't trouble him.
Besides, in my current state, it would be too easy for him to discover my true identity and expose me to Murphy.
And I had a feeling he wasn't offering help out of pure kindness; he seemed to be enjoying the situation too much.
If he indeed tried to help, he could just have one of his men do the shopping for me.
Charles made a call, and soon after, the doorbell rang. Someone delivered a brand-new electric wheelchair.
"Not bad," Charles said, inspecting the wheelchair with satisfaction.
He looked at me with a grin. "Peter, give it a try, and see if it suits you."
I was really speechless at his action.
'I just sprained my ankle but I'm not disabled. This seems a bit over the top.'
- Writer
