With bated breath, Kole's eyes traveled through the sinking towel. It felt like a gift was being unwrapped in front of his eyes layer by layer…
A gulp.
On the other side, Caroline was startled because she had forgotten she was in Kole's room and not at the Floating Cathedral, where nobody could enter her room!
Having just taken a bath, she only had a towel that she usually would in her Captain's Room.
Seeing Kole looking at her, she froze.
It was the first time she had been in such revealing attire, even in front of Kole. She could feel the slight breeze hugging her skin.
And Kole's eyes, which were glued to her juggers, made Caroline momentarily stunned.
The slight pause caused the towel to loosen as it almost dropped to the ground.
Almost…
As soon as Kole's eyes fell upon the pink nose of her two rabbits, Caroline grabbed the bedsheets in her arms and spread them wide, hiding her sinful body!
"Kyaaaaaa!" She desperately covered herself as she raised a trembling finger at him, from underneath the sheets.
Blushing furiously, she dropped to the ground and enclosed herself in sheets even further.
"You… you!"
Kole had gotten a glimpse of what seemed heaven; merely chuckled out loud as he asked in an amusing tone, "Me what?"
Caroline was stunned at his reply, but fury blazed on her beautiful face when she saw how nonchalantly Kole took it, "Wh-What are you doing here?!!"
Maybe she was angry over the fact that Kole didn't give her a nasty grin like most men… If it was Kole, Mn, she didn't mind it.
Or perhaps she was furious at Kole for not reacting to her body… She noticed no excitement on either his face or in the middle of his pants.
Or it may also be because she was genuinely angry at almost being seen in her half-nude form like most naïve girls… Even the author didn't know.
Hey! Women are hard to understand. Okay?
If she knew Kole was dominating his instincts and suppressing them, she would be flushing with a deep crimson glow.
Seeing her cute expressions, Kole's sadistic instincts crept up, "Dear sister, this is my room. You are the one taking a bath in the wrong bathroom! Then tell me, what are youuu doing here?" He tilted his head as his lips curved in a grin.
Recalling why she had been here, Caroline froze.
Then a blush redder than ever covered her. and even her ears were tinged with a dark red hue.
Kole's little dragon was begging to release its restraints, seeing her even cuter expression.
With a snort, Kole pushed those emotions away.
He didn't want to ruin his relationship with Caroline, who had always been so nice to him.
Teasing Faneia was another matter because his mother knew about the changes in his brazen mouth and uncontrolled emotions.
Having lived away from the house for over two years, Caroline had no idea who Kole was now…
Kole feared if he changed drastically in front of his sister, she might be disgusted by him.
Of course, it was his own misconception as he didn't know she would truly love those changes.
Hearing Kole's retort, the words coming out of Caroline's mouth got caught in her throat.
Still, desperately holding onto the last vestiges of her self-respect, she said sternly, albeit with a little tremor, "I was doing what I had been doing for over fifteen years! Taking care of you, your belongings, your room… everything!"
Breathing heavily, she averted her eyes, "Now leave!"
Although Kole wanted to push her further, he could see the little crystal tears in the corner of her eyes.
That ached his heart.
With a sigh, Kole vanished from his spot and teleported away.
Caroline muttered to herself as she buried her face in his knees, "Ugh! Idiot! Why did you leave? And why didn't you even react a little?!"
"Am I not a woman but just a sister in your eyes…" She mumbled in a quivering voice.
…
Appearing in his mother's study, Kole breathed out a puff of smoke.
Nudging down the visor of his half-top hat, Kole went ahead to check the books one by one.
Selecting a few books, he created a long bundle of them on the table.
Fortunately, she has books related to geography… Kole thought and took a seat at the table, stretching his legs over them and leaning back in the chair.
Kole placed a leather-bound book in the middle of his legs as he flipped through them with one hand while smoking a cigar from the other.
Flicking through them, Kole realized some were written in Ergen language, while others were in different languages he couldn't distinguish.
Hum. Treon was situated in the bottommost part of the map. Its capital, Stormwatch is the South Pole of the map… Kole's eyes narrowed as he read further.
Treon bordered two nations on the North—Archainia, and Toqomar. And one on the West—Dynasty of Siraaj.
While on the East, Treon had one of the longest coastlines with sea access stretching till Stormwatch and curved back upward to form something resembling a peninsula. And finally, Treon bordered Siraaj Dynasty somewhere close to the Northwest.
However, one more nation lay on the other side of this single-known continent in the extreme North, bordering Archainia, Toqomar, and Siraaj Dynasty—The Rushaiston Republic, with the largest landmass under its reign.
The three nations essentially acted as a barrier between TRR and Treon.
Nevertheless, that was not all.
Many small island-like independent nations stood in the seas, around the only continent.
And one of them was Darkmoon Nation!
Darkmoon… Island Nation… in the East of Onobell Ocean… Kole's thoughts churned, and images of Rosalie entered his mind as he blew a puff of smoke.
...
A/N: Check the paragraph comments for the picture of the continent that I've envisioned. Well, I know my art skills aren't the best... but I don't have hours to spend making a map. Yeah. So I did some simple sketching in paint and got what I wished for. The results aren't bad... I guess?