The Grand Warlord’s Accidental Marriage

Chapter 009 – Nicholas’s Shamelessness

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As though he had no trouble whatsoever in the world, Nicholas slept soundly for nearly five straight hours, and even then, there wasn’t the slightest indication that he intended to wake anytime soon.

His breathing remained deep and steady, his expression unnervingly calm… as though the betrayal, injuries, and bloodshed absolutely did not exist.

Then suddenly, without any warning whatsoever, his eyes snapped open, and… nothing.

There was no grogginess or the slightest trace of sleepiness that people usually have after waking from a long nap.

The transition was so smooth and immediate that it felt unnatural… as though he had never truly been asleep in the first place.

Nicholas casually sat up on the narrow bed, stretching his shoulders slightly while suppressing a yawn.

His expression remained relaxed and unreadable, carrying the same laid-back laziness he always wore like a second skin.

Without much thought, he got to his feet and entered the small bathroom attached to the room.

Then he calmly washed up, letting cold water run over his face before changing back into the clothes he had worn earlier, which were still surprisingly clean and looked completely untouched despite everything he had done while wearing them before.

He moved effortlessly, everything about him carrying an odd rhythm, calm to the point of lethargy.

Yet despite taking his time, he finished surprisingly quickly, and just at that exact moment…

Knock!

A single quiet knock echoed from outside the door.

Hearing it, Nicholas merely yawned again, looking completely unsurprised, as though he had already expected whoever stood outside.

“Coming,” he muttered casually and walked toward the entrance, scratching lightly at the side of his neck before unlocking the door without ceremony.

Then he opened it, and… he froze.

‘This…’

For the first time in a long while, Nicholas genuinely looked stunned.

His breathing stalled slightly inside his throat as his gaze landed on the figure standing before him.

It was Kelly.

But at the same time… it almost didn’t feel like Kelly.

The woman standing there now looked entirely different from the cold, domineering CEO she had been with earlier.

At this moment, she wore a long white evening gown that wrapped perfectly around her slender figure, elegant without appearing excessive.

The fabric shimmered faintly beneath the warm lights of the hallway, making her look almost unreal.

It was the kind of beauty that didn’t aggressively demand attention… yet somehow stole it completely anyway.

The dress looked as though it had been created solely for her… as if no other woman in the world would ever wear it better.

And then there was her face.

Her makeup was so incredibly light and subtle that one might completely miss it without careful observation, yet it enhanced every one of her already breathtaking features.

Her cold eyes seemed clearer and sharper, while her pale skin looked impossibly smooth beneath the soft lighting.

Her hair had also been styled for the evening, neatly arranged in a way that enhanced her elegant aura without softening her natural demeanor.

Before this, Kelly had already been stunning… that much was right.

But back then, her beauty came with the overwhelming pressure of a strict, untouchable businesswoman.

Now, however, she looked like an ice queen descending from some distant kingdom.

The kind of woman capable of making an entire room unconsciously quiet the moment she entered.

Nicholas had seen countless beautiful women throughout his life.

Celebrities, heiresses, princesses, socialites, and women powerful enough to shake nations with a single smile… none of them were lacking in appearance.

Yet right now…

He genuinely lost composure for a second.

Meanwhile, Kelly herself was equally caught off guard.

Seeing Nicholas stare at her so openly without even trying to hide it made her slightly dumbfounded.

He wasn’t blinking, pretending to look elsewhere, or even bothering to act polite in the slightest bit.

He just stared directly at her as though he had forgotten basic human restraint, which ultimately left Kelly’s brows furrowing faintly.

Normally, a man looking at her like this would instantly disgust her.

Even subtle glances from others irritated her enough to make her cold expression worsen.

Yet strangely… under Nicholas’s open stare, she didn’t feel even the slightest irritation.

That realization stunned her far more than Nicholas’s stare itself.

‘Why… am I not annoyed?’

The thought struck her so abruptly that even her usually calm mind paused for a second.

Ever since childhood, there had only been one person whose gaze never made her uncomfortable.

Her father.

Everyone else was different.

Whether they hid it well or poorly, their eyes always carried greed, desire, calculation, or obsession whenever they looked at her.

But Nicholas…

There was nothing filthy or invasive in his gaze, nothing that made her instinctively recoil.

If anything, his eyes were just clear, filled with nothing but pure surprise and genuine admiration.

The realization instantly made Kelly’s heartbeat unexpectedly skip once.

Aside from men, even many women looked at her with impure thoughts, which some hid well, while others practically displayed them openly on their faces.

Yet…

The longer Kelly stared into his eyes, the more confused she became.

‘Could he be pretending?’ she wondered subconsciously.

But no matter how closely she observed him, she couldn’t sense even the faintest trace of filth or hidden desire from him.

His stare was direct, yes. But strangely enough, it was also clean.

This realization left Kelly’s brows furrowed slightly before she finally forced herself back to reality, suppressing the strange ripple in her heart.

“Had enough yet?” she demanded coldly, her voice returning to its usual distant and domineering tone.

Hearing her words, Nicholas finally snapped back to his senses, realizing he had just been caught blatantly staring at her without restraint.

But unexpectedly…

He didn’t look embarrassed in the slightest.

Instead, he grinned shamelessly.

“No,” he answered immediately, without even pretending to hesitate.

Kelly froze, her mind blanking for a second as she stared at him.

Normally, anyone caught staring at another person like that would either panic, apologize awkwardly, or try to deny it entirely.

Yet Nicholas looked completely serious, as though answering honestly was the most natural thing in the world.

“You…” Kelly pointed at him instinctively, momentarily losing her words.

For the first time in a long while, she genuinely didn’t know how to respond.

Meanwhile, Nicholas simply stared back at her innocently, a sight that made Kelly’s lips twitch slightly.

‘This man…’ she thought in bewilderment. ‘Was he naturally this shameless?’

But no matter what, she was still Kelly Palmer, a woman who had spent years controlling both her emotions and expression.

Almost instantly, she regained her composure and coldly averted her gaze from Nicholas’s annoying face before she accidentally got irritated again.

Then her eyes swept over his appearance from head to toe, and immediately, her brows knitted tightly.

“You aren’t prepared?” she asked, her voice growing colder and even more distant than before.

“Huh?”

Nicholas blinked in confusion.

He lowered his head and looked at himself carefully, seemingly checking whether something was wrong with his clothes.

Then he looked back at Kelly with genuine puzzlement written all over his face.

“Already prepared,” Nicholas said confidently, gesturing at himself.

Kelly, “_”

For a second, she genuinely believed he was joking, so she stared at him silently, waiting for him to laugh or reveal he was teasing her.

But nothing came.

Nicholas merely stared back innocently, completely serious.

And seeing this, Kelly suddenly felt a headache coming.