The Mind-Reading Mate: Why Is the Lycan King So Obsessed With Me?!-Chapter 143: The King Who Hates Himself (I)

Primrose sank into the wooden bath, letting the warm water cover her whole body, leaving just the top half of her face above the surface.

Her cheeks were burning red, not because the water was too hot, but because just moments ago, Edmund had helped her release the remaining seed he had left inside her.

The memory alone made her want to sink even deeper and disappear under the water.

It was so embarrassing.

On the other hand, Edmund seemed completely unbothered. He had casually said he’d done that every time they had sex.

But back then, Primrose had been asleep. She had never been fully awake for something like that, and now that she was ... she didn’t know where to hide her face.

"You can’t breathe if you soak your whole head like that, my wife," Edmund said with ease, lifting her up slightly and settling her on his lap.

Fortunately, the wooden tub was large enough to fit both of them comfortably.

Primrose quickly covered her face with her hands, refusing to look at him. "Don’t stare at me like that."

"But I want to see you more," Edmund replied, gently pulling her hands away. "We’ve already seen each other naked, haven’t we? You don’t have to be shy around me anymore, my wife."

She knew that. Of course she did.

She knew she had just opened her legs for him, letting him see the most intimate part of her body.

Still ... no matter how many times it happened, once everything was over, the embarrassment always returned.

She couldn’t explain it, but when they weren’t doing anything, she couldn’t handle his gaze.

"Just stop looking at me," she grumbled, pushing his face away before sliding off his lap and sitting beside him instead.

This time, she sunk her body into the water up to her neck, pulled her knees close to her chest, and curled in quietly.

Moments later, she didn’t expect to hear a small chuckle. She turned her head, and looked at her husband.

She saw a genuine, warm laugh on his face. His smile was so wide, it softened his whole expression.

Primrose didn’t even blink. She just stared. It was Because ... maybe this was the first time she had ever seen her husband laugh like that.

To most people, laughter was an everyday thing.

Nothing special. Nothing worth noticing.

But in Edmund’s case, a laugh was rare.

"You’re laughing," Primrose murmured in surprise.

Edmund froze, and the smile on his face faded slowly into a thin line. He cleared his throat and said, "I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to laugh at you."

"No, no—actually, that’s fine," Primrose said quickly, shifting to face him again.

She reached out and tugged gently at the corners of his mouth with her fingers. "I like hearing you laugh."

She widened her smile and her eyes formed into soft crescents. "I could hear you laugh all day and never get tired of it."

How could she?

His genuine smile lit up his whole face. It didn’t look stiff or forced at all, if anything, his laugh was filled with joy, and that warmth wrapped around her heart and made her feel happy too.

"Is that ... true?" Edmund asked quietly, a little unsure.

[Doesn’t laughing make me look stupid?] he thought to himself.

Who had ever told him that?!

Stupid? How could he ever look stupid just because he laughed?

Suddenly, Primrose’s mood turned sour. Her smile faded into a pout, and she didn’t bother hiding the look on her face from him.

"Of course it’s true," Primrose said gently, pinching his cheeks and pulling them until he looked like he was grinning. "You look ... even more charming and handsome when you smile."

It was meant to be a sweet compliment, but Edmund interpreted it very differently.

[Does that mean I look hideous and ugly when I’m not smiling? he thought.]

He indeed looked cold and intimidating when he wasn’t smiling, especially to people who didn’t know him well.

But ugly? Hideous?

Whoever said that must have seriously needed their eyes checked!

Sensing his unease, Primrose quickly tried to ease his mind. "It’s not that you’re not handsome when you’re serious," she explained. "But when you smile ... you just look a lot more friendly."

[Friendly?]

[Does that mean my wife would be more comfortable around me if I laughed more often?] he wondered.

For some reason, Primrose suddenly had a bad feeling about where this was going.

"Ha ... haha."

She knew it.

When Edmund laughed naturally, his face looked warm and kind, like a ray of sunshine breaking through the clouds.

However, when he forced himself to laugh, it didn’t sound right at all.

It wasn’t friendly, it was kind of terrifying, like a villain in a stage play, one of those characters that makes the entire audience nervous.

Fortunately, even Edmund could hear how awkward it sounded.

He stopped right away and turned his head to the side, clearly embarrassed. "That ... that was bad, wasn’t it?"

Primrose let out a soft giggle. "It’s not that bad," she said, choosing to lie just a little, for the sake of her husband’s sanity.

"But, everyone’s laugh sounds better when it’s natural," she added. "So you don’t have to force it."

"But ... I want to be more friendly," Edmund mumbled, lowering his gaze. Then he looked at her sincerely. "In that way, I can be your friend."

Primrose froze.

He wanted to be her friend?

Was this because she had once mentioned how lonely she felt in Noctvaris? How she’d come all the way to Moonshadow just to speak to someone she thought might be a friend?

She must’ve looked so lonely.

Primrose gently reached for his hand, sliding her fingers between his.

"But you’re my husband," she said softly.

Edmund’s expression dropped slightly. "Does that mean I can’t be your friend?"

"No, no." Primrose laughed, a little surprised by how innocent he sounded. "It’s not like that."

"In my homeland," she explained, "there’s a saying that a good husband is someone who can also be a friend, a partner, and family to his wife."

She gave him a warm, bright smile. "Since you’re already a good husband, that means you’re my friend too."

"Good husband?" Edmund repeated, surprised.

His eyes widened slightly, and he leaned back just a little, as if he wanted to get a clearer look at her face, maybe to see if she was lying.