* * *
Today, too, Terni had seized me the moment class ended and dragged me outside.
After we had walked for quite some time, the place we reached was the training grounds.
“Look over there.”
Terni pointed somewhere.
When I looked where he indicated, two familiar men were fiercely sparring, swords clashing.
Their speed was almost impossible to follow with the eye.
They were the Crown Prince and the Crown Prince’s follower, Diano.
As expected from his appearance, he handles a sword well. With a blade like that, my neck would be severed in a single stroke.
With this, my death probability had risen by one percent.
The sound of clashing swords filled the training grounds.
Diano attacked the Crown Prince ferociously. The Crown Prince blocked every one of those attacks with minimal movement. At last, evading Diano’s desperate strike, the Crown Prince brought the sharp point of his sword to Diano’s neck.
It was the Crown Prince’s victory.
“Ah, so close! I could have won!”
Terni cried out in frustration.
You…… aren’t you the Crown Prince’s aide?
“It was a chance I could have held over him forever!”
I couldn’t tell whether he was friend or foe.
Diano, the spar finished, scratched the back of his head and gave an awkward smile.
“Ah, I really can’t beat Your Highness.”
“That’s because you do it while smiling.”
“But it’s wonderful. To feel Your Highness this close……. I’m overwhelmed.”
Ah, don’t tell me Diano is also……?
The Crown Prince, who had been putting away his sword, seemed to sense my gaze and slowly turned his head.
My eyes met his.
Startled, I hastily looked away, and the Crown Prince immediately looked irritated. No, I hadn’t met his eyes because I wanted to either. Meanwhile, Terni was beaming, pleased about something.
“She’s smarter than I expected. That’s why class ended early.”
Terni said, as if boasting.
At his words, the Crown Prince twisted the corner of his lips in a sneer. Then he glanced at me and looked back at Terni.
“Is that so? I’ll be able to verify that later.”
That time was the hellish hour I had been scheduled for.
“Hello, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
Terni cut in.
“My younger sister has impeccable manners. As her older brother, I couldn’t be prouder.”
Only at times like this are you my older brother.
“Continue to be a lady with such fine manners, my little sister.”
The Crown Prince, who had been silent until then, stared at me without a word, then gave an incomprehensible command.
“Try getting angry.”
At the Crown Prince’s sudden words, I was somewhat taken aback.
Suddenly telling me to get angry? Then, seeing the Crown Prince abruptly frown and press a hand to his head, his intentions became even more impossible to read.
An awkward silence fell.
After a brief pause, the Crown Prince suddenly spoke with a frown.
“Is there anything uncomfortable?”
Everything! Everything! You’re what’s uncomfortable!
“There isn’t…….”
Hearing my answer, the Crown Prince nodded as if it were only natural.
“Good. I have no need for someone with many complaints.”
Once again, my life was spared. I had lost count of how many times I had died and come back to life today.
Suddenly Terni clung to Diano and made a tearful face.
“Ah, I had such a hard day today.”
“I had a hard time too.”
“Right? Because our prince is such a difficult person.”
Had he suddenly gone mad? To openly badmouth him in front of the Crown Prince……
“One person is being run ragged all day on his orders, while someone else~ is living the easy life~ just sparring with swords~.”
“Ah, of course, I enjoyed Your Highness attacking me so persistently it was as if he meant to kill me, but his tenacity was lacking compared to usual. Is it because I’m simply too good……?”
“Maybe it’s just that Your Highness lacks training and his swordsmanship has grown rusty?”
Unlike when Terni alone had been running his mouth, the Crown Prince now looked thoroughly angry.
For some reason, the air around the Crown Prince turned cold.
As if they wanted him to hear every word, right in front of him! And to tear the Crown Prince apart like that!
The Crown Prince silently drew his sword. It was the very sword he had sheathed after sparring earlier.
Is he going to swing it?
Are those two’s lives going to end like this?!
I held my breath and watched, certain a volatile situation was about to erupt.
But the situation I had expected did not occur.
Because the moment the Crown Prince raised his sword, the two men suddenly clasped hands, burst into laughter, and ran away together like the best of friends.
They were completely insane.
“Hah.”
The Crown Prince put his sword back as if this were familiar.
Only the two of us remained.
Now that I thought about it, this seemed like an even more tremendous crisis. Uh, I, too, suddenly wanted to do this thing called running away.
Crown Prince Adrian looked at me and quietly asked.
“Have you eaten?”
Judging by his dry tone, he had probably asked out of courtesy.
“Not yet.”
“Let’s go.”
Huh? What? That wasn’t the reaction I expected.
I was flustered. Where was he telling me to go? Surely not to the next world?
“Where to?”
I ended up talking back before I knew it. The Crown Prince quietly turned back to look at me.
He didn’t say much, but from his annoyed expression alone, I could easily guess what state he was in.
“I also dislike people who can’t read the room.”
……I’m sure you do.
The Crown Prince dragged me straight to the dining hall. It was the largest dining hall in Poinsettia Palace, the Crown Prince’s palace.
Fidgeting nervously. Watching for cues in the unfamiliar atmosphere, I sat down. Soon, as if they had been waiting, the palace servants began placing dishes one by one before the two of us.
A clean and luxurious meal.
They were dishes I could never have eaten when I was a maid. Rare delicacies I could not have eaten even if our family had not fallen.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“I’ll eat.”
“Does it not taste good?”
What nonsense, with such a feast before my eyes.
“No!”
“Then why are you eating so slowly?”
His expression said he was annoyed.
“That is…….”
“Don’t drag it out. Just say it.”
“It’s because it’s my first time eating it. It’s my first time eating something this delicious.”
I felt the Crown Prince’s gaze fixed on me. Shame rushed over me belatedly.
I shouldn’t have said it. The Crown Prince, who ate food like this every day, surely wouldn’t want to know about the circumstances of someone who hadn’t grown up in a wealthy family.
Suddenly my throat tightened and I couldn’t swallow the food properly, and the Crown Prince called the attendant who had been waiting.
The attendant, receiving his order, moved all the food that had been in front of him to in front of me.
“Eat.”
Could this possibly be the Crown Prince’s own way of being considerate?
“Thank you, I will eat well.”
I picked up the utensils again.
The Crown Prince propped his chin on his hand and simply watched me eat. Eating alone was quite embarrassing.
I stole a glance at him, then cautiously asked.
“Aren’t you going to eat?”
“I don’t have to eat.”
“Why?”
“Was I in a position where I had to tell you every little thing?”
“Ah…….”
I quietly shut my mouth. A heavy silence settled between us.
Somehow feeling gloomy, I silently cut the meat, and the Crown Prince let out an irritated sigh.
“I eat it often, so you eat plenty.”
What did I just hear……?
Without realizing it, I slightly parted my lips and stared blankly at the Crown Prince. That perfect facial features paired with that rude expression was definitely Crown Prince Adrian.
Could it be that he said that because I looked depressed?
“Pfft.”
It suited him so poorly that I laughed without meaning to. At that, the Crown Prince’s expression hardened instantly.
“Why are you laughing? Is what I said funny?”
“No, that’s not it……”
I tried to wipe the expression from my face, but the laughter just wouldn’t fade. In the end, I gave up trying to compose myself and looked at the Crown Prince and smiled.
“Because Your Highness is being kind to me, I don’t know what to do with myself.”
A moment of silence passed.
The Crown Prince, who had been staring at me with a furrowed brow, let out a short sigh and asked stiffly.
“Don’t think about nonsense like that and just eat. Are you done eating?”
“No, not yet!”
Was it really all right for the Crown Prince not to eat?
I immediately buried my face in the food and ate like there was no tomorrow. It felt like I would die if I didn’t eat. Even so, every single dish was delicious.
After eating my fill, I finally put down my spoon only when I couldn’t fit in another bite.
“Why aren’t you eating?”
“I’m full. I can’t eat any more. I’ve finished.”
“Is that so? Throw it away.”
“What?”
Watching Adrian immediately stand up, I looked down in bewilderment at the food I hadn’t managed to eat.
No. Did that mean it would be thrown away? Such precious food……
The hand holding the utensils trembled slightly.
If I sold just this food, I could eat for several more days. But to tell me to throw it away without even thinking about it……
The more I learned about Crown Prince Adrian, the more doubts piled up.
How could a personality like that not become rumored? The power of authority truly was amazing.
“You said you finished eating.”
“Huh? Yes.”
“What are you doing? Follow me.”
I glanced back once at the food that would be wasted, then moved my feet, which refused to come away easily.
To keep up with the fast pace of Crown Prince Adrian, who strode ahead without a shred of consideration, I practically had to run.
Ah, I ate, but it didn’t feel like I had eaten. It felt like I had indigestion.
No, I definitely had indigestion.
“Why.”
The Crown Prince suddenly stopped and turned to look at me. Why is he doing this?
“What?”
“You look uncomfortable.”
Since meeting him, I had never once worn a comfortable expression.
It was so surprising that he had apparently been looking at my expression all along. I had thought he wouldn’t look at someone like me and would just keep walking ahead.
Since I thought he wouldn’t look, I had even frowned a little, and it seemed that had been caught.
What should I do?
As I stood at the crossroads of a lifetime choice, wondering what to say to survive, Crown Prince Adrian furrowed his brow.
“Why is your expression like that?”
I had bowed my head deeply and was venting my resentment inwardly when Crown Prince Adrian suddenly reached out and lifted my head.
Even if I wanted to bow my head, it was impossible because of the hand lifting my chin. When I reluctantly looked up at Crown Prince Adrian, he was staring intently at my face.
