Chapter 21
Axel, who had been overseeing the knights in the training grounds, glanced at his watch. The time for Judith to arrive had already passed. Feeling an inexplicable anxiety, he spoke to the exhausted knights sprawled out.
“……That’s enough for today. Practice more on your own.”
Leaving the training grounds without showing any signs of fatigue himself, Axel hurried to his office.
Just as he reached the door to his office and was about to step inside, he heard Judith’s voice through the slightly ajar opening. Axel froze without realizing it.
He focused on the sounds coming from within. Judith’s voice reached him, sounding faintly excited.
……Festival? Ah.
Axel immediately realized she was talking about the festival being held in Nelvia Square.
Having never once visited such a place on his own outside of work-related matters, Axel fell into thought.
Whether to go to the festival with her or not.
And as soon as he heard Judith’s words, he made up his mind.
Going to the festival didn’t seem like a bad idea.
Axel was certainly willing to agree if Judith was the one to suggest going together first.
So he waited.
For Judith to bring it up herself.
However, she only continued filming herself with the video orb, showing no sign of mentioning it even as time passed.
Time flew by like that, until it was time to leave for the day.
“Ah, Your Highness. See you tomorrow!”
In the end, Axel couldn’t hold back and grabbed her. Judith, who had been about to leave with him, looked at him with eyes full of questions. Her expression asked if he had something to say.
“Your Highness, do you have something to tell me?”
When those pure eyes gazed at him, he inexplicably felt a twinge of irritation.
He couldn’t understand why she wasn’t bringing it up to him. She’d just been talking about going to the festival, so had she changed her mind? Or had she forgotten to mention it?
His thoughts spiraled, but no answer emerged.
In the end, Axel chose to ask her indirectly.
“……Festival.”
“Yes? Festival?”
“Aren’t you going?”
As he’d said before, he was certainly willing to go with her. If only she would say it.
Judith furrowed her brow slightly, wearing a thoughtful expression. As Axel watched her, the thought flashed through his mind: Could it be that she has someone else to go with?
It was then that she seemed to understand his words, exclaiming brightly.
“Ah, you’re asking if I’m not going to the festival! No? Of course I’m going!”
……What?
Axel’s face stiffened.
I looked at Axel’s oddly frozen face and tilted my head.
‘Why is he acting like that?’
Ah, could it be that he’s trying to reject me in advance, in case I suggest going together?
Since our next date was already scheduled, I had no intention of dragging the busy Axel to the festival against his will.
I wasn’t the type to be that inconsiderate. And the festival could wait until later, after we became lovers.
‘So that’s what it was……!’
I now understood why his expression had seemed so tense earlier.
Quickly grasping Axel’s inner thoughts, I spoke up before he could voice a rejection himself.
“Ah, I had no intention of asking Your Highness to go to the festival with me!”
With that, I smiled brightly at him, conveying that he could relax now.
However, even after my words ended and quite some time passed, there was no response from him.
‘Hmm?’
Feeling something odd, I lifted my head to look at Axel. When our eyes met, I gasped in surprise.
‘This is……!’
His eyes were sharper and colder than usual, and his lips twisted in a way that suggested irritation.
At that sensual sight, I swallowed hard without realizing it. My heart pounded even faster.
‘This needs to be captured in a photo……’
Unable to resist any longer, I stealthily reached for my camera. It was then that a small sound escaped through his teeth.
“……Why?”
Hearing Axel’s words, I froze mid-motion and blinked blankly.
Why? What does that mean?
“Well…… unlike me, Your Highness is busy, right? Weren’t you just about to reject me in advance by saying you couldn’t go to the festival?”
At my innocent question, Axel furrowed his brow in confusion, then hesitated before replying.
“That’s…… right.”
“And I heard from Lord Shuian earlier. He said there would be a huge crowd that day, so Your Highness would be very busy. Your Highness, I have my own boundaries. I wouldn’t pester you insistently on a day like that!”
It seemed Axel still hadn’t fully let go of his suspicions about me. Even I wouldn’t cross certain lines.
“I never had even the slightest intention from the beginning of asking Your Highness to go to the festival with me—not even this much! So you don’t need to worry about it at all!”
Got it!
As I clenched my fist tightly for emphasis and looked at him, hoping he’d understand.
I thought he’d get it by now, but for some reason, his face was even more rigid than before, and now it even felt chilly.
Wondering if I should say more, I clamped my mouth shut when I met his icy gaze head-on.
‘Is he…… angry?’
I couldn’t understand why he was reacting this way, but for now, I just wanted to escape the situation.
It wasn’t because an angry Axel scared me or anything like that.
An angry favorite? Actually, that’s even better.
Even now, I was barely holding back the urge to whip out my camera and snap photos right in front of his face.
Still, the rare reason I wanted to back off was the worry that his affection toward me might be dropping.
‘If that anger is directed at me…… then it’s different.’
I wasn’t sure if it was just my imagination, but today, every time I spoke, it felt like things were only getting worse.
All the affection I’d built up so far! I couldn’t let it crumble like this.
Overwhelmed by Axel’s unusual intensity, I was about to say I’d leave now to escape.
“Well then, Your Highness, I’ll be going for today……”
As I said that, I slowly opened the door and tried to slip out backward, but suddenly Axel grabbed me.
Our eyes met, and he wore a serious expression.
“In that case……. are you going to the festival alone?”
“Me, you mean?”
When I blinked and asked back, he nodded silently.
Going alone……?
I hummed in thought, falling into contemplation.
I hadn’t really thought about that, but why is he asking this?
It couldn’t be that there’s some rule requiring at least two people to go to the festival, right?
I don’t have any friends right now……!
As my thoughts veered off into strange tangents and my answer delayed, impatience gradually appeared on Axel’s face. Finally, unable to wait, he urged me.
“Why aren’t you answering that you’re going alone? You don’t have any friends to go with, do you.”
His tone was full of certainty. Hearing Axel confirm something I already knew felt painful.
I pouted my lips and narrowed my eyes slightly as I looked up at him.
He’s not even going to go with me, so why does he keep asking these things?
Today, Axel’s strange questions were starting to annoy me a bit. It felt like he was teasing me or something.
