Judith couldn’t take her eyes off them. And what was worse — her eyes had come alive, the corners of her mouth twitching.
She was watching them, not him.
Those men who had nothing to recommend them but their muscles?
Why?
From a distance, the voices of the ladies-in-waiting drifted over. They were watching the training with flushed, excited faces — just like Judith.
That the palace ladies-in-waiting often came to watch them train — this was something Axel knew.
Which meant, perhaps — was she here for the same reason?
A reasonable inference.
The atmosphere around Axel shifted in an instant.
Things that would have gone unremarked upon on any other day now felt distinctly disagreeable. Axel looked up at the shirtless knights and said, with perfect coolness:
“You have ten seconds. Everyone who has their shirt off — put it back on.”
The sudden order from their superior left the knights visibly confused.
“What? Suddenly, Captain?”
“It’s so hot out here! Telling us to put our shirts on in this weather — that’s asking a bit much!”
The knights who hadn’t yet seen Axel’s expression pushed back with enthusiasm.
“…Too much? I told you to train. I don’t recall telling anyone to strip. It seems everyone has energy to spare on other things.”
His mood was unmistakably darker than usual. The sharper-than-normal edge in his manner silenced everyone immediately.
“I won’t say it again. Shirts on.”
Short and clear — and on those words, every one of them wilted and began fumbling for their shirts. Axel watched them, then turned his head and fixed his gaze on Judith.
Judith, catching his eyes, startled exactly like a child caught doing something forbidden. Axel walked toward her.
She looked up at him with wide, uncertain eyes.
“…What were you looking at?”
“What? What was I looking at? You, of course, Your Highness! Actually — is training finished for today?”
She was clearly trying to redirect the conversation. He watched her effort and said:
“I don’t think so.”
“I’m fairly certain your eyes were somewhere else. Were you really looking at me?”
The precision in his gaze made Judith’s pupils waver. She swallowed and began to respond.
On his end, Judith’s flustered expression was making everything worse. It felt like confirmation — like his suspicion was exactly right.
Was she genuinely watching the other knights? Were they really who had caught her eye?
Axel’s expression was darkening — and then, at last, Judith spoke.
“I — it’s not that… okay, honestly, yes, I was looking somewhere else.”
At her admission, Axel’s expression set hard. Judith saw it and rushed to continue.
“But! It wasn’t like that at all — it’s just that knights who push through this kind of grueling training, giving everything to protect the empire — I could feel their dedication, and so I was watching in a spirit of, of admiration. Rooting for them, kind of. Yes. That’s the kind of looking it was.”
“…You were looking at them to cheer them on.”
“Yes. It was, sort of — admiration-based, you might say. Ha.”
It wasn’t that kind of looking.
Just hearing that — the mood that had sunk considerably lifted somewhat. But an uncharacteristically petty thought surfaced in his mind.
He pressed his lips together with a disgruntled expression, and then opened his mouth.
“If you were looking in the spirit of supporting their hard work — shouldn’t you have been watching me? I’m the one working hardest here. That would be me.”
Even as it came out, it sounded unreasonably juvenile to his own ears. But the words had already escaped before he could stop them.
Judith blinked at him with slightly widened eyes.
“Of course I know you’re working the hardest here, Your Highness! That goes without saying! And I was only glancing away for the tiniest possible moment. I’ve been taking pictures of you the whole time! Oh — would you like to see, Your Highness? They came out beautifully!”
It was true that her attention had wandered for longer than a tiny moment — but Axel chose not to mention it.
For one thing, he recognized how ungainly he was being. For another, the sight of Judith proudly showing off photos she had taken of him made a small, helpless laugh escape him.
Pointless worry.
Right. She had no interest in anyone but him. It was a needless suspicion.
Axel settled on that thought and looked at the Judith who was chattering at him.
Had I gotten away with it…?
When Axel had suddenly walked over and asked what I had been looking at, I’d nearly left my body entirely.
Assessing his mood, it seemed I had, miraculously, gotten through it.
That was close. I almost got caught…
How had he noticed? Were my eyes really that obvious?
I was just concluding that I’d have to be more careful going forward when a familiar voice reached me from the distance.
“Oh, here you are. I’ve been looking all over for you.”
I frowned automatically before I’d even turned around.
That voice—
Bjorn was walking toward us, smiling serenely, hand raised in a wave. Axel’s expression went hard the moment he saw him. He stepped slightly in front of me.
“What brings you here?”
“Does visiting my little brother require a reason?”
“Is your schedule really that empty? If you came to say something pointless, you can turn around now. I don’t have time for it.”
“How can you say something like that to me, Axel…”
Hand pressed to his mouth, Bjorn arranged an expression of wounded sorrow.
“I remember when you used to toddle after me like a little duckling. That dear, sweet child — I wonder where he went…”
He spoke exactly like a parent mourning a teenager who had grown distant.
Clearly this was not the first or hundredth time Axel had heard this particular monologue, because his expression radiated a very practiced annoyance.
Even as the pointed sigh was registered, Bjorn continued without faltering.
“You have time for the Lady, but none for me?”
That question made Axel’s eyebrow slant upward.
“…Sad as I am, almost moved to actual tears — it happens that today I actually have something I need to speak with the Lady about. So I’m afraid it can’t wait.”
I had been watching them like an observer at a tennis match, and looked up at the unexpected mention.
Me?
“Me?”
It was true that there was a great deal Bjorn and I had left to say to each other. We hadn’t had a real conversation since the whole incident.
But not like this.
There were far too many eyes in this place.
The moment the triangle’s players had appeared in one location, everyone had stopped what they were doing and was pretending to look elsewhere while very much looking here.
Well — it was a compelling situation. I might have watched too, if I weren’t involved.
If only I weren’t.
I looked at Bjorn uneasily. He turned to Axel with an easy smile.
“Right then — Axel, you’re busy, aren’t you? Don’t worry. I won’t get in your way. I’ll just speak with the Lady briefly and come right back. That’s all right, isn’t it? Nothing that should concern you.”
When he had been performatively sad a moment ago, and now perfectly composed. The effect was jarring. Axel’s expression tightened visibly.
“What are you—”
Axel was preparing a response when I cut in quickly.
“Let’s do that. I do have something I need to say to His Imperial Highness as well.”
I had felt the shift in Axel’s mood. If this continued any longer, I had an instinct that stranger rumors would start spreading — and Bjorn, when he fixed on something, tended not to let go. Better to agree quickly and move the conversation somewhere private.
“Your Highness, would it be all right if I speak with the Crown Prince briefly? It won’t take long.”
I had expected consent — but Axel’s mouth had gone set and rigid as he looked at me. There was something in his expression that might, if I wasn’t imagining things, have been faint resentment.
A short silence passed, and then the words came through lips that looked like they hadn’t wanted to open:
“Do as you like.”
The temperature of his voice was below freezing.
It’s fine, right? He’s fine…?
I was debating whether to send Bjorn away and reschedule when my wrist was caught.
“I knew you’d say yes. Let’s go, Lady Melberine. We haven’t got a lot of time. We have quite a lot left to talk about, don’t we?”
He had gone from soft and wounded to brisk and purposeful in an instant. The grip on my wrist pulled me forward, and I found myself following behind Bjorn before I’d decided to.
And then — a sharp, unnerving crack.
Something had broken.
I had no time to wonder what, because Bjorn’s hand was already leading me away.
