chapter 8
“How did your conversation go? Learn anything useful?”
The moment Leonard returned, William questioned him as if he had been waiting for it.
Leonard tossed his gloves onto the table and replied,
“We agreed to have tea together tomorrow.”
“Did the princess actually fall for Your Highness’s face? Her eyesight must be terrible.”
Eric, who had been sharpening a dagger nearby, asked in shock, but Leonard ignored him lightly.
William then asked,
“Your Highness, do you think the princess already knows we crossed the Lesher Desert?”
“Doesn’t seem like it. We definitely made the right move by acting first. Unless she’s pretending not to know.”
Leonard sat down on the sofa and clasped his hands behind his neck.
“The princess is the one who tracked down and killed the Lord of Darkness, Nox Glaston. She needs special observation.”
“How did the princess even uncover the secret that Nox Glaston was the Lord of Darkness?”
“She’s the caretaker of the royal sacred relics. She probably possesses other relics we don’t know about.”
A moment later, Leonard straightened up and pulled a sheet of paper from inside his coat.
The page was filled with indecipherable characters, just like the parchment he had previously shown his aides.
“The princess may not possess holy power, but she has personally handled many major incidents. She might be the most dangerous person of all… and perhaps the one we need most.”
His low, heavy voice quietly echoed through the study. His expression was serious and solemn as well.
But the moment he recalled what had happened only minutes earlier, that grave expression vanished with a sudden burst of laughter.
“Your Highness? What’s wrong?”
“…Nothing.”
Not only his aides but Leonard himself was startled by the unexpected laughter.
He quickly rose from his seat and retreated to the bedroom under the excuse of changing clothes.
Yet the image of the woman abruptly springing to her feet earlier kept replaying vividly in his mind.
—I cannot accept Your Highness’s proposal…
Was she overflowing with narcissism? Or had she simply grown sick of receiving marriage proposals? Or maybe both?
Of course, the princess was extraordinarily beautiful.
He had heard that Saintess Aurora was so beautiful it could blind a person, but Princess Charlotte was no less stunning.
Her cloud-like pink hair looked irresistibly soft, enough to make one want to touch it. Her puppy-like curved eyes and round green eyes sparkled like candy whenever they moved.
Though her personality…
He had heard she was on a completely different level from other princesses of neighboring kingdoms, and that certainly seemed true.
Wasn’t she preparing to punch him just because he kept laughing?
Charlotte probably hadn’t realized it, but Leonard had clearly noticed her fists clenching tightly inside her sleeves.
—Brother, Princess Charlotte may be famous for her beauty, but she’s equally famous for being eccentric. She’s probably as terrifying as the women of Blake.
It was then that his younger brother’s words flashed through his mind like lightning.
What kind of person in the world would even consider hitting a prince of another empire? Normally they would slap him for rudeness or summon their guards.
“…She didn’t look like someone choosing a husband at a birthday banquet.”
Rather than being trapped in a small estate and manor, caring for villagers, she seemed better suited to gazing upon the vast world beyond.
As Leonard continued following that train of thought, he lightly shook his head.
“What exactly am I thinking? Did William’s talk about proposing marriage scramble my mind?”
After finishing changing clothes, Leonard sat at his desk to review the documents he had not yet completed.
Several hours later, Aurora visited the princess’s palace.
The moment she arrived, Aurora rushed toward me and spoke in one breath.
“Charlotte. Don’t get close to Prince Leonard. If possible, don’t even talk to him before he leaves.”
“Why?”
Since I had just had a rather enjoyable conversation with him earlier and had even arranged tea for tomorrow, I asked Aurora in confusion.
“Did you hear it from the owls? Apparently he crossed the Lesher Desert with his imperial guards. There must be some reason for it.”
“I heard that part, but unlike the owls, I heard it directly from Prince Leonard.”
Aurora blinked at me with a stunned expression, and I explained everything that had happened.
“Aurora, I don’t think Prince Leonard is someone we need to worry about that much. He even gave me a gift.”
I took out the present he had given me and handed it to her.
“It’s a magic crystal called Deligno’s Tear. Apparently you can make powerful items with it.”
Since Synchester was a holy kingdom, its people relied more on sacred relics, and Aurora, being a saintess, naturally wasn’t very familiar with magic crystals.
“…Let me check whether there’s some kind of trap spell on it.”
Aurora raised her hand above the crystal.
A golden butterfly appeared on the back of her hand, and threads of golden light extended from her fingertips into the crystal.
It was Aurora’s unique holy power.
“Your holy power really is beautiful no matter how many times I see it.”
“Hm? Ah…”
Perhaps feeling guilty about using holy power in front of me, someone incapable of wielding it, Aurora hurriedly withdrew her power.
But honestly, I didn’t care at all.
It had already been nine years since I’d lived without holy power, and besides, wasn’t it basically a universal rule that having power only dragged you into troublesome situations?
“Aurora, there’s no spell on it, right?”
“No, but that actually makes it more suspicious. Don’t you think he told you the truth because the owls had already discovered it?”
“Aren’t you being overly suspicious? All he did was cross the Lesher Desert.”
“He’s still a prince of Blake. People from that country deserve suspicion upon suspicion.”
Then Aurora suddenly clasped both my hands tightly.
“Charlotte. You’re someone who plans to leave, so perhaps it’s right for you to forget your duties in the royal palace. But… honestly, I’m still upset that you’re leaving for a journey.”
“Aurora.”
“You’re like a sister to me. Do you really have to go?”
“It’s not like… there’s some special reason.”
“There are plenty of handsome men in Synchester too. If you stay, His Majesty would probably even support passing polyandry through the noble council.”
I was touched by Aurora’s kindness, yet also felt sorry.
“I want handsome men from many different countries. And I have to travel the world to achieve that.”
“You’re seriously unbelievable.”
“I’m joking.”
Laughing, I rose from my seat and approached Aurora.
I wrapped my arms tightly around her trembling shoulders and whispered gently into her ear.
“The trip will only be temporary. I’ll come back to Synchester. This is still my home, after all.”
“Charlotte.”
I placed my hands over hers and smiled again.
“I’ll be back.”
“…Fine. I guess I can’t stop you.”
After sighing, Aurora gently held my hands once more.
“But even so, don’t completely let down your guard around Prince Leonard.”
Since I had accepted his gift and even arranged a meeting, I couldn’t cancel my tea appointment with Prince Leonard.
And no, this genuinely was not because he was handsome.
I had already refused one of his visits before because I was changing into a dress, and rejecting him again might escalate into a diplomatic issue.
Even Erdan said it would be better to go this time.
After preparing expensive tea and desserts on the beautiful garden terrace, I waited for Prince Leonard.
However, he arrived exactly thirty-four minutes late, earning frowns from all my maids.
I was also in a bad mood and was about to say something when I noticed several royal knights behind Leonard, causing my eyes to widen.
“Your Highness, why are palace knights accompanying you?”
Leonard looked somewhat different from the confident man he had been yesterday. After hesitating briefly, he bit his lip before finally confessing,
“I got lost… and they helped me.”
“What? Seriously?”
Leonard’s face had turned red after admitting it, and this time I burst out laughing.
“How can someone get lost in our palace? Isn’t the Blake Empire much bigger? At least ten times bigger than Synchester—no, maybe twenty!”
“Let’s stop talking about this. It isn’t amusing.”
Prince Leonard sat down with a dissatisfied look.
His sulky attitude only made me laugh more.
He was built like a massive boulder, yet the embarrassed way he sipped his tea felt oddly childlike.
‘Well, there aren’t any navigation apps here. Of course someone could get lost in a palace this huge. The people in novels seriously must have antennas in their heads.’
His slightly flushed face was ridiculously funny and strangely cute.
I barely managed to hide my smile behind my fan.
“Very well. I shall generously forgive your lateness.”
“…Thank you.”
Leonard expressed his gratitude reluctantly, which only made me laugh once again.
