Dearest Anonymous, Let Me Be

Chapter 18: ARC 1 - The Lost Princess

Umi stood straight on the ground as she raised her chin and stared back at the man who was rushing towards her.

Zevlin, however, abruptly stopped after he arrived at a reasonable distance away from the girl he was longing to see again after four days of absence.

"You have arrived. How did it go?" Zevlin asked as soon as he stopped, his striking eyes piercing straight into Umi's soul, making her shiver unknowingly.

Umi squinted her eyes. Is he that eager to receive a report from her? My my, what a busy man.

"Well, I came out alive and no one died..." Umi started but after realizing that she must have been impolite, she continued with a soft, "...my lord."

Zevlin let out a cough as he scratched his neck with his index finger. After making fierce eye contact with her just a while ago, it might almost seem that his display of confidence was thrown out of the window as he now tried to avoid Umi's eyes. "Well done."

As an eyebrow was slowly raising, Umi didn't know why but strangely there's this feeling she felt that the Male Lead before her seems to be hiding something from her.

"I appreciate the compliment, my lord. I'll make sure to do better next week," Umi replied. "Nothing out of ordinary happened and no one noticed the absence of the princess. Now if you'll excuse me, I'll go take my rest."

It wasn't that she was in a hurry to rest, well she is indeed in a hurry, but not to rest. Rather, there is this certain call of nature that was tugging upon her sleeves, waiting to be taken care of.

Umi was about to step forward but the Male Lead stopped her. "You can't."

The girl scrunched her eyebrows as she tilted her head in confusion. Now getting impatient, the girl asked, "Do you need a more detailed report, my lord? Then, I'll write one quickly after I take a...nap."

Zevlin reached out his hand to grab the girl's arm when she was about to take another step towards the door. "Your room...is not available at the moment."

What is this man even saying?

Umi was momentarily stunned as she stared at the hand clinging to her arm. She was also startled to find that out of nowhere, upon the unexpected touch, she felt a little dizzy when the warmth of the man's hand permeated to her skin.

She closed her eyes shut to ease the dizziness. Her mind only swirled for a split second and after she regained her calm, she opened her eyes again then stared at the hand on her arm with curiosity.

But the curiosity was immediately replaced by a more urgent situation.

She needs to pee!

Zevlin, upon seeing that the girl seems to be uncomfortable with his touch, immediately retrieved his hand away, afraid that he must have scared the girl away.

Both of them felt awkward for a moment and silence took over the dimly lighted room for a few long seconds until Umi, unknown to the unsuspecting man, unexpectedly dashed forward towards the door and sprinted to her chambers.

The man, who was left behind in his study was puzzled for a moment, then when he realized where the girl was running off to, he panicked then immediately ran after her.

The two were like children playing tag as they ran down the winding hallways while passing several astounded people. Mochi, who was quietly following closely behind Umi, couldn't help but clutch his stomach due to undisguised laughter.

Now, Umi had two reasons why she was running. One, she needed to pee, and two, there is this feeling that she wasn't quite familiar with. It's just that, for a moment there, her heart strangely skipped a bit.