The Warrior of Avelyn

Ⅸ

Clara walked across the room, finished with folding the prince's clothes. She stopped at his bookcase, cleaning away the dust from the books gently, as she gazed at a few books that peaked her interest. Right now she was looking at the contents of a book about plants.

The prince re-entered his room, and Clara jumped, having been too engrossed with the book in her hand. Her face flushed as she quickly went back to dusting. Victor raised an eyebrow, and allowed himself to show the slightest of smiles at her flustered state.

"You can take the book if you want." his deep voice rang out. Clara turned around, her face showing that she was surprised at the gesture. 

"Oh, thank you, your majesty." she smiled sincerely, turning back to finish off her job. The prince hovered over his desk that was covered in piles of paper and observed it, frustratedly running a hand through his dark hair. With a huff he decided to eat his dinner before he went back to work.

When Clara moved to the other side of the bookcase, she didn't see the chest in front of it, and accidentally bumped her knee against it, earning a grunt of pain. Victor stopped eating, looking at her.

"How's your knee?"

"As I've said 4 days ago, it's completely fine."

"Excuse me for not taking your word when you say you're fine." he rolled his eyes.

"Look, I can walk around perfectly." she said softly, turning around to face him. "It's almost fully healed; I can even do a cartwheel!"

"Oh, that would be amusing to see." he smirked.

"I'm not doing a cartwheel." she deadpanned and he chuckled, raising his hands in mock defense. After a moment of silence, she spoke up quietly. "Thank you for your concern."

The prince nodded at her, somewhat flustered, but he'd never show it.

He watched curiously as Clara made her way to his desk and analyzed the papers. If it were anyone else, he would've yelled at them to get away, since it contained sensitive information about their kingdom, but he figured if his father trusted her to be with him all day and night, then it was okay for her to see.

And frankly, he was desperate for help, even though he would never admit it.

He watched as she bit her lip in concentration, not even aware of his lingering gaze as she took some papers and placed them around the desk in what seemed like a planned manner.

"What are you doing?" he didn't mean for his tone to be so demanding, it came out as a habit.

"Organizing." she paid no attention to him as she continued sorting the papers. "What exactly is going on in Chefrithe?"

Victor sighed, running a hand down his face. You could see the bags under his enchanting blue eyes, only in this moment. 

"It got attacked by some bandits a few weeks ago." he stood up and walked over to her, standing on the other side of the desk. "They caused a lot of damage and stole a lot of resources."

Clara froze in her spot, her heart hammering against her chest. She felt as if someone sprinkled salt on her internal wound.

"What about the people?" she whispered, her chest tightening.

"A few died..." Victor replied with a pained tone. He too was heartbroken from the news. "This town is now my responsibility, and there's just so much to do..."

Clara analyzed the papers, trying to control her breathing as she did so. She put the security measures in one pile on the side, and the plans for restoring the resources in another, and so on. She then picked up the security pile and studied it, her mind lost in an abyss of focus to avoid the pain that resurfaced moments ago.