TER𖤐 𐦍 ☾𖤓

Vlll

.𖥔 ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ᰔᩚ.ᰔᩚ ⭑. ݁ ˖₊˚✩.𖥔 ݁ ˖๋ ࣭ ⭑
Under A Peculiar Man’s Scrutiny

Three days had passed since the Royal Knights began escorting Viola’s party, and the atmosphere between them had grown uncomfortable. As time went on, Viola increasingly suspected that, rather than guarding her, they were monitoring her.

Every morning as she roused from her sleep, she felt vulnerable instead of well-rested. Her agitation was particularly strong around the leader of the knights.

“Were you restless yesterday, too?” Rosha’s tone was full of concern for her mistress.

“No,” Viola touched her aching head, “I just…”

She stopped mid-sentence as her senses warned her of a presence outside the carriage door. Viola’s eyes darted to the window, where they locked with onyx irises belonging to the very man who had been bothering her lately.

The knight’s sudden appearance surprised her. Her hands trembled under his gaze, which was so sharp her hair began to stand on end. She found it terribly unsettling how he seemed to focus his attention on her every move.

‘Why is he looking at me like that?’

Viola shifted so she could escape his line of sight. As soon as she started thinking of something else, he reappeared in the same spot as suddenly as he had vanished from the carriage window before. She felt nauseous.

‘Stop being so agitated,’ she thought to herself. ‘Stay confident…’

Despite her attempts to reassure herself, the tension in her heart did not dissipate so easily…

After traveling non-stop for days, they arrived in a stretch of flatland surrounded by trees. Viola noted the dense forest surrounding them with a puzzled expression.

“This is not the way…” she murmured.

According to what she recalled about the terrain, the carriage was headed in the wrong direction and not toward the normal path to the Imperial Palace of Arpen.

“It’s not?” Rosha replied in confusion.

Viola extended a hand outside the carriage window and waved. A knight noticed the gesture and approached her.

“Are we going the right way?” she asked him.

“The heavy rain blocked the usual route. It will be safer this way, so you don’t need to worry.”

She was reassured as such and after a while, the carriage stopped and the door burst open.

“We will take a short break here.”

There was nothing to eat as they had traveled through rough, deserted landscapes and not through towns. Viola’s party had to depend on the Royal Knights’ shares as the food they had brought with them from Koronis was almost gone. Viola took her rest from behind a rock, away from the knights. As soon as she finished her meal, she checked her surroundings before carefully withdrawing and studying her map.

‘A little further from our current location is the Imperial Palace… West, past the mountain range, is the sea that divides the continent…’

Suddenly, a long shadow was cast over her head.

‘There wasn’t anything on the rock… Ack!!’

Her heart began pounding. Tousled, jet-black hair came into view, along with it a man as gorgeous as a masterfully-sculpted statue.

Viola didn’t have the presence of mind to hide the map behind her back.

‘When did he get up to the rock? Is he a ghost?’

She hadn’t detected his presence at all. The beating in her chest intensified.

“A princess who looks at a map…” he mused.

“What do you find so interesting?”

“The only princesses I’ve ever seen were princesses who waited for their lovers while dressed up in beautiful gowns.”

“Not everyone can be the same,” Viola snorted.

She hadn’t talked to this knight very much, but she disliked that every time she did he would speak informally to her. Of course, since he was the leader of the Royal Knights, he was probably a high-ranking noble near her own social standing, but she was offended nonetheless that he looked down on a Crown Princess Candidate.

Viola hurriedly rolled up the map and placed it in a small tube. A stinging sensation pricked the back of her head. His gaze was on her again. She turned and saw that he was still standing there.

The knight closely observed Viola with his arms folded over his chest. His eyes were hooded and lacked any discernible expression, but flashes of intrigue would flicker in his eyes. He repeatedly scrunched his eyebrows and relaxed them.

“… What scent is it?” he muttered deeply.

The depth of his tone made the pit of her stomach burn. Viola watched him in a daze, even as he slowly reached his hands toward her. Those intense, onyx eyes looked at her as if they sought to overwhelm her.

“… What?” she repeated, scarcely registering what was happening.

“Of course, it can’t be,” his fingers grasped a lock of her hair, “but….”

Her heart shook, making it difficult for her to breathe. Viola was trapped in astonishment, her blue eyes unable to widen any further. The corner of the knight’s eyes twitched. Surprised by his own, unintentional actions, he looked at his hand, smiled, and laughed.

The sounds of his mirthful chuckles put Viola’s on edge. She did her best to warily focus her attention on him; however, even with Viola looking at him so cautiously, he simply squinted and examined her face. Did her make-up get erased? She hurriedly stroked her face to check that it hadn’t come off.

“I’m thirsty…” he muttered to himself and shook his head. “This is the first time I’ve felt this kind of burning thirst… Better quickly head back.”

He then snatched the map out of Viola’s hands.

“I’ll keep this safe.”

“Hey, hey! That’s mine!”

She tried to steal the map back out of reflex, but he was too tall for her to reach the tube. He raised his eyebrows. A smile began to lightly spread over his normally stiff face.

“This isn’t something a Crown Princess Candidate entering the palace needs.”

He turned his back on her and walked back to where the rest of the traveling party was waiting. Viola frowned. What was so wrong about her possessing one measly map that he had to take it away?

‘What… that man…’

She stared at his retreating figure, burning daggers into his back. But despite her scorching gaze, the map still didn’t return to her hand.

♛

The knights’ eyes followed Lustian as soon as he returned to the camp. Their expressions had been filled with curiosity ever since he ordered them not to address him as “Crown Prince” in front of the new Crown Princess Candidate.

“Your Highness…”

“Keep your mouth shut. I’m the leader of the Royal Knights right now.”

“Is this necessary?”

“Find out more about this new candidate. This sense of uneasiness feels disgusting.”

A princess who looks at maps cannot be left alone.

His nerves were still on edge, buzzing with light excitement akin to what remained after battle.

“This bothers me….”