The Crown Prince Thinks I'm a Guy

The Day of Rest

Weeks passed and I've grown stronger and a little bit smarter.

"You've gone beyond the record time," Zepherin smirked from her perch on the sills of the barred windows inside our empty room. "... And you're still a trainee, so I won."

I flicked through another page of the worn out book. A sharp, little beak came forward, probably enticed by the smell of the old parchment, and so I baited the bird with a piece of dried fish from the pouch I had learned to always carry with me. After Birdy had flapped around to catch the bait, I continued on with my reading.

"Hey, hey," the white-haired apprentice assassin called out to me. "Come on, don't just ignore me. I know you heard me. Oh, I see... I get it now! You're just angry you didn't beat my record! It's been a little bit more than three months, hasn't it?"

"... Three months and a day," I mumbled, not bothering to talk properly since I knew her trained ears would still perfectly hear it.

"HA!" she shouted out with a whoop of victory, and jumped down from her area and onto the seat beside me. She stood there like a rude and mannerless child, which she probably was.

"Get down from there," I murmured, before getting back to my book. "Chairs are meant for sitting on, not standing upon."

Zepherin groaned from above me, but I soon felt her get down like I had told her and sat down on the chair. After a month of training with Assassin Ren, I felt something come at me. Immediately, I ducked from the girl's sudden claw, closed the heavy book in my hands, and promptly used it to hit the girl on her white head.

"Ouch!" she complained, rubbing at her scalp. "Tsk... I went easy on you."

"Oh, I know you did." My eyes trained back to my book, but I knew I had grown distracted. That little bout of fighting has made my nerves go up on end and I was itching for physical activity to let it die down.

I sighed. "Let's fight."

"Really? Really?" Zepherin immediately burst into an energetic, little bubble. I was reminded of how she was on our very first meeting. I don't really know what happened, but as time went on, her serious facade from her first months of apprenticeship has dialed down, and her childish self has started to resurface. Although, I did still sense a graveness hidden underneath her smiling face. Now, I've come to wonder if it has now come around: the energetic girl who once pretended to be serious was now truly serious and only pretended to be as youthful as she once was.

If so, does she act like this for me? Does she believe that since I am a child, she must act like one when she was with me?

That certainly irked me.

I stood up. "Yeah, let's fight. And this time, I'd like it if you don't take it easy on me."

"Oh ho~" she was grinning at me, but her eyes looked much like a contemplating adult's. I grew even angrier.

"Come on," I goaded her recklessly. "This room is barely furnished and I've been using it as a hiding spot for weeks now. No one will find us. And no one will have to know a trainee and an apprentice fought for real."

This time, her smiling facade did break down, and a troubled look filled her eyes. I knew she was about to stop this at any second...

I dashed forward with all my might, and grabbed the front of her robes. I pulled her in so we were facing each other, with our noses almost touching. "Are you, perhaps, a coward, Zepherin? Are you scared you'll lose to a mere trainee?"

Her thoughtful look broke apart, and out came a face filled with anger.

Good.

"Well?" I snarled at her, shaking her body from my hold. "Aren't ya gonna fight?"