I am a knight of the glorious Royal Guard Order of the Wilhelm Kingdom.
I have been graciously assigned the duty of guarding His Highness the Crown Princeâs room.
His Highness whose eyes had always been somehow cold, recently has been showing an extremely gentle countenance.
âHey, you. What do you think about His Highness recently?â
During guarding, just as I looked at him, the colleague on the opposite side of the door called out to me. The man in sync with me replaced his predecessor about half a year ago, as my partner he has the same duty of defending His Highnessâs room.
âWhat, you say? In what sense?â
When I returned a question not understanding what he meant, my colleague shrugged his shoulders and said.
âIn the literal sense. Iâve been thinking His Highness has changed recently. Heâs an excellent person who never foists unreasonable demands on us. Iâve never been anxious about following him, but heâs too perfect, honestly I was scaredâ
âYou were scared?â
When I knit my eyebrows at the disquieting words, my colleague awkwardly laughed that itâs not like that.
âWhat do you think when you hear perfect person. It wasnât actually the case, but I feel that I was criticized for slightest mistakes. Why canât you do it . I was scared, with how he looked like he didnât hold a special interest in anything. he didnât seem like a fellow human. Of course, I revere His Highness the Crown Prince, but stillâ
âAhâŠâ
Unconsciously I agreed.
Certainly it may be seen like that.
His Highness Friedrich shows perfect results in everything.
The stiff beauty and gentle gaze thatâs somehow cold, probably heâs not the only one to find it frightening.
When I saw His Highnessâs characteristic sword technique that could defeat ten thousand alone, I couldnât stop shaking in fear either. From the bottom of my heart I felt I was glad to be on the same side.
âBut you know, recently His Highness finally looks human to meâ
âHuman?â
As I looked in the direction of my colleague who spoke in a bright voice, he firmly nodded.
âYeah. Because itâs like that. When I saw it for the first time, I was so surprised I thought Iâd collapse. On the engagement ceremony day. He brought Princess Consort to his room and didnât leave until the next day. If it was His Highness from before, that kind of thing would be impossibleâ
âThat certainly was surprisingâŠâ
I recalled the engagement ceremony a few months ago.
The story that His Highness declared during the engagement ceremony that he wonât take any concubine spread throughout the castle like a fire. Because he had been a sincere person from the start, that in itself wasnât surprising, but what was, is the story of the soldier present there.
âHis Highness was happily smilingâ
I thought, what sort of joke is that .
His Highness, who couldnât get rid of the fake impression even when he showed a gentle smile, smiling happily?
Just when I thought that itâs impossible. His Highness came back dragging a single woman along.
Naturally I couldnât call out to him.
In fact, just before entering the room, His Highness forced me to be silent with only his gaze, I couldnât oppose the strength in his eyes.
With Head Court Lady fretting the night had passed, and around the noon of the next day, I received a shock when His Highness came out of his room in a good mood like Iâd never seen before. Iâd wondered what happened, but when I heard Head Court Ladyâs story I only became more surprised.
The day before, who His Highness brought to his room was none other that Princess Consort he had the engagement ceremony with.
Moreover, there had already been the Kingâs Flowerâ on her chest.
I have to treat her as His Highnessâs only Princess Consort. I thought so, however.
While everybody was in a daze from too many things happening, Princess Consort easily returned to her familyâs ducal residence.
I donât want to remember His Highnessâs face at that time.
Just before he was in such a good humor that he was humming, seeming about to break into a song (that His Highness did!), and yet the moment he learned Princess Consort wasnât there, I felt like blizzard blew all around.
For our own sake, we canât let Princess Consort go. That incident made us think that from the bottom of our hearts.
âHis Highness is infatuated with Princess ConsortâŠâ
As my colleague muttered that, I nodded that itâs exactly like that.
âIsnât that right. At first, I thought he was posing in front of the Prime Minister, but itâs completely different. I heard the story of the fellow responsible for the security of the victory celebration party. The whole time he was with Princess Consort, seeming to be smiling? I heard that with his arm glued around her waist he was looking at Princess Consort with an enchanted faceâ
âIâve also heard that. Let alone that, with all eyes on them he even kissed her forehead. Iâve also heard he fiercely reins in men fascinated by Princess Consortâ
âAh, a guy told me he thought heâd be killed even though he was just a little fascinatedâ
âI canât help but feel itâs childish. Not in my wildest dreams have I thought His Highness would act like thisâ
âWhen His Highness is with Princes Consort, he makes such a sweet face, right? When I first saw it, I couldnât believe my eyesâ
âYou too? Actually me too. I wondered who in the world is he. It isnât good to speak like this, but heâs already madly in loveâ
âI have the exact same impression. But you know, thanks to that I no longer find His Highness scary. Like that it seems like heâs really a human like us. After all it looks like His Highness too can love peopleâ
âI can understand what youâre sayingâ
I could fully agree with my colleagueâs words.
His Highness had always treated everyone equally. Itâs correct as the person standing on the top, but in other words it only means he regarded nobody as special.
Thereâs no way I, whoâs just a simple soldier, would understand His Highnessâs thoughts so I may have misunderstood him, but it was enough to think heâs a distant person different from us.
âThatâs why I like how His Highness is now. Pouring all his affection on just Princess Consort. Honestly, His Highnessâs love seems extremely heavy, but you knowâ
âDoesnât Princess Consort run away from time to time as a result? No matter how I look at it, His Highness loves Princess Consortâ
âYeah, we can watch the incredibly rare spectacle of His Highness desperately trying to have her love himâ
âCertainlyâ
I wryly smiled at my colleagueâs words.
Itâs quite interesting watching His Highness desperately try to earn Princess Consortâs love.
Itâs a rare sight.
Even soââââ.
âPrincess Consort loves His Highness too, right?â
When I pointed that out, my colleague burst into laughter for a moment.
âAhahahaha! Isnât that right. Absolutely only the people in question donât understand that, isnât that right?â
âPrincess Consort is incredibly in love with His Highness, isnât she? Everybody would understand that seeing her happy face when sheâs with His Highnessâ
âWhy doesnât His Highness realize it?â
âRather than not realizing, doesnât he want to be made to realize it? I have such a hunchâ
âWell, Princess Consort seems dullâ
When I nodded to those words, I recalled their exchange Iâd seen just a little while back.
âIâve just seen Princess Consortâ
âEh? Where? Donât tell me sheâs run away again⊠Please stop. His Highness will get angry againâ
Just as my colleague grimaced, I shook my head that itâs different.
Itâs a dreadful matter, but Princess Consort has already run away several times. Itâs still fresh in my mind that Iâve been reprimanded by His Highness each time⊠It was extremely scary. I had resolved myself to never again, absolutely never again let her go, but somehow Princess Consort smoothly fled.
Although she looks graceful and very beautiful, is she truly a daughter of the preeminent ducal house? Sheâs so energetic I have doubts like that.
âIt was in the corridor this way. For some reason she was observing His Highness from behind a pillarâ
âHa? Observing His Highness? Why?â
âI wonder? I donât quite understand, but she was troubled while stealing glances at His Highness. His Highness too, despite realizing that didnât call out to her. All around them was a pink atmosphere difficult to be in. I felt sorry for Lord Alexei who happened to be thereâ
âLord Alexei was? How unluckyâ
Speaking of Lord Alexei, heâs His Highnessâs close aide and Princess Consortâs older brother.
His Highness and Princess Consort being madly in love these days is a famous story among us soldiers, so surely heâs the most troubled. And actually, he had a very annoyed face.
âWhen His Highness and Princess Consort are together, seeing and hearing nothing is the basics. Otherwise⊠youâll get heartburnâ
I nodded seriously to my colleague who also had a straight face. Princess Consort spends a lot of time with His Highness, so I often witness such scenes. For the sake of keeping your spirit in order itâs essential to develop a technique to avoid seeing it.
âLovey-dovey, arenât theyâ
âHis Highness has it nice. Actually, itâs a marriage of convenience, right? Yet to marry his beloved, heâs too lucky. But you know, looking at His Highness, Iâm starting to think itâd be nice to get marriedâ
âI get you. Iâm filled with the desire to get married as soon as possible⊠I think His Highnessâs reign will surely be peacefulâ
âIsnât that right. It was unthinkable for me in the past, but now I can believe it. Iâm glad His Highness is the Crown Prince of our country. If heâs going to earnestly love his wife just like now, he wonât take this country in a strange directionâ
âThatâs right. Then after all what we can do isâŠâ
I broke off words and fixed my eyes on my colleague. My colleague again nodded seriously.
What we can do for His Highness, that isââââ.
âDonât let Princess Consort get away, isnât itâ