CH 32

“A vow to a sleeping Princess.”

After Cain muttered so in a strange tone Eugene smiled: “Her Highness would surely stop me if she were to know about it.”

Cain sighed and nodded. Eugene de Bolton secretly took the knight’s oath and Duke of Cain de Irick was the witness. The Princess didn’t need to about this. When her saw her, who was avoiding his eyes, saying that she had caused them trouble, Eugene teared up.

‘I thought I would never be a proper knight for the rest of my life. ‘

He, who only knew how to handle swords and not how to handle people, now clung to people.

“At first…”

When the two of them were alone, Eugene, who pretended to be polite and cheeky, talked to Cain in a very comfortable tone this time. Cain raised his dark eyes and looked at him, and Eugene continued speaking quietly: “Even if it wasn’t to the extend as the rumors, I thought her Highness was like an ice statue.”

The Princess I met was really like a doll. People said she was cold and cruel, but Eugene didn’t think so.

In his view, Princess Leticia was more of an empty vessel. A vessel that contains nothing, but is made of ice and refuses to be filled with anything.

“I found it truly repelling.”

It was hard for him to say the word ‘repelling’ out loud. Cain looked out the window in silence because both of them recalled what happened at the bar.

Eugene continued, whether Cain would heard it or not: “But one day, she came up to me, so I faced her properly and surprisingly she was everything but cold as ice.”

It was a strange feeling. He thought he had observed her for himself and judged her base on that, but when he had met her face to face, he realized that he as well was swayed by rumors.

“… and, she was so pretty.”

If I would think of the word “pretty”, an image of the Princess would come to mind. She’s so innocently beautiful and bright. It’s a pity. Her ‘I like you!’ remark did not contain any rational emotion. It was just plain. But it felt very transparent and pure.

It felt like an innocent flower on a spring day. Eugene actually liked it. She didn’t try to court him. The absence of any apparent purpose in her approach. That was the first time in his life, so he became addicted to her. But at the same time, he realized: “Do you know? Her Highness… she didn’t let us come close to her.”

In one direction of pure affection, there is a clear line drawn. He noticed the line drawn when he saw her doing favors but not expecting to receive anything in return.

“I feel it at some point. I thought, I was being pushed away.”

She’s captivating, though. It’s pathetic that I couldn’t even notice the line she had drawn.

“I think it’s because her Highness never had people of her own.”

Cain blinked still. Eugene’s words caught his attention even while he was having his guard up against. When Cain  repeated it to himself and thought about it, Eugene continued: “I don’t know much about her Highness.”

Cain glanced at Eugene without realizing it. Eugene smiled softly and faced Cain a second later: “But that’s okay. It’s okay not to know when you don’t know, but I made a mistake when I thought I knew even though I didn’t.”

It was the same mean smile as always, but it wasn’t bad to see him in a good mood.

“Is that why you made the oath without her knowledge?”

“No way.”

Eugene’s smile grew a little darker. Eugene concluded as if he was talking to Princess Leticia while looking at her.

“I want to give you one.”

A person of her own.

Having Cain’s mysterious heavy gaze on him, Eugene recalled the image of Princess Leticia on her way out of the bar. It’s a pity that you considered yourself a nuisance. It’s been confirmed that she thinks she is a nuisance when she relies on someone else. And at the same time, she seems to be moving further away.

“I’ll tell her later about the oath, so please don’t tell her about it for a while.”

She probably doesn’t know that Eugene has never faced a single opponent in such a desperate manner.

“I’m sure she’ll be worried and burdened because of her friendly nature.”

Her sleeping face was calm. Staring still at it, Eugene vowed to protect her wellbeing.

“I won’t tell her.”

“Thank you, Duke.”

Was the loyalty of a knight so easy to have? Eugene smiled softly and closed his eyes.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Herrace, who sat silently on the roof, tapped his finger into the air. After checking the five-layered courtain, he sat down on the roof of the Princess’ Palace. As he was listening to the sounds coming from the Imperial Palace, someone spoke to him: “Don’t interfere.”

Somewhere, someone who was in contact with Herrace whispered with a troubled smile.

‘Harrace, don’t hurt her. Even if her maternal family seems indifferent, it might be just a farce.’

Then Harris smiled white.

“Did I ever care about things like that? And you’re hurting me. I don’t think I’m the one to worry about that.”

‘I’m afraid you’ll get hurt.’

“Who? You? If don’t stop with the nagging, I think you’ll be the one getting hurt.”

Someone smiled helplessly at Harrace’s answer.

‘Who knows. ‘

After those friendly sounding words the contact got cut off.

“Son of a B!tch.”

At the same time, the oath of the free knight ended.

“…….”

Herrace listened to it sullenly, then suddenly smiled in mischievously. An interesting idea came to mind. After some time, no one was left by the curtains.

༻﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡﹡༺

Rox eventually rejected my request for another strong medication. Unfortunately, it seemed like I had no choice but to adjust. I should have asked for a lot of medication in the first place. All of a sudden, I remembered Eugene, who had tears welling in his eyes yesterday and he was more beautiful than usual.

After soothing him, he answered that he liked me with his polite and soft voice… haaa.

“It’s a movie, truly magnificent.”

It felt like my quality of life had improved. I definitely seem to get closer to Eugene. Cain’s sense of distance has also

decreased significantly after the last incident.

“Whew… Ha!

Do I need to stretch more because I went to bed early yesterday? I felt lighter today. I fell asleep a little early yesterday when I took the sleep medicine Rox gave me when I asked for other meds.

‘Well, to save the other original characters, I need to be prepared and walk around the market a lot, right?’

I have to go to the tavern again. First of all, I need to meet Harrace, the head of the information guild. But it was put on hold for now. Thinking of Daniel, there were some things I was reluctant to do, and there were more urgent matters. I only need to make a strong impression on Herrace whenever I’ll meet him, but with Miss Evelyn and Jane I had to be careful about the right timing.

“It would have been better if my stamina would keep up, but I can’t help it.”

Let’s take a break until tomorrow. Resting is also important. I had a lot of work to do. Baking cookies with Rinnie and watching Irene saw.

“Oh, come to think of it, I’ll have to go get the money”

The ownerships of my salons made quite a lot of money as they were popular. Maybe that’s why Emma said they contacted her a while ago because it sold quickly.

“Once I have the money, I’ll look for Miss Evelyn.”

Originally, Miss Evelyn was a character that appeared after the original work had progressed a little. She fell in love with the crown prince for some reason. She was a mysterious figure, because she remained friends with the heroine despite loving the main male lead. And she hated unnie Princess Leticia very, very, very much.

“But the incident that made her hate Leticia didn’t happen yet.”

Rather, I was going to befriend her. I want to commit to a partnership with her to be exact. As I pictured the future, I smiled slyly.