“It’s been a while, Your Majesty.”
Inside the carriage, Leone’s voice continued smoothly. It was a sentence that they practiced until they died from tiredness from yesterday to this morning. There were several unfamiliar words, so Leone had a harder time saying them than usual. She struggled with Benjamin, adjusting the tempo between Leone’s slurred speech and words. The practice that lasted all night was reminiscent of a fierce battle. When Leone finished the sentence perfectly, they couldn’t be more proud.
Okay. At the time, she didn’t know because he was focused only on teaching Leone to speak.
“The first prince.”
No, maybe it was because he wasn’t dressed like this back then. Those beautiful eyes were half-hidden by his long bangs, and he was always wearing a stubby shirt.
“Leone Atarta.”
Accurate pronunciation and soft voice. Slightly raised lip corners.
“Greet Your Majesty the Emperor.”
Dazzling purple eyes that made the color of amethyst fade away met her. Inescapable thoughts flooded her mind. She thought that Leone was cool.
“Huh. You did very well.”
After mechanically praising Leone, she waited impatiently for the door to open.
“Thank you, Trixie.”
Thanks to yesterday’s pronunciation practice, Leone’s pronunciation when he called her and the tempo of his usual tone have become more natural.
“Yes, you’re welcome.”
When she let go of her mind, she could move like a doll with a spring wound. It was a necessary virtue for a hard-working office worker. Leave your soul out and do your thing. There was only one road leading to the castle. It was to cross a stone bridge over the narrow river surrounding the castle. The carriage that was crossing the stone bridge eventually stopped. She felt that the cheers of the people of the empire had gone farther than before. The appearance of the majestic castle was seen through the window. It was so huge that it was impossible to capture it all at once.
“Open the door!”
The man standing in front of the closed castle gate checked Adler’s identity card, talked with the knight commander, and shouted. The huge door slowly opened. Inside, she saw a dazzlingly beautiful garden. The garden was quite large, so we rode a carriage and moved right in front of the palace.
“I have to get down now, Leone.”
“Huh.”
The carriage door opened. Adler, who got off his horse, was standing with several attendants of the imperial castle, looking at Leone. They all had bright smiles.
“Your Highness the Prince, welcome.”
The old man’s voice trembled a little as he stood at the front to say hello. He seemed thrilled.
She got off first with the help of a knight and waited for Leone to get off. Could it be because the scenery was too unfamiliar? Leone jumped off the wagon with a stiff face.
“I am Chief Chamberlain Butler. I don’t know if you will remember. Really… You have grown up.”
Butler’s eyes widened.
“Your Majesty is waiting for you.”
Seeing the unexpectedly touching reunion made her feel embarrassed and at the same time curious. The humans in Leone’s memory always seemed to be angry and said bad things. Wasn’t that it?
“His Majesty wanted to meet in the drawing room rather than the audience room. I will guide you.”
Butler turned his back to guide them. Adler sat next to Butler and talked to him. He seemed very distraught.
“…Trixie.”
In the midst of such a hectic situation, Leone’s voice that penetrated his ears was strange.
“Huh. Leone.”
“Here… where are you?”
It was a voice she had heard a long time ago. Emotions leaked out from the slightly submerged voice. Fear, embarrassment, boundary, anger, disgust. These were things that Leone hadn’t been able to see lately. She quickly walked over to Leone and grabbed both of his hands.
“Leone. Why is that, huh?”
“Trixie. Here- where are you?”
Leone asked forcefully again.
“Leone. This is the palace. The house Leone used to live in.”
“Originally, I used to live-.”
His body trembled slightly. It was like the first time he took a walk in the annex from the mansion in the Meto Mountains. He couldn’t move as if he had frozen, and his body was trembling.
“Ah, here it is. Ah-.”
Leone’s eyes went blank. It was as if I was looking at the scenery beyond here, not here.
“Leone. Oh my God.”
She did what she did best. She approached Leone, grabbed his hand, and hugged him.
“Oh my God. what-“
There were quite a few people who followed Butler and Adler, but there were still many people standing around the carriage preparing to serve Leone. They were astonished to see them, but… Was that important now? She wanted to cover Leone’s vision, reassure him, and give him plenty of body heat. However, she was too short to reach Leone’s eyes.
“Leone! I’m here. Can you hear me?”
She asked, sweeping his back and examining his face. Leone, who had been frozen for a while, barely turned his head and looked down at her.
“…huh. Trixie.”
He was still stiff, his body shivering, but the light seemed to return just a little bit to his eyes.
“It’s fine. I’m with you, Leone. Don’t you like it here? Shall we go?”
“Here I go. No-”
“It is said that His Majesty the Emperor himself is coming!”
An attendant burst out from inside the palace and shouted urgently. It was sudden news.
“What?”
“Your Majesty?”
“Suddenly?”
Questions rose to everyone’s faces. Adler and Butler, who were about to go inside, stopped on the spot. It seemed that the Emperor had a very impatient personality. Wait a minute, why was he coming out? Her heart suddenly tightened. Hugging the prince in front of the Emperor was really crazy. It was also something that Adler couldn’t cover. But she didn’t want to leave Leone like this.
“Leone, are you okay?”
Her throat may run away, but…
“If you say you don’t like it, you can go. I will protect you. No one can force you to.”
Still, she said it over and over again. It wasn’t true. The Emperor himself appeared, so how many people could leave him behind? That was impossible even for the prince. It was the same that a commoner like her couldn’t protect Leone.
‘You promised to stay by Leone’s side.’
He already gave Leone the fear of being abandoned. He couldn’t hurt him the same again.
She suppressed the tension that came with just that one thought. She removed her hand from Leone and turned her back and stood in front of her like a barricade.
“Then I guess we can just say hello here… His Highness the Prince, huh!”
Adler and Butler, who had been talking seriously again, turned around.
“Trixie…? What now.”
Both Adler and Butler looked at her with bewildered eyes. It was madness to stand up to protect anyone from the Emperor. This was especially true if the subject of protection was the prince. He could really be dragged away and punished for insulting the imperial family.
“Trixie. What are you doing there?!”
“Leone. If I’m punished, you must convince His Majesty the Emperor. Please save me.”
She joked with a kid who couldn’t do anything because of fear. In fact, it was half sincere. If the prince directly appealed to the Emperor, wouldn’t he be able to take care of half of it?
“Trixie! Come out immediately.”
To Adler, did Leone look fine? He stomped and approached with a puzzled face. He seemed to be trying to drag her out. At that moment, a hot hand landed on her trembling shoulder.
“Trixie. It’s fine.”
When she turned around and looked up, Leone stroked her cheek. Her cheeks burned for no reason as she placed her face in his large hands.
“Trixie, you’re shaking.”
A voice that speaks kindly. It was the usual Leone.
“It’s because it’s cold. I get cold a lot.”
“Your cheeks are hot.”
“…that’s, well It’s so cold that I have a fever-“
“I’m fine, Trixie.”
Was it really? It was a calm looking face. No, rather something… It was a look of love. What the hell did he love?
“Leone, you-”
She was about to ask a question, but she shut his mouth. How would she make the question, ‘Do you love me?’.
Leone stroked her hair and gently pushed her away, as if misunderstanding her silence as hesitation.
“Go next to the knight-”
“…huh.”
It looked really good, and it reminded her of Leone at the festival, so she was pushed away. Adler let out a sigh of relief as the ground fell.
“Please explain what happened later. Trying to stop Lord Leone in front of His Majesty? Has the liver gone overboard?”
He couldn’t even look at Leone’s signs of abnormality. She wanted to say that he was disqualified as a guardian, but she was silenced by the voice of the servant who ran out of the palace again.
“Your Majesty has arrived on the first floor. You will be out soon.”
How many notifications did he get per trip? People all at once adorned themselves and corrected their posture. The attendants and our party were split on both sides, and Leone stood in the center. Leone looked at her once and at the palace gate once. She had outlined all of this beforehand, but it’s the first time she had actually experienced it, so it’s going to be very confusing. The desire to stand next to him and hold his hand was like a chimney.
She just had to get over this moment. She was afraid. She was anxious. Leone’s calm face felt like the night before a storm.
“His Majesty the Emperor has arrived. He comes through the front door!”
Everyone bowed their heads in unison. She too looked down at the ground.
“Leone. So much-“
The voice of an elderly man was heard. No one could raise their heads until the Emperor gave them permission.
“-ah…”
So she didn’t notice.
“Kreu-.”
That Leone’s condition had reached its worst in the face of the Emperor. As soon as she heard a low cry, she ran out without hesitation. It was almost a reflex action. If Leone even bites the Emperor… Just imagining it was terrifying. She would lose that child.
“Leone, no!”
Leone stood on all fours and was in a standing pose. It seemed that he was about to jump up and pounce on the Emperor.
“Your majesty!”
As if Adler immediately took action at the loud noise, he heard a familiar shout. He jumped at Leone. Was there anything she could do? She meant, someone like her couldn’t handle Leone’s power.
‘Still. I have to.’
She was thinking of grabbing him by the waist to stop his actions. Her strength may be weak, but since the speed was attached to the weight, the power would decrease. Because the moment she jumped into Leone, he leaped. And she bumped into something very hard and bounced off. She didn’t know exactly how it happened. Her eyes just went round and there was a loud sound, and then the world stopped.
A huge pain came over her.
“Trixie… Trixie?”
Leone’s voice was heard over the scattered consciousness.
‘Thank God. Leone, you can recognize me.’
That alone was reassuring. When she was relieved, her mind grew faint. In the meantime, she could feel his big hands, his strong arms hugging her tightly. Desperation was buried in that hand.
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