Chapter 22
“You mean… Alma?”
Carl, who had unconsciously furrowed his brow while responding to Daram’s words, belatedly adjusted his speech. Sian also widened her eyes and found herself looking at Carl without realizing it.
“Why Alma?”
Carl asked as if he had been hit on the back of the head.
“Well, I wouldn’t know. It’s been quite a while since I last left my hometown… I don’t know how it’s been since then, but anyway, I saw that Marquis’s dragon more often than our lord’s dragon.”
Sian and Carl exchanged glances at Daram’s words.
Marquis Daniel Gregory’s dragon had been frequenting Antonio’s territory?
“Is there a problem?”
Daram tilted his head, seeing Carl and Sian exchanging puzzled looks.
“No, it’s just interesting. It’s a bit… strange that a dragon would frequent a territory ruled by another dragon master, isn’t it?”
Sian said. Carl nodded at her words, as if agreeing.
“Well, that’s true. That’s why our hometown people were confused at first too. It appeared quite frequently, so now we’re used to it.”
“It’s not a common experience. Seeing a dragon other than your lord’s. Right, Karen?”
“That’s right.”
Carl, who had taken this new information quite seriously, responded halfheartedly with a dark expression.
Daram laughed happily, proud of having seen dragons. Just then, a knight in armor called for Daram. It seemed it was his turn to be assigned to a unit.
“Well, I’ll be going then. See you around.”
Daram hastily said goodbye and followed the knight. Once they were alone, as if the awkwardness of facing each other had never existed, a suspicious silence naturally settled between Sian and Carl.
“Daram said he hasn’t been a mercenary for long. Does that mean Alma was in contact with the Dragon Knight quite recently?”
“…”
Carl was silent, deeply lost in thought.
“Didn’t you say that Alma and Brita were with the Crown Prince’s Nathan when Ivarid was attacked?”
Carl just nodded silently at Sian’s consecutive questions. Sian tilted her head.
“Could that be why they were in contact?”
“If that were the case, one or two visits would have been enough. But he said the visits were quite frequent, didn’t he?”
This time Sian nodded.
“That means the Marquis and the Dragon Knight must have been very close friends before.”
“That’s right…”
Carl lowered his voice, lost in thought.
“Is it natural for dragon masters to be this close to each other?”
“…It’s not necessarily unnatural, but.”
Carl answered ambiguously.
“It’s not natural either, since there’s no particular reason to build friendship. It’s a delicate matter.”
Carl attached a complicated sigh at the end of his words.
“We need to hurry. I hope I’m wrong, but I have a bad feeling.”
Sian saw Carl clutching his side as he spoke with narrowed eyes. It seemed the wound that hadn’t fully healed was hurting.
“I need to inform the temple about the situation as soon as possible, before the false accusations against me become more established.”
The Dragon Temple, which worships the soul of the founding dragon Yggdrasil and oversees the ecology of dragons, was extraterritorial. It doesn’t follow the empire’s administration, and conversely, it doesn’t interfere with the empire’s affairs unless they’re related to dragons.
For the prince, who had nothing and no one to trust or use, the temple was the only trustworthy place for now. Perhaps the Dragon Temple already knew the truth about the death of Elena, the Emperor’s dragon and the Dragon King.
Sian nodded again at Carl’s rather solemn decision.
* * *
“You’re going to wear a maid’s uniform?”
Carl didn’t seem to like Sian’s plan very much. Sian, who thought it wasn’t a matter of liking or disliking, widened her eyes at Carl’s dissatisfied response, which was unexpected.
“Is there a problem? Infiltrating from the outside is risky and problematic, and if we want to enter Your Highness’s room comfortably from the inside, disguise is the simplest way, isn’t it?”
“Well, of course, but.”
Carl frowned.
What’s the problem, Sian thought to herself.
“Maid uniforms have short skirts…”
Carl muttered very seriously, covering his mouth with his interlocked hands. Sian’s eyes narrowed.
“So what? What’s the big deal about short skirts?”
“…Other guys will see.”
“What are you talking about, really? That’s ridiculous.”
Sian openly frowned. Carl had a serious face, making it impossible to distinguish whether he was being sincere or joking.
“And there probably won’t be any clothes that fit me.”
“Who said you’d be wearing a maid’s uniform? The disguise is just for me. I’ll go up to the third floor first and release a sleeping gas. While the guards are asleep, you can sneak in inconspicuously and follow. Once we get into the room without any problems, the rest should be easy.”
She had been told there was a secret passage leading out from the storage room where the secret funds were kept.
The castle officials, including the regent, might be somewhat suspicious of the female mercenaries who suddenly disappeared, but it was the prince’s secret funds that they didn’t even know existed anyway. As long as there were no traces of intrusion, the rest shouldn’t be a big problem.
“I’ve looked around a bit, and fortunately, it seems there hasn’t been much change in the security system despite Your Highness’s absence. Since you’re tall and stand out, I’ll steal a maid’s uniform from the laundry room alone when the time is right.”
As Sian spoke, she untied her hair tie, which had become loose. While she gathered her disheveled hair into one and tied it with the cloth hair tie she held in her mouth, Carl was staring at her intently with his chin propped up.
“Won’t your platinum blonde hair stand out too?”
Sian was startled by the sudden ticklish sensation on the back of her head.
“What are you doing?!”
Carl, who had clearly been resting his chin at a distance, had somehow reached out and caressed Sian’s hair. Surprised by the unexpected closeness and contact, Sian raised her voice. Carl widened his eyes as if he was also surprised.
“I just touched it, that’s all?”
“That’s why I’m asking, why did you suddenly touch it? Someone else’s hair.”
She almost blushed. It wasn’t unpleasant, but Sian frowned tightly at the strangely ticklish feeling.
“Just…”
Carl lowered his voice, his gaze on Sian’s hair.
“Because it’s pretty.”
And then, as if his sense of shame had been numbed, Carl said so, tilting his head nonchalantly. Sian’s mouth fell open.
“W-what are you…”
Her face, which hadn’t reddened even when Carl’s hand actually touched her hair, suddenly turned bright red. Conversely, seeing Sian’s face turn red, a mischievous smile appeared thickly on Carl’s face.
“I meant your hair color is pretty. I didn’t mean you’re pretty.”
This damn prince…?
The embarrassment and awkwardness that had been boiling like an active volcano cooled down in an instant, as if hit by a downpour.
“Hey, Carl. Were you always this kind of person?”
“…What kind of person?”
“You know. We had a guy like that in our team before and we kicked him out, someone who just can’t help but pester any woman.”
Recalling a fleeting acquaintance whose name she couldn’t even remember now, Sian narrowed her eyes. Carl, who had lazily propped his chin again, held an indecipherable smile.
“It seems that guy pestered you too.”
His expression said it was obvious without even looking.
“He wouldn’t have done that to a man, would he? I was the only woman, so of course.”
“It’s disappointing to be treated the same as those low-level guys. At the very least, aren’t I top-tier among the guys who’ve pestered you so far?”
It was an obvious statement, but the fact that it came from his own mouth made Sian show a disgusted expression.
“Top-tier or low-tier, that’s not the point.”
“Then what’s the serious problem?”
Carl didn’t miss a beat, crossing his arms and pulling his upper body forward as he sat. Even though the quarters were cramped, with Sian sitting on a chair and Carl on the bed, they were close enough to touch if they reached out.
“First of all, I have no intention of dating anyone.”
“You don’t plan to live alone forever, do you?”
“Of course not. I’ll probably meet someone when the time is right, but at least not now. And especially not Your Highness.”
Carl furrowed his brow seriously at Sian’s firm answer.
“Why not? Lady, didn’t you fall for me?”
“…Pardon?”
Sian found herself blurting out loudly before being enveloped by a stinging feeling.
…How did he know?
No, if I showed it that much, wouldn’t he be a fool not to know?
Whether it was embarrassment or awkwardness, her insides suddenly became noisy.
“I told you, didn’t I? That I’m not that frivolous. I look before I leap. Do I look like the kind of guy who would try to seduce just any woman?”
Sian stared blankly at Carl with her mouth open. His confident pestering now seemed to have been based on very solid grounds.
With his chin pulled up, Carl was slightly frowning, showing his displeasure without hiding it. His bold expression, without a trace of doubt, was filled with arrogant confidence that no one could possibly dislike him.
An expression that treads the fine line between arrogance and pride should look annoying, but…
Sian bit her lip.
…He’s handsome.
midori
thanks! the part about him being upset about her wearing a maid skirt was fun, but the part following it wasn’t.