Chapter 4
“…Brother…”
The prince murmured in a faint voice that seemed about to disappear. His face, contorted in pain, was covered in cold sweat. Beads of sweat formed on his forehead, rolling down his temples and cheeks.
…Should I wipe it off?
Sian pondered reluctantly, arms crossed, as if it were someone else’s problem.
Sian was usually the one stabbing people with swords. She had very little experience nursing those who had been stabbed.
As she hesitated before this unfamiliar task, the prince stirred again, exhaling a fevered breath. In the process, another bead of sweat rolled down his smooth cheek.
Oh, what the heck.
Having made up her mind, Sian lightly moistened her lips and plopped down in a chair. A mixture of faint blood scent and strong herbal smell emanated from the prince who was hovering between life and death.
Sian soaked a towel in water and folded it.
She intended to pat away the sweat with the wet towel, as she had often seen done. But doing it was quite different from watching.
“Oh my.”
At first, she didn’t wring out the towel enough and ended up pouring cold water all over the prince’s face. The second time, her hand slipped, and she dropped the entire towel on him.
Amidst this, her exclamation of “Oh my” instead of curses like “Damn it” was the last instinct of a civilized person. If the prince had been even slightly less handsome, curses would surely have come out before “Oh my.”
“Ha… This isn’t easy, is it?”
Sian muttered to herself as she wrung out the water-soaked towel again. On the third attempt, she managed to wipe the prince’s face without incident.
However, for some reason, the prince’s appearance seemed more miserable than before she had wiped his face. Sian looked down at him for a moment with a complex expression.
…Well, at least he feels refreshed.
Sian, who had briefly suffered from guilt, cheerfully rationalized her unintentional water torture.
“…Are you an assassin?”
Sian was in the midst of wringing out the towel for a second time, as one towel was far from enough to wipe away all the water spilled on the prince’s face.
“Ah, sh*t, you startled me!”
Sian inadvertently cursed out loud. The last thread of her civilized demeanor had snapped earlier.
The prince, who had been unconscious, had opened his eyes at some point and was looking at her.
Truly, she thought her soul would leave her body. Sian smoothed down her heaving chest, her mouth agape.
“…That was invigorating.”
The prince muttered softly. It was unclear whether his comment about it being “invigorating” referred to the water torture that had roused his near-death state or to Sian’s cursing.
Ahem, Sian cleared her throat unnecessarily and artificially pulled her lips into an elegant smile.
“I see you’ve awakened.”
“…I felt as if I had met my long-departed grandfather across a distant river, but just as I was about to cross, someone doused me with water and woke me up.”
The prince spoke as if talking to himself. Ahem, this time Sian had to clear her throat even more loudly.
“That’s fortunate. Whoever that was, you should serve them as your lifelong benefactor.”
Sian said brazenly, her smile deepening. The prince stared at her intently. It wasn’t exactly a glare, but it wasn’t a particularly friendly look either.
If pressed to describe it, it was closer to a searching gaze. Though he wasn’t overtly looking her up and down, he was observing her even more seriously than that.
“Oh my, you’re drenched in sweat. Let me wipe it off for you.”
“…”
Sian clicked her tongue inwardly at the gaze she could feel without looking, then wrung the towel out forcefully. Then she deliberately dropped it onto the prince’s face with a splash.
Although he flinched as the cold towel covered his entire face, the prince didn’t say anything about this serious breach of etiquette.
It was unclear whether he lacked the strength to speak or if he was truly the pushover rumored to offer his right cheek when slapped on the left.
“I have many questions, but for now, rest more. Recovery comes first.”
“…Where is this place?”
“It’s our mercenary group’s tent. Coordinates-wise, it’s not far from Ivarid.”
Sian answered.
“Mercenaries…?”
The prince murmured with the towel still covering his face. Though she couldn’t be certain without seeing his expression, he seemed somewhat surprised.
What did you think we were? Displeasure welled up, but Sian struggled to maintain a facade of composure.
“Yes. Mercenaries. We heard that Ivarid had been attacked by His Highness the Crown Prince and turned to ruins, so we were on our way to see if there might be any work.”
“It hasn’t become ruins.”
“Well, it seems certain that it suffered considerable damage. For the lord of Ivarid to be fleeing in this half-dead state…”
Sian was speaking to Carlston, who was quietly protesting, when suddenly another thought struck her, and she fell silent.
It had been a rather intense first meeting, in its own way. Sian’s face grew cold as she recalled that she had been in the middle of bathing at the time.
“Come to think of it, hey, you shameless man.”
“…What?”
Sian slightly lifted the towel she had placed over the prince’s face. Beyond the wet towel, a neat face, thoroughly soaked, was full of bewilderment.
“Shameless…?”
“Yes, shameless. What do you mean, ‘what’? Be honest. How much did you see?”
“…Huh?”
With just half his face visible, the prince expressed the maximum emotion he could muster.
“What are you saying I saw?”
“Oh my, not only are you skilled at cornering people, but you’re also quite adept at playing dumb? You saw, didn’t you? Me bathing.”
“…You truly don’t give a man a moment to be depressed, do you?”
The prince muttered quietly, as if talking to himself.
“Listen, Lady Sian.”
“What?”
Sian pouted, pushing out her lower lip.
Even though she knew full well that what followed wouldn’t be pleasant, a corner of her heart still fluttered unnecessarily at the word ‘Lady’.
“In my current state, lying here and talking about meeting my deceased grandfather, do you think I would have been able to see anything, even if I had encountered the most beautiful woman in the world?”
The prince tried to sit up as he spoke. However, he couldn’t even lift his head before his face turned pale, and he collapsed back down.
Sian’s expression, which had been firmly set, softened slightly at the prince’s pitiful appearance, which naturally evoked sympathy.
Indeed, with that level of blood loss, and in a physical state that caused him to faint just from a sword flying and embedding nearby, his vision surely would have been far from clear.
“…Are you absolutely certain you didn’t see anything? Swear it?”
“I swear on Idelin’s name.”
The prince said, with deep wrinkles between his brows as if pain was washing over him. Even his voice, slightly hoarse perhaps from fever, was incredibly attractive.
Sian clicked her tongue lightly, simultaneously feeling self-loathing for finding the prince’s voice pleasant to hear and admiration for his appearance.
“Alright. This time, because Your Highness swore on your… no, on your dragon’s name, I’ll believe you.”
“…How very gracious of you.”
The prince muttered very quietly.
‘This person?’ Sian raised an eyebrow at the prince’s clearly sarcastic words. However, as if anticipating Sian’s reaction, the prince covered his face with the towel again, blocking his view.
“I had planned to just stop by briefly today, but since you seem to be in better condition than I expected, I’ll ask you directly.”
“…”
“The doctor said that half the blood on Your Highness was dragon blood. What happened? Was Nathan injured?”
“…No, it’s Brita’s blood.”
The prince’s answer was a bit delayed. Sian’s expression twisted slightly.
“You mean Brita, the dragon of Knight Antonio Carter?”
The prince didn’t answer immediately. After a moment of silent contemplation, his head finally nodded up and down.
Of course, it wasn’t his face itself that moved, but the towel covering it that shook.
“I heard that His Highness the Crown Prince personally led the purge with Nathan. Was that not the case?”
“That’s correct. It’s just that my brother and Nathan weren’t the only ones who invaded Ivarid.”
Sian’s face hardened further.
“The Dragon Knight came too?”
“…And my uncle as well.”
At the prince’s continued answer, Sian’s mouth fell open.
“What? Then did Idelin face all three dragons that exist in the Empire alone?”
“To be precise, I couldn’t even summon Idelin. The dragons’ breath rained down on the outer walls without warning…”
The prince trailed off, seeming out of breath, and heaved a deep sigh.
Sian didn’t urge the prince to continue. She could more or less guess the rest without hearing it.
There are a total of five dragons in the Empire.
One is the Dragon King Elena, the Emperor’s dragon; Nathan, the Crown Prince’s dragon; Idelin, the dragon of the prince before Sian’s eyes; Alma, the dragon of Marquis Daniel Klaus, the Emperor’s younger brother; and Brita, the dragon of Dragon Knight Antonio, who was elevated from a commoner to knighthood upon becoming a dragon’s master.
Three of these dragons moved at once. It was no exaggeration to say it was almost the entire military might of the Empire. Thus, even if Idelin was of pure blood, there was no way she could have faced all three dragons attacking at once.
That’s why Prince Carlston Klaus, Idelin’s master, all but gave up counterattacking the moment he realized he was being invaded by three dragons.
…In a way, his devotion is impressive.
Ā
midori
thanks! ah yes, the political issue of being attacked by other royalty and nobles. blah blah, i still need to be convinced that this is a romantic ship worth shipping!