CH 189

There had been many new maids in Ashley’s palace. With the addition of the duke’s templars and the Templars of Vulcanus, the number of maids she used to have was no longer enough but there was another problem at hand. 

Because Ashley was presently stuck in a dilemma with this childishly stubborn prince. 

‘How troublesome.’

Before meeting the prince today, she was supposed to meet Ahasia first.

Both of them had coincidentally requested to meet her on the same day so she tried to set them at different timings. Ahasia had also agreed to this. Especially since the desert delegation will be arriving tomorrow so she must have been very anxious. 

‘That’s why I wanted to meet her and hear her out first but…’

The most recent prophetic writings she received had spanned over the longest period of time. 

In other words, this meant that there were going to be numerous other variables at play. She thought she would be able to identify what those variables were by hearing more details about Ahasia’s situation while comforting her at the same time. 

“Why not? Please. Why are you changing your mind? Why? I’m begging you here.”

Problems started appearing because of this prince. Under the chilling atmosphere that was turning even their tea cold, she had wanted to speak but was forced to remain silent. For the first time in  a long while, Ashley felt frustrated.

It was true to say that a long time ago, she too was senseless, had no clue as to how to do her job and anything she thought she knew, she actually didn’t. But now, instead of being the new recruit, she was taking care of one. 

“How on earth do you think we can leave for the capital in this situation? Two days from now, I’ll be performing a sacred dance.”

“But…”

Dane and Penne were also present in her meeting with the desert princess. Dane was put in charge of managing her personal affairs and Penne was well-versed in the circumstances in the desert nation. 

“Can’t we? I heard that the princess could come and go from the stage as she pleased. And I really want to see it just once.”

“My apologies but that’s not possible, my prince.”

Looking at the smiling Dane, the helpless Penne and the flustered Ahasia, Ashley could feel a headache coming. 

“Because after the performance ends, the venue will be closed.”

There was no way to tour the performance venue after the princess’s dance and that was the truth. 

“Y-You said you’d hear me out, I’d do anything!”

Ashley stopped herself from refusing him anymore and remained quiet.

‘That’s true.’

If it was ‘anything’, then didn’t that match her goals perfectly? Especially since she had questions she wanted to ask him, his proposal was tempting. In fact, it was not that she couldn’t carry out his request, it was more like it was too bothersome for her to do so. If only Dane wasn’t here watching her. 

“If you are waiting for my permission, you don’t need to, Ashley.”

Do whatever you want. For a moment, she was surprised he would give such an answer before she quickly nodded her head.

‘I thought he would say no.’

Well, it was better than her other brother who would refuse her first without considering anything else. Let’s think about everything else later.

‘If that’s the case, there is one more left.’

Pretending not to see Penne who was close to crying, Ashley lifted the woman’s hand.

“I’m sorry, Penne.’

She spun around to face Ahasia. 

“Would you like to go together?”

“Are you talking to… me?”

“Yes. Princess, this is also related to what you have requested of me.”

With a cheery smile, she spoke slowly. 

“Princess, let’s take a walk to discuss it further, shall we?”

In the end, they decided to go on an unofficial outing in secret. Upon hearing the news, Granius immediately expressed his disapproval but he was persuaded by what Prince Cjezarnian told him. It looked like he was convincing Granius that it wouldn’t be such a bad thing. That piqued Ashley’s interest. Did that mean that the prince might not be a complete fool? 

“This is your second outing, right?”

Before she knew it, Dane came to her side, held her hands and gently curled his eyes. Illuminated by the noon sun, his red eyes sparkled so brightly she wanted to keep them for herself.

“Because of your circumstances, only a few people will be going. Don’t go anywhere else and stick together.”

“Why are you speaking as if I’m going to run away?”

“Well.”

Dane smiled gently. 

“You always escape my grasp.”

When he said that, she turned to look at him but he was no longer looking at her. 

By the way…

‘Didn’t he say he wanted to look around the performance venue?’

She swept her face down roughly. It had been barely 10 minutes since they left the palace but she could already feel her head throbbing. 

“Princess, I mean, my lady!”

That immature boy prince. She was certain that the prince wouldn’t be able to remain calm once they left the palace. In fact, she never imagined that they would be able to leave the palace in the first place. 

This was not it. 

“Look at this, everybody! Look!”

The sight of the boy waving his hands everywhere and looking around the market in awe in front of her actually hurt her. 

“This is it!”

Since they were having a sudden secret outing, they couldn’t bring too many people for their security. That was why they had to use that small opening she had once used with Soricks to leave the palace but the moment they were out, that child-like prince began to run wild. 

“I’m not the princess. Please address me as a lady.”

“Ah, you’re right. I had forgotten.”

“… Ashley. You can call me that.”

At the words she had softly yet firmly spoken, he replied brightly. 

“I have to call you by name? Wow. Then, you can call me Cjezarn too! Is that alright?”

What should she do with this immature boy? If he had been a new recruit who was placed under her wing in her previous life, she could have said something. But what’s this? She couldn’t say anything out of politeness for the precious guest she had to take care of. 

One was a powerless princess whom no one paid attention to and the other was the precious prince who was the youngest in his family and was hence loved by the king, the queen and his brother, the male lead. The difference in their personalities was too large and he didn’t seem to be the type to listen to what she was saying. 

‘Why am I…’

She let out a sigh. 

Now, with two days left until the Founding Festival, the streets were filled with people from all over the continent. It was completely understandable why they weren’t able to ride a horse or a carriage around under these conditions. Looking at the congested streets which reminded her of the highways out of Seoul during the holidays, she was just grateful they managed to leave the palace. (1)

“Lord, I’ll be fine so please take care of the desert princess.”

“Yes.”

The desert princess had crossed the borders into the Empire with her blood, sweat and tears so she had no one she could consider her attendant. 

‘She seems to be the type to prefer doing things herself anyway.’

Was the situation in her nation so serious that she had to travel across the desert?

“Princess, I mean, may I call you by your name?”

“You may.”

“Ahasia, you must be uncomfortable. My apologies. Please endure it for a little while more.’

“… I’m alright.”

Ashley decided to help Ahasia find what she wanted. 

‘She definitely said that she was looking for a necklace and her lady-in-waiting, right?’

The desert princess had mentioned that she had lost her necklace and her lady-in-waiting in the Empire. 

‘The necklace seemed to have been taken away by the kidnappers while her lady-in-waiting must have been moved elsewhere.’

The patrols were working hard to look for her lady-in-waiting and when she asked Dane about her necklace, he mentioned that it might soon appear in the black market. 

When it came to money, didn’t one of her brothers have a lot rotting away? He was the type to spend on things he didn’t even need. At moments like this, she could really feel the difference in their statuses. 

“…. Do underworld auctions happen here too? Then, there would be fairies. And maybe handsome men…”

“Fairies?”

“Hm, nothing. Just novel tropes.”

Thinking about the cliches that often appear in the novels she used to read a long time ago, Ashley shook her head. 

‘Such things couldn’t possibly appear in my life.’

Only main characters would come across things like that. Those tropes were like limited edition items. They were like department store luxury products that she could only see through windows. To her, they were unattainable. 

The weather was sunny and there was an insurmountable number of people walking about. People of different races and all walks of life had bright smiles plastered on their faces.

‘It feels like I’m in an amusement park.’

The place where even adults become as innocent as children. The atmosphere along the streets reminded her of that place. 

‘Though I couldn’t really handle the rides.’

There was something about seeing so many people walking under the sun that made her heart pound. It reminded her of how happy she felt to see her friends having fun on the rides though she couldn’t ride with them. But that was a distant memory now. 

Ashley suddenly realised that she couldn’t recall the colour of the school uniform she had been wearing then. Neither could she think of her friends’ faces. 

‘Oh. Has it… been that long?’

There were so many people under the sun that the light reflecting off their coloured hair blinded her eyes. Perhaps it was because of the blinding light, she got dizzy for a moment. 

“Ashley? What were you thinking about?”

“H-huh? Ah… It’s nothing. Just…”

Dane grabbed onto Ashley who was staggering in her steps which made her turn her head to face him. She managed to avoid falling by holding onto Dane’s hand. His hand was warm and firm. 

“Be careful.”

“You’re… you’re too close.”

Avoid him. Ashley tried to look elsewhere. She could hear him scoff into her ear. 

Other than his hands that were still grabbing hers, Dane distanced himself from her. 

“Are you being shy?”

“… Anyone will react this way if they see your face in front of them.”

For some reason, the hand she grabbed onto, his palm felt hard. 

‘Callouses?’

She tilted her head. Don’t people who write often only get callouses on their index and middle finger?

‘His hand felt just like the Lord’s.’

Dane wasn’t even a knight. Why? Well, being a prince, he must have taken swordsmanship lessons… Ashley decided to stop thinking about it. 

“Aren’t you hungry?”

“Well, a little?”

In a hurry to go for the prince’s tiresome outing, she didn’t manage to eat anything. The childish prince, who had been nothing but a nuisance, was completely entranced by the market as if he had forgotten about his destination. However, the restless faces of the knights from the kingdom attached to him as escorts were pitiful to see. 

After all, the immaturity of a superior only means distress for their subordinates. 

Dane disappeared for a while, saying he was going to buy something for them to eat,

Not too far away, the desert princess and Lord Ray who was taking care of her could be seen standing around. 

The roads must have been hard to walk on for a sheltered princess but Ashley was relieved and sad to see her enduring it without any complaints. 

Was that how much she wanted it?

Spinning around, Ashley looked around the market. Suddenly, a small stall caught her eye.

It was a small street cart. The stall was selling handmade jewellery made from imitation gems of all sorts of colours. Wanting to look around the stall, Ashley stared at it when she heard a low, thick voice from a conversation next to her. When she looked up, the man next to her was in a conversation with the stall vendor. Had he been here before her?

“What about this?”

“That? 1 denare.”

The imperial currency, ‘Aureus’, was represented by a golden coin which was worth 25 denari (silver) and each silver coin was worth 16 asses. An average family of four commoners spend about 25 asses or 1 denare and 9 asses a day. So, the price the vendor had placed was too expensive. 

As Penne’s student, she was well versed in economics. Ashley quickly alternated her gaze between the man and the vendor. 

“That’s cheap.”