Aobara-hime no Yarinaoshi Kakumeiki Ch. 5-15
This couldn’t be. It was impossible. Riddhe wanted to deny reality, but the composed portion of his brain warned him that he mustn’t oppose the person in front of him,
Even if the hood blocked the girl’s face, her appearance was steadfast and exuded pride. Her distinct, bird-like voice exemplified her righteousness and held a power to naturally control the area.
Sweat dripped down Riddhe’s face, and his mouth trembled.
“Could it be?!”
“It’s been a while, Riddhe. I believe since we met before my father, yes?”
A gentle breeze blew, causing the charcoal-colored hood to slightly slip. At that moment, Riddhe undoubtedly saw the sky-blue eyes and beautiful, similarly colored hair hidden underneath the hood.
Riddhe froze at this unbelievable turn of events, and the princess known as the Blue Rose of Heilland smiled sweetly. That alone caused the eldest son of a ducal family to have chills run down his back.
“Princess Alicia…?!”
“Shh.”
Why was the princess in the castle town?
Moreover, what kind of joke was this for this princess to be friends with these commoners?
She took Robert’s hand and disembarked from the carriage. She looked up at Riddhe who was trembling from all the questions in his mind, and she put her index finger in front of her mouth. Then, she winked one eye to indicate to him to keep this a secret.
“For today, I’m simply Alice. That’s why this matter ends here. Wouldn’t you also prefer it this way?”
She implied that she would report this to the king if he caused any more ruckus as the smile on her face didn’t have any hint of dishonesty. This amplified Riddhe’s shudders.
“Young master…”
He knew that his servant was looking at him with worried eyes. But, Riddhe didn’t have any leeway to be concerned about that. He loudly gulped and desperately wracked his head.
What should he do? What should he do to escape this predicament?
After several full minutes of silence, Riddhe suddenly pushed his cane against Clovis. He stood before the children and their caretaker and deeply bowed his head. Robert saw that and whistled in amusement.
“I’m sorry. I’ll apologize in another form in the future.”
His deep bow wasn’t because he was apologizing from deep in his heart. It was because he wanted to hide his face twisted in humiliation and him grinding his molars.
Riddhe managed to maintain the bare minimum courtesy through his deep, growling. He immediately straightened up and rushed inside his own carriage. He didn’t look back and slammed the door shut. Then, he ordered his servant in an irritated tone.
“We’re going home, Al! Hurry up and get the horse moving!”
“Yes!”
With a slap of the whip, the carriage Riddhe was in took off on the road.
Riddhe propped his elbow against the window and rested his chin on his hand. He sulked as the carriage rocked. What an unlucky day it was to him. His trip to the capital was pointless. He was looked down upon by commoners. He encountered the black dog that sickened him to his stomach.
Additionally, that princess…
He thought she was simply an adorable princess who could do neither harm nor good. Yet, as of recently, she seemed to have changed. Not only did she support that irritating Cromwell, but she also, with a nonchalant look, besmirched him, the eldest son of the Sutherland family, an authority in the Privy Council.
(Princess Alicia… Don’t think that I’ll take this lying down.)
Riddhe cursed, unwilling to accept the smallest defeat. It would still be some time until he realized that left his cane with Clovis.
Furthermore, on that topic, the conclusion of this sequence of events was that the cane was delivered to the Sutherland residence under the name of Princess Alicia at a later date and he snapped it, lost in his anger.
“Lady Alicia, shall I pour you some tea?”
“Do we have any of the Princess’ favorite tea leaves~?”
“Um, it’s fine. I don’t need any now. Thank you.”
Annie grabbed the pot of black tea, and Martha held up the plate with baked sweets. Even though Alicia looked up to look at their faces, she looked somewhat absentminded and answered indifferently. Following that, the princess looked outside from her seat facing the window as she let out a deep, deep sigh.
The two maids, with smiles still on their faces, quietly scooted away from the princess while simultaneously drawing closer to the aide waiting near the entrance.
“Wait, what does this mean, Sir Clovis?!”
“Why did the princess, who was so excited to go outside, come back looking depressed?!”
The princess’ grin, stretching from ear to ear, completely changed. The maids pressed Clovis with such intimidation and pressure that his expression slightly stiffened.
Well, the maids’ reaction was to be expected. They thought Princess Alicia would have come back in smiles, saying, “It was fun!” but she returned from the city, depressed and in low spirits.
“You’re the only one who knew what happened.”
“Now, we must do something about the princess.”
Feeling the relentless pressure from these two maids, Clovis lamented and stood beside his master, still looking outside the window in a daze.