Chapter 72 - Volume 3 (1/2)

Volume 3 Chapter 3 Part 3

Just like that, a week has already passed since I began to serve His Highness Klanven. But for me it felt more than a week. For me, it felt much longer. During this week, just how many times was I asked about Edilka Vince by various people? Let’s just say that the fingers on both of my hands was not enough to count.

Klanven earlier said that “Someone is trying to take my life”, but for now the preparations for the festival were all going surprisingly well.

During that week, His Highness was very busy with various preparations and meetings with people responsible for many different things for the festival. Given that there were various people coming and going through the castle, it was only natural for His Highness Klanven to expect something to happen.

So far, for someone who was recognized by the people and the Great Temple alike, His Majesty was doing quite well with all the preparations that needed to be done. So it was only natural for the people’s focus to shift more towards Edilka-sama and I.

Most of the look directed towards me were the like of “What is someone as plain as her doing right next to Edilka-sama?”. Contrary to the original intent, not many people in the castle knew that I was the wife of the High Court Wizard. And even if someone was aware of that fact, their only reaction was: “Really? There’s no way this can be right.” Thanks to that, the vast majority of ill intent was focusing on me rather than His Majesty or Edilka-sama. A truly unfortunate turn of events.

Whenever His Highness or Edilka-sama weren’t around, I felt as though I wanted to scream as my heart was wriggling in pain and anxiety. Please forgive me for such behavior. There was only one saving grace. None of the people was bold enough to say any nasty things to me openly.

And surprisingly enough, the man himself didn’t feel all that pleased with all the praises he was receiving from everyone. It wasn’t as strong as hostility, but it was clear that there was some kind of tension between him and the rest of the knights of the Red Rose Court. The official position of the man was “The Guard of His Majesty”, and it was truly an honorable title. Even the commoners were able to realize that guarding the king and well as High Priest was no small feature. And even if there were people who weren’t aware of that, surely they could acknowledge the daily dose of hard work that all knights been doing.

“They are just a bunch of posers.” ,“Are they really all that useful?”, “Aren’t they just country bumpkins in shining armor?”, there were of course opinions like that as well though very few and far in between.

As such, today we had some business to attend to in the Great Temple, and we were currently inside of the carriage that was on its way there. Honestly speaking we could have walked on foot, since the Great Temple wasn’t that far away from the castle, but as government official His Highness Klanven needed to keep up appropriate appearance.

It took us merely a few minutes of riding the beautifully decorated carriage to reach the Great Temple’s gates. When I looked out of the window, a whole lot of people were already gathered in front of the structure.

「What a crowd……」

「Nah, it’s more or less the same as always.」

His Majesty says as if it wasn’t that big of a deal, and then he opens the carriage door and exits the vehicle without anyone’s help. While I was a bit scared of that crowd and their loud cheers, almost immediately there was a hand offered to me, helping me get outside.

「Now, Filmina, do you need a hand here?」

His Majesty stood at the carriage’s steps and extended his hand towards me, as if I was some kind of princess or nobility. What’s up with that? Hand or not, I was hesitant to go outside, and accepting Klanven hand would go directly against my feelings. Was he doing that on purpose?

While I was hesitating to get out, His Majesty forcefully pulled my hand and dragged me out. His behavior right now was so rough. Like that, I was pulled right into the light. Ahhh, as I shook in His Highness’ arms I lowered my eyes to the ground, because the intense light was hurting me.

「T, thank you very much.」

What else was I to say here? His Majesty smiled brightly at me while he raised my hand to his lips and kissed it.

「!?」

「You have such thin hands.」

I could hear shrieks of women in the crowd. Maybe they were the result of His Highness stepping outside of the carriage, or maybe it was something else entirely. All I know is that I want to scream myself.

「P, please stop messing with me, Your Highness!」

「Fufu, how can I when your reactions when embarrassed are so interesting?」

No, it wasn’t that I was embarrassed. That was not the case, but it was simply unbecoming of me to say that here. As there was a chill running down my spine, I had no other choice but to put my free hand to my chest and to simply laugh this matter off. Then I can feel it. A cold breath brushes against my neck. Looks like it was already too late.