Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

Someone came running towards me to embrace me. Ahasia? I could only blink as I stood still in the arms of a woman taller than me. When I looked past her body, I noticed Penne and Rebecca standing behind her.

“She had collapsed for a while but had woken up just a while ago.”

“Ah.”

I looked back at Ahasia again to make sure that she wasn’t hurt. Penne seemed to have brought her to safety. I shook my head and patted her on her back.

“You–”

Just then, I felt something large press against the top of my head firmly. Someone had messed up my hair. Through the strands of my dishevelled hair, I spotted Fleon. He had ruffled my hair in silence. I let him do whatever he wanted with me till he was satisfied.

“You came back alive.”

Of course, I did. Did he think I was going to die?

“You dummy.”

“You were worried about me.”

Fleon removed his hand from my head and frowned. He mumbled something about me talking too much before turning away. He then headed to an empty spot next to Dane. When our eyes met as Dane looked this way, he smiled gently.

I deliberately averted my gaze before tapping Ahasia on her shoulders again. My heart was pounding uncomfortably. The feeling didn’t seem to disappear even when I closed my eyes. Soon, I felt tremors. Were they mine? No, they were Ahasia’s. She was still sobbing in my arms.

“It’s been hard, hasn’t it?”

I wasn’t that dumb to be ignorant as to why Dane had kissed me. It was already too late now for me to not notice. I closed my eyes and let out a rough breath. No, I should forget it for now. I had something more urgent to deal with.

“Welcome.”

“Hmph…”

“You must have been lonely, staying in the Empire by yourself.”

Staring at the weeping Ahasia, I was reminded of the past. I thought back to the letter I had written myself back when I had lost my memories. The me from the past had managed to stay so calm. The letter I had written to myself had been so heartbreaking and sad. And there had also been something else I had wanted to say to her. I then hugged Ahasia, who had reminded me of my past, back.

“You’ve done well so far.”

I told her something I couldn’t manage to express back then.

“I welcome you as an ally.”

At that moment, she cried out and tore away from me. Her tear-soaked green eyes made her instantly look younger than she actually was. I had always thought she cried like a child.

“Oh dear.”

The next moment made my eyes widened. The place she was headed straight towards was into Penne’s arms. It looked like I was not the only one who was shocked to see Ahasia crying in Penne’s embrace. Even Soricks who had been standing next to Penne was staring at the pair in shock.

“You…?”

Soricks pointed at Penne with an accusatory gaze. Even I had unintentionally let out.

“Penne, when have the two of you…”

“Ah. I-It’s not what it looks like!”

“Hey, it’s too late to be explaining yourself now.”

Meta commented. Penne was flushed and looked as if he could not come out with any more excuses. As I stared at them, I was suddenly reminded of how Penne had appeared in front of the window. Ah. Was that how it was? Well, he did mention how he had come under Commander Chosone’s orders but Penne did look anxious. I had seen enough to understand. Feeling awkward, I scratched my cheek.

“Princess, your hand!”

Soricks, who had spotted the hardened, dried up blood stains on my hand, exclaimed. At his shout, the rest of the patrols gathered around. I felt a momentary fear as I faced the barrage of concerns including the likes of ‘Is the princess hurt?, ‘Princess!’ and ‘Don’t die!’. I felt like I was facing a stampede of buffaloes in the middle of a jungle.

“Move out of the way. You’re scaring the princess!”

Annoyed, Meta kicked and shoved his comrades away. Eventually, only Meta and Soricks were left to treat me. But Meta eventually had to shove Soricks away too because he was being too restless out of his anxiety.

“Meta, how old is Penne again?”

“Ah, what? He’s 24 years old.”

A 4 years difference. That wasn’t that bad… In this kind of situation, well… Turning my head around slowly, I spotted Rebecca standing relaxed in a corner and Fleon staring at her.

“Someone’s cheating on their fiancée.”

“Whose fiancée? Wait, are you accusing me of cheating?”

I then overheard something Rebecca said to Fleon.

“Are you not happy with this arrangement?”

“Wouldn’t you be if you were me?”

“Then you can just get married to me?”

Puzzled, Fleon glared at Rebecca.

“Who?”

***

Two nights later, we were faced with a serious problem.

Plop.

“… How many times has this been now?”

I muttered as I stared at the collapsed man. I had always been wondering this but why did assassins always appear in black clothes as if it had been some unwritten rule? Perhaps because he heard me voice my thoughts out loud, Fleon explained bluntly that it made it easier for them to hide in the shadows. It was then did Ray who had been staring at the collapsed man look up.

“This is the fifth.”

“This is the fifth time in the past two days, right? Safe to say, Ahasia has almost been killed more than once now.”

“Yes. You can say that.”

The Lord replied to me calmly. Ahasia, who had been standing next to him, averted her gaze. I was afraid this was becoming too much. Ahasia did not seem to have expected this to happen. And neither did I.

“Are you sure? That they were trying to kill her, not kidnap her.”

“Yes. Their intentions were clear. The man had been wielding a sword to kill the princess of Ra Harte. And this time the blade had been pointed at her heart.”

Lord Ray pointed towards his own heart. Certainly, since they were aiming for her heart, it seemed like they were set to kill Ahasia. It was evident that the desert royalists were determined to abandon Ahasia. If that was not the case…

“Are they throwing me under the bus?”

“That is highly likely.”

Rebecca nodded and agreed. It certainly made sense for them to forge right ahead despite the situation. I had been thinking about this for a long time but since my palace was situated in the western corner of the Imperial Palace, with the forest behind the palace– no, almost surrounding my palace on three sides, it gave a lot of space for assassins to hide in. Hadn’t I also been almost assassinated many times like this?

“We can’t let this continue.”

“Huh?”

“I’m saying that we need to stop this. Imagine bringing Ahasia to one of the banquets. What if one of the traitors were to stab Ahasia before putting the blame on someone else! What if that happens?”

Penne nodded firmly at what I said.

“… What you said makes sense. Moreover, that is something the desert is fully capable of doing.”

“Right.”

“Taking what the princess just said into account, we cannot send the Ra Harte princess off like this.”

A deep voice burst into the scene by cutting through the air.

“With all due respect, if the desert princess is to get hurt, it is clear that the first person to be suspected would be someone from our side, in particular, the princess.”

“Granius is right.”

Granius had made time out of his busy schedule to be present in this meeting. I scanned the crowd before noticing someone’s absence. Should I ask about it? I hesitated for a moment.

“Fleon, where did Dane go?”

Fleon glanced at me slightly without saying anything for a moment.

“He was called to the Central Palace.”

If he was called to the Central Palace…it meant that he was visiting the emperor. The emperor, huh. This was new. It was only natural for him to call on Dane since he was the chief of the ‘Emperor’s Shadows’ but the news still felt unfamiliar to me as if I had just found out that the sun actually revolved around the earth. I was still not used to hearing about Dane like this. Before I knew it, I found myself touching my lips.

“Ah.”

I let out slowly. I then stared at the ground meaninglessly before looking up.

“I wasn’t late this time… You didn’t die…”

Dane had always been like that. Knowing things before I did, he stood behind me kindly and once I was struggling, he would suddenly appear before me to help. I had not known because I had always taken it for granted but Dane had always been there for me. Behind me. By my side. And now standing in front of me.

I had always been like this. I had never been good at dealing with sensitive issues. Whenever there was a need to talk with Dane, I always felt the urge to run away. I suppressed the two conflicting thoughts in my mind before sweeping them away.

I didn’t have to see him to know. Everyone who was gathered before me here was waiting for the princess’ decision. Quickly erasing the image of Dane’s enchantingly beautiful face from my mind, I spoke.

“We can’t let that happen. So, let’s do the next best thing.”

“The next best thing?”

I nodded. I hadn’t wanted to do things this way but it seemed like I was destined to choose the lesser evil for the best outcome. After smiling widely, I gave a serious expression before looking up.

“You all haven’t forgotten, have you? Tomorrow is going to be the last day of the festival.”

Everyone held their breaths at my low voice. I guessed it was because they understood the weight behind the words ‘last’.

“We will only have one chance and one chance only.”

We must succeed tomorrow. We must make sure the announcement of the engagement spreads far and wide. If we didn’t succeed…

“Since you have dipped your feet to this point, if we fail, I’m sure you understand that you will still get caught up with its aftermath.”

“Correct. Why would we want to back out of the operation early?”

Granius chortled. This was the first time I had heard him laugh in a long time. I chuckled together with him.

“We have to succeed tomorrow.”

To land a big punch on the Crown Prince and the rest of those in the Central Palace. And to make sure Ahasia didn’t end up in the future I was aware of. To help her advance forward.

***

The next evening, as per tradition, a huge banquet was held in the largest hall in the Empire. However, if there was anything different from the previous evening’s, it was bigger. The banquet used the entire space available to it without leaving anything empty. It was so bright that it was comparable to the banquet held on the first day of the festival. Just like the banquet on the first day, there was flower confetti fluttering down once anyone entered the hall. Curiously, the petals would change colour and shape depending on who the guest was, which country they were from and their gender.

“Ashley Rosé Auresia Kaltanias. The noble 8th Branch of the Empire has arrived!”

The moment I entered, purple petals fluttered like snow. With every step I took, there was a crunch under my feet. People were either watched with bated breath at my entrance or whispered their welcome to my arrival. This was the first time I had arrived on time for the beginning of the banquet. But, as always, the templars of the Empire only glanced at my entrance and did not approach me easily.

Then, I spotted someone running towards me from a distance.

“Princess!”

The silver hair fluttered softly. It was Czernian, the 2nd Prince of the Kingdom of Walter.

“How have you been?”

He welcomed me brightly like a puppy wagging its tail while remarking that it had been a while since we last saw each other.

“Yes. You look like you’ve been well, my prince.”

“Of course! Except for the fact that I’ve missed you, princess!”

“Huh?”

“Ah…”

He turned slightly red. I stared at the young prince’s face before smiling. It was strange. His first love should have been Rusbella… but how else could I explain his shyness and response to my entrance?

“My prince.”

Closing my eyes, I whispered softly.

“You haven’t forgotten about the favour, have you?”

Then, I gently squeezed his finger. The prince’s shoulders were trembling.

“Yes, yes! I haven’t forgotten. You’re talking about the woman called ‘Rusbella’, right?”

“Shush, my prince.”

I faced the prince while placing a finger on my lips. The prince’s shoulders slightly trembled once again before slowly falling. The prince then covered his face with the back of his hand before sputtering out.

“I promise. No, I swear. On my honour as a knight and to my sword. I’ll make sure to find her and write… write to you, princess.”

T/N:

idk why i always forget to post on friday…