Chapter 9
‘Rudd…!’
My heart was pounding in my chest, and I was having a hard time holding it in, even though I wanted to make him feel so much better.
I stared off into space like a distant mountain gazer and surreptitiously moved my fingertips to caress the nape of his neck.
Thankfully, Thierry walked past me, not wanting to say anything more. A cold breeze brushed my cheek.
I glanced at Thierry’s back as he turned away, and I stroked Rudd more boldly.
‘You’re the only one. Rudd, my baby!’
Rudd, who would be my only companion in this place from now on, chuckled in agreement and took a front paw at me. When he stood on his hind legs, he was almost as big as me and began to lick my face with glee.
“Oops, wait a minute… Time!”
I squirmed and gasped at the increasingly intense display of affection. At this rate, I was going to fall backwards, which would only make Rudd more excited and pounce on me…
‘No! My back!’
My instincts kicked in to save my fragile back. Before I knew it, I was falling back on old habits to calm the situation.
“Bang!”
I held up my thumb and forefinger to mimic firing a gun into the air, and Rudd collapsed into a puff of wind. What a breath of fresh air.
“…”
A whistling wind filled the eerie silence.
“Hehehe.”
“… Princess?”
Marie, who had been watching the whole thing in disbelief, called out to me in disbelief, only after Rudd had gasped with pleasure.
I wonder if this is why she’s so scared of me. How do I explain this to her? I quickly rolled my eyes and averted my gaze, as if to avoid the awkwardness of the situation.
“…!”
But suddenly, I felt the preemptive hly gain from behind me. I turned my head like a robot that couldn’t be oiled by the cheap energy that made my back heart shiver.
‘Hik!’
A few feet behind me, Thierry was glaring at me. It was a piercing gaze that looked like it could tear me apart at any moment.
He closed the distance in an instant. His pounding footsteps stopped only when he reached my periphery.
“What are you?”
It was the first time I’d ever seen him so desperate. No, hunger seemed more appropriate.
I looked at him in surprise, his pupils dilating as confusion seeped in.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
He asks impatiently, obviously frustrated that I can’t seem to get anything out of my open mouth.
He must have thought I’d done something crazy. I stuttered and opened my mouth in a panicked manner.
“Uh, um… I don’t know what you mean by that…”
“That hand, what are you doing?”
His eyes locked on my hands, which had turned to plaster.
I quickly hid my hands behind my back, realizing belatedly that I was still making finger guns.
“It’s just that sometimes, when I’m playing with the dogs, I do this to calm them down…”
I stammered, rolling my eyes nervously.
“What does that hand look like?”
“… sling gun?”
“Are you asking me back?”
“No, it’s a slingshot, and it’s really smart, by the way, for you to recognize it, isn’t Rudd a genius?”
I said it because I thought it would make me feel better as an owner to praise my pet. I was so frustrated that I didn’t realize I’d made a bigger mistake with my gibberish.
“… How did you know the name?”
In an instant, Thierry’s expression changed, his eyes glowing creepily. Like he wanted to kill me right now.
Ugh. I sucked in a breath in surprise. My fingers came up to cover my gaping mouth.
“Tell me.”
The silence that had fallen so suddenly was a stranglehold on my throat, and my voice was low, like a gnashing of teeth.
“I, uh, that… I overheard in passing.”
“By whom.”
“Uh, I don’t know, it was our first meeting, so I don’t remember…”
I should have kept my mouth shut.
“Did you hear something? How can you be so obnoxious every time you see me?”
The words he spat out were as rough as sandpaper. A fleeting flicker of impatience crossed his face, a look of outright hostility, as if he was so angry about this situation.
“That’s interesting. You said you’ve been holed up in your room, so where did you pick this up? Did you have something up your sleeve?”
I couldn’t say anything to the sharp-edged. Every time I opened my mouth, I was voluntarily stepping on a landmine.
But more than that, I was distracted by Thierry’s overreaction. My head was pinging with extreme confusion.
‘Why…’
My wide-open eyes fluttered open. I could feel the corners of my eyes burning red from the heat.
‘Why are you so sensitive?’
It was strange.
He was acting as if he’d seen something he didn’t want to see, and that made the words of the maids earlier crash into my head like a tidal wave.
“He doesn’t like to talk about her.”
I didn’t want to misunderstand. But a tidal wave of emotion paralyzed my thinking.
Does Thierry shudder at the slightest reminder of my past behavior? Do you really think you misunderstand me, that I have disappeared without you?
Now I am no longer a maid, but a Princess, and many years have passed, and Thierry has become an Emperor, but I am not happy at all. Rather, I was frustrated and resentful.
I realized that we had gotten to this point in our relationship without ever having the chance to talk openly.
The longer the silence lengthened, the more his eyes, once so alive and ready to kill me at a moment’s notice, grew as black and dead as a midwinter snowfall.
“Krrr.”
I suddenly felt an unexpected sense of dread. But as if to shield me from the crushing energy, Rudd stepped in front of me.
“Ha…”
Silence descended on the bizarre confrontation, all emotion slowly erased from his face.
“…”
Then he lowered his eyes slowly and muttered.
“… Are you going crazy too?”
No, I was mistaken about his emotions being erased. Right now, he looked like a man trying to hold back a rising tide of emotion.
“Or…”
His gaze returned to me. His deep red eyes, unreadable for what they were thinking, soon looked away without a word.
***
I’d been in my room all day since my bitter breakup with Thierry yesterday, and I’d planned to stay there the next day as well.
“Do you think I could go for a walk by myself?”
But I felt uncomfortable with Marie hovering around me like a stranger with something to say. I realized that it was better to leave the room than to be bothered by her constant knocking and poking around in the name of looking after me.
“I’m sorry, but the Princess has a mandate to accompany you wherever you go, so I’ll try to follow you as far away as possible during your walk.”
… Oh, well. I wasn’t expecting that.
I nodded and walked ahead, glad to have at least some distance between us, and, despite the stare that tickled the back of my head, I tried to ignore them as I stepped off the beaten path.
‘Rudd, who seems to be following me around, and Thierry, who is acting strangely, must have a lot of questions to ask.’
Marie’s is an exclusive maid and almost a spy, so she was even more wary, lest I slip up again in front of her, as had yesterday.
‘I’m not supposed to run into Thierry today…’
Just as I was thinking that, Rudd appeared in front of me.
“Haha… See you again.”
As if he could smell me, Rudd came running from so far away that I wondered if he was waiting for me. For about three seconds, I considered turning around and running away, but quickly decided against it because I knew that if I turned around, he’d probably catch me.
I smiled awkwardly and gently patted Rudd’s head, which was panting with delight.
‘Doesn’t Rudd being here mean Thierry will show up soon? Oh, I shouldn’t do that…’
I looked around nervously, my eyes darting from side to side. Luckily, Rudd was the only one there, and after a while, not a single person passed by, so I relaxed.
“Rud, did you come looking for me?”
At my low whisper, Rudd’s eyes lit up and he rubbed his head against my leg. He’s so cute for such a big guy, my jaw dropped.
“But you know what? Rudd, you do know who I am, don’t you? I can’t believe it. I wonder how you recognized me… Huh? What’s wrong?”
Rudd, who had been listening to my whisper, suddenly bit down on my skirt and tugged. As if to say, “Follow me,” I moved my hesitant legs to follow him.
It was a clear, cloudless day.
The smell of fresh grass and rich flowers wafted on the breeze, but in contrast to the gorgeous scenery, I could hear the sound of a hardy cheer coming from somewhere.
‘Is the training center around here? It sounds too far away to be nearby…’
I glanced down at Rudd, wondering where he was going, and caught a glimpse of his deadly backside, his tail wagging high above his thick body.
His cute demeanor gave me a sense of complacency that my Rudd would never take me somewhere dangerous.
“What? You wanted to come here?”
At last Rudd came to a halt in front of a huge tree. Beyond the tree, which stood tall as if it were a boundary, was a rose-covered avenue.
‘The rose avenue must be close to the North Palace… This place must be off the beaten path. It’s quiet.’
I glanced around at the deserted surroundings and then at Rudd, who had casually taken up residence under a tree. He flicked the ground with his tail as if to indicate that he wanted to sit next to me, and then he meekly dropped to the ground.
I gestured to Marie, who was standing in the distance, to make herself comfortable, and sat down next to Rudd.
Hidden by the trunk of the giant tree, which seemed to be two or three times the size of a normal tree, neither of our bodies would be visible from the other side, and I felt a shallow sense of freedom in that fact.
“… It reminds me of old times. Thierry and I used to go out and rest under this tree, just like this, with you as our cushion.”
I giggled softly and leaned against Rudd’s familiar body. As I gazed up at the distant sky, I remembered old memories with Thierry.
