The Lady is a Stalker

“Hey, wake up.”

 

As soon as she opened her eyes, she made eye contact with the crown prince, who was looking at her as if he was observing her with his chin resting crookedly. As soon as she wake up, her eyes feel refreshed. His face was so shiny that it felt burdensome in the morning.

 

“We have to get up quickly and leave quickly.”

 

She rubbed her eyes and naturally asked the crown prince.

 

“When did you wake up?”

 

“Three hours ago.”

 

“Huh? Why didn’t you wake me up? What have you been doing this whole time?”

 

He had to go to subdue a different race as soon as possible, but he wasted three hours because she was so lost in sleep. When she asked the question with a face filled with regret, the crown prince responded as if he was somewhat embarrassed.

 

He said, slightly avoiding her eyes.

 

“It was just… there.”

 

“…?”

 

He stayed there for three hours in a cave where the only thing other than himself was her and a pile of fallen leaves.

 

“Anyway! Come to your senses quickly and come out!”

 

After answering that, he got up and walked out of the cave with great strides. She couldn’t figure out what it was or why he was angry. The side of the crown prince’s face, briefly visible before he turned around, was red. Was he angry because she slept a lot? She didn’t think he was that narrow-minded. Suddenly, she looked down and saw that the bed of fallen leaves where the prince had been sitting just moments before had caved in. It looked like he had been sitting there for quite a long time.

 

‘…Oh, no way.’

 

Just because her body changed didn’t mean she became a narcissist, and there’s nothing funny about looking at the sleeping face of a woman he didn’t like. 

 

‘Only then will I see my own face reflected on the shore of the lake.’

 

After she convinced herself like that, she decided not to think any more about what the crown prince did during the three hours she was asleep. When she came out of the cave, she saw the back of the crown prince standing as if nothing had happened. He was looking down the cliff with an expression of incomprehensible thoughts. She looked around and said to him.

 

“But where should we go? It’s in the middle of the forest, so we won’t be able to tell where our comrades are.”

 

“I placed a tracking spell on the body of that foreign species. Since it was injured, it probably returned to its nest. When it dies, the magic is canceled on its own. Since it was severely injured, it would not be surprising if it died at any time. So, We’ll join later and just go after him for now.”

 

She nodded her head as a courtesy and listened to the prince, but then she found a huge error in his words and stiffened.

 

“Then what should I do?”

 

“Didn’t you hear? We are going after him like this.”

 

…He said with a slight frown, as if telling her not to ask twice. She tried to convince him of her shortcomings in being able to think quickly and why she couldn’t keep up with the Prince.

 

“I don’t have any abilities, so I won’t be of any help at all. And since I’m injured, I’ll just be a hindrance. It would be better to just go somewhere safe.”

 

“Is there a safer place in this world than next to me?”

 

…His words were full of confidence, and she swallowed the words she was trying to reply. It may be a bit unlucky, but what the crown prince said was definitely true. If she were left alone in the middle of the Ather Forest, which has turned into a den of a different race, she would inevitably be attacked by the other race again. Moreover, since the location of the Distian people has not been confirmed, the safest option was, ironically, to follow the crown prince and invade the den of this race.

 

She sighed and ran after the crown prince, who didn’t come and was looking at her with his eyes. She was following the crown prince about two steps behind without saying a word for a while, when suddenly he spoke to her first.

 

“…sorry.”

 

“What?”

 

“I didn’t know it would be like that when I broke your shoulder.”

 

“It’s fine.”

 

When she answered casually, as if he was apologizing for something, the crown prince’s brow furrowed. The steps in front of her suddenly stopped. It seemed like her actions had offended the crown prince again. He was glaring at her dissatisfied and opened his mouth as if to scold her.

 

“I’m truly apologizing to you. Don’t act like you’re brushing it off like that. In the first place, you…!” 

 

She had felt it for a long time, but this bastard, the crown prince, it seemed to have a very low ignition point. As described in the novel, it was said that he was a cool-headed type. It looked like the crown prince was about to start nagging her again, so she deliberately diverted the conversation.

 

“Aren’t you hungry? I think you can eat that fruit over there.”

 

She may have been too bold in saying this, but the crown prince hardened his face and looked at her with a puzzled expression for a while, then took a step forward in annoyance. Looking at the direction the crown prince was walking, it seemed like he was wheezing and going to pick the fruit from the tree she had just pointed to. As soon as she thought that he would not be able to reach his arms due to his short stature, the crown prince irritably kicked the tree as if to vent his anger. And the impact caused the tree fruits to fall down on the floor.

 

She stared at that figure blankly. The fruit rolled around on the floor and landed in front of her.

 

“Eat.”

 

“…thank you.”

 

She carefully picked it up and put it in her mouth. He was a guy she couldn’t tell if he was friendly or not. She chased after the crown prince, crunching on a fruit that resembled an apple. She was walking, mechanically chewing the fruit without any thought, when the crown prince suddenly stopped his steps and crashed into his back.

 

“Why are you doing this?”

 

The crown prince pointed to something behind him. She narrowed her eyes and looked at the place the Prince pointed to with a gesture of her chin, but there was only a dense forest like the one she had passed through so far, and she couldn’t see anything.

 

“…?”

 

When she couldn’t understand at first and tilted his head, he frowned as if he was dissatisfied. He suddenly stretched out his hand towards her with a frustrated expression. She braced herself for the pain that would soon come, fearing that something in her body would break again, but fortunately, the crown prince stopped his hand before it reached her body.

 

“…”

 

When she slowly raised her head, the crown prince looked at her, who was cowering, with eyes filled with very complex emotions. She cleared her throat ‘loudly’ and straightened her back again as if nothing had happened. And she spoke with a pretended expression that nothing had happened.

 

“What is it?”

 

“…Follow me.”

 

After staring at her for a while with an unknown expression, he lowered his hand and clenched his empty fist. As he said, she followed closely behind him. She didn’t know how long she had walked, but the entity that the crown prince had discovered began to appear in her eyes.

 

“O…”

 

It was an elf. Young elf. It was immediately recognizable even from quite a distance. Pointy ears, shiny white skin, and most of all… Wow, awesome, I thought the crown prince looked really pretty, but this was really great.

 

“So pretty…”

 

“Huh?”

 

Elves were the most beautiful race in the world. She stared at the beautiful elf’s face, which felt awe-inspiring. Even though it was quite far away, she seemed to be fascinated by the pheromones emitted from the elf’s body. It seemed like the crown prince was scolding her by saying something next to her, but she couldn’t hear it at all. In all her life, she had never felt so excited about something.

 

At that time, an elf child who was far away suddenly turned around.

 

“…!”

 

As soon as their eyes met, the elf’s eyes turned into rabbit eyes as if he was embarrassed, but then his eyes became curious and he gradually approached her. The elf race was very curious, so they were often targeted by other races. In particular, young elves who had just been born had extraordinary curiosity. As the elf gradually came closer, her heart was pounding like crazy. And when the elf came within arm’s reach, she lost her mind…

 

“What are you doing!”

 

At that time, the crown prince shouted loudly, grabbed her arm, and pulled her away from the child. She was surprised, but it didn’t hurt, perhaps because he controlled his strength.

 

“Omg”

 

It was only when she felt his hand blocking her that she came back to her senses.

 

‘What did I do…’

 

If the crown prince hadn’t stopped her, she would have touched the child without realizing it. They say they are the most beautiful species in the world, and just seeing them in front of her was enough to make her, who was usually insensitive to almost everything, lose her senses. 

 

She looked at the crown prince to thank him for holding on to her senses, but the prince, whom she felt like she hadn’t seen in a long time, was standing there with a very angry look on his face. He gritted his teeth hard enough to make an ‘ugh’ sound.

 

“If they have a very pretty face, you can’t ignore them, right?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“…”

 

When the crown prince interrogated her endlessly, she asked him what he was talking about, but he just grunted and glared at her with a dissatisfied expression and did not give any answer.

 

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Translator Note: