The Lady is a Stalker

Well, it’s location tracking. There was no way the crown prince would do such a stalkerish thing. After convincing herself, she turned her attention back to the performance.

While she was concentrating on the performance for a while, the crown prince suddenly asked in a slightly sulky voice.

“…fun?”

“Yes.”

Actually, she didn’t even know what it’s about. But there weren’t many people in the audience, and it seemed rude to leave, so she just kept standing.

As she answered without taking her eyes off the performance, she could see the crown prince making a sullen expression under the hood. What on earth had made him so angry again? She wondered if it would go away if she just left him alone this time.

Thinking like that, she focused on the performance again.

“Where are you going now?”

When the performance ended and the members dispersed, people naturally dispersed as well. While she was thinking about where to go next, the crown prince spoke up.

“…”

She stood there blankly for a moment, looking at that shameless face. What was it? For some reason, he implied that of course she would also accompany him. Did they make a promise to go see the festival together without her knowledge? No matter how much she thought about it, she couldn’t remember anything like that. Since when did the crown prince decide to enjoy the festival with her? 

“Aren’t you busy?”

“Huh.”

There was no way she could really ask him if he was busy. It was supposed to mean that he should quickly go somewhere, but surprisingly, the crown prince responded obediently.

‘Right. You’re free.’

“…Is there anything you’d like to see?”

When the crown prince told her where he wanted to go, she told him a different place than the prince said, and she thought they should part ways without a bad relationship. However, the crown prince looked seriously worried at her question.

“No. I don’t know any place… I sometimes go to places like the library, but this is the first time I’ve been able to go outside and wander around freely like this.”

Since he has the position of crown prince, he wouldn’t be able to move around easily. He wouldn’t be in danger, but it would be a big deal if he lost his way. No matter how good the Crown Prince was, he was still just a child… what? So, if this guy got lost right now, was it her fault?

“You?”

While she was thinking about that, the crown prince asked. She was fascinated by this medieval worldview and traveled around here and there, so one could say that she was more familiar with geography than the crown prince.

“Hmm. I visited quite a few places during this vacation.”

“Alone?”

“Yes. I like the tea house that you can find if you walk south for about ten minutes from here because it’s pretty. If you go over there, there’s a lake, and it’s beautiful with few people. And if you go to the outskirts of town, you can see Harlem.”

The crown prince spoke with a slightly dissatisfied expression at her answer.

“It’s dangerous.”

“No. It wasn’t dangerous at all. And if it’s dangerous, the journeys I went on with Raven were much more… Ah, I’m sorry.”

The longer she spoke, the more she felt the prince’s expression harden, so she kept her mouth shut. But it was true. Who always took her to dangerous places? She had her life threatened by a dragon last week as well.

It was a risk that is on a different level from meeting a bully in town. Well, because the crown prince was by her side, she miraculously survived, but if she had been alone, she would have already died a hundred times over.

The prince always put her in danger, but he was the one who saved her the most. Should she be thankful? It’s ironic.

The crown prince opened his mouth to see if he had the same thoughts as her.

“No, that’s true.”

The crown prince kept his mouth shut after saying those words. He was clearly sulking.

This situation… Yes, it was like seeing her nephew who didn’t move in the middle of the department store because he didn’t get what he wanted. How did they solve it back then… Ah.

She said, bending her knees slightly and looking at the prince’s pouting face under the hood.

“Shall we go eat something delicious?”

“…”

The crown prince stared at her with an expression of bewilderment. How long had it been like that? The crown prince, whose face was slightly red, spoke in a low voice as if he was going to crawl away, avoiding her gaze.

“…If it doesn’t taste good, I’ll kill you.”

Even to the point of killing him. The crown prince had a tendency to look somewhat disgusted whenever he was embarrassed. Did he not want to be caught being embarrassed? At first glance, it sounded like he hated it, but when she saw him, it looked like he liked it.

‘Hmm. I wonder if I got you…’

“What is this place?”

“It’s a restaurant.”

“…”

“Well, the exterior is a bit old, but I can vouch for the workmanship. Please come in.”

She took the lead and entered the store, leaving the crown prince standing blankly. It was not a place many people visited because it was old in appearance and in a deserted place, but in terms of taste, she, the associate chef, vouched for it, so even the crown prince would be satisfied.

The crown prince looked inside the store, looking somewhat uncomfortable. Could it be that such a shabby place didn’t suit him? Then she did something rude.

She spoke to the Crown Prince, who was still sitting uncomfortably, as if he had not been invited.

“Ah. If it’s because the store is dirty…”

“No, that doesn’t really matter. During training, there are some extreme cases where you have to eat the carcass of an animal. But…”

But? She waited for the crown prince’s next answer.

He hesitated and then opened his mouth.

“It’s just that you always seem to exceed my expectations……”

‘Hmm. It seemed like the crown prince had no idea that I would choose this place for dinner.’

Where did the crown prince expect her to take him? She answered lightly, without thinking much.

“Sometimes things like this are good. I’m sure Raven will like it too.”

“…Do you come here often?”

“Yes.”

“…I see.”

After hearing what she said, the crown prince looked around the inside of the store once again. He had a strange expression. It seemed like he was trying to capture the scenery inside this store.

Soon the ordered food came out, and the crown prince just looked down at it with a puzzled expression. When she lifted the spoon and put it in her mouth, the crown prince followed her and put food into his mouth little by little. It was like seeing a very wary animal. It was like seeing a chick that had just been born. It was so funny that she burst out laughing a little.

She immediately covered her mouth, but the crown prince had already seen her smile. Was he going to get angry because she laughed at him?

She expected that, but he was looking at her with a somewhat blank expression.

He spoke curiously in a voice as if possessed by something. Well, at least for the first time in front of her.

“You… you laughed.”

“Yes?”

Now that she thought about it, she didn’t think she had ever laughed in front of the crown prince. There must have been something particularly enjoyable.

She wasn’t usually the type to laugh hard, but she was particularly emotional towards the crown prince. Because she already knew that the crown prince would kill her.

The crown prince, who saw her expressionless face again, frowned slightly as if he was somewhat dissatisfied and muttered as if he was talking to himself.

“You… I think you should smile more.”

The crown prince who spoke those words pretended not to notice and focused on the food. She could see that his face was slightly red.

“Did you enjoy the food?”

“Yes. It was delicious.”

“Really? That’s good.”

“Huh.”

‘What is this innocent answer…’

The current crown prince felt more poisonous than usual. Originally, it felt like a hysterical cat, but now it felt like a somewhat tame cat. In the end, he was both a cat and human.

She was slowly thinking about going home because she was tired… but the crown prince didn’t look like he wanted to go home like this. He looked up at her with eyes demanding the next course. His eyes were sparkling, and he seemed much more lively and active than usual.

“Um… first, shall we walk?”

It was difficult to betray expectations, so she decided to say let’s just walk for now and move towards the Duke’s house as discreetly as possible.

“Huh.”

The crown prince, who didn’t know what she was thinking, answered obediently this time. When they came out onto the street, the festival was in full swing. As time went on, people seemed to be burning more and more.

She was a little excited to be in an atmosphere full of young people having fun, but she also had a small child to protect. Even though she was wearing the magic stone the crown prince gave her, there were so many people that she kept bumping into people unintentionally.

She glanced behind her and saw that the crown prince was in the same situation. Such a small child wearing a hood… he seemed unnoticeable.

She felt like her body was growing as she held onto the prince’s hand, which was gradually moving away. Then the crown prince was caught, he flinched and stiffened in shock, reflexively trying to shake her off, but she was quicker to open her mouth.

“It’s dangerous if you fall.”

After hearing her words, the crown prince calmly relaxed his hands as if he agreed. She noticed some goosebumps on his wrists.

‘Do you hate it that much…?’

The crown prince, who was walking with his head down and looking at the ground, suddenly stopped.

The crown prince’s eyes were focused somewhere.

“Do you want to take a look?”

“…”

When she asked him a question, he quickly answered in the affirmative. She guessed he really wanted to see it.

 

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Translator Note:

Next week I won’t be able to release any chapter of this story. See you the week after that!