The Lady is a Stalker

The place where his gaze rested was where the dancers were dancing on the stage. It was a gorgeous and passionate stage with fireworks burning brightly.

‘I’m surprised you like this. I thought he was just as static as me.’

While he was watching the stage in a daze, she asked the crown prince a question without even thinking about it.

“Do you like this kind of thing?”

“No… I actually don’t like it that much.”

“Really?”

He clearly said he wanted to go see it, but now he didn’t like it… Did he like it up until now, but suddenly started hating it?

When she asked again, feeling strange, the man who was staring at the flame hesitated before opening his mouth.

“Just…”

The crown prince glanced up at her. Because of the bright lights, the crown prince’s golden eyes seemed to sparkle with heat. Somehow, the crown prince’s hands that were holding each other’s hands were lightly strained.

“…?”

“…Nothing.”

He couldn’t speak for a long time.

As she tilted her head, the crown prince let out a lethargic sigh. What was that just now?

She turned my attention again to the dancers’ performance.

He said he would take a look, but he was staring at the floor as if he was lost in thought. In the end, she was the only one who paid attention to the performance until the end. One song, two songs… After the exciting and passionate music ended and the atmosphere warmed up, quiet music suitable for the night played.

Her legs were starting to hurt and she wanted to go home. But the crown prince seemed to have no intention of moving. He didn’t seem particularly interested in music. He had his head down so she couldn’t see what his face was.

She had said this several times before, but she wished he could do the thinking alone. She was hesitating whether she should ask him to go back first.

“I received your letter.”

“…?”

“Thank you. I feel more confident thanks to you.”

What letter was he talking about? There was no place to guess at all. Slowly, many people left, and she thought she could let go now, so she tried to let go, but this time the crown prince held her hand and wouldn’t let go. Her hands were starting to get sweaty, so she wished he would let her go. She looked down at the crown prince with those eyes, and he had been staring at her for some time.

He spoke in a hesitant voice.

“Would you like to dance…?”

Dancing? She suddenly wondered what was going on, but when she looked around, everyone was grouped in groups of threes, threes, fives, and were engrossed in blues time to the music. There were only two of them standing there blankly.

Perhaps because of the light, his face underneath the hood was red.

He let go of her hand and carefully held out his hand. She heard that as the crown prince, his request to dance could be interpreted as having a political meaning, so to prevent unnecessary trouble, he never once requested to dance even at a banquet. Even if it was an unofficial event, it was a huge event.

Without thinking much, she gently placed her hand on top of his. She felt him stiffen with tension.

“If you step on my foot, I’ll get angry.”

She was joking to get him to relax, but he didn’t react much. He actually hardened his expression. She felt like she made him more nervous.

He pulled her hand gently with a stern look on his face.

“I still get goosebumps when I touch your hand.”

She, dumbfounded by the prince’s words, made a slightly dazed expression. He had just asked for a dance with a sweet expression on his face, but suddenly he threw harsh words to her face. This kid was truly self-indulgent to a degree.

“Still, sometimes I feel like I want to touch you so much that I can’t stand it.”

“…”

She was about to say something, but the prince’s words kept her quiet. Unresolved emotions were still visible in his eyes. Even though he thought she was creepy, the thought of wanting to touch her coexisted. The emotions of loveliness, hate, resentment, sorrow, and love-hate took on strange colors. How could such opposite emotions coexist?

He said with an expression as if he was holding back tears.

“So I’m so frustrated and confused, I feel like I want to hang myself every day.”

“Hey.”

When he said this, she couldn’t hide it any longer. She held the crown prince’s hand tightly. Then, startled, he lifted his head and made eye contact with her.

His golden eyes flickered anxiously with many colors.

“Raven.”

“…”

“Could it be that Lord Raven…!”

Was he in love with her? As she was about to say that, the crown prince stretched out his hand and covered her mouth.

“…”

He looked at her with eyes that looked like he was about to cry and opened his mouth. There were glimpses of emotions fluttering as if they were about to explode at any moment.

“I am…”

“…”

“I don’t know… sorry…”

He was emotionally heightened, but at one point, his entire body suddenly lost strength, like a doll whose strings had been cut. The crown prince who spoke those words looked very tired and distressed, so she could not force him to answer.

Was this a feeling that could bloom? In some cases, it was a good feeling that she swallowed inside. The crown prince was probably thinking the same thing as her.

He quietly lowered his head without saying a word. The staff, who had been moving slowly, had suddenly stopped. While everyone was moving around in a flash, we were the only ones standing there as if time had stopped. She felt embarrassed and tried to pull his hand away, but the prince quickly grabbed her hand as she tried to move away.

Then he said.

“Wait for me.”

“What?”

When would this habit of talking backwards and forwards be corrected? He raised his golden eyes and looked straight at her and said.

“My top priority is to control the dragon’s magic. If people know that I cannot control the dragon’s magic and that there is a risk of destroying the world because of it, they will be afraid of me and no one will recognize me as emperor. I won’t do it.”

“…”

His intention in saying this was clear. He had finally made up his mind. It must have been 20 years since she trained under Adriana. It’s so far away. The weight of such a long time suddenly felt and she felt empty.

She must have unconsciously made a glum expression, but the crown prince held her hand tightly again and said,

“Wait for me…”

“What?”

“I’ll be back in 5 years.”

What kind of nonsense was this person talking about?

But the crown prince seemed sincere. He was truly determined to return within five years. She looked blankly at the golden eyes burning with fighting spirit. Somehow, she had an unfounded belief that with this guy, he really could cut 20 years into 5 years.

“I also don’t want to rot in a place like that for 20 years. It definitely won’t take that long. So…”

The crown prince, who had been speaking with a confident voice up until now, suddenly pretended to hesitate and opened his mouth with difficulty.

“I… I would like you to postpone marriage for a while.”

Marriage? What was he talking about out of nowhere?

The crown prince, who uttered the word marriage, looked very distressed. He looked like he didn’t even want to say those words. He had probably been paying attention for quite some time. But why was he suddenly talking about marriage… Oh, that’s it. Then it occurred to her.

Come to think of it, he had lied and said that he was making a fuss at home asking for her to get married in order to lay the foundation for handing over her resignation letter to the crown prince. It was just a lie thrown out to match the assortment… Nevertheless, the crown prince seemed to still be concerned about it. That wasn’t the only time the Crown Prince overreacted to her marriage.

Even when she said she would marry an elf child before, he overreacted. Did he really hate the idea of ​​her getting married?

The crown prince, holding her hand tightly, spoke in a trembling voice.

“I know I’m selfish too. Even though I couldn’t make up my mind properly, I kept putting on a gig for 5 years. But, still… Still.”

The crown prince spoke his last words in a serious voice as if he had gathered all his will, and then looked straight at her and said:

“I’m going to work really hard and come back quickly… won’t that work?”

The crown prince who said that seemed to be cowering as if he was scared of something. She had a feeling that if she said no, he would burst into tears at any moment.

“…okay.”

When she answered, the crown prince’s face brightened. She wasn’t sure about him, but seeing him like it so much made her think he answered correctly. She whispered something in the crown prince’s ear as if telling a secret.

“…Actually, I am a non-married person.”

At her words, the prince’s expression suddenly hardened.

Hmm… His face looked like he didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Still, he must have been happy with her answer in the end, and he let out a heartless laugh.

“Ehehe…”

It was a very innocent and bright smile.

‘You smile that way too. I didn’t know it because he was young, but wasn’t there something about my age?’

By the way, it’s been less than 5 years. Because the crown prince was now fourteen years old. He would come back when he was around nineteen, wouldn’t he?

 

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Translator Note: