CH 54

Chapter 54: The princess has no friends (1)

My face reflected in Elena’s clear, violet eyes. At the same time, I could see her in mine.

When our gazes met, I felt emotions I had never experienced before, or rather, emotions I had never felt from her.

At first, I entertained the idea that Elena might be jealous that I was standing there with Noel. However, the aura that emanated from her didn’t give off any sign of such feelings, so I quickly dispelled that thought.

Was this what it felt like to face a frozen lake? I felt like I knew what emotions were reflected in her eyes. She was angry with me.

Encountering these emotions for the first time, I was taken aback and paused for a moment to think about the reason. But my feet had already stopped right in front of her, and I didn’t have much time to ponder the reason as the distance between us closed rapidly.

“Damian.”

Elena called my name and approached me. As I heard her voice, my closed eyes started to open again.

Noel, the princess, was standing in front of me, but Elena, as if she couldn’t see her, passed her by and grabbed my hand. A cool breeze carrying the scent of spring wafted around us. I couldn’t feel the bitter cold wind I had experienced so harshly in Merohim.

Contrary to my expectations, Elena’s hand holding mine was neither too cold nor warm. It was just a soft hand, radiating the usual warmth I felt when I held it. While Elena used to vent her emotions through magic, now her presence was calm, to the point where I worried if something was wrong.

I looked into Elena’s eyes again, but her emotions remained the same. However, after a while, I noticed a faint warmth in her icy gaze. When I followed Elena’s gaze, I could find the answer.

‘Ah...’

A very small line of blood was visible between my cut-off sleeves.

It wasn’t a big wound. At most, it seemed like a superficial scratch on the outer skin, and there were just a few drops of blood. However, this level of sparring was commonplace in daily life, but was this really enough to make her angry?

As I reached that conclusion, I took a moment to look at my own clothes and appearance.

It wasn’t just the sleeves that were torn apart. As I had rolled and tumbled on the ground in my recent fight, my appearance was far from presentable. I was covered in dirt and dust, making it seem like I had just come from a battlefield. There was hardly any part of my outer clothing that hadn’t been cut, and my body was marked with numerous bruises.

‘I have nothing to say at this point…’

Most of these wounds were shallow, not even bleeding, but just by looking at me, it was clear that I had been through a tough battle. There was no excuse I could offer Elena.

While I was still hesitating about what to say, Elena spoke first. She spoke softly, in a low voice.

“Damian. What did I say that morning?”

“You told me to stop the duel...”

“The reason?”

As I faced Elena’s cold gaze, my heart felt frozen, as if being pierced by an icy chill.

Though I knew her words stemmed from a desire for me not to get hurt, it was the first time I received such a look from her. It was exceptionally difficult to endure.

I wondered how it would feel if that gaze carried a different emotion, not sincerity. If I were still the original Damian, I would have received that kind of look. Even though it was just my imagination, it didn’t make me feel any better.

“I’m sorry.”

I didn’t answer Elena’s question and immediately bowed my head to her. After all, I had broken my promise with her. I had agreed to teach Alphonse how to use a sword and yet still engaged in a duel. Even if the other party was Princess Noel, I could have refused her request, but in the end, I did it because I wanted to.

Despite my apology, Elena continued to look at me with the same unchanging eyes. I forced a smile and added a few words.

“...I’ll refrain from sparring for the next three days.”

Only then did Elena’s eyes soften, and she smiled at me with the same warm eyes as before.

“You have to keep it this time?”

“I’ll try... No,  I get it. I promise.”

While hesitating to leave some room for negotiation, I immediately changed my mind in response to her rapidly shifting mood. Perhaps collapsing in front of her had such a significant impact. If Elena had come to me with a sullen face because of researching magic and collapsed, I think I wouldn’t have let her near the book for a few days.

Elena glanced over my body for a moment, then let out a sigh.

“What is this... Your clothes are completely ruined. At least change your clothes. You can’t use them anymore...”

“Uh, I didn’t think about that.”

“And there are more wounds than usual, aren’t there?”

“...I made a mistake.”

Elena seemed to be back to her usual self, showing more concern for my well-being. However, there was no room to argue because everything she said was true.

Carefully inspecting my wounds, she wiped away the blood with a handkerchief and went to fetch a potion. But the moment Elena left my side, someone caught my hand.

At the sudden contact, I turned my head to see who it was, and it turned out to be Noel, whom I had sparred with just before. I thought she had gone to Alphonse’s side, but apparently, that was not the case.

Noel’s sudden action of holding my hand was enough to stop Elena in her tracks.

Upon seeing Noel holding my hand, Elena looked at it with a different gaze than before, but I couldn’t feel what that gaze meant. My attention was focused on the strange golden aura flowing into my body through the hand Noel was holding.

At first, my body reacted sensitively to the unfamiliar energy, but soon the fulfillment it brought made me calm down again.

It felt as if I was igniting fuel deep within my body. The intense energy penetrated through my veins, reached my heart, and ultimately boosted my vitality, enabling me to move. This energy not only affected me internally but also had an external impact. As the light passed through, the wounds on my body rapidly healed. Observing this, I realized that this was the sacred power Noel possessed.

For some reason, though I felt overflowing with strength, my body felt drowsy. Perhaps it was because the origin of the divinity was the sun. I had a strange sensation that sleep might come over me at any moment.

As the radiant light surrounding my body dissipated, I returned to the clean state I was in before the recent duel with Noel. Not only that, even the minor things like muscle soreness that had lingered in my body seemed to have recovered.

Both Elena and I turned our gazes to Noel, who had a slightly pouty expression. She smiled brightly, as if she had been waiting for this moment, and said, “Hehe... Finally, everyone’s looking at me. Don’t worry about the wounds! I’ve treated them all!!”

When Noel’s gaze turned towards Elena, she greeted her with an innocent smile. Elena received the greeting with a smile and then returned her attention to the hand Noel was holding, which happened to be mine.

“By the way, Lady Elena. It’s been a long time! It’s so nice to see such a significant change in your demeanor!”

“Uh, really? Thank you for the compliment, Your Highness. But, uh...”

As Noel continued to talk, Elena kept meeting her eyes, but perhaps the hand she was holding bothered Elena because her gaze swayed dizzily. I quietly chuckled at Elena’s appearance.

Had she asked me that was I jealous of Richard at the last banquet? That was true. I felt jealous when she was talking to Richard. However, it seemed that this kind of emotion was not unique to me.

Elena’s confused look, not knowing where to put her eyes, felt different and cute. At the same time, I felt a peculiar sense of relief, knowing that she had similar concerns to mine. However, thinking that she would have the same worries as I did,  it was impossible to leave things as they were, no matter how cute she was.

It seemed that Noel wanted to freshen up the atmosphere between Elena and me, which was a bit odd. If we continued like this, the weather around us would look more like winter than spring.

“Thank you.”

“Huh?”

I moved my body and whispered a small thank you to Noel. Then, I gently withdrew my hand from hers and held Elena’s hand. I could feel the coldness coming from her hand, which bothered me quite a bit.

When my hand touched Elena’s, she reflexively tightened her grip around it.

Moving naturally, I changed my position to stand by her side again, facing Noel. This time, I raised my voice so that others around us could hear and thanked Noel once again.

“Thank you for the treatment, Your Highness. It was truly a blessing that couldn’t be called anything less than the grace of the sun.”

“Oh? Oh, yes. That’s right. Thank you so much for your praise! Sir Damian!!”

At my thanks, Noel hesitated for a moment, then returned to her usual high spirits and responded. I sent a glance to Alphonse, who had been watching us from behind. He seemed to have understood the meaning because he came over and stood beside Noel without saying a word.

I felt sorry for continuing to ask him for help, considering that I was the unfortunate brother who couldn’t keep his promise. I’m sorry, Alphonse.

“I’d like to guide you through the castle myself, but I look like this now. Instead, Alphonse will help guide you. I’ll greet you again after I’ve recovered for a while.”

I took off the damaged outer robe and draped it over my arm. Fortunately or unfortunately, the shirt I was wearing inside had fewer dirt stains compared to the outer robe, so it looked better. It didn’t mean it looked good; it was just relatively better.

“Elena.”

I called her name and leaned closer, giving her an expectant look. I hadn’t told her where we were going, but she probably knew the destination was my room. As we headed towards the path that led away from the training grounds and towards the main castle, we faced each other.

I recalled the look Elena had given me during the previous banquet. I tried to gaze at her with the eyes of Elena from my memories as much as possible.

“Were you jealous?”

I nonchalantly said my words, but deep down, I was curious about how she would react. I wouldn’t mind if she got angry again like earlier, and it was also good to see that white face turn red like before. I just wanted to see any kind of reaction, and it would make me feel good. Since I knew the reason for her feelings toward me, I felt happy either way.

Elena didn’t avoid my gaze.

In response to my words, she smiled broadly and answered concisely.

“Yes.”

I hadn’t expected this.

Seeing her relieved smile, I couldn’t help but smile back at her.

However, shortly after that, her pace quickened. At first, it wasn’t noticeable, but soon enough, she was walking at a speed that made me feel like I was being pulled along. Unable to see her face as she stood in front of me, I didn’t bother to match her pace just to see her face.

Anyway, it was cute.

Elena walked ahead, and I followed behind her. Though the hand connecting us seemed like it could break at any moment, I adjusted my speed to make sure it wouldn’t happen. Elena wasn’t running away from me either. She knew I was following her, so she didn’t turn around.

Before we knew it, we were running towards the castle. While it wasn’t an actual high-speed chase, I felt like I was moving faster than ever before at this moment.

The surrounding scenery passed by at a rapid pace, as if time itself were flowing swiftly. Yet, Elena and I were still holding hands.

***

After Damian and Elena left, Alphonse and Noel watched the knights fight for a while before heading back to their main castle. As Alphonse had been the one who first guided Noel to the training grounds, she had complete trust in his guiding abilities.

But why was that?

When she first came here and received guidance from Alphonse, she felt a sense of regret that she hadn’t realized back then.

Upon arriving at the main castle, Orcus, who came to the lord’s castle with Noel, was waiting for her at the entrance of the castle. Orcus thanked Alphonse, who was taking care of Noel, and let Alphonse into the castle. As Alphonse entered the castle, Orcus looked at Noel with anxious eyes and opened his mouth.

“Did you get into trouble again?”

For anyone else, being asked such a question upon arrival might be upsetting, but for them, it was just a way of saying hello. Especially in this situation, it was only natural for Orcus to be sensitive to Noel’s actions. As she had rushed out of the carriage like a gust of wind as soon as they arrived, it was expected to lead to this kind of conversation.

However, this time, there was nothing to call an incident or accident, so Noel was about to deny it, but she couldn’t when Orcus continued speaking.

“I bumped into Sir Damian earlier. His clothes were completely covered in dirt. Could it be...”

“Oh, no! That’s...!”

Before she could deny it, Noel hesitated for a moment in his response.

Obviously, it happened while Damian was sparring with Sir Gwen, but if one looked closely, the cause of Damian’s sparring was Noel herself.  She started to wonder what she should say in response to Orcus’ words. In the end, she just laughed it off.

“Ahahaha...?”

“You... No...”

Orcus started to say something but stopped himself. It seemed like he had some expectations, and he looked at Noel with a resigned expression before taking her into the castle. It was later when Orcus learned the full story of the incident while walking with Noel inside the castle.

As they moved towards the guest room Arthur had prepared for them, they began to discuss their experiences in this place. They didn’t care about others’ gazes, and even if some servants passing by overheard, the story was simple enough that it didn’t matter.

When Noel talked about Damian, Orcus seemed particularly focused on that part. It was at this moment that he found out the reason for Damian’s outfit. He had been relieved to know that Noel wasn’t the one responsible for Damian’s attire, but he was surprised to hear that he had broken her sword.

“Wow, is he that good in swordsmanship? Does that mean he’s the most exceptional among the current three major martial art family sons?”

“Well, I’m not sure.”

Noel didn’t give a separate answer to Orcus’ question. She couldn’t really explain it herself. She had clashed swords with the Duke of Cromel before, but she knew he didn’t take the sparring seriously due to his status.

As a result, for Noel as she was now, it was impossible to determine who was better between Reinhardt and Damian. Regardless of the outcome of their match, Noel was certain that she was beneath Damian, and that fact was somewhat regrettable.

‘Thank you.’

Noel suddenly recalled the words of gratitude Damian had given her.

She remembered he spoke in a low voice, as if only she could hear it. Why did he thank her like that and then thank her again? She couldn’t understand the reason behind it. The only thing that stuck in her memory was the fact that he let go of her hand and took Elena’s instead.

Did Orcus read her thoughts? It seemed like he did, as he brought up the topic of Elena.

“So, you’ve met Lady Elena too. She seems quite different, doesn’t she? Does getting engaged change a person like that?”

Noel was lost in her thoughts and let Orcus’ words pass by without responding. However, she noticed Orcus’ gaze from the side and realized that she had missed something. So she asked him.

“Huh? What do you mean?”

Orcus continued talking about Elena as the topic of Damian came up. Noel nodded in agreement with Orcus’ observations. Indeed, the Elena she saw today was not the shy and introverted little girl she had met before.

But strangely, Noel found the current Elena even more appealing.

Though their first meeting was brief, perhaps because Elena was of a similar age, Noel had inwardly considered her as a friend. Many things had changed since their previous encounter, including the atmosphere, but Noel couldn’t help but think Elena looked amazing now.

However, those warm thoughts took a different direction.

“Huh? But wasn’t Elena definitely from the Edelweiss family? Sarham is far from here. Why is she here?”

Seeing Damian and Elena converse, it seemed they had known each other for quite some time. Noel took a guess that they might be close friends and, without realizing it, mumbled that she wished to be in a similar relationship with them. Hearing her small murmur, Orcus furrowed his brow and sighed before answering her question.

“You seem to have forgotten why we came here.”

“Right, Kraus’ engagement... Ah.”

Orcus’ response was short but clear enough to answer Noel’s doubts.

As if a cloud had momentarily passed over the sun, the brightness vanished from Noel’s face upon hearing Orcus’ words. In that moment, it felt like the world had turned upside down. She was experiencing a complex and subtle emotion she couldn’t quite put into words.