Chapter 1.4 - The Princess's Dream

Chapter 1.4: The Princess’s Dream

‘ . . . Damn it . ‘

Kuhn rolled his eyes .

He successfully exited the maze . He had memorized the paths the few times he had gone through it .

However . . .

‘Where the hell am I?’

He had been walking while lost in thought, and when he came back to his senses, he was in an unfamiliar place . He landed himself in a predicament . If Dian found out about this, he’d be rolling on the floor with laughter .

It wasn’t that he was bad with directions, but the usual methods he used to find his way back was not possible within the Palace . Everything was man-made and unnatural . Everything was perfectly standardized and identical .

‘What’s that sound?’

Kuhn walked towards the faint sound as if he was drawn to it . It was definitely the sound of a sword .

‘Are the knights practicing at this hour?’

It was midday, and everyone usually took a break around this time . The few palace attendants he had seen before had all disappeared now .

Kuhn didn’t have to go far . He finally found the person hard at work practicing their swordsmanship . Their effort was commendable, but Kuhn automatically began to notice their weaknesses .

This person had a slender frame, no muscles at all . If they fought with a strong opponent, they’d end up losing their sword after a few clashes . The long ponytail fluttering in the wind was also a problem . If this person was in an actual fight, their hair would get caught, and they would break their neck .

When Kuhn caught a better look at this person’s face, he took a step back in surprise . The person also turned their head, lowering the sword when they saw Kuhn .

 

‘Princess Sienna . ‘

He hadn’t been able to recognize her just from her back . Her stature was not like that of an average woman, so he didn’t recognize her .

“Did Prince Dian send you?”

Kuhn’s eyes widened .

‘I thought she didn’t see me back there . ‘

Their eyes hadn’t met back then . There was never a moment when the Princess and Kuhn had made eye contact, so Kuhn was surprised that she recognized him .

“No, Your Highness . I just lost my way . ”

Sienna chuckled softly . The man’s black eyes didn’t avoid hers .

‘He’s quite daring . ‘

“What regiment do you belong to?”

Kuhn didn’t understand her question for a moment .

‘Ah, right . Right now, I’m . . . ‘

Kuhn had forgotten that he was wearing a knight’s uniform . The Palace’s visitors were heavily monitored . Also, Kuhn didn’t have a good enough reason to receive permission to enter the Palace, so Dian took matters into his own hands . Kuhn was now pretending to be a knight by dressing like one, but his name was still not in the knights’ registry . It would be a pain in the ass if Sienna decided to look into the matter .

“It hasn’t been decided yet . ”

Thankfully, the Princess didn’t say much about the vague answer .

“Are you on duty right now?”

“No, Your Highness . ”

Sienna lifted her sword and aimed it at him . Kuhn slowly raised his eyebrows .

“It isn’t as fun doing this alone . Will you help me?”

Sienna had been feeling uneasy and had wanted to do something to take her mind off of it . She usually had a knight as her sparring partner, but since she had suddenly changed her regular schedule, she didn’t call for him .

‘Interesting . ‘

Kuhn put on a crooked smile . After having exchanged a few words with the Princess, he felt like he knew what kind of person she was . Her cool words and expression exuded the force of a ruler . Everyone talked about what a beauty she was, so he had assumed that she had grown up like a precious flower . However, he had been deeply mistaken .

‘She won’t be easy . Dian has his work cut out for him . We didn’t have sufficient information about the Princess . ‘

It wasn’t easy gathering information about the Princess since she didn’t leave her residence often . Rumors saying she was brilliant or beautiful were not enough to figure out her personality .

“I’m currently on duty . ”

“But just now . . . ”

“I had forgotten that I was . ”

Sienna’s eyes flickered .

‘What’s with this man?’

The young man kept staring boldly at Sienna . There wasn’t a law stating that a subordinate couldn’t make eye contact with his superior, but no one had dared to act this way to Sienna before . Having become accustomed to a high level of courtesy, Sienna was a bit displeased .

“Are you busy?”

“Yes . ”

“Very busy?”

“Yes . ”

For someone who was busy, his behavior was very relaxed . Sienna was getting frustrated .

“I need a sparring partner . I’ll take full responsibility if you are late in completing your duties . ”

Kuhn thought about this for a bit . He would have to deal with the consequences if he turned down her stubborn demands . If she had made any other demand of him, he would have quickly completed it and continued on his way, but . . .

“I never unsheathe my sword for some swordplay . ”

“When did I say this was swordplay?”

Kuhn shifted his hips to show her the sword on his belt .

“This sword needs to taste blood once it’s been unsheathed . Can you handle that?”

Kuhn observed Sienna before speaking again .

“I saw you practicing earlier, and I don’t think you’ll be able to . ”

As soon as the words left his mouth, Kuhn regretted them . He had answered automatically without thinking because he had been in this type of situation before . Whenever Kuhn met nobility or royalty from different nations, nine times out of ten they wanted to test him . Kuhn was a well-known figure, and they wanted to see the proof with their own eyes .

“Be prepared to eat your words . And don’t even think about giving me another excuse to back out now . If you do, I’ll be asking Dian about your insolence, mark my words . ”

Kuhn sighed softly as he observed Sienna’s fierce gaze .

‘I might get chewed out by Dian later . ‘

Kuhn had no choice but to approach Sienna . When he stopped in front of her, Sienna noted his height . He was taller than she thought .

There wasn’t a woman who came to her eye level, and most men were also shorter than her . The men that were as tall as Sienna were always knights .

However, with this man in front of her, Sienna had to raise her head to see him . It was the first time she had to do this to a man other than her own father, the Emperor . It was a peculiar feeling .

Oddly, Kuhn also felt the same way .

‘From far away, I didn’t realize it as much, but . . . ‘

She’s really pretty . Kuhn didn’t know how else to say it . The Princess’s skin sparkled in the light like marble . From far away, her eyes looked yellow, but up close, it looked more like a mystical gold . ‘She’s blinding’ was a cliche phrase that didn’t seem to do her justice, but nothing else could describe this feeling .

“Shall we take a look at these skills you’re so confident about?”

Kuhn was thinking about how her skin would feel if he touched it . When he heard Sienna’s words, he flinched . He couldn’t believe he was having such a ridiculous thought . Kuhn smiled bitterly before unsheathing his sword . Like the hilt, the blade was black .

“Your sword . . . is quite unique . ”

“It’s quite famous, actually . ”

To be more precise, it was notorious .

“I don’t know how to hold back, Your Highness . ”

Sienna chuckled .

“I advise you to hold nothing back . ”

Sienna was confident with her skills . She practiced swordsmanship in order to keep fit, but, like with everything she did, she believed that once you start something, you must give it your all . The knights who helped her always complimented her . Whenever she sparred with the knights, she was on par with them .

Sienna tightened her hold on her sword .

“Haa!”

Letting out a shout, Sienna quickly attacked . It was a move that would be hard to avoid .

However, as she was about to strike, something felt off . The man’s body seemed to move automatically as he avoided her attack . The simple, light movement seemed to be exuding power .

Clang!

Sienna’s sword left her hand and flew quite a distance away before falling onto the ground . Sienna slowly walked to it and looked blankly at her sword . Picking it up, Sienna brooded over the first defeat of her life .

She never thought she’d win every fight . She knew that . She wasn’t a knight . However, she never expected to fail so miserably .\n