If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 116

Then, all of a sudden, Regen felt like sighing. It was all his own desire, but onto whom he was projecting it? His small sigh was swept away and concealed by the cool, dry fall wind.

 

“Let’s go this way.” Sasha, who had come out of her chambers early under the excuse of taking a walk, took the lead as though she had a destination in mind.

 

By now, Regen had grasped the layout of the imperial palace as well as Sasha had, or perhaps even better.

 

“Sasha, if we go this way, there is nothing but the windbreak forest.”

 

The windbreak forest was a place where trees had been densely planted to block the fierce winds. Though it was called that, it could just as well be considered a small forest on the outskirts of the imperial palace. It could not compare at all to the beautiful palace gardens.

 

“Sometimes a different route is nice too, isn’t it?”

 

Regen accepted that. Besides, leaving footprints in a new place together with Sasha was enjoyable.

 

Within the dry air, the plain yet comforting scent of trees mingled thickly. Whenever his gaze was drawn by the occasional rustling sound, squirrels could be seen often enough. He thought Sasha might like seeing something cute, but her expression was not good.

 

“This is troublesome. To think there are this many rivals.”

 

“What do you mean?”

 

“It’s nothing.”

 

In truth, Sasha had a purpose.

 

“Regen, turn around for a moment. Cover your ears too.”

 

“Sasha?”

 

“Hurry.”

 

It seemed Sasha was trying to do something in secret. Unable to resist her urging, Regen did as she said. He was a knight who had honed his senses to the highest degree. Even if he covered his ears, he could infer what she was doing behind him from the sounds anyway.

 

“Block it with mana. Like you did to me before.”

 

“…”

 

This princess was thorough.

 

“It cannot be for long. I must protect Sasha.”

 

“Yes. Just for a moment.”

 

With no other choice, Regen completely shut off his own hearing and waited. A moment later, he felt fingers tapping lightly on his back.

 

“It’s done.”

 

Regen restored sound to his ears and turned around. “What did you do?”

 

“I’ll tell you later.” Her smiling face was as elegant as always, but there was a trace of mischief in her eyes. That girlish atmosphere was beautiful, and Regen captured every bit of this moment in his eyes.

 

Just as Sasha turned her feet toward the main palace as if everything she had come to do was finished, Regen’s excellent senses detected something.

 

“Sasha.”

 

“Regen?”

 

Regen gently pulled Sasha toward him and tucked her into his arms. When Sasha looked up at him in confusion, he placed his index finger over his lips.

 

“That’s not what I meant!”

 

Thanks to the shrill cry that rang out right then, Sasha immediately understood the situation.

 

Lilliana?

 

There was someone who did not suit the middle of the fall-leaf-covered windbreak forest. It was Lilliana, the imperial princess with lemon-blonde hair, wearing a captivating violet dress. She was not alone. Standing directly before her was her personal knight, Yulis, a sculpted-looking man with sky-blue mid-length hair.

 

“It’s a gauntlet match! Gauntlet match! You have to fight ten people in a row. If it seems too much, I only meant you should forfeit instead! How did you hear it like that?!”

 

“…”

 

The balance of emotion did not fit something that could be called a quarrel. Lilliana was pouring out anger one-sidedly, while Yulis merely listened with a face so emotionless it had become numb. His unmoving manner was as stifling as facing a wall. Even while receiving her gaze directly, he gave the feeling of ignoring her.

 

“Why aren’t you saying anything?!”

 

When Lilliana shouted, Yulis finally opened his mouth in a flat voice. “Your Highness is the one misinterpreting my words.”

 

“What? Misinterpreting?”

 

“I said that until my life ends, you will not obtain another knight. I fail to see what exactly is wrong with that.”

 

“You fail to see it? You really… don’t understand that?!”

 

“There is no need for you to be angry. Your Highness has nothing to lose in this tournament.”

 

“W-What did you say?”

 

“I will fight until I die, and I will not forfeit. Therefore, Your Highness needs only wait for my death and then take in a new knight.”

 

“Yulis!”

 

At the scream-like shout, birds were startled and flew up in a flutter. Sasha, who had unwillingly ended up witnessing a serious scene, flinched. Regen, as if to say they should watch for now, wrapped Sasha even more deeply in his arms.

 

Suppressing her temper, Lilliana barely managed to speak. “Did you… finish saying what you wanted?”

 

“…”

 

“How can you speak so easily… about dying…?” While speaking, Lilliana’s face was dyed with shock. “You’re smiling…? Just now, you smiled?”

 

“My apologies. It simply feels new.”

 

The lukewarm curve drawn at the corner of the knight’s mouth, who always wore only a cold, expressionless face, suited him unexpectedly well. The crimson eyes, which had been staring as if entranced, trembled.

 

“What do you mean by it feels new?”

 

That was a question better left unasked.

 

The expression drained from Yulis’s face once more. “Your Highness already tried to kill me once, did you not?”

 

“…!”

 

Yulis closed the distance. Pretending to be a tender lover, he invaded her space and whispered sharp words.

 

“You were going to discard me and choose Dominic. And now?”

 

“…” Lilliana’s shoulders began trembling pitifully. “T-That time, I told you… I had lost my mind for a moment. I promised, didn’t I? That I’d never do it again…”

 

Then Yulis reached out a hand toward Lilliana. Startled out of her wits, her shoulders jerked violently. Yulis’s hand merely lifted the shawl that had slipped from her shoulders and set it back in place before withdrawing. It was nothing more than a considerate gesture, worried that his princess might catch a cold in the chilly air. Realizing she had overreacted, Lilliana stood embarrassed as Yulis’s voice fell upon her.

 

“Are you afraid of me?”

 

“…”

 

“Afraid that once the imprint is undone, I will try to kill you?”

 

“N-No! I-I…” In the end, Lilliana burst into tears. Yulis flinched at that.

 

It was the moment Sasha and Regen were about to step in, almost by reflex.

 

“I—!” Suddenly, Lilliana shouted furiously, tears brimming in her eyes. “I…! Was just worried! Worried about you…!”

 

“…”

 

“Fine! I won’t worry anymore, so handle everything yourself…!” Clutching her dress so tightly it seemed she might wrinkle it, Lilliana abruptly turned her back and left.

 

Even as the lemon-blonde hair grew farther away from sight, Yulis did not immediately follow. It was as though he was deliberately giving her time so she could run some distance away. When Yulis finally began walking, he turned his head briefly and looked toward one place. It was exactly in the direction where Regen and Sasha were.

 

After Yulis had completely gone far away, Sasha slipped out of Regen’s arms and asked, “Somehow… I think we were caught, right?”

 

“He likely knew from the start. At least Sasha’s presence.”

 

“Ah…”

 

There was no way the senses of a trained knight would miss the presence of an ordinary princess. Come to think of it, since they had not really been hidden anyway, it meant Sasha had needlessly been in Regen’s arms the whole time. But neither of them pointed that out.

 

Sasha let out a long sigh, seeming deeply troubled by the conflict she had just witnessed between Lilliana and Yulis. “They seem to have a lot of problems there too…”

 

“There too? Is it not only ‘there’?”

 

“Ah, I didn’t mean the princesses. I went to the main palace library before and read secret histories about past emperors and their personal knights. Even emperors praised as wise rulers mostly ended up ruining their relationships with their personal knights. I wondered if it was a family trait.”

 

A gloomy light swirled in Sasha’s light sky-blue eyes, and Regen immediately understood what she was thinking.

 

“It is alright, Sasha. We will never become like that.”

 

“You sound certain.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Listening to the voice filled with unwavering resolve, Sasha seemed to gain faith she had not possessed before. “Alright. I’ll work hard too.”

 

“You look overly solemn, though.”

 

“The scene we just saw became a cautionary lesson. Even after the imprint is undone, I should behave well so that you won’t hate me, Regen.” Sasha said it half-jokingly, but Regen’s expression turned serious.

 

“Hate you?” His slightly lowered voice murmured softly, almost like talking to himself. “Sasha should be worrying about the opposite instead.”