If You Take the Enemy Prince as Your Knight Chapter 161

Come to think of it, the time when we had been at odds over the matter of night service in the past was a situation rather similar to this one. Back then, I left Regen behind and went to the ballroom, while now Regen had gone to his room without a word. There was no difference between us. If so, was Regen upset right now, too?

 

“…”

 

My resentment vanished completely. I went over our conversation again in my head. There had been words that had resonated with me particularly deeply.

 

“Surely Sasha isn’t going to claim that your love counts as love, while mine is flawed and therefore not love, right?”

 

“Just as nothing lasts forever, nothing is perfect.”

 

Unlike his brazenly confident voice, there had been no composure in his eyes. At that moment, Regen looked so desperate that I almost wondered if I was pushing him toward the edge of a cliff. Surely even that desperation couldn’t have been caused by the domination.

 

Perhaps my standards for love had been too high. There was nothing perfect in this world anyway. Yet, foolishly chasing after an illusion, I had committed the discourtesy of casually devaluing his feelings.

 

Come to think of it, I had been indulging in needless melancholy despite the blood I had inherited. If I were the daughter of a tyrant, it would have suited me better to ruin someone who said he did not want me and force him to stay by my side even if I had to crush him and bring him to his knees. But what about the situation now? Even though the other person was passionately confessing his love to me, I was deliberately trying to push him away. There was no behavior more spoiled and self-indulgent than that.

 

I threw off the blanket I had pulled over myself and drew in a breath. It seemed that I had more or less made up my mind.

 

✦

What was reflected in the mirror was a man who had spent the night wide awake. His face was filled with mental exhaustion more than physical fatigue, but even the haggardness etched into his eyes and expression could not dull the man’s appearance. Rather, it added a decadent charm, making his beauty seem almost unreal. A quiet sigh escaped from his lips, whose curves were perfect.

 

Now that Sasha had recovered her health, the order for Regen to remain on standby at the training grounds had also ended. Starting today, he could once again serve and accompany the princess from the closest position as her personal knight.

 

Regen fastened every button of his uniform without leaving a single one undone and stood upright. He composed his mind as carefully as his clothes, so that he could face Sasha with the same appearance and attitude as always.

 

A great many things happened yesterday. One of them was that they had exchanged words confessing their love for each other. Yet paradoxically, he was feeling anxiety rather than joy. Hoping only that Sasha would not push him away, Regen opened the door to his quarters.

 

“Her Highness is in the study. She said not to disturb her unless something special happens.”

 

“Understood, Lady Demia.”

 

Regen waited in the parlor adjoining the study. He stood near the door so that he could respond without delay if the princess called for him.

 

Sasha remained in the study throughout the entire morning. It seemed that a great deal of work had piled up during the long period of absence caused by her travels and illness. Until then, Regen did not find anything strange about it.

 

Around lunchtime, Demia carried food inside on a tray. It seemed that there was so much work that even her meal had to be dealt with simply. Regen worried that the princess, who had only recently risen from her sickbed, might be overworking herself. Then he belatedly felt guilty when he realized that he himself was the very person who had contributed to greatly exhausting the princess’s stamina the previous night.

 

While Regen reflected on his actions inwardly, a considerable amount of time passed. Even by late afternoon, when the sunlight entering through the window slanted low, Sasha had not stepped out of the study even once. Instead, he heard her calling the members of her household from beyond the door and sending them on errands. Hamel was called three times, Demia twice, and Shione twice. Yet Regen wasn’t called even once.

 

And so it became late afternoon. There was still no sign of Sasha leaving the study or calling for Regen. She had never left him alone for this long before.

 

At this point, even Regen could not help but notice. That Sasha did not want to see his face. Could this be the answer she had given him last night? His heart sank into a place whose depth he couldn’t fathom.

 

✦

It had been almost a month and a half since I had properly sat down at the desk in my study. Hamel had handled most of the work on my behalf during that time, but simply checking through everything he had dealt with took ages. On top of that, there were some matters that only I could handle personally.

 

After spending hours reading endless lines of text and writing confidential instructions, my eyes felt dry and sore. When I let out a small sigh over the documents, Demia, who had been serving tea beside me, stood behind my chair and began massaging my neck.

 

“Thank you.”

 

“Think nothing of it.”

 

I set the documents aside for a moment and closed my eyes. While I enjoyed the brief rest, a sweet, coaxing voice reached my ears.

 

“Your Highness.”

 

“What is it?”

 

“Did Sir Regen do something wrong?”

 

“…”

 

Honestly, why were my maids so perceptive?

 

I continued keeping my eyes closed, pretending I had not heard her. But Demia spoke in a pleading tone. “Please stop punishing him.”

 

“Punishing?”

 

“Haven’t you kept him standing beside the door continuously since morning?”

 

“What?”

 

There was a perfectly good couch in the parlor, so why would he insist on standing there and waiting instead of sitting down? The fact that he had voluntarily imposed a punishment on himself that I had never ordered was quite bewildering.

 

“He’s probably still standing there. I haven’t seen him sit down even once while coming and going.”

 

“…” I desperately suppressed the feeling that was making me increasingly uncomfortable. But a sharp mutter escaped my lips almost like a rebuttal. “At least he seems to know he did something wrong.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Enough. You may go.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

Left alone in the study, I picked up the documents again. I buried my face in them as though trying to hide in the papers, but I simply could not read the words. In the end, those documents were being let go. It seemed impossible for me to work anymore today.

 

✦

It seemed that his name had been mentioned inside the study, but Sasha’s reaction had been indifferent. Frozen stiff as though he had turned into a statue, Regen now seemed not even to be breathing. In truth, he could not feel the slightest sense that he was alive either.

 

Then the door to the study opened. Light returned to Regen’s eyes, but only for an instant. Demia, looking gloomy as well, glanced briefly at Regen before walking past him.

 

Left alone in the parlor, Regen moved his head slightly toward the window. The dazzling brightness of midday was nowhere to be seen anymore. At this rate, the sun might set.

 

It was just before the light in his eyes was about to fade before sunset. The door to the study opened again. Because the only person inside was the princess, the light immediately returned to his eyes.

 

At last, Sasha appeared before him. The princess, who had treated him harshly throughout the entire day, was beautiful even at this very moment. Her hair hung loose with a few ornaments pinned into it, and she wore a beige dress with layer upon layer of satin, creating stiff, rippling folds. Its high, upright collar suited her impassive face well. Only after seeing her face did Regen’s sense of time, which had been paralyzed, seem to return. It had truly been a long wait.

 

Regen realized that he had been staring at Sasha without even offering the proper greeting. Fortunately, she too had been staring blankly at him, so there was still time to correct his rudeness. He offered a perfunctory salute by placing his right hand over his heart.

 

“Did you… sleep well?”

 

The greeting that came thoughtlessly from a man whose time had been stopped since morning was inappropriate. It was already late afternoon, after all. As Regen realized his mistake, Sasha’s vacant eyes became clear. Even on her previously expressionless face, an expression vivid enough to reveal her emotions appeared. Her lips protruded ever so slightly in a pout.

 

“I didn’t sleep well. Because you have no manners.”

 

“…Manners?” A word he had never once considered as the reason he had kept her awake had emerged. “Me?” It was even the first time in his life he had heard such a thing.

 

At Regen’s innocent question, Sasha’s emotions surged.