Arielle was lost in her thoughts again, staring at the masked man in front of her. After meeting several times, for some reason, it was only now that Arielle became curious about the face behind the mask...
She almost had the chance to see it earlier. However, as she blinked a few times to clear her eyes back then, the man covered her eyes.
If the story of his battle with the dragon really left a terrible scar on this man’s face, Arielle really wanted to see that scar.
Unfortunately, Arielle felt her back was getting tired and decided to lay down even though she wanted to stay awake. She made a promise that she would just rest her body and wouldn’t fall asleep. She couldn’t take away her thoughts from thinking about the face of King Ronan.
His jet black hair was always neat, his jaw looked solid, and the man’s full lips also looked beautiful. Sometimes when Arielle was lucky, she managed to see the red iris from underneath the mask.
However, that was all she could see.
Fuah.... the bed and blankets are so warm, Arielle thought.
She blinked her eyes to get rid of the sleepiness. However, her body was already losing the battle as Arielle snuggled and enjoyed the warmth of the blanket and before she knew it, Arielle had already fallen asleep.
Ronan really couldn’t focus on reading the file since Arielle lay down. Every five seconds, he would turn his gaze back to the girl who was fighting her drowsiness from the writing in front of him.
When the girl finally lost and fell asleep, he chuckled, feeling amused.
"So cute," he commented.
***
Arielle visited Tania’s room every day. She was not at all ashamed as a princess to visit a maid’s room. Tania forbade her to visit many times, but Arielle didn’t listen at all.
Slowly, her maid began to return to health. Tania was able to walk normally again.
"Are your legs not stiff anymore?" asked Arielle and tried to touch her maid’s feet.
"Your Highness! Please... It’s not right for a princess to touch her maid’s feet," said Tania firmly.
Arielle just smiled. The girl knew that Tania just felt awkward with the other maids from Northendell.
"What’s there to worry about? In Niverdell, I used to sleep on your lap."
"But this is the North, Your Highness."
"What’s different if we’re in the north? Then take my hand. We’ll train your leg muscles to get used to walking again."
Tania grabbed Arielle’s outstretched hand. She was old. The days of being stuck in the cold took a toll on her old bones. Now, she needs to be helped with a wooden stick just to be able to walk.
Arielle took them to a palace garden. The girl patiently waited for Tania’s short steps.
"If you’re tired, or if your legs start shaking, we can rest."
"I can go this far, Your Highness."
"Okay," Arielle nodded. The two of them passed the fountain pool in search of warmth. That afternoon, the northern sky was quite bright with no snow falling even though the sky was still gray, not blue like the sky in Niverdell.
"I think this is the brightest sky I’ve seen while I’ve been here," Arielle said, tilting her head. She sighed. "Northendell really is a gloomy Kingdom."
"Your Highness, don’t talk like that, if any Northerners hear us, we might get in trouble."
Arielle chuckled at her maid’s concern. Even though they had lived in the North for days and been treated very well, Arielle could see the suspicion in Tania’s eyes.
"What are you really worried about, Tania? The Northerners have been really nice to us."
Tania nodded slowly, "It’s true what Your Highness said. It’s just... it seems like this kindness is too good to be true. Ah, maybe I was just overthinking..."
In Nieverdell, Tania needed to be on guard at all times for Princess Arielle. She knew she was just a servant sent to look after a baby. Back then, Arielle was nothing more but a baby who suddenly appeared at the time of the return of the King of Nieverdell.
However, after accompanying this princess’ growth and development into adulthood, Tania now had a sense of wanting to always protect the child, like her own daughter.
After a long time of seeing the jealousy and indirect bullying done by Arielle’s siblings, it made Tania was unable to trust others so easily.
"I’m afraid something like nine years ago will happen again," she said anxiously.
Arielle was starting to understand what her maid was getting uneasy at. Arielle brought Tania to sit on a park bench facing the Blackthorn palace.
"Tania... I believe that Northerners are sincere people."
"You also thought this way about Princess Andrea back then. Your Highness accepted her kindness, treating her as sisters until at the end..." Tania was speechless, remembering what happened nine years ago.
It was Princess Andrea’s, Queen Rosalie’s first daughter’s debutante party week, and Arielle was only nine years old at the time.
Andrea treated Arielle so well. She invited her to choose clothes, stay in the palace with the queen, introduce her to her friends until the day of Princess Andrea’s debutante party arrived...
"I don’t remember anything about that night, Tania. So I will still assume that what Princess Andrea did was because she loves me and considers me her sister."
Tania shook her head in resignation. She herself did not know what happened on the night of Princess Andrea’s debutante party.
All she knew was that Arielle’s party dress had been torn apart, and she was found in the forest in a semi-conscious state. The next day Princess Arielle said she did not remember anything that happened in the forest.
"Tania... if I want to be honest. I love this place, even though I’m just a prisoner, they treat me better than Southerners. I mean, even if they’re going to hurt me in the future or make me food for the wolves when Niverdell can’t afford to give the baby wolves to the North, I’ll have to face the consequences." Arielle bit her thumb, hesitant to continue expressing her feelings.
"What is Your Highness thinking!? No, no .... You can’t think like that!"
"But weren’t you the one who started having negative thoughts about their kindness?"
"No, Princess! That can’t be happening!" said Tania firmly.
The old woman snapped her wooden stick and forced her stiff body to stand back up.
"Tania? Where do you want to go?"
"I will bow down to King Northendell to make me their wolf meal in your stead!"
"I’m sure that won’t happen," said someone from behind.
Arielle and Tania looked back and found Lucas covering his mouth, holding back a smile.
"Lucas?"
"Greetings, princess," Lucas greeted Arielle with a bow. "I remember, Princess Arielle once mention that Her Highness really likes to paint, so I brought a canvas and paint for the princess to use in her spare time."
A butler came with a medium-sized canvas and a handful of various sizes of brushes. In his other hand was a set of various colored liquid paints.
"This is all for me?"
"To Princess Arielle Dellune directly from King Ronan D. Blackthorn."
Arielle turned towards the palace in front of her. She looked at one of the glass windows. Her heart started beating very fast when she saw a man that was standing alone from behind the window as if watching her.
Arielle dared to raise her hand to wave at him, but the man didn’t respond. Instead, the man turned around which made Arielle feel awkward.
She turned back to Lucas. "Give my thanks to His Majesty King Ronan."
"With pleasure," Lucas replied, who then asked permission to resign.
Arielle and Tania looked at each other.
"I think my worries are very unfounded," said Tania.
She sat back down to accompany Arielle, who started making simple sketches on her new canvas.