***
"Princess Arielle really has a good heart. She even volunteered to help her maid learn to walk every day."
William smiled at the gloomy face of the man in front of him. No one knew how long the man could hold his words about choosing not to meet Princess Arielle.
It all started when William teased and pointed it out to Ronan. He said that His Majesty seemed to care so much for a prisoner. Ronan felt annoyed and then said that the existence of Princess Arielle did not change anything at all.
King Ronan said he would prove it by never seeing Princess Arielle again.
A few days ago, William tried to ask Ronan about his feelings because, as his personal bodyguard, this was the first case where a King spent the night in the room of a princess from another kingdom without any marital status. Moreover, the princess was here as a prisoner.
"I just don’t want the girl to freeze to death. It will be troublesome if she dies before Nieverdell replaces the wolf that Alexis killed," Ronan replied at that time. However, William knew very well that was not what the man meant.
"And will Your Majesty be spending the night in Princess Arielle’s room again?"
By the time William asked this, he knew his life was on the line. Even though Ronan was wearing a mask and he couldn’t analyze the king’s expression, from the twitch in his fingers, William knew that King Ronan was holding back from killing him right then and there.
"No, but you’ll be spending the night at the stables tonight. Shut your mouth if you don’t want to freeze to death!"
Unfortunately, William was not at all daunted by this particular threat. He knew Ronan would not really lock him in the stables. This had happened several times when he had annoyed Ronan. He was also getting used to it.
"Perhaps, I’ll ask Princess Arielle for help. She is very kind. Surely the princess will offer her help to me when she finds out that there is a king who locks his loyal guards in the stables."
The debate that day bothered Ronan so much that the man said he would prove that he would no longer see Princess Arielle. His words took William by surprise. William only meant to tease his king, but the man was too sullen to joke around with.
Like today, Ronan had broken William’s joke several times with ’not funny’ comments. Ronan, who was bored with William’s voice, raised his hand to stop William’s mouth from his chatter. "Get to the point, what do you want?"
William widened his smile.
"Nothing, just making sure someone isn’t leaving royal duties for a prisoner," William teased further.
"I don’t neglect my duties," said Ronan sharply.
"My apologies, Your Majesty. I mean setting aside, not neglecting..."
Ronan just let out a long sigh. He closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
"Give me a little rest. What is your purpose here?" Ronan asked again.
"Sorry, I am just worried that Your Majesty is too immersed in work."
One of Ronan’s eyebrows shot up at William’s softening voice. "What a quick change of attitude. What do you want?"
"Priest Elis gave me this." William took out a folder from behind his back.
Ronan accepted it hesitantly. He read a few sentences in Priest Elis’ handwriting.
"What does this mean? Princess Arielle’s Mana Flow has opened?"
***
Arielle was really happy to get a new canvas. The first thing she decided to paint was the Blackthorn palace, and to finish her painting, Arielle occupied the same place the next day.
She sat on a bench in the palace gardens overlooking the Blackthorn palace to get an idea of the colors she was going to make.
Early in the morning, without calling Tania, Arielle ran down the halls of the Whitethorn palace with canvas, easel, and paints. Yesterday she had finished the basic sketch. So, today she would begin to paint. The falling snowflakes did not dispel her spirit at all.
After installing the easel and canvas, Arielle painted the entire canvas with a light white color without covering the sketch lines she had made.
"Huh?"
Arielle stopped the movement of her hands as she watched King Ronan pass through the glass windows of the building in front of her.
"It’s still early, does that mean it’s time for him to work?" muttered Arielle wonderingly.
Since the night King Ronan worked in her room, the man’s attitude had become strange. Arielle felt the man was avoiding her.
Arielle’s suspicions were not without reason, because every time they passed each other, the man would just turn around. And like yesterday, when Arielle raised her hand to say hello, the man turned around and walked the other way, making Arielle feel awkward.
"Did I do something wrong?" she muttered to herself in confusion.
Arielle thought hard remembering what she did while with the man. Was King Ronan annoyed that she slept at that time while he was working? Did he expect her to stay up all night with him? Hmm... if so, that would be a very strange reason.
Arielle tried to banish the thought from her mind by continuing to paint.
Ronan, who had just arrived at his study, furrowed his brows when his gaze caught the figure of Arielle sitting, painting under the morning snow. It was still cold outside by Southern standards.
Ronan huffed in annoyance. "Tsk, what is that girl thinking?"
He grabbed a piece of report paper that William had brought yesterday. In the report, Priest Elis wrote that there was a possibility that Princess Arielle’s mana stream has been opened.
He also explained that Arielle had a light mana attribute, which meant that the girl had experienced conditions of extreme darkness so that her body produced its own light.
Ronan put the report back down and moved on to his other work. The time continued to run until the clock on the wall showed noon. Ronan rose from his chair to stand by the window.
"Huh?"
His brows furrowed when he saw Arielle was still sitting in her place. However, that was not what made Ronan clench his fists at this time. The girl was focused on listening to the words of a man in front of her.
That man was Priest Elis.
Ronan tightened his jaw even more as Arielle touched Priest Elis’ palm. Without waiting any longer, Ronan grabbed his coat and exited his study.
***