Chapter 12
Chapter 12: Red Fingertips Between Fine Threads
"Liv?"
Everyone paused for a moment at the unfamiliar name, but the most flustered was Olivia.
Ride in the same carriage? Then which carriage should I take?
Olivia quickly looked at Mrs. Lehman, and Mrs. Lehman looked at the Queen Consort.
Beatrix nodded with a smile at Lucy's innocent appearance.
"Then ride in Princess Marguerite's carriage with Mrs. Lehman, Lucy."
But Lucy's request didn't end there.
"I want to ride in the carriage I came in! I have so much to show Liv!"
Olivia reflexively looked at the carriage where the two princes were waiting.
Princess, I don't think that's a good idea.
"It's a four-seater carriage, so it's difficult," Mrs. Lehman said.
Olivia secretly sighed in relief at Mrs. Lehman's restraint, but Lucy was not easily dissuaded.
"Then my nanny can ride with my aunt."
"No, that won't do."
"Mother, I want to go back in the carriage I came in with Liv! Liv, come back with me!"
At that point, Beatrix blinked with a troubled expression and asked Olivia,
"Miss Liberty, is that alright? Would you mind going to that carriage with Lucy?"
The answer was as good as decided the moment she asked. Olivia already felt like she was breaking out in a cold sweat.
With a smile that wasn't really a smile, Olivia replied,
"Yes, of course."
"Yay!"
It was quite awkward, but seeing the girl's delighted face, she didn't feel too bad.
"Let's go, Liv!"
Lucy excitedly led Olivia to the royal carriage.
But the moment Olivia turned and saw Noah and Usher standing in front of her, she wanted to run away somewhere.
Suddenly, the road to the Royal Palace felt so long.
The servants lowered the folded carriage steps and opened the door.
Usher smiled and offered his hand to Lucy, who was very excited, and Lucy took his hand and got into the carriage first.
Olivia followed behind to get into the carriage, but someone offered a hand from the right. The sleek black glove looked somehow familiar.
Olivia glanced up and saw Noah there. As if offering a matter of course courtesy, his expression was mechanically emotionless. Come to think of it, he had the same face when he offered his hand at the banquet yesterday.
To think that she danced with a prince with such an indifferent and cold expression, even for a moment. Was it really just a dream?
Olivia carefully placed her hand on his and climbed the carriage steps.
She wondered if she should wear gloves, feeling somehow ashamed of her bare hand on his.
The interior of the carriage was cozily decorated with light cream-colored curtains and sky-blue sofas, giving it a similar feel to the room she had stayed in.
"Liv, sit here!"
Lucy pointed to the seat next to her with an excited expression. She said she had a lot to show, and indeed, there were two large baskets next to Lucy.
Olivia sat next to Lucy, and in the meantime, Noah and Usher got into the carriage and sat on the opposite seats. The carriage wasn't very spacious, so Olivia quickly adjusted her posture to avoid her legs touching.
Olivia bowed her head slightly to Noah, who was sitting in front of her, and Usher, who was sitting diagonally across from her, before quickly turning her gaze to Lucy.
It was really uncomfortable.
It would be hard to bear if there was silence, but fortunately, Lucy started laying out a lot of things.
"Liv, let me introduce you. …This is from Poslein that Usher bought for me, this is from my father, this is… a rabbit that you can change clothes on."
The princess, who had never played with anyone her age, constantly brought out things and explained them, and Olivia nodded along, thinking it was better than facing the princes. Besides, the cute princess-only dolls captivated Olivia's heart.
Olivia purely admired the rabbit doll wearing a delicately crafted tiara.
"Oh my, it's so cute. And it looks like the dress you're wearing, Princess."
When Olivia said with wide eyes, Noah, who was looking out the window, and Usher, who was reading a book, glanced at the two of them.
"Right, right?! Liv, you can put this cape on the rabbit too! You can pull the ears out here!"
"Let me put it on. It's so cute!"
Several dolls were placed on Olivia's blue skirt. She seemed to be really enjoying playing with dolls, examining the doll in her hand from every angle.
Noah chuckled and turned his gaze back to the window. The smile disappeared in an instant.
The carriage was peacefully heading towards the Royal Palace.
Just when Olivia had forgotten the initial awkward and uncomfortable feelings, an unexpected problem arose.
Lucy, who had finished introducing the dolls, took out a long skein of thread.
"Liv, let's do this!"
Noah, who was leaning on the window with his elbow and resting his chin on his hand, rolled his eyes and looked at the scene.
Lucy, who had recently become interested in cat's cradle, skillfully weaved the thread with her hands and held it out to Olivia.
"……."
But Olivia was thrown into confusion as she looked down at the thread woven in an unfamiliar pattern.
What is this? What am I supposed to do?
Olivia, who had spent her school days in a war-like atmosphere among male students, had never played with anyone her age either.
After a moment of contemplation, Olivia decided that the princess, who had been showing off her dolls, was now showing off her skills.
…Clap, clap, clap.
When Olivia suddenly applauded, Lucy's face was filled with bewilderment.
“…Kuh.”
At the same time, a suppressed laugh burst out from one side. Olivia reflexively turned her gaze and saw Noah looking at her with one hand covering his mouth.
Meeting his dark eyes filled with embarrassment, Noah eventually covered his eyes with the hand that had been covering his mouth and tilted his head back. Needless to say, his red lips were raised upward, and his broad chest heaved intermittently.
The prince was barely holding back his laughter. No, he was bursting out laughing.
"Noah."
Usher tapped his shoulder to warn him, but Usher's expression was also on the verge of bursting into laughter.
“…Isn't this it?"
"Kuh kuh kuh."
When Olivia asked Lucy, Noah's laughter, which he had barely been holding back, grew louder. Tilting his head back, his sharply protruding Adam's apple moved up and down.
This time, Usher couldn't stop him either. He was laughing too.
Is this a royal traditional game? How would I know? A disgruntled thought surged, but the princess muttered in embarrassment.
"I heard that all the girls in Herot know this game……."
Noah, who had been laughing with his eyes covered, stopped laughing and held out his hand to her.
"Lucy, give it to me, I'll do it for you."
At her brother's suggestion, Lucy re-weaved the thread with her hands and held it out to Noah. Noah took off the gloves he was wearing and skillfully touched the thread with his bare hands.
His long, straight index finger and thumb gracefully curved and grabbed the thread, then gently turned it.
Then, surprisingly, the thread took on another shape on his hand.
The moment Lucy intertwined it with her hands to create another shape, Olivia heard the sound of applause in her ears like a hallucination.
To applaud at this.
Even she burst out laughing and covered her mouth.
The gazes of the three royals reached her, who was smiling with her eyes curved.
Olivia looked at the thread hanging on Noah's finger and opened her mouth to Lucy.
"Princess, I haven't spent much time in Herot. I thought you were showing me a work of art made of thread."
"Kuh kuh."
Eventually, the royals laughed at the occasional laughter mixed in. Lucy held the thread in Noah's hand in one hand and took a serious attitude.
"Would I ever show you this as a work of art?"
"Exactly. I'm sorry. But I had no idea what you were trying to do with the thread."
Then Usher, who was listening, explained in a soft tone.
"That's called cat's cradle, it's a game where you weave thread with your hands and keep passing it back and forth."
Olivia nodded slightly to Usher and then turned to Lucy and said cheerfully.
"Please teach me. I'll learn quickly."
Lucy weaved the thread with a triumphant look and held it out to Olivia.
"There's a place where it crosses in an X here, right? Grab it there with your thumb and index finger, …that's right. Grab it like that and pull it down and then lift it up again."
“…Like this?”
And after several attempts, the top graduate of Herrington pictured the shape of the thread in her head and eventually created an amazing shape that Lucy had never seen before.
"I've never seen anything like this……."
"Let me try."
Olivia, who was about to take the thread from her hand at Lucy's bewildered appearance, turned her head at the low voice coming from the front.
He pointed to Olivia's hand with his long, ungloved fingers.
The one who played well with Lucy was surprisingly Noah, not Usher, and in that sense, Noah was much better at cat's cradle than Usher.
Olivia hesitated for a moment and held out her hand with the thread, and Noah looked at the thread with a serious expression. Then he weaved the thread here and there with his fingers and soon took the thread from Olivia's hand.
Olivia, who was mesmerized by the prince's elegant fingertips, was purely surprised by the thread that had been reborn on his hand. It was so complicated.
"Can you do it?"
When Lucy asked with an excited face, Olivia nodded with a determined expression.
"Just a moment."
Noah glanced at Olivia, who was focusing on his fingers. Her dark eyes under her delicate eyelashes were quite serious.
After a moment, Olivia carefully intertwined her slender fingers between the threads, as if she had found the answer. Her fingertips, tinged with pink, were absurdly small.
Still, those fingers stubbornly dug into the complicated skein of thread and skillfully unraveled it, and Lucy exclaimed.
At the same time, the carriage slowed down and then stopped.
She must have been so focused on the skein of thread that she had completely forgotten that she had arrived at the Royal Palace.
"It looks like we've arrived, Princess."
When Olivia took the thread out of her fingers and put it in the basket, Lucy's expression darkened rapidly. But the young princess knew that she couldn't be any more fussy than this.
Usher looked at his younger sister with a pitiful expression, and then got out of the carriage first when the door opened. Noah followed, and then Olivia.
And Noah offered her his hand again without exception. The prince's hand, offered as a courtesy to the guest, kept making Olivia feel smaller. The touching hands were awkward and embarrassing.
After carefully getting out of the carriage, she bent her knees slightly and greeted him, and he nodded almost imperceptibly.
Olivia took a few steps back, hiding her right hand, which still felt firm, behind her back.
