Translator: Nox

Chapter 7

His hands were incredibly pale. They seemed almost as white as her own. Furthermore, they were elegantly and beautifully shaped.

Thalia, reflexively starting to reach her arms out toward him, felt the bird huddled in her grasp twitch its wings and hurriedly shook her head.

“I can’t. I’m holding something in my hands right now.”

She saw the boy’s eyes narrow beneath his hood, which hung heavy with rainwater.

His gaze dropped to her hands gathered against her chest.

“Is it important?”

After a moment of deliberation, Thalia shook her head.

“It’s not important.”

“Then throw it away.”

“It might not be important, but I can’t just throw it away.”

At her defensive retort, a crease formed between the boy’s smooth brows. He seemed to be growing annoyed. She worried that he might just leave her there and walk away.

However, the boy once again acted in a way that completely defied his cold appearance. He bent down in front of her and scooped up her body, which was filthy with rainwater and mud, lifting her into his arms.

Thalia let out a small shriek at the unexpected action. The boy held her firmly as she flailed, saying bluntly, “Stay still.”

Thalia immediately obeyed his instruction.

While she carefully checked the bird in her hands, loosening her grip so it wouldn’t be hurt, he moved his legs steadily and climbed up the slushy slope. His gait was as agile as a cat’s.

Yet, despite escaping the quagmire so nimbly and swiftly, it seemed he couldn’t prevent his clothes from getting dirty. He frowned as he looked down at his ruined trousers, boots, and the hem of his robe.

“This is the worst.”

“……I’ll compensate you since this happened because you helped me. I can buy you a new one that’s much more expensive than what you’re wearing now. Actually, I’m the daughter of a very, very great person. I’ll tell the servants to give you a generous reward, too.”

She had spoken out of guilt, but for some reason, he seemed offended.

Taking a few more steps to avoid the piles of dirt around the pit, the boy said flatly, “A little thing like you certainly puts on airs.”

Thalia flushed. Normally, she would have slapped the face of any boy who spoke so insolently. No one should dare speak that way to the Emperor’s daughter.

But for some reason, she couldn’t say a word. Even though the cold rain was relentlessly lashing her forehead and cheeks, her face felt as if it were burning hot.

The boy stopped beneath a massive, old tree that Senevia hadn’t managed to uproot yet. Just then, the bird let out a faint cry.

The boy, who had been bending down as if to set her down, paused and lowered his gaze to her hands gathered at her chest.

“What are you holding?”

It seemed he had finally become curious.

After a moment’s hesitation, she carefully opened her hands.

“A bird?” he muttered skeptically.

It was understandable. With its pathetic, mud-caked wings drooping and its pink chest flesh exposed, the tiny baby bird looked more like a sewer rat than a bird.

Thalia’s cheeks turned crimson. The bird was the one that looked horribly bedraggled, but for some reason, she felt like the pathetic one.

“It’s like this because it fell into the muddy water. Originally……”

It might have been prettier.

She started to say it but stopped. The scrawny, brown bird likely hadn’t been very pretty to begin with. It was probably just a common starling that could be found anywhere.

However, the boy seemed inclined to show kindness to the wretched, ugly bird.

Supporting her with one arm, he pulled her hands, where the bird rested, inside his hood.

Thalia’s eyes widened. His skin against her fingers was as warm as the glow of a fireplace. Seeking the warmth, the bird pressed itself close to the area just below the boy’s collarbone.

“Your fingers are like ice. How long were you standing there?”

The boy, who had been staring down at the bird tucked under his chin, turned his head toward her. Thanks to that, Thalia could look directly into his blue eyes, framed by thick, rain-soaked lashes, from right in front of her nose.

Seen up close, his eyes were very peculiar. It was as if small fragments of silver had been scattered across a clear winter sky.

Staring blankly at them, Thalia murmured reflexively, “Hey…… there are silver crowns in your eyes.”

The boy’s eyes widened slightly.

His lips parted slightly as if to say something, then closed again. Thalia realized that this nameless boy was also looking into her eyes.

I wonder what he found in my eyes.

As Thalia was thinking that, a familiar voice drifted from afar.

“Miss!”

It was Nanny.

She wasn’t used to the word ‘Highness’ yet, so she would often get scolded by Thalia’s mother or the other maids for calling her that. But it seemed the habit was hard to break. Her desperate voice echoed from a distance.

“I have to go now,” Thalia whispered. For some reason, she hated saying those words. Perhaps this boy hated hearing them, too.

He stood still for a long time before slowly setting her down on the ground, like a man acting against his will.

As his arms left her, Thalia felt a chill that seeped into her very bones. Only then did she realize how warm the boy’s embrace had been.

After hesitating, she held the young bird out to him.

“Will you take it with you?”

Because my hands are too cold, and you are warm.

She was about to say that, but he leaned down and carefully took the bird. Then, he brought it to his plaster-white cheek and pulled his hood forward as if to shield it from the rain.

Thalia, staring up at him, asked, “That bird…… will it live?”

“……Yes.”

The blue eyes containing silver crowns lingered on her face for a long time.

“It will live.”

The boy’s face remained expressionless, but somehow Thalia thought he had smiled.

She soon turned around and began to run through the rainy garden.

She ran between the uprooted rose bushes and shrubs and the mounds of dirt piled like small graves; then, as if pulled by something, she turned her head and saw him standing still beneath the massive tree.

Why isn’t he going?

Perhaps he was waiting for the rain to let up a bit more.

Perhaps he was watching her leave.

Thalia was suddenly seized by an impulse to go back to where he was. She wanted to take shelter from the rain with him. She also wanted to sit side-by-side in front of a warm fireplace and watch the bird recover its health.

But while she hesitated, Nanny suddenly burst out from inside the building. Her round face was flushed red and purple, as if she had been looking for her for quite some time.

“Where on earth have you been! Do you have any idea how much Lady Senevia has been looking for you?”

Nanny gripped her hand tightly with her plump fingers and roughly pulled her inside the annex building.

“And look at the state of you! You have to go see His Majesty soon; how could you get your clothes so dirty!”

“……I fell while taking a walk.”

“Honestly, a walk in this weather!”

Nanny shouted in disbelief and began to stride toward the corridor connected to the separate palace.

Thalia looked back as she was practically dragged along by that hand. But he was no longer in sight.