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AFTER school, Iris peered out into the hallway. Once she confirmed that Reseda was nowhere to be seen, she hurried out of the classroom. Yes, she was avoiding him. She knew it wasn’t right of her, but she couldn’t help it. I mean…I’m just so…BASHFUL!
All this time, she’d thought of Reseda as a longtime male friend—her partner in crime. But now that she was suddenly his fiancée, she no longer knew how to conduct herself. After all, with her soilpox scars, she hadn’t expected to get married ever. In fashionable society, she would only ever face discrimination. And if she couldn’t attend social events, then in her opinion, she was unfit to be a noble’s wife.
Frankly, she was never that hung up on it. She was just grateful to have survived soilpox at all. And because Reseda had convinced her parents that she was going to marry him, they never bothered to educate her on the subject. After all, Reseda had already given Iris the necessary royal training, and they didn’t want to fill her head with conflicting ideas.
But because she had successfully avoided social gatherings, she had no female friends. And partly as a result of that, when her engagement to Reseda was made official, she encountered a problem: she was wholly uneducated when it came to the rules of romantic relationships. And as his future wife, Iris needed to know the proper etiquette in order to conduct herself properly in public. After all, she didn’t want to foster any situations that would result in rumors of her infidelity.
Naturally, Reseda refused to teach her the standard etiquette. He didn’t want her to feel obligated to distance herself from him for appearance’s sake. But because of that, Iris presently had no frame of reference when it came to the proper social distance between herself and other men. That said, no one had ever approached her regardless of gender, so she was under-socialized in general.
Really, how was I supposed to know that a letter sealed with cord was automatically a love letter?!
When Reseda sent Iris his formal offer regarding the Holy Maiden coronation ceremony, she had snatched the letter out of Nigel’s hand. Then, when she wrote back, she had sealed her letter in the same fashion… Did her whole family see this and assume she was sending a love letter of her own…? The realization made her blush. She must have looked like…like she was head over heels for Reseda!
Iris was so embarrassed, she wanted to scream. The memories rose up one after another—like the time they shared their ice creams with each other! At the time she didn’t bat a lash, but in hindsight, it was sickeningly cutesy! And the time she accidentally pinned him to the floor in public—she didn’t realize the sexual connotations of that at all! Iris could practically hear the little fairies calling her “improper” all over again!
She never meant anything by those things…and Reseda himself surely understood that…but at the same time, she couldn’t possibly face him! Every time she laid eyes on him, the humiliation overtook her all over again. With his beautiful lips, passionate gaze, and powerful voice, he told her:
“I want to be with you always…”
His mere presence was enough to make it all come rushing back. The faintest whiff of his lingering scent made Iris blush… Honestly, just passing each other in the hallway was enough to put her on cloud nine—heart pounding, body trembling with shame. Even right this very moment, she found herself pressing her hands to her cheeks.
Being here on campus is sheer agony. I need to hurry back to the dorms! Shaking her head, Iris cleared Reseda from her mind. Then, clutching her bookbag to her chest, she hurried out of the school building through the front entrance.
That was where she found Reseda standing stock-still with a dark look on his face. Iris stopped short, spun 180 degrees on her heel, and tried to bolt, but she was too late. He silently grabbed her by the arm. Gah, I let my guard down! This always happened whenever she was around him—like her brain instinctively trusted him.
He held her from behind, snaking an arm tightly around her waist. She could feel his forehead against her shoulder, and his hair—his breath—gently brushed against her. Please, no! I can’t take it! Tearfully, Iris tried to extricate herself from his grasp, but he refused to let go.
How is this possible?! I’ve always defeated him in any duel!
“Prince Reseda, let go of me!”
“…Reseda.”
“Reseda, please!”
“No. If I let go, you’ll just run away, won’t you?”
His muffled voice carried a hint of teary emotion. Iris sucked in a breath.
“Why are you avoiding me? What did I do wrong? We haven’t talked in days, and it’s killing me, not knowing the reason. If you’re upset with me, then just tell me!”
Her chest ached. “No, I’m just…too jittery and embarrassed,” she told him in a tiny voice. Her whole face felt like it was on fire, right up to her ears. But the last thing Iris wanted was for Reseda to mistakenly think she was upset with him.
He looked up at her beet-red face. “Embarrassed? About what?”
“A lot of things! Things I did in the past…er, sort of subconsciously…but looking back, they look like…romantic gestures,” Iris mumbled, trying her best to explain while utterly unable to look him in the eye. Now that she had realized she was attracted to him, she didn’t know how to handle it.
He burst out laughing. “And that’s got you all jittery?”
Iris nodded silently.
So, she’s been avoiding me…because she’s bashful about things that happened years ago? Oh, my dear fiancée, how cute can you possibly be? Reseda thought. His arms tightened around her.
“Prince Reseda…”
As she hesitated, he planted a small kiss on her neck. She gasped.
“R-Reseda!”
“Good grief, Iris. How can you carry out your duty as my fiancée when you’re too shy to be around me? There will be plenty of social events we’ll have to attend together, you know.”
Iris flinched. “About that…I think maybe I’m not a good fit,” she replied, her voice wavering with uncertainty.
“Sorry, but I’ve no intention of marrying anyone but you. You just need a little practice, that’s all.”
“Practice?” Iris repeated.
He pulled his arms away and leaned over her shoulder, gazing into her green eyes. “When we work together, we can overcome any obstacle, right?”
Iris looked up at him with puffy eyes. The contrast of red and green took his breath away.
“First, let’s practice holding hands.”
Gently, he laced his fingers with hers. Ashamed, she hung her head. Through the green strands, her neck was faintly visible, flushed bright pink. It looked so soft and vulnerable… Reseda was at once both hesitant to touch it and tempted to steal it for himself.
“Let’s hold hands all the way home today…and I’ll come pick you up every morning, too.”
“Every morning?!”
“Yeah, for practice. We’ll hold hands on the way to and from school so you can get used to it, okay?”
“But I…well…okay… Thank you,” Iris mumbled in a feeble voice that was entirely unthinkable coming from the same vibrant girl as before. She continued to stare at the ground.
This is a side of her only I know, Reseda thought as the sweat from their palms mingled together. Frankly, this felt like several steps down from all the dance practice they had done in the past, but nevertheless, his heart was now pounding nearly as hard as hers. We’re not just friends anymore…
Slowly, his face began to burn red as joy welled up in his chest. Reflexively, he pressed his free hand to his mouth. He knew he was probably smiling like an idiot… Good grief, I’m pathetic.
Still, he couldn’t help but admire the girl who inspired these feelings in him.