(He wants me to pet the prince’s head? Huh? Is that a smart idea...?)
She laid a hand gently on his black hair. It felt soft, with just a little bit of bounce to it. As she moved her fingers across his head, the wrinkles in his forehead started to disappear, and his snoring resumed its more peaceful tone.
They both simultaneously sighed in relief. Fritz squinted his brown eyes as he smiled pathetically.
“I had a report for His Highness. But, well, it’s not all that urgent, so I guess I can leave it for later. Besides, I’m too afraid to wake him up now.”
Rosemarie very much wished he would wake Claudio if he had business, but Fritz simply waved his hand and took his leave.
When he was gone, Rosemarie stopped petting Claudio’s hair and gazed at him, sleeping with this docile expression she’d never seen before. She put a hand to her chest.
(If he can sleep on my lap of all people, then I suppose a little longer would do no harm...)
She feared Claudio’s reaction when he awoke. Even so, it felt like she was gaining some valuable experience, which made her happy enough to eke out a smile.
✦ ✦ ✦
The sounds of the pen scribbling echoed abnormally loudly throughout the crown prince’s silent office.
Rosemarie sat on the sofa and looked from afar at Claudio as he signed documents on his desk. He suddenly put his pen down with a clunk, causing her to hold her breath.
(This is so awkward...)
Three days had passed since the day where Claudio had that nap. Claudio had promised Edeltraud he would keep Rosemarie by his side if the headaches subsided, so he’d ordered her to come to his office.
However, for the past few days, Claudio hadn’t clung to her with her arm around her like the first day. Instead, he’d hold her hand for a few hours at a time with an expression that could only be described as reluctant.
(I was worried when he didn’t say anything when he woke up, but...)
At the time, Claudio just seemed shocked that he had fallen asleep. Not addressing Rosemarie at all, he simply ordered Alto to take him to his room, and he didn’t touch upon the subject the day after. It must have been humiliating to Claudio to have fallen asleep next to someone he detested, after all.
That day, she thought she was lucky to have a glimpse into such an invaluable moment, but those feelings had mostly diluted.
Once Rosemarie breathed a little sigh, there was a knocking at the door.
“Enter,” Claudio replied. Through the door came a middle-aged clergyman clad in elegant priest’s garb embroidered with silver thread. Behind him was Fritz, whose meek face made him look like a different person altogether. Claudio grimaced ever so slightly.
“Well, this is quite the rare visit, Archbishop Kastner.”
“I hesitated requesting you leave your work to come all the way out to the church, Prince Claudio,” the clergyman replied with a smile. His calm and composed face suddenly warped. His full head of silvering black hair started to shed, and the pupils of his gentle, squinty eyes morphed into those of a reptile. A bisected snake tongue poked its way out of his mouth, which was now split from the front all the way to his ears. Although his skin was covered in dense scales, parts of him were oozing off him like they were rotting. But for some reason, this only occurred on the right side of his face, while the other retained its gentle looks.
“...!!” Those vertical pupils glanced at Rosemarie, and she covered her mouth in attempts to stifle her incoming scream of terror.
(What is that? Why isn’t he a full beast head?)
She had never once seen a case of only half of a person’s face changing like that. With him in that state, he practically looked like a monster. Though the deformities were similar to Claudio’s, the prince’s were an even balance of lion and ram. So this was all the more terrifying.
Frantically trying to contain her urge to flee, she squeezed her hands in her lap. The Archbishop passed wordlessly past Rosemarie, seated on the couch, and stood before Claudio at his desk.
“I am here about tomorrow’s Imperial Bout. I have heard that you shall not be participating this time around.”
“Oh, it’s about that, is it? Yes, His Majesty instructed me to abstain. He said it wouldn’t be entertaining for me to compete since it’s obvious I’d win.”
“His Majesty’s order... So, I see. Actually, His Eminence the Cardinal has come from the Holy Land with high hopes of seeing your bout, Prince Claudio.”
“Sorry to disappoint, but if you’ve come to try to convince me directly to compete, you’re barking up the wrong tree. You should try His Majesty.” Claudio spoke bluntly, as if to drive the Archbishop away, and picked up a document to signal the end of the discussion. However, Kastner didn’t back down, smiling slightly wryly.
“I see. Understood, then. I shall go and consult His Majesty instead. After all, I’m sure Your Highness would love to show off your skill to the Princess.”
Rosemarie shivered at her introduction into the conversation, a cold sweat running down her spine. She felt his eyes upon her, but fear had contracted her throat, making her unable to utter a word.
“Not quite. The princess is from the pacifist nation of Volland. I wouldn’t want to expose her to combat and fall out of her favor. Besides, the paladins of the state church would be more appealing and worth watching.”
“Oh, no. She was able to marry you, Prince Claudio, so her heart must be strong indeed. I shall go to beseech His Majesty, as insolent as it may be, in order to see you put your magnificent skills on display, Prince Claudio.” Without complying to Claudio’s reasoning, Kastner smiled calmly and left the office, not once glancing at Rosemarie.
As soon as the Archbishop was out of sight, Rosemarie unraveled from her tension, lurched her body forward, and covered her head. She couldn’t stop her fingers from trembling like mad.
(What... even was that? Honestly, it was terrible...)
Ever since she started staying in Claudio’s office more, she had managed to endure seeing visitors with beast heads. But she couldn’t handle that monstrous form.
“Hey, are you listening?” Claudio’s ill-tempered question snapped her back to reality. Gradually lifting her head, she saw Claudio glaring at her in suspicion while still sitting at his desk. He had apparently been calling out to her repeatedly now.
“I asked you, what did you see him as?”
“... One half of his face was a decaying lizard. The other half was... human.” She found the remaining human half more repulsive than the lizard half.
“I see. That is quite the fitting form,” Claudio said with a scoffing grin.
“The Archbishop... do you have something against him?”
“No clue. At the very least, that one has been challenging me. To the state church, this disfigured form could be considered heretical.” Even so, she had never seen that level of malice. It would have been far better if he’d had a standard beast head like everyone else. Bringing it back to mind sent her into a wave of shivers.
“Nevertheless, things have gotten quite cumbersome. That one will definitely convince His Majesty.” Claudio tensed his brow in a wholeheartedly unamused manner.
“Do you not want to compete in the Imperial Bout?”
“Have you forgotten how I look? No one would be so foolish as to make a spectacle of themselves in such a way. Plus, the Cardinal would be in attendance. It would practically be suicide.”
“...Ah, yes, you’re right.” A lion-headed prince fighting would indeed have made for a good attraction. She had asked the wrong question. Regardless, since it seemed as though he entered last year, he might have been thinking of it as official business.
“I went through the effort to have His Majesty issue orders to keep me from competing, but where did he overhear any of that...?”
“His Majesty... I assume that he thinks the world of you, Prince.” Deformed as his son may have been, he was still his precious child. That fact somewhat warmed her heart, but Claudio looked baffled.
“Were you listening to what I was saying? I went to His Majesty to request that he give orders to bar me from participating. It wasn’t a conscious decision by His Majesty himself. He’s never coddled or treated me special. But, by the same token, he’s never challenged me, either. And besides, this was never about him ‘thinking the world of me’ to begin with.”
“Oh, is that so...? But if he did not think the world of you, he wouldn’t have approved of you withdrawing from something that you’ve been entering yearly, right?” She stared at Claudio, watching the wrinkles on his forehead slowly start to diminish. Perhaps it was because he’d never considered that, but his slightly befuddled expression filled Rosemarie with delight. Her lips curled into a smile. That brought Claudio back to his senses, and a faint blush formed on his cheeks.
“And just what is so funny? You have that naive look on your face. —At any rate, if I participate, then it will serve as a diversion in and out of the country. Thinking about it, this is just what I needed.” Despite the disparaging remarks, Claudio forcibly changed the subject, perhaps in an attempt to hide his embarrassment. That helped soothe Rosemarie’s heart, but a wave of concern suddenly came over her.
“Um, but, are you in the condition to do so? It’s just, you seemed to be lacking so much stamina that you’re falling asleep at the training grounds...” she nervously inquired, and Claudio pursed his lips in response. The fact that he was giving her a serious look, rather than a scowl, made it hard to tell if he was angry at her. She smiled just to be safe.
When she did, Claudio flashed a broad, suggestive smile of his own.
“Right, about that. You’re going to be helping me with that.” That smile had some unsettling implications behind it. But a new visitor knocked on the door before she could pursue it, so the opportunity was lost.