Her vision wavered.
Once Rosemarie managed to move her tension-frozen body and go back into the building from the arena, she staggered on her feet.
“Your Highness, are you all right?” Alto asked, by her side on bodyguard duty, proceeding to prop her up by the shoulders. Rosemarie feebly nodded in reply.
There was a pressure bearing down on her, even greater than she’d felt at her wedding, just from having so many people see every step she took and every move she made. That included both the human-headed ones and, naturally, the beast-headed ones in attendance. As a result, her fear was doubled.
“Oh, I’m fine. I just had a bit of a dizzy spell...” Maybe the lack of sleep was to blame? The moment that her nerves loosened up, she felt lightheaded. She didn’t know if she was going pale as well, but she felt somewhat cold. As she shut her eyes, she felt a hand that wasn’t Alto’s cradle and prop up her shivering shoulders.
“—?!” She shook the hand off her out of reflex as a dusty smell grazed past her nose. When she opened her eyes, she found Claudio there with a furrowed brow like always—that sharp glare causing her muscles to tense up.
“Oh... I apologize, I didn—” Claudio waved slightly with the hand she’d brushed aside, then looked away from her with displeasure.
“Alto, search for this one’s maid. A familiar face might help calm her down a little.”
Alto replied with a curt “yessir” and exited the room. Watching him do so from the corner of his eye, Claudio sighed to himself.
“What did you see this time? Monkeys? Bears? Or maybe there were some lion heads in the mix? Your vision being off-kilter isn’t a death sentence, you know. You call yourself the princess of a nation when you’re freaking out over every single thing imaginable? Pathetic. King Volland coddled you far too much. I don’t see how you’re going to live in Baltzar with that sort of behavior.” Although the corridors were devoid of human activity, Claudio kept his voice down just in case; but his voice still betrayed his irritation. Rosemarie did nothing but look down at the floor.
—Personally, I wouldn’t find the fact that you can instantly identify people who harbor animosity cumbersome at all; in fact, I’m envious.
What he told her before she went to sleep last night echoed in her mind. Everything around her seemed to go red.
The emotions she had been queasy about before had begun to boil, and began pushing their way through her throat.
“—my father, if you wouldn’t mind.”
“I can’t hear what you’re saying. Quit murmuring and speak up.”
“I said, I’d appreciate it if you stop insulting my father, if you wouldn’t mind. My personality is a product of my own doing, and the reason I have the eyes I do is because of you, Prince. If I had the option, I would have taken the beast head instead. I would much rather be pathetic and afraid than feared by everyone else.”
“What did you just say?”
“If you are so envious of my eyes, then I will gladly give them to you. It isn’t as if I stole your mana because I wanted to—”
“Silence.” Claudio’s groomed eyebrows dipped inward into an intense scowl. He forced her face into his chest, giving her no other option but to close her mouth.
“Do you know where it is you are? Luckily, there’s no one here, but we’re in a public corridor. You never know who might be listening and where. Blurt out all of that carelessly and you’ll let things you, too, would rather not be aired out into the open.”
“I wouldn’t care even if they were.” She thrusted herself away from Claudio’s chest and raised her head. Seething in rage, Claudio cast his pair of blue eyes down at her. But the girl stared right back, undeterred.
“Prince, what do you think I am? A mana storage vault? A slumber-ready pillow? I am aware that you hold a grudge against me, but you don’t understand that I have feelings as well. If you did, you wouldn’t—”
“I don’t understand your feelings? Did I hear right? No, it’s because I understand that I’ve tried to be mindful and prepared a waiting room for you. Normally, you’re supposed to spectate with His Majesty and the retainers. Considering you so fear being in the public eye, I arranged things so you wouldn’t have to be. So please, explain your tone.”
“That... I didn’t...” She hadn’t been aware of that. Mainly because Claudio hadn’t told her a single thing about it. She wasn’t smart enough to just infer that, and she didn’t have these sorts of events in her homeland, so there was no way that she would know what was out of the norm and what wasn’t.
“Um, but that’s not quite right. That isn’t what I’m trying to say here.”
“Then what in blazes are you—” Seeing Claudio’s face go beet red with anger made her will to object against him start to wither, but she tried to continue explaining in hopes of helping him understand. That was when he suddenly cut himself off. She saw that his eyes were drawn toward the end of the corridor, and she looked there herself in turn. There they saw a girl clad in a court lady’s attire nervously poked her head around the corner. Rosemarie had never seen the girl’s face before.
“What is it?”
“O-Oh! Yes, well, His Majesty has been searching for you, Prince Claudio. The celebratory banquet is about to begin, you see...” Upon hearing Claudio’s gravelly question, the lady’s face went pitifully pale. She delivered her message while glancing at Rosemarie, and Claudio nodded in response, completely composed.
“Okay, I’ll be on my way. Tell them to go ahead and start the festivities without me.”
The court lady cleared the area like a bat out of hell upon hearing Claudio’s response. Upon doing so, Claudio forcefully pulled Rosemarie’s arm and started walking.
“Um, I never heard that I needed to attend.”
“Yes, because I never mentioned it. I knew you wouldn’t want to attend, so I was planning on telling them you had to miss the banquet because you were feeling under the weather. But I’ve changed my mind. You’re coming with me. After all, you said that I don’t understand your feelings.”
Rosemarie tried to protest as Claudio dragged her along, nearly making her topple over, but he replied without even turning around to face her. His voice was no-nonsense and he was clearly enraged.
Rosemarie proceeded through the corridor being half-dragged by Claudio, heading toward the grand hall where the banquet was being held. On the way, they passed by several people who looked shocked, but that didn’t stop Claudio from walking on.