THE room they were led to was very much customized for little girls—or rather, predators trying to win them over. Every nook and cranny of the room was pink with frilly lace attached. The unusually large canopy-covered bed in the center of the room overpowered even the frills on the walls.
Both Luca and Yuki kept their distance from the bed, choosing rather to sip their tea at the table near the front of the room. Exhausted, Yuki leaned heavily into her chair and stole a glance at Luca as she drank her tea. Luca just put a fifth sugar cube into his black tea.
I wonder if he has a sweet tooth. Or is he so deep in thought he hasn’t noticed?
Silence continued to loom between them. Yuki tried several times to start a conversation, but she didn’t know what to talk about and couldn’t find the right chance to speak. Not to mention there was a high chance they were being spied on—in fact, Yuki expected it. Luca put his teacup to his lips in silence. She was certain the tea would be overwhelmingly sweet, but he drank it with his usual brazenness.
Sitting in a daze not thinking of anything in particular automatically caused Yuki’s thoughts to drift toward her own predicament.
Why…am I even here? Just when I thought I was suddenly drowning in a spring, I was unknowingly made the Master of the blond-haired prince who rescued me. And now for some reason I’ve been brought to a place for war negotiations after being forced to wear strange clothing.
“By the way,” Luca turned only his eyes toward Yuki, “what are we going to do now?” she asked. He told her he wanted to free the prisoners, but didn’t tell her any of the details. She wondered whether there was anything she could do to help.
“Good question. I was planning to decide based on how Isis dealt his cards, but he’s quite the problematic opponent.” Luca narrowed his eyes in contempt, as if he had seen something so disgusting he wanted to scrub the image from his brain.
Aah, he must be disgusted that pervert thought he was cut from the same cloth.
“But his kind doesn’t have a strong set of convictions, so I’m sure he’ll accept if we present him with appealing terms.”
Appealing terms… Yuki sighed. She couldn’t wrap her mind around what would be appealing and what would be unappealing to someone like Isis.
“Worst-case scenario I’ll set a decoy to distract him and open the cells myself.”
“…Won’t that be difficult?”
“It’ll become an instant battlefield when I free them,” Luca said matter-of-factly.
…This guy pretends he has no plan then feigns he actually has a plan, when in all reality he actually doesn’t have any plan at all. Yuki felt uneasy as she watched Luca vacantly stare into space.
Just when she thought she heard voices outside the door, it opened without the person knocking. She quickly covered herself with the mantle.
“Pardon me. I apologize for the wait. General Isis’ banquet has been prepared. If you would follow me I will escort you,” said an uncouth grim-faced soldier standing in the doorway.
“Not at all. You were quite expedient. Come now, Yuki, let’s go.”
“Only Prince Luca has been invited to the banquet,” the uncouth man said to the mildly smiling Luca.
“Oh?” Luca replied calmly, but there was a hidden edge to his tone.
The soldier didn’t seem to notice as he continued, “Your companion is to relax in this room. Her food will be brought here.”
Yuki peered through the opening in her mantle at Luca who was all smiles.
“Then I guess I’ll have Yuki wait for me here.” Luca turned his back to the soldier and looked at Yuki with a stern expression. His eyes said, “Stay here.” She nodded.
“I’ll be going then, Yuki. I’ll be back soon, so don’t go wandering about,” Luca said, patting her on the head before leaving the room.
✦ ✦ ✦
“…THERE’S nothing to do,” Yuki grumbled.
Several minutes after Luca left, Yuki dived onto the canopy bed. As the solider said, food was brought to the room for her, but her nerves were so strung she had lost her appetite and left the food untouched on the table.
“What is that guy planning on doing?”
Maybe he sneaked into enemy territory intending to slaughter everyone on his own?
“Nah, his allies outside would never stand for that plan…”
Besides, he’s a prince. The war would worsen if he did something like that.
“But what if that was the goal all along? I mean why was I invited here in the first place if they were planning on forcing us to eat separately after locking me in this room? Isn’t that strange?” she asked no one in particular.
“…Wait a minute, what if what I took as him saying ‘stay here’ was actually him saying, ‘I leave the rest to you’?”
The more Yuki thought about it the more uneasy she felt. The more she considered it, the more believable the idea became, eventually leading her into deluding herself that was what Luca meant.
“…I feel just like a hero who snuck into enemy territory. Actually, I feel more like Romeo going to meet Juliet,” she giggled and rolled out of bed. She put her ear against the only door to the room—she didn’t hear anything on the other side. She cautiously opened the door.
“Oh my.” She completely thought someone would be standing guard on the other side. Not only was no one there, but the door was left unlocked too. “Could this be a sign from God telling me to go?”
Yuki slowly exited the room, shutting the door without a sound. She readjusted the mantle over her head, and slunk into the shadows of the hallway to begin wandering about the conquered castle.