Your Majesty, Please Don’t Kill Me Again!

Is he asking me to put it on for him?

I’m not his hands or feet.

I frown because this is too much, even for a well-bred child like him.
I know they could be pretty lazy, but this is too much.
Bearing resentment, I approached his lazy ass and wrapped my coat around him.
Since I’m taller than him, the coat wraps around his short, skinny frame perfectly.
It was even loose with extra fabric, so I made an effort to tie the string in front of the coat tighter so the coat would hug him snugly.

He’s like Lehan. 1

He smiled slyly when he saw me move away after fixing the coat around his small body.
Even if I wasn’t loyal to him, he seemed amused by my gesture which seemed like I was currying his favor.

I looked down at Rupert and opened my mouth as he smiled as if it was funny.

“Are you laughing at me?”

“It’s funny.
You’re treating me like a small child.”

“Your Highness is a child.
What are you talking about? Are you an adult?”

My hands were freezing, so I placed them on my side and told him what Richie had told me before.
It wasn’t this cold in Bellua, so I’m having a hard time getting used to the weather in the Capital.
My jaws are trembling, and I can’t seem to speak without shivering.
I clenched my fist and jaw to shake off the feeling that I was turning into a human popsicle, but he stopped and turned around before I could move my body.

“If it’s cold, stop making a fuss and go inside.”

“Your Highness, I can’t let you go alone.”

“Then stop being noisy.
It’s distracting.”

Rupert’s lack of gratitude for the coat I gave him made me sad, but I shook my head and suppressed my shivering body to show that I knew what was happening.

Anyways, it’s great that there has been some progress in how we speak to each other.
Today, we talked a lot more than we ever did before.
Even as I got more comfortable talking to him, he didn’t care.
Four months’ worth of progress isn’t bad, but as time goes by, I’m becoming increasingly anxious.

In less than two years, he will be Crowned Prince.

As I fiddled with my feet to catch up to Rupert, who was walking faster, I suddenly forgot a little bit about how cold it was.
I crouched down behind Rupert, who was wandering around at the entrance to the forest while I was trying to catch my breath.

“Tori.”

After Rupert’s call, a small head pops out of the woods.
She jumped up like a sprouting tree and scampered towards us.
She had a strange animal the same size as herself in her arms.

“Were you here?”

I had never seen this strange animal before.
It was rubbing its hands, which looked like human hands, and rolling its eyes.
It’s a funny-looking animal that looked rude because of its face.
There’s a big circle on its face… seems like a fur pattern?

The animal jumped from Tori’s arms towards Rupert, rubbing its nose as if it wanted his attention.

“What is that?”

I asked Tori, pointing to the animal whose head he was stroking with familiarity.
She approached me with a small smile, looking as if she was sad that the animal had gotten away.

“A raccoon… it’s Her Highness’s pet.”

So ‘raccoon’ is the name of that strange-looking animal.
People don’t usually keep them as pets.
They aren’t killed for food, and they live in the wild, so it made sense that I’ve never seen one before.

There are cats, dogs, and horses… So why a raccoon?

I was shocked to see Rupert stroking the raccoon’s stiff fur with a blank face.

“Can you make a raccoon your pet?”

“It’s not normal, but it’s not impossible either.
The raccoon pet belonging to Her Highness is especially gentle and kind….”

“Tori! Did it bite you?!”

I was surprised to see blood on the back of Tori’s hand, and she smiled awkwardly.
I grabbed her arm and pressed it tightly with my sleeve.
Even though it wasn’t a big wound, it looked red and hot and could leave a scar.
I frowned because it looked pretty bad.

“Gentle and kind?? If it’s gentle and kind, then it wouldn’t bite people like this!”

“It’s kind towards Her Highness, so it’s fine… Oh please, Lari, your clothes….”

“It’s fine… Go back inside, and we’ll get the wound checked.”

“No… Oh my…”

“Hurry! It might leave a scar!”

I pushed Tori’s back, which was stumbling, toward the palace.

She turned around and looked back at Rupert and me as if asking for Rupert’s permission.
He nodded slightly, and Tori moved slowly as if she was still apologetic.

“You too, Your Highness.
Be careful.
Those are wild animals… Why do you think that they’ll make great pets anyways?”

“It’s tamed.”

“You didn’t see Tori’s hand, did you?”

“If it won’t follow me and only me, then it’s not mine.”

Rupert replied sarcastically and stood up with the raccoon in his arms.
At first glance, the raccoon seemed weak, but it quickly climbed up to his shoulder and wrapped its neck around his head.

“Then, since I’m yours, I will also follow only you, Your Highness.”

At this point, I once again showed how loyal I was by being as submissive as a raccoon.
I thought he’d just dismiss it as nonsense like always, but Rupert miraculously looked back and stared at me with his green marble eyes.

They weren’t glaring as intensely as before, but his eyes had a look of indifference that didn’t look favorable to me.

“No, you aren’t mine.”

“Why? I’m your maid.”

“You are not one of my many possessions, and I do not include you among them.”

Rather than a cold rejection, it was straight to the point.
I shrugged my shoulders because I never thought that I could win his trust in four months.

Rupert, who was watching me, approached me with the raccoon on his back.
The snow made his footsteps much clearer.

Slowly, he looked right into my eyes, and I couldn’t escape.
I was afraid of his doll-like eyes.
Sometimes it scares me because it doesn’t look like it belongs to a human being.

“So don’t be annoying and trying to fit in.”

He whispered in a low voice as if someone was eavesdropping around the forest.

I held my breath.

His weak breath touches the back of my neck.
When Rupert looked at my face, his lips made a beautiful curve, like a painting.

“Even if I’m a powerless princess, I can kill you without anyone knowing… be it a mouse… or a bird.”

His threat was spoken in a very nice and polite manner.
I didn’t feel afraid.
It’s not that I’m not scared, but most of my worries about him come from what I’ve seen in the future.

I’m scared of the ‘monster’ he will become, not the small child he is now.
He was still a small child, but sometimes his eyes were so strange that they gave me goosebumps.

What if I grabbed that rock over there and decided to hit your head with it?

“I’m sorry if I angered you, Your Highness; that wasn’t my intention.
I’m sorry if I hurt you in any way.”

Of course, like a weak human being… you’ll die as well.

I apologized quietly while thinking about how unfortunate it would be for Rupert to die.

I didn’t get mad at him for being cautious around me.
No matter my ultimate goal, my actions will never be right.

I was a shy, cowardly victim who didn’t even think about getting revenge, but that didn’t mean I didn’t hate him, the true murderer.

Rupert seemed pleased with my answer.
He sat down under a tree and didn’t answer me.
The naughty raccoon sits on his lap and licks its tongue as if to tease me.

I stood next to him like it was nothing out of the ordinary, but my heart was pounding a little bit because I was nervous.
Rupert and the raccoon both looked at me at the same time, which may have been in surprise.

Even though it looked funny, I didn’t laugh.

“Why don’t you go?”

He must have thought that his words would scare me and prompt me to leave, but instead, I looked at him as if what he said was strange.

“Where should I go? Your Highness is here.”

“Are you an idiot or stupid?”

Rupert made a strange sound with his mouth, then tickled the raccoon’s jaw.
The raccoon purred like a cat, which would make me laugh in normal circumstances, but I shook my head and held back.

“Neither one.”

“Are you kidding me?”

“…No.”

No way.
I wouldn’t be wasting my precious time like this to be funny.
I nervously answered Rupert’s question and sat down while fiddling my eyes with my fingers.
I recklessly entered the palace, but things didn’t go as well as I thought they would.

It made sense.

Even if the Imperial Family is as careful as Rupert, they might not be able to trust an aristocrat in a difficult situation like mine.

However, it is important that they do.

But why can’t he accept the truth that I won’t hurt him?

“Your Highness, can I ask you something?”

“What?”

“What did I do so wrong?”

I used my finger to draw while I waited for an answer.
Because I like how soft the snow feels, my hands keep going.
He took a quick look at the raccoon I was drawing on the ground and sighed.

“You’re seriously asking that?”

“Yes, I don’t know, so I’m asking.”

For a moment, Rupert didn’t say anything.
He answered very slowly.
Maybe he was deciding on a reason or trying to think of something to say.

“Don’t treat Tori so well.
An aristocratic girl treats her well, and now she can’t stop smiling.”

“Why not?”

“I know how you nobles view her kind, don’t be so arrogant.”

Even though he had forgiven me for the dumpling incident because I had helped her before, he still didn’t trust me. 2

If I, as a noble, look down on Tori, a merchant’s daughter, then it’s only fair that he, as a member of the Imperial Family, does the same and treats her less than a worm.
But instead, he’s constantly taking her everywhere he goes, and I’m the one pretending to be kind?

I have impure intentions, yes, there’s no doubt about that… but I don’t hate the shy and clumsy Tori.
I pouted my mouth, slightly upset.
He looked at my frown and continued.

“Don’t follow me like an obedient dog.”

“I’m your maid, so if I don’t… who will follow you?”

“In any case, you’ll be going to Nigelle or Arnulf soon.
I don’t need you to look good in front of me.”

“But I’m not going.”

When I told him my thoughts, he turned his head around to look at me.
He made a face that looked as if he didn’t believe me.
It was a similar expression I used to make whenever I didn’t understand something in Mrs.
Crissy’s class, so I smiled.

“Why?”

“What ‘why’?”

“Why are you trying to stick to my side?… Are you really as stupid as you look?”

I frowned at Rupert’s harsh words.

In the sense that she’s reminded that Lehan also wore oversized coats that didn’t really fit him either when he was small. ↩️

Chapter 14 ↩️