One of the knights standing in front of the gate approached. Our carriage halted behind one of the many identical royal escort carriages in front of us parked in the main garden. The knight opened the door of the carriage with dignity and lifted his hand to help me get off. I grabbed his palm and gracefully jumped off the carriage with a thump. Three well-dressed servants hurried into the carriage and grabbed all of my belongings. They scurried off in a different direction, entering a side entrance.
The knight led me through multiple corridors, up a mana-powered elevator contraption, around the castle with twists and turns. I blindly followed him with a blank mind, carrying a metal box safely in hand. At first, there were other aristocratic children following a knight with their belongings held by servants behind them, but as we continued to walk and weave around the palace, they dwindled. Eventually, the halls we walked through were completely empty.
Suspicion slowly crept into my mind. I moved my hands behind my back and began to siphon mana from my heart into the tips of my fingers. They glowed a pale blue, with strands of silky silvery-white mana exuding from them. I whispered an unintelligible incantation, preparing a spell. One large magic circle appeared from my wrist, twisting enigmatically.
The knight eventually stopped in front of two grand, elaborate crystal-like doors. I was distracted by the slightly tingly feeling in my hand and precisely bumped into the metal plate on his back. Seemingly unperturbed, he knocked thrice and waited for a response.
"...who?" There was a slight delay before someone answered. His husky voice was muffled by the voluminous door frame.
"Your Royal Highness, it is the Second Knight Commander. You ordered to bring the Young Lord to your chambers, did you not?"
A loud crash, like a body hitting the ground, was heard. I winced slightly and stifled a snicker. There were light stomps from the left to the right, and after fifteen seconds of agitated sounds from inside the room, a slightly out of breath voice said, "Come in."
The door creaked open slightly and the Knight Commander bowed and gestured for me to enter. I chuckled awkwardly, realizing I misunderstood his intentions, and quickly stifled the explosive first-circle spell in my hand.
Slipping through the gap in the door, I walked farther into the room, which was more like a well-embellished penthouse. I saw the slightly red-faced tsun-tsun prince lying elegantly on the divan next to the floor-to-ceiling window. His arm was draped over him, trying to conceal the heaving of his chest. His hair was in slight disarray, with a few locks of blond hair sticking out from the side of his head. ...Bedhead. The little tsun-tsun was sleeping a few seconds ago.
Behind me, the door closed with a click. I glanced back before resolutely marching forward to stand a few steps away from the crown prince. Kneeling down begrudgingly, I said, "Greetings, Crown Prince."
The metal box in my hand rattled slightly at my movement. His eyes were immediately drawn to the small case, and I heard him gulping. His feelings of obvious entitlement to the snacks made my indignation rise, and an angry snort almost escaped my mouth, but instead, I just looked away and cracked a small smirk. Heh, traitor, you'll get your retribution. Don't even dream of eating these!
He coughed and stood from the divan. He practically dashed to the tea table on the other side of the room. "Take a seat," His nonchalant order contradicted the slight drool leaking from his mouth and his eyes which were fixed on the small metal box in my hand.
I shifted to plant myself naturally on the uncomfortable chair and placed the box enticingly on the small glass table. His adam's apple rolled, and his body was practically leaning over the box, like he was going to bite the metal to get to the food.
I purposefully interjected his fantasy of sweets and said, "The weather today is beautiful." The tsundere snapped out of his stupor and hurriedly drew himself away from his precarious position.
"...mmh," the tsun-tsun replied flusteredly.
I laughed with a snide glint in my eyes. Touching the handle of the metal box snidely, I let go and watched his utterly disappointed expression immediately surface. I caressed the amulet sealing the cooled sweets inside with a gentle touch, sometimes gently pulling the lock to taunt his suppressed drool. His dilated, teary eyes seemed eager enough to beg my hand to click it open. His mouth opened and closed, but eventually ended up swallowing his begging words down to save his pride.
My smirk grew wider as I continued to watch his teary wronged expression. After a few minutes of fooling around, the prince's threshold of dissatisfaction was reached.
He slammed his hands on the small tea table and kicked his chair back impatiently. "J-Just open the box already!"
I heard the sound of my shredded down sanity snapping. My smile froze and twitched. Forget it, who cares if he's a prince.
"Hahhh... Prince Lucius." He looked down from his standing position and saw my dark expression. He yelped and hurriedly sat down.
"Your highness, how polite and diplomatic you are~" I felt a vein pulsing on my forehead and my smile growing wider from exasperation. Who told him you could be such a brat. "You really shouldn't be so entitled. Prince, do you know, I'm the only person in this world who can bake these sweets."
He blinked twice, confusion showing on his face. His head cocked to the side before he blushed furiously. He coughed and looked away with a bashful gaze. "...hmph! Th-then I-I'm forced to keep you by my side so you have the privilege to bake for me!"
My eyes turned to ones of a dead fish and unwittingly said, "Hah?"
His blush spread to his fair, smooth neck. "It's not like I want you here or anything... b-but if you're going to be hanging around anyway, you might as well do something useful. D-don't get any ideas!" His cheeks grew redder by the second and his ears had already turned to a deep shade of tomato red.
...Huh? My mind went blank. Visible question marks appeared above my head as I sat, flabbergasted. Never in my modern-day life did I ever think I would stumble on someone so entitled that even clear criticism would fly right over their head.
My blank expression faded and I snapped back into reality after the unrealistic experience. ...Never mind that, it's better to pay it no mind. What I really should be focusing on is his reaction! What's with that face, huh? Why are you blushing?! What did I do?!
I gritted my teeth and cried to the heavens. I wouldn't be in so much distress if this was a normal person. But he was a capture target! A main character! Not to mention, he was the prince of the main kingdom the otome game would be set at!
Poking the small lock of the box and disregarding the tomato-turtleshell prince, I mourned yet another hardship I would have to face.
Just my luck... another capture target that seems to have strayed from the plotline.