𝕾𝖔𝖓𝖌 𝖙𝖔 𝖑𝖎𝖘𝖙𝖊𝖓 𝖙𝖔: 𝖂𝖍𝖎𝖙𝖊 𝕳𝖔𝖗𝖘𝖊 𝖇𝖞 𝕿𝖆𝖞𝖑𝖔𝖗 𝕾𝖜𝖎𝖋𝖙
***
The instant his hand moved from gripping the door to running over the fringes of my hair, something snapped directly at me. My eyes kept becoming bigger and bigger, and before I realised it, I was holding my breath.
It seems like something is upsetting him because of the way he twirls my hair as if he wants me to make locks, the way he looks at it, down to my lips, and up to my eyes again, and so on. I know it's rude to look him in the eye.
My chest felt like a drum that would never stop banging, and I have no idea what I'm feeling right now. My worst error occurred when I chose to meet his gaze directly; my vision went hazy, and I was only able to focus on his lips.
I could see how narrow and red they were, as if they lined up precisely with each contour of his face. He leaned closer to me, and I was unable to look away. The smell he was carrying also made it feasible for me to pass out before I could ask another question.
"Y-Your h-high----"
"Lady Vestia, why? Did I say or do something that alarmed you?" He spoke in a whispery tone, engulfing me in this spherical foundation that I was unable to escape. I was even more inebriated when his warm breath cascaded into my nose.
His breath had a lemon-mint aroma that caught my attention, and it felt as though the pandora was gently opening again rather than closing and disappearing into the abyss.
It wasn't like this when he normally saw me in the past. He used to hate me, treat me like a fly, and walk right by me like he didn't know I was there. But now things are different.
So far, everything he's revealed has only piqued my interest. What question did he ask me earlier, though, when I should be the one asking him?
Why would I grasp a small boy's hand at a market, and why did I feel afraid when I first met him? At that moment, I was able to absorb one thought: Did he notice us there?
As long as he had one or two imperial knights by his side, he might wander outside. But in my opinion, there was no fuss about the crown prince showing up at the market earlier.
No, that isn't possible. Just let go of your feelings and heart. Just don't do whatever you're thinking. Vestia, get a hold of yourself because Caliere is the kind of person who would pursue you out of curiosity rather than a desire to have you in his life.
I thought back to the last glimmer of optimism that had briefly brightened before fading from my consciousness. We were so close right now, but I understood what he wanted, and he wanted me to just respond to him.
"Y-Your Highness, I don't know why you're doing this." I stopped and put my hands softly on his chest, waiting to see whether he would try to push them away or whether I would fall to the ground and stand up.
But he never actually did. When I lifted my eyes from his lips to his eyes, I saw an emotion there that I had never been able to feel before, not even in the past.
"You ask, why?" He spoke, but I saw that he bit his lower lip rather than causing me any pain before backing off without even threatening to unhand his chest.
As soon as his body began to burn me, the hands that were still attached to his clothing moved. Caliere shook his head, his eyes widening at my abrupt movement.
He took a soft hold of my hand without even waiting for a moment. He wasn't the kind to hold on to things tightly.
I never asked him to "take a seat," but he never asked for those words either. I don't want to be a doll, but in this situation, I would rather be, he replied, sounding as if he were ordering his obedient subject to obey. I still wasn't able to connect with him.
"..." I sat up straight and ultimately turned to face him without meeting his eyes.
"What is it that you're afraid of?" Before he even noticed me, he returned to the spot where he had been sitting earlier. His expression turned bland once more as he crossed his legs and glanced at his tea.
A fine dusting of blackness appeared to replace that flicker of curiosity. I suppose it's because I haven't gotten to know him well in the past; I'm not sure why.
This realization dawned on me: although I would follow and adore him from a distance, I also had no idea what was going through his head. I simply didn't understand what he was going through at the moment, and this dejected expression on his face proved that I still needed to learn a lot about him before I could truly understand who he really was.
He turned away from his cup and added, "By the way, the tea had been cold," staring out the window. He went silent after that, so it's possible that he was waiting for my answer.
I talked while holding onto the hem of my dress and twiddling my thumbs. "Y-Your H-Highness, it was not because of anything; I was just shocked that day," I said.
I realized then that he was staring at the reflection in the window, which predicted my reaction, rather than the outside scene.
He just muttered, "I see," as he put his palm down on the table and opened his book.
"Do you know about the rabbit and the wolf?" I nodded in response to his second question right away.
I could not know what was going through his head at the moment, but at least I knew how to react to him.
"Yes, Your Highness," he says with a smile that I haven't seen him give since I returned.
All I feel right now is curiosity and pity, so he should have done that when I was still in love. Not because I found him enigmatic, but because, should he ever ascend to the throne, he would be entrusted with a great deal of responsibility.
"Then mind sharing the story for me?" He enquired.
He gave me a look that didn't include a smile, but I knew it was a princely demand, so I nodded while taking a big swallow.
There was no denying that the way he carried himself, behaved, and dressed had mesmerized me. He had never wavered in front of me, not even when he was facing a six-year-old girl, like a future king might.
The lady rabbit and the large, evil boy wolf were the main characters of the narrative. One day, the lady rabbit went to the market to buy some veggies. While these animals were selling her desired item, she observed her fellow bunnies strolling by, grinning and chatting with one another.
She bought everything at once, as soon as she finally saw the carrots, which were her favorite veggie. The fact that the lady rabbit could now begin her own garden made her very happy. However, as she made her way to Carrot Street, she ran into another rabbit—a black boy.
The lady rabbit and the black bunny locked gazes. It was the first time the woman rabbit had shown no concern for her food, even when her goods slid around on the ground. The woman rabbit was only able to focus on the black rabbit, as though everything was happening in slow motion.
It seems like just one glance at the black bunny captivated her. They abruptly straightened their postures as soon as they heard something. Up until that point, they had become friends after the black bunny assisted the woman rabbit.
The black rabbit would frequently visit the woman rabbit's home, offering to help with household duties and gardening for the first time. Eventually, their friendship developed into a successful one.
They eventually reached a point when they started to fall in love. However, the female rabbit discovered the black bunny's secret one evening. While exploring the forest in search of mushrooms, she happened to spot a large, menacing wolf howling from the edge of a cliff.
She fled from the wolf out of fear that it would devour her, but it persisted in pursuing her until she fell to the ground and darkness overcame her.
She awoke to find herself back in her old cabin, as if all that had happened that night had only been a nightmare. She had feared she had died. Then she spilled all the details about the black rabbit.
The black rabbit was hesitant to inquire at first, "Are you afraid of wolves?" However, he was able to go on.
The female rabbit answered, "Yes, my dear," and the black rabbit was so shocked that he could never look at her again. The black rabbit just left the woman rabbit with a farewell message, so she never saw him again after that day.
"After that happened, the lady rabbit waited and waited for him until she grew old, lonely, and abandoned." Caliere's eyes followed me the entire time as I concluded my story. Then, as soon as he laughed, I sighed.
He also never had the opportunity to demonstrate to me how genuine his laughter might be.
"Do you know why the black rabbit left the lady rabbit instead of staying with her?" Caliere grinned at the book he was holding after I shook my head.
My eyes grew wide as I realized that it really was a tale about the big, evil wolf and the lovely bunny.
He stopped until he closed his book, saying, "Then I guess I should give you what I know." However, as he opened the window, his gaze was focused on the outside scene rather than on me.
I could see him close his eyes and feel the chill of the breeze across his skin and through his red hair.
"There is a curse on the black bunny. In order to avoid hurting the lady rabbit, he had to avoid her as much as possible. It's because, each full moon, he would transform into a ferocious wolf that would feast on a white rabbit. But do you not see this story's secret twist?"
I shook my head once again, remembering that tragic fairytales were something I had no interest in when I was younger.
He stopped and turned to face me. "The black rabbit approached the lady rabbit with a lie, but he never knew that his lie would become his truth someday until he finally said his farewell," he continued.
"So you should be careful of everyone around you, even that young boy from the Vellitas household, my dear future fiancé..."
***
Author-nim note: edited ^-^ Please forgive my grammar; English is not my first language. ^-^