♦Chapter 06: An Escort♦
"WHAT?!!"
The first thing in the morning, a loud shouting of a man came from the dining room.
I was in the midst of having a light meal of breakfast when Aiden interrupted the pleasant elegance and tranquillity of the morning.
And as I was bothered by the way he acted, I warned him in order to avoid the disgrace that he would receive from this kind of mannerism of his.
"Lower your voice, Aiden.", I commanded as I finished my delightful repast.
After perceiving my words, he quickly took a realization of what I was pointing at and fixed his composure.
"My apologies, Your Majesty.", he said meanwhile I gently wiped my mouth with a clean piece of cloth.
Though Aiden was once a son of a Baron, he gained the title of an Earl through his great contribution in terms of military power as he was considered to be the Head of the Knights of The Western Division.
But that fact doesn't change the respect that he should express to the ones with a much higher title that his. And that includes me, who is the Queen Consort.
'A mere knight that holds the title of an Earl violently shouted at the Queen Consort of the Emperor.'
If someone were to be aware of his rude behavior to me, he would be spoken ill among the social circles which could taint his well-maintained reputation.
And the lower noble households wouldn't be so naïve to let this pass without doing anything.
"However, Your Majesty. Doing such thing is absurd."
"What's absurd about allowing you to be free from your duties during the grand feast? A young lad like you shall enjoy events like this to your fullest.", I uttered, offering the least of freedom that I could give him during the ball.
Though, my real motive was to be alone for I could easily escape from that stage as soon as possible if so.
"Still, what if you encounter dang-...!"
I stared at him for cutting his sentence out of a sudden.
It's just as I thought, I see...
As I assumed, the Emperor was also aware of the fact that I might encounter dangerous situations after coming to this point. And so, he probably entrusted my safety to Aiden.
It's sort of tiresome for it wasn't particularly included in my agreement with the Emperor. Perhaps, he thought that I was an unsophisticated person.
Back then, I wished for not even a single bodyguard to follow me around but that would be too suspicious because he might expect of me to be a some sort of spy from the ones that sides with the rebels. Furthermore, women weren't supposed to learn battle skills or swordsmanship like I did, therefore it would cause me to break one of the rules of the Empire.
And so, I minimized the number of personal bodyguards to one yet at the same time that person should be skilled in terms of his job.
Now, though things might've went well, I still couldn't get comfortable of having someone to overly-defend me.
I wasn't used to it for the Shevarias weren't that generous to me after a lot of things happened in that wide mansion.
.....At any rate, there's no point of turning back to the past this late, is there?
"If you're talking about an assumption that something might happen, then you have nothing to worry about, Sir Aiden.", I responded to the knight that was concerned about my well-being.
Then, I innocently smiled at him and said,
"When it comes to that, I will just need to kil- protect myself with self defense. My father taught me well about that in case of times like this, so I will appreciate his hard work.~"
(Note: She is lying because her father never taught her of that.)
".....Your Majesty, were you about to say 'kill'-?"
"Oh my, I wonder what you are talking about, Sir Aiden."
And then, I only kept smiling purely at my personal bodyguard until he thoroughly gave in.
"I understand, Consort Melissa.", he surrendered.
As the thought that Aiden wouldn't fulfill his duty during the feast made me feel reassured, the days traveled in haste until the night of the ball has come.
With my off-shoulder white dress paired with golden yellow ribbons or laces, I slowly stepped out of the mansion.
I was supposed to be directly enter inside the carriage to take a ride to my destination, but a certain someone made me pause from executing my attempt.
"Why are you here?", I impatiently asked the man with the black hair that stood by the entrance of my palace, as if he was waiting for a somebody.
"I am here to escort Your Majesty.", he replied, bowing to me.
.....What??
While I was busy wondering about his words, he continued.
"I believe that Your Majesty doesn't have an escort for the moment?"
"Is that an insult?"
"It isn't, Your Majesty. I am only saying-"
Before he could finish his line, he raised his head and looked straight at me as he offered me a hand of his own.
"If you would grant me the honor to be your escort during the feast.", he continued.
I widened my eyes after hearing that his request. Soon, I smiled and tenderly gave him an answer.
"N•o, t•h•a•n•k y•o•u.~", I sweetly uttered with my innocent beam.
"...............Eh?"
Aiden had an amusing face filled with astonishment after he heard my reply.
Apparently, he never expected me to refuse after his romantic proposal of a kind. A normal lady would willingly accept his offer because of his charismatic or prepossessing demeanor. But, I'm not that easy-going to fall for his trap for I'm not interested in cliché things like this.
"I beg your pardon?", he reconfirmed.
"I said, I refuse.~", I bluntly answered.
Then, his jaw completely dropped because of my phrase.
Somehow, I felt sorry for him since he might've traveled so far to get to my place. And so, I let out a sigh and thought,
Well, I guess I'll give him a chance because I've also witnessed something interesting.
After that, I held out my hand to him. And as he noticed this, he was brought back to reality and asked,
"This is-?"
"What else but a hand."
"No- That's not what I meant..."
Thereafter, I let out another sigh.
"Weren't you going to escort me?", I asked, pouting at Aiden who was being too slow.
"Ah! Please for give my rudeness...!", he responded in a flustered manner, then courteously held my hand.
"It is an honor, Your Majesty.", he stated with a smile while his face brightened up.
Then, I smirked and said,
"You better not let me down."