The Princess's Delight

The Princess came bounding toward Laila, giddy with excitement, her maids trailing behind her in a tangled line. She skidded to a halt in front of Laila, panting, and babbled breathlessly.

"Laila, I want to learn the bow! Just like you!"

Thankfully, there was nothing to console her over. Like any child, she had already forgotten the sad business and was laughing again, and Laila found herself smiling back.

"What do you think? It's more fun than you expected, isn't it?"

There was something utterly charming about the Princess bouncing on her toes with a practice arrow in hand. Laila bent her knees kindly to meet her at eye level.

"It is fun, but..."

Princess Ariel pulled a face on the verge of tears.

"The arrows won't listen to me."

Laila barely managed to swallow the laugh that nearly escaped at Ariel's honest answer. After turning back time countless times, she had thought much the same thing herself.

"Your Highness, to tell you the truth, I was the same way."

Laila whispered it quietly, just loud enough for Ariel's ears alone. The Princess's face lit up, and she asked back with adorable delight.

"You too, Laila?"

"Of course. Everyone is, the first time."

Laila took the Princess's small bow into her hands. She drew the string lightly and settled into a stance so flawless it would have served as a textbook in its own right.

"When you draw the string, be careful the arm holding the bow doesn't bend, and breathe out exactly halfway."

She could feel Ariel's bright, sparkling eyes fixed on her, and it kept threatening to make her laugh.

But the Emperor himself had called her the Princess's instructor, so she couldn't simply dote on the girl like a little sister. Pressing down the corners of her mouth, Laila continued in a suitably grave tone.

"Relax your shoulders like this, and..."

"Truly, the spirit of the Empire."

Just then, a deep, weighty voice drifted into the Princess's Palace. It was the Emperor.

Startled, Laila put away the bow and immediately composed herself into a formal bow.

"Your Majesty."

"Father!"

The Emperor had not come alone. A step behind him stood an enormous man dressed in the white livery of the imperial household.

Laila tried not to look at him, but the harder she tried, the more vividly his image burned itself into her mind.

The white imperial uniform suited Ervan terribly well — his black hair, and those golden eyes besides.

With the wind-tangled hair she'd seen at the hunting grounds now neatly combed back, he looked every inch the young nobleman.

"Father! You've come with Viscount Ervan?"

Ariel beamed and greeted the Emperor warmly. He nodded.

"We were discussing the deployment of Viscount Ervan and the Imperial Knights, and I grew curious about your progress with the bow, so we stopped by. Grand Duchess, in your eyes, how is the Princess's archery coming along?"

Three pairs of eyes fixed on Laila. Ariel's, brimming with expectation. The Emperor's, wearing a pleasant smile. And Ervan's, utterly unreadable.

From the moment she had first set foot in the Princess's Palace, Ervan had been watching her — only her.

Laila strained to read the meaning behind his gaze.

His expression seemed too calm for a man who was angry, and too blank for one who was glad to see her.

That dawn, he must have waited for me in the forest for a very long time.

She could almost feel the chill of that dawn forest in his gaze.

A faintly guilty Laila did her best not to meet his eyes. The Emperor was watching her with an odd look.

"..."

Only then did she realize she had failed to answer the Emperor at all.

"Her Highness takes great pleasure in archery. One can never best a person who truly enjoys what they do. If she keeps up this interest, I have no doubt she will one day surpass even me."

Delivering a suitably polite answer in a suitably courteous voice, Laila clicked her tongue inwardly.

A Princess who had held a bow for less than a week had no skill worth speaking of yet.

The Emperor surely knew that too, which meant there had to be some purpose behind asking her such a question.

Perhaps he wanted Laila to flatter the Princess's ability.

Or perhaps he wanted the Princess to feel the burden of having to improve.

The Emperor did not care for flatterers, so it would be the latter.

Laila stood quietly and waited for his next words.

Then, from behind the Emperor, a pleasant low voice seconded her answer.

"The Grand Duchess is right. Archery is, in truth, a delicate art — a week of lessons is hardly enough to judge anyone's skill. Your Majesty."

Laila froze.

Ervan had been thinking exactly what she was thinking.

"For now, it is enough that Her Highness keeps her interest and stays close to the bow."

And he had said it to the Emperor's face, bluntly at that. Laila instinctively stole a glance at the Emperor's expression.

Thankfully, he did not appear offended.

"I only spoke from a father's heart, wishing my daughter to excel at everything — as the Grand Duchess does here."

Flustered, Laila belatedly bowed her head once more.

"Though I didn't get a close look at her shooting that day. Now that I see it, the Grand Duchess's form and the focus in her eyes when she holds a bow are beyond reproach. Wouldn't you agree, Viscount?"

The Emperor turned to Ervan with a knowing smile. Ervan gave a short laugh and nodded.

"Yes, Your Majesty. I think so as well. At the Grand Duchess's level, a boar hunt would be no trouble at all."

The intent behind mentioning a boar was painfully obvious, and Laila's chest tightened for a moment — but outwardly, she only smiled serenely.

"A boar hunt, you say? Haha. I look forward to the day the Princess and the Grand Duchess go hunting together."

"I'll look forward to it, Father! I'll catch the biggest boar of all!"

At the Princess's grand declaration, the Emperor's laughter grew a little louder. Laila, Ervan, and all the servants watched the father and daughter laughing together with warmth.

But it seemed the Emperor had not brought Ervan to the Princess's Palace merely to ask about her archery.

"Viscount. I will pay a brief visit to the Empress's Palace with Ariel. In the meantime, keep the Grand Duchess company — talk of archery, if you like. We'll finish the rest when I return."

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Laila saw the Emperor wink at Ervan. What that wink meant, she couldn't begin to guess.

One thing was certain: if the Emperor and the Princess left as they were, she would be left alone in the Princess's Palace with Viscount Ervan.

Still carrying an awkward weight in her heart over having refused his invitation to the dawn hunt, Laila could hardly have found herself in a more uncomfortable position.

"Then I really must be going. It's getting late."

Laila spoke up hastily. But the Princess's face crumpled at once, and she clung to Laila pleadingly.

"You're leaving already, Grand Duchess? Can't you wait just a little? Have dinner with me first!"

"Ariel, you mustn't put the Grand Duchess in a difficult position."

The Emperor soothed Ariel in a gentle voice. But after the Princess had gone this far, refusal was no longer an option Laila could take. She let out a quiet sigh no one could see.

"Enjoy your visit, Your Highness. I'll wait here."

Hand in hand with the Emperor, Ariel kept glancing back the whole way, repeating to Laila that she'd be right back, that she need only wait a little while.

Laila waved until the pair disappeared, a faint smile on her lips.

At last, the two of them vanished beyond the walls of the Princess's Palace, leaving Laila and Ervan alone in its vast garden.

In the stillness, Ervan walked slowly toward her.

With every step the enormous man in his immaculate white uniform took, Laila's tense heart began racing all over again, entirely of its own accord.

"Grand Duchess."

Ervan spoke.

Ignoring her pounding heart, Laila's eyes darted quickly about.

She could guess what he meant to say without much difficulty.

He's going to bring up the dawn hunt.

If he pressed her on why she hadn't come that day, she was more than confident she could argue him down. His invitation had been sudden and presumptuous.

And yet, for some reason, she found she didn't want to bicker with him.

"S-Sir Ervan!"

Laila blurted out quickly, desperate to change the subject.

"There was something I wanted to ask you, as it happens."

At the pitifully urgent tone of her voice, Ervan looked briefly bewildered, then chuckled.

"There's no need to rush, my lady."

Laila's face flushed crimson in an instant.

"We have plenty of time."

"..."

"Ask me anything."

Laila read the small, quiet expectation blooming on Ervan's relaxed face.