So as not to make the Prince offended or feel wary, Lara could just avoid him by naturally moving her body. Just changing the direction and asking him to go back, or lowering down her eyes while slightly smiling could have disturbed the tension he had created.
But Lara did not do that again this time. She frowned openly, took a big step back, and moved out of the territory he had created. The Prince observed her persistently.
“It’s weird.”
“What do you mean?”
“Even if my mother passes on her assets to me, I have no intention to share it with others. But why are there so many people who are greedy over it?”
“Really?”
“Your Highness, please let them know. The daughter of Isadora has no intention of sharing her assets with her future husband. I’m sure you already know what my father did with the money he got from my mother. No matter how foolish I am, would I make the same mistake?”
Prince Sidhar could not figure out whether everything Lara had said was sincere. He did not even know how far she knew. He was just constantly doubting and testing—whether Isadora was supporting Sonnet or not, whether the reason she sent her daughter was to make the relationship with the Princess favorable or not, and whether the King was behind them or not.
“I want to be your friend, Lara.”
After thinking, Prince Sidhar had a friendly smile again. Then, he reached out one hand and asked Lara for a handshake.
“Loosen up your guard. I may be a royal, but I’m not authoritative, you know.”
Lara glanced at his hand.
She knew. He was not exactly an authoritative royal. When he pretended to be authoritative, it was when his hidden evil nature got caught.
“I don’t believe the rumors about you, Lara. It’s a bad habit to judge someone by what others say about them. I think you’re a confident and wise woman.”
“Prince.”
“Dear beautiful and charming Lara, it’s about time you accept my goodwill. I’m about to get used to being rejected.”
That’s too sad. The Prince muttered and let out his signature sweet smile.
“My apologies.”
Lara did not smile. She did not even hold his hand.
It did not matter if Prince Sidhar regarded her as his enemy with this matter. The Prince whispered words of compliment in a gentle voice to seduce and soothe her. As soon as she heard his voice, Lara wanted to laugh out loud. She did not undergo that terrible pain and return to her past just to hold his hand. She could do anything to bring him down. But not just one thing.
“Put away your hand.”
She would never reach for the Prince again, even with lies.
“What?”
His mask, which had been steady throughout the banquet, was broken for the first time.
“I don’t hold hands with just any man.”
“What did you just say?”
“Especially, the hand of a man who approaches me for my mother’s money. I definitely don’t want to touch it.”
She could hear Prince Sidhar’s pride crumpled. His sturdy mask has gotten a fine crack on it.
“The Princess must be waiting for me. Let’s head back now.”
As he looked at Lara who turned away from him, he clenched his hand that he had held out. This time, it took quite a long time to fix his distorted face.
Don’t beg for me. That was what Lara meant.
∘₊✧──────✧₊∘
“Sidhar went back with such a frightful face…”
Sonnet was anxious and slurred the end of her sentence.
“Did you see him?”
“I could tell even from a distance. He always looks warm-hearted, but he sometimes has a really scary face.”
Princess Sonnet sent everyone out as soon as Lara entered her room. When the ladies-in-waiting looked at her anxiously, she told them to leave the door open and told the knight to guard the hallway.”
“Lara, be careful of Sidhar.”
“Don’t worry.”
“He’s scary. He doesn’t look like that on the outside but…”
“I know, Princess.”
When Lara grinned as a sign that she was okay, Sonnet also barely managed to follow suit.
Now she had to confirm it. She knew Sonnet was a clever and lovely Princess. But Lara did not know if she really wanted to be the King. For Sonnet, the throne may just be a heavy load that her father wanted to pass on. Above all, the Princess was only fourteen years old. To only support her by her side and watch her grow up, there was a low-rent enemy near her.
“Princess, may I ask you a cruel question?”
Lara opened her mouth as calmly as she could. There was no one in the room except the two of them, so now was the right time.
“Pardon? What kind of question?”
“Do you want to be the King of Hautean?”
Sonnet kept her mouth shut. The young Princess was very surprised, but she did not show her feelings. Because she had already become someone who was used to holding it in. However, she had yet been able to wear a mask as sturdy as Prince Sidhar’s, so she looked at Lara with an awkwardly stiff face.
“Did Sidhar…ask something like that?”
“I declined Prince Sidhar’s suggestion. I really hate him.”
“Pardon?”
“He wanted to be my friend so I turned him down. I’m always careful when making a friend.”
“Lara.”
“I even turned down his handshake. If I were arrested for lèse-majesté, you need to save me, Princess.”
Sonnet, who was very nervous, burst into Laughter after hearing Lara’s serious confession.
“I have never seen anyone refuse his kindness like that.
As expected of a royal. Lara realized that Sonnet was looking at her as if she was analyzing her. Of course, it was not a bad analysis like what Prince Sidhar did, it was more like an observation of goodwill.
After that, Sonnet asked Lara back.
“If I say I don’t want to be the King, can I survive? Will I be able to live happily ever after while still receiving love from my parents and my masters?”
That was impossible. Sonnet would either die or be banished with everything taken away. When Lara could not say anything, Sonnet smiled faintly.
“I want to live.”
“Princess.”
“I want to live here, the place that I love, with the people whom I love. I don’t want to run away and hide. So if Sidhar doesn’t give up, I will have to fight for my life.”
Sonnet was too clever a kid. The masters who taught the Princess said in unison that Sonnet has the possibility to be a monarch who will rewrite the history of Hautean.
“Lara, I will be the King.”
“Yes, Princess.”
“My masters always say this every day. They told me to get Lara, the daughter of Isadora. If Thousand Gold Isadora takes my side, she will be of really great help.”
“Princess.”
“But if I say so, I will be no different than Sidhar.”
It was true that Sonnet was smart and patient beyond her years. But the Princess was fourteen years old and was also still a pure adolescent girl. She could not say anything about asking for support to the throne in front of someone she wanted to be friends with.
“It’s okay.”
Lara nodded. She clasped Sonnet’s small hand and whispered in her ear.
“I will be the one to talk about it instead of you.”
“Pardon?”
“I’m on your side.”
“Is that…true?”
“Yes, it is.”
Sonnet teared up. The Princess could not bring herself to say thank you nor could she bring herself to say sorry, holding Lara’s hand was the only thing she could do. While comforting Sonnet, who had kept her mouth shut and sobbed quietly in fear of her voice being heard outside, Lara said.
“Princess, you will definitely be the King of this country.”
And Sidhar Hautean will be kicked out of the border.
While helplessly watching his younger sister sit on the throne that he had longed for, he would be banished with nothing to his name. The man who had dedicated Hautean to the demon and led the destruction of the world should not sit on the throne. As her mother, Isadora once said, any man was fine, but not the Prince.
