YMPDKMA Chapter 16

Unlike me with my stray thoughts, Alberto seemed genuinely moved. He watched Rupert leave the room without greeting, then approached me with trembling hands.

"You feel it too, Lariette! The dynamic rebellion flowing from her performance! The defiance! The desire! The art of solitude swirling within!"

What is this lunatic saying?

I covered my aching ears and half-listened.

"Sir, I'll see you out."

"No, I... I need to stay here a while longer and tremble..."

"Ah, then take care."

I abandoned Alberto with his irritating chatter and moved quickly after Rupert. The brat had absurdly fast strides for someone so small—already past the corridor, descending the stairs in long steps. Even now he walked like this; I couldn't imagine how fast he'd be with a tall, grown body. Could his body even handle that speed?

"Your Highness!"

No way he hadn't heard me calling, but Rupert didn't slow down. If anything he went a little faster, so I nearly ran to catch him.

"Where are you rushing off to alone? You should keep at least one maid with you."

"Did you learn court etiquette backwards? Who told you to run?"

Rupert's palace was secluded and empty enough that even Rupert himself rarely followed protocol. Tori, who attended him, went without saying. His own crude remarks popped out constantly. But instead of pointing out that he rarely followed etiquette either, I smiled sweetly.

"Don't smile at me."

"Afraid you'll grow fond of me?"

"You're ugly. It's annoying."

At my cheek, Rupert cursed and spun around. I thought he was harsh in judging looks, but wasn't particularly offended. Being as pretty as he was, most women must look like pumpkins to him.

"Where are you going? I'll come with you."

Rupert didn't answer. I'd learned his silence was a sort of grudging permission, so I followed wordlessly. He headed for the palace garden. The garden connected to the forest wasn't particularly well-maintained, but he loved going outside. He'd never kindly informed me he enjoyed walks, but I could guess from how he visited the garden constantly with Tori.

The season was definitely spring, but the capital stayed cold enough that snow still piled up in patches. I stepped on half-melted, muddy snow. Squelch, squelch. I liked the sound, so I pressed down harder.

The garden held nothing you could call scenery except bare branches. The bright green grass had all frozen in recent heavy snowfall and hadn't revived yet. No flowers bloomed this time of year, naturally.

Still, if someone asked if it was beautiful, you could answer yes. The dry, cold branches with green leaves considering whether to sprout were worth seeing. I noticed sleet starting to fall and quickly removed my coat.

"Your Highness, wear this."

Being from Bellua, I was rather sensitive to cold—I wore several layers of undergarments beneath my maid's uniform, plus a thick wool coat. Taking off the coat, the lashing cold made me shiver, but showing Rupert goodwill came first. He just stared blankly at the coat I held out.

Does he want me to put it on him?

Doesn't he have hands? Feet? The complaint rose, but knowing the peculiar laziness of pampered children, I approached without protest and draped my coat over him. I was taller and larger than him, so the coat covered his small frame with room to spare. I pulled the ties at the front to cinch it closed.

I brushed snow from his shoulders like I would've done for Rehan. Rupert's mouth twisted for a moment. He didn't look pleased by behavior that should've seemed like devoted goodwill, if not loyalty. I looked down at Rupert, who laughed like air deflating, and spoke.

"Why are you laughing?"

"It's funny, treating me like a child."

"Your Highness is a child. What, are you an adult?"

I used words Riche had once said to me, tucking my frozen hands under my arms. My jaw chattered. Bellua's cold was never this sharp—I'd struggled to adapt to the capital's weather. While I shook all over trying to shake off the cold, he stopped abruptly and turned.

"Go inside if you're cold."

"I can't let Your Highness go alone."

"Then don't shake. It's noisy."

Rupert felt no gratitude for the coat I'd yielded. I swallowed my surge of emotion and nodded, forcing my trembling body still. At least this much conversation counted as remarkable progress. Today we'd exchanged more words than in all the time before. He didn't even criticize how I gradually spoke more casually with him.

This much achievement in four months wasn't bad, but time's passage made me anxious. Less than two years remained before he became Crown Prince.

Walking quickly to keep up with Rupert, I forgot the cold somewhat. I took position behind Rupert, who lingered at the forest's entrance, breathing white mist.

"Tori."

At Rupert's call, a small head popped from the underbrush. Rising like a growing tree, she hurried before us with quick steps. She held a strange animal as large as her torso.

"You've come?"

The bizarre creature I'd never seen before rubbed its hands together—hands like a person's—and rolled its eyes. An animal with such a sly appearance. The creature stroked the fur that circled its eyes like a frame, then squirmed from Tori's arms and approached Rupert, rubbing its nose against him.

"What is that?"

I pointed at the animal he stroked with practiced ease and asked Tori. She'd been pouting as if disappointed the animal left her arms, but smiled faintly and approached.

"A raccoon. His Highness's pet."

So that odd-looking thing was called a raccoon. People didn't keep them as pets or butcher them for meat—wild animals—so naturally I'd never seen one.

Puppies, cats, even horses existed—why a raccoon? I watched Rupert stroke the raccoon's stiff fur with an expressionless face, baffled.

"Do people keep raccoons as pets?"

"Not usually, but it's not impossible. His Highness's raccoon is especially gentle and good..."

"Oh my, Tori. Did it bite you?"

Spotting blood on Tori's hand, I exclaimed in surprise. She smiled awkwardly. I grabbed her arm and pressed my sleeve against it firmly. Not a large wound, but the inflamed redness meant it might scar. It looked painful. I frowned.

"Gentle? It bit your hand like this."

"It's gentle with His Highness. It's fine, don't dirty your clothes."

"This won't do. Let's go inside the palace first. I'll attend His Highness."

"Oh, no—"

"Hurry! It might scar."

I pushed Tori's hesitating back toward the palace. When she turned as if seeking Rupert's permission, he glanced between us and nodded slightly. Tori walked slowly, reluctant.

"Your Highness, be careful too. Wild animals—there are so many gentle, good pets, why keep something like that close?"

"It's gentle."

"Didn't you see Tori's hand?"

"If it follows people other than me, then it's not mine."

Rupert answered languidly and stood holding the raccoon. The creature, looking almost servile, climbed his shoulder quickly and wrapped around his neck.

"Then I'm Your Highness's maid, so I'll follow only you."

Seeing my chance, I declared my loyalty again, as servile as the raccoon.

I expected him to dismiss it as usual nonsense, but Rupert tilted his head at an angle and looked at my face. Not a glare like before, but not kindly either—an indifferent gaze.

"No, you're not mine."

"Why not? I'm Your Highness's maid."

"I don't have much. You're not one of those things."

A rejection more detached than cold. I hadn't expected to earn his trust in four months anyway, so I just shrugged. Watching me, Rupert approached with the raccoon on his back. Crunch, crunch—the sound of snow underfoot, clear and distinct.

Slowly, he stared straight into my eyes—I couldn't look away. His doll-like eyes disturbed me. Sometimes they looked inhuman. Frightening.

"So don't make trouble for me."

A low voice. He held his breath as if there were other ears listening in the empty forest. His shallow breath touched my throat. Rupert's lips curved into a beautifully drawn arc facing my frozen expression.

"However powerless I am as a princess, I can still kill someone like you without anyone knowing."

A threat on my life, delivered in such gentle tones.

I wasn't frightened. Not that he didn't frighten me—but the fear I carried came mostly from the future I'd lived through. I feared the monster he would become, not the brat making empty threats before me. Sometimes his eyes were too alien, too wrong, and my skin would crawl—but he was still a small child.

If I lunged at him like a savage, brought a rock down on his skull—

"I had no intention of displeasing Your Highness. But if I have offended you, I apologize."

—you would die. You, too, could die.

I apologized calmly while imagining Rupert's miserable death. His wariness didn't anger me. Whatever my ultimate purpose, my actions could hardly appear innocent. I was the timid, frightened victim who couldn't dream of revenge—but that didn't mean I didn't dislike him, my absolute tormentor.

Rupert seemed satisfied with my respectful, stiff tone. He didn't answer, just sank down in front of the dead tree. The infuriating raccoon climbed onto his lap, tongue flicking out as if to mock me. I pressed a hand against my pounding heart—excitement, just a little—and stood beside him as if it were the most natural thing. Both Rupert and the raccoon turned to stare. The sight was absurd, but I didn't laugh.

"Why aren't you leaving?"

He must have expected me to flee in terror at his words. I frowned at him instead, as if he were the strange one.

"Leave? Where would I go? Your Highness is here."

"Idiot or fool, which is it."

Rupert muttered something thoroughly un-imperial and inappropriate, clicked his tongue, and scratched the raccoon under its chin. The creature purred like a cat. I bit back a laugh at the absurdity and shook my head.

"Neither."

"You think I'm funny?"

"No."

As if. If he were funny, I wouldn't be wasting this precious time.

I answered his irritable question calmly and crouched down, fingertips playing with the white snow. My fingers pressed deep into the soft powder, again and again—the texture was good, satisfying.

I'd entered the palace on impulse, but things weren't going as smoothly as I'd hoped. Of course they weren't. A prince as guarded as Rupert would never easily trust a noble in my ambiguous position, yet I grew impatient anyway. Why couldn't even this simple truth reach him—that I meant him no harm?

"Your Highness, I ask this because I feel wronged."

"What."

"What exactly have I done wrong?"