May Every Wound Be Fatal - Chapter 7.2
…Serve him? Reyna had furrowed her brows, unable to understand the question at first, but soon realized how she was dressed.
Her blue skirt and white head covering made her look exactly like a lost novice maid.
In the meantime, he changed his question.
“Um, so… what is your name?”
So, the prince was showing interest in an unknown maid, completely failing to recognize the young lady he was soon to be engaged to.
Reyna felt a pang of annoyance. At the same time, she could not stop her excitement at the thought that he liked her.
Before she realized it, she said playfully.
“Guess.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I know who you are.”
His eyes widened in surprise.
Ah, she liked him even more. Reyna took a step closer, smiling radiantly.
He did not stop her and simply watched. She placed her hands behind her back and elongated the corners of her eyes with a playful glance.
“We will meet again.”
At that moment, a strong gust of wind swept by and tousled them both.
His eyes widened slightly, and the strands of his starlight-like hair, disturbed by the wind, settled back in place.
“You will know who I am then.”
Unable to contain the pounding of her heart, Reyna ran back to her room. Behind her, Karla’s nagging followed closely.
“My goodness, milady. If the duke knew about this…”
However, Reyna hardly heard the worried voice of her maid. Blushing and smoothing her lips, she immediately went out to the balcony and looked toward the garden.
It was only then that Karla realized how red her face had become.
“Milady?”
“What should I do…”
“Why is that?”
Reyna murmured, her cheeks pink, eyebrows furrowed, looking utterly at a loss.
“He is even more wonderful than I imagined. No, he is too wonderful.”
After that, she did not encounter the prince again. Even when she wandered near the garden, no miraculous coincidence occurred.
Fortunately, the jousting tournament was approaching. The anticipation of seeing him again made time pass quickly.
On the day of the long-awaited tournament, Reyna, elaborately dressed from dawn, stood beside her father, glancing around anxiously.
Leonard, intending to scold her for fidgeting, suddenly pointed with his eyes. At one end of the long rectangular arena, the day’s riders were inspecting their armor and horses.
“That man is Prince Tiberian. When it is his turn, give him this handkerchief. It is very simple.”
Giving a handkerchief during the joust carried special significance. It was customary to offer it in prayer for the safety and victory of a brother, husband, or fiancé, and sometimes as a response to a proposal.
“I understand, Father.”
Reyna answered solemnly, took a deep breath, and rolled her eyes.
Her heart raced. What if their eyes met? What expression should she make? Should she even wave? A thousand thoughts raced in her mind, leaving her unable to hide her excitement and tension.
“…What?”
However, in the next moment, Reyna’s lips parted in surprise.
To her astonishment, the man her father had pointed to was not the one she had met in the garden that night.
His hair did not shine like starlight, his eyes were dull, and his facial features were uneven. Perhaps drunk from the day, his face was as flushed as her hair.
Reyna looked around again, hoping to spot him, but no matter how she searched, the man from that night was nowhere to be seen.
‘…It was not a ghost I met then.’
She finally realized something had gone wrong.
While waiting under the blue canopy with other young ladies for the prince’s turn, her thoughts were consumed entirely by him. She could hardly focus on the tournament.
At one point, the noisy surroundings suddenly fell into an unusual silence.
Reyna noticed the change a moment later, and Karla whispered excitedly.
“That must be the man from the rumors.”
She was not the only one. Everyone peered down at the arena, murmuring.
“To think the king’s illegitimate child is being presented as his rider, as if to show off. Prince Kassian must be determined to defy the king’s favor.”
“Prince Kassian always stands against the king. And that man seems completely shameless.”
“If it were me, I would be too ashamed of such a dishonorable birth to hold my head high before all of us.”
Reyna inadvertently lowered her gaze.
The rider of Prince Kassian, the rumored illegitimate child of King Bailion, stopped before the young ladies and removed his helmet.
Under the scorching sun, his starlight-like hair shimmered, and beneath it, his sea-blue eyes sparkled.
It was the man from the garden.
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