Flower of Steel

I sighed.
Yeah, I suppose Rian, who is a prince, wouldn’t have been crying at the castle.
It’s not like he was lacking in anything to be doing that.

“Marin, are you off to the Crown Prince’s palace again?”

“Yeah! It’s a bit hard, but there’s no other way but to move forward,” I answered as I smiled.

However, Rian looked at me with his beautiful blue eyes and said, “Forward… like a pawn?”

No way.
How do you know about my habits? ‘Are you really…?’ Just like a ripple that erupted out of still water, a question rose powerfully from within me.
Just as I was about to ask him any further, a voice interrupted.

“What are you two doing here?” asked a frighteningly chilly voice.

I turned and saw the Crown Prince glaring at us, and I greeted, “Good morning, Your Highness.
Marina von Harrant at your service.”

“Good morning, Your Highness.
Droinel von Siccain at your service.”

In response to our greetings, the Crown Prince coldly scanned us with his purple-colored eyes and callously snapped, “Are you two not working? The Royal Garden is no place for a secret date.”

My face froze at his bickering as I was worried that Rian would feel bad.
However, Rian smiled brightly, as if he was happy to hear that.
Then, he said, “A secret date… That’s an honor.
But that’s a misunderstanding, Your Highness.
Secretary Harrant and I aren’t in a relationship yet.”

Hahaha, misunderstanding.
That’s right.
But I’m still thankful to have a friend, who is in a different league, joking that it’s an honor when it’s me who’s tied to those words.

“This isn’t funny, Adrian.
I’m sick of this, so get back to work now,” ordered the Crown Prince.

“Yes, Your Highness.
I suppose we’ll be seeing each other often from now on, so I can protect what I care about.”

Yeah, even if the Crown Prince is selfish, it would seem weird for his cousin to be hanging around me.
That’s why he said those words.
But still, it was annoying.
It sounded like he was telling me to know my place.
Rian, however, is such a good man.
He cares about his cousin, the crown prince, so much, which was why he was hanging around at the palace.

“Marina von Harrant.
What is that in your hand?”

Hearing the voice that seemed to annoy me for some unknown reason, I handed the Crown Prince the document that I had brought over.
Then, I answered, “It’s the document containing everything from today’s morning meeting, Your Highness.”

“I see.
So for what reason were you loitering in this place?”

“It’s nothing, Your Highness.
If you’ll excuse me…”

As I was about to say that I was going to leave, he grabbed my wrist.
He glared at my hand for a while, then spoke with an irritated voice, “Let’s play a game of chess.”

Hahaha.
Do I have to play chess with a nutjob again? Why does he want to play if he’s going to lose anyway? At that moment, I remembered that boy again.
He always said to me whenever he lost, “Rina, I will win next time! If I do, I’ll say something to you.”

“Yeah!”

I could have lost on purpose, but I was a competitive child.
As such, I kept winning.
Then, by the end, I made his eyes teary.
It caught me by surprise, and I made a mistake.

“…I win.
I WIN!”

Seeing him this excited, I thought I did a good job making mistakes and asked, “So, what is it that you want to say to me?”

He became silent in response to my words.
His pretty eyes, however, had some sort of determination in them as he said, “I like you.”

My heart sank.
No- no.
My heart began to race and pound like crazy.
It was pounding so hard that I was scared it might fall off.
But I was too young, so I didn’t know the source of those emotions.
It was the first and last time I felt such powerful feelings.
Yes, it was love.
At the same time, however, the sensation burning up my face made me unable to look at your face, so I escaped that scene as if I ran away from that place.
I added this word just in case so you won’t get hurt.