Chapter 139

Chapter 139: In the Rain (3)

“Why are you so surprised?”

Brigitte pouted, pushing out her lips.

It seemed she didn’t like Edwin’s flustered reaction the moment he saw her.

“It looks like Your Highness Edwin isn’t happy to see me.”

“What? No! It’s not that!”

A shrill, almost screaming voice burst from Edwin.

“Ahem, no, it’s not that, it’s just….”

The young prince kept stammering. Then he realized he’d just finished training and hurriedly covered his face.

“J-just a second!”

“Why?”

“It’s just that, I just finished training, so I look awful….”

Edwin’s face turned bright red. With his face covered, he stole a sidelong glance at Brigitte.

“Sorry. If I’d known you were coming, Brigitte, I would’ve at least wiped the sweat off first….”

At his answer, Brigitte’s eyes widened, then she burst into laughter.

“Your Highness, are you embarrassed right now?”

“N-no! It’s not like that….”

“If it’s not like that, then why is your face so red?”

Because he wants to look good in front of Brigitte.

Edwin swallowed the words he couldn’t bring himself to say outright and lowered his eyes.

“You don’t have to be embarrassed, Your Highness Edwin.”

Brigitte tilted her head toward him. Meeting the prince’s eyes, she gave him a small, sweet smile.

“You look cool even when you’re sweating.”

Cool? Does she really mean it?

Edwin stared at Brigitte with his eyes wide.

“…Really?”

“Of course. I’m not the type to lie.”

At Brigitte’s answer, Edwin’s face brightened at once.

The young prince let out a relieved sigh and smiled broadly.

“Thank goodness.”

It was a fresh smile that made it feel like the world itself was brightening, like a flower bud opening.

Brigitte’s cheeks seemed to redden slightly, but they soon returned to normal.

Thanks to the early education from her aunt, Empress Melanie, she’d learned at a young age how not to show her feelings.

“By the way, what brings you all the way here, Brigitte?”

Only then did Edwin seem to wonder why Brigitte had suddenly come to the barracks where the knights trained.

“Did you come here on purpose to see me?”

Brigitte looked a little flustered at his words, then frowned. “I didn’t come here on purpose because of you, Your Highness Edwin!”

With her arms folded, she stuck out her lips and made a sulky face.

“I came to see my father, and I heard Your Highness was here too, so I just came by to greet you for a moment.”

The duke’s daughter’s clear green eyes, like emeralds, turned to Edwin.

“If I left without even greeting a friend, people would call me cold-hearted.”

“Ah, I see.”

Edwin nodded with a slightly disappointed voice.

But it didn’t change the fact that the duke’s daughter had thought of him and stopped by here.

Once he thought that, his mood quickly lifted again.

“Thanks, Brigitte. For coming all the way here.”

“Don’t mention it.”

Brigitte hesitated for a moment, then suddenly pulled something out from her arms.

“Here, I want to give this to you, Your Highness.”

“What is it?”

“I made it, but I ended up making too many. I wanted to share some with Your Highness too.”

She made it herself?

Edwin took the silk bundle she handed him, wearing a bewildered expression.

It felt hard, but it wasn’t very heavy.

‘What is it?’

The silk also carried a strangely sweet scent.

He couldn’t guess what it was at all.

“Open it after I’m gone, okay?”

Brigitte offered a flawless, proper farewell, then turned around right away.

At that, Philip, who’d been watching the two of them from a short distance, immediately walked up to her side.

“I’ll escort you to the tent where the commander is, my lady.”

“Please do, Sir Philip.”

Philip naturally escorted Brigitte and disappeared into the rain.

Thanks to that, Edwin was left standing alone outside the tent.

“….”

After watching Brigitte’s red hair vanish into the distance, the young prince lowered his head. He slowly untied the silk bundle in his hands.

“Ah.”

So that’s why it smelled sweet.

Inside the bundle were cookies with a somewhat clumsy shape.

Edwin picked one up and brought it to his mouth.

Crunch.

The moment he bit into the cookie, something cracked.

It was a fearsome sound, but thankfully, Edwin’s front teeth survived.

“…Mm.”

Edwin worked hard to chew and swallow the cookie.

After making a vague expression, he let out a hollow laugh.

“Haha, it’s super sweet.”

The texture was like a rock, but the taste was so sweet it was honestly impossible to describe.

Sweet enough that laughter burst out of him without resistance.

‘Is this the first time I’ve received a handmade gift from Brigitte?’

If so, it was a rather momentous day in its own way.

Smiling, Edwin brought the cookie to his mouth again.

Crunch, crunch.

The rather spine-chilling sound mixed with the rain, making it feel bleak.

But Edwin just kept grinning like he was happy.

After chewing for a while, the prince reached for another one, then stopped and tied the silk back up.

“…I should share the rest with Rachel when she comes back.”

Rachel is strong enough to chew iron, so she’ll be fine, right?

Rubbing his aching jaw joint, the prince was about to head back into the tent when he glanced behind him.

The rain still pouring down made him uneasy for no reason.

“Rachel will be okay, right?”

It was the moment he suddenly started worrying about the nanny who’d gone on leave.

***

“Brigitte, you brat! Do you know where you are!”

The Duke of Crowner, who’d been inside the tent, flew into a rage the moment he saw his daughter.

“The weather’s this bad, and you came all the way here? What if your carriage got in an accident? And if you were going to come, you should’ve said you were coming!”

“If I’d said I was coming, you would’ve never let me come, Father.”

Brigitte replied with an expression like she couldn’t believe he was asking something so obvious.

“And since I arrived safely, there’s no problem.”

“You brat, seriously!”

Who does she take after to be this reckless!

Jerome clenched his teeth as he looked at Brigitte sitting there with utter confidence.

“This is a place where monsters show up. No, who gave you permission to come here in the first place?”

“Since when did I need permission? At the ducal residence when you aren’t there, Father, there isn’t anyone who can order me around.”

“You little… what did you do that you’re talking back!”

The duke raised his voice, then let out a sigh.

At this point, it was like water already spilled.

More than anyone, he knew that scolding his daughter would only make his mouth hurt.

“Hoo, can’t be helped. When the weather clears, go back immediately, understand?”

“Even if you didn’t say that, I planned to.”

“Good grief, I’m speechless.”

Jerome crossed his arms and shot his only daughter a dumbfounded look as she kept snapping at him.

“A daughter came to see her father, so why are your replies so cold?”

“It doesn’t look like she came to see the commander.”

At that moment, Philip, who’d been standing quietly behind them, cut in.

“P-please be quiet, Sir Philip!”

Brigitte looked visibly flustered by his words and shrieked.

Jerome frowned as he sensed something odd.

“What do you mean by that, Philip?”

“Ah, well….”

“If you don’t stay quiet, I won’t let you off!”

Philip looked down at Brigitte as she ran at him and swung her fists like they were made of cotton.

Then, with an utterly calm face, he said, “…That’s what she says.”

“Hey! What do you mean, that’s what she says! Speak properly!”

“Lady Brigitte says she won’t let me off, so how can I speak?”

Philip added in an indifferent tone, “You can’t beat Lady Brigitte, Commander.”

“What? Y-you…!”

He couldn’t even find anything to refute because it was so true.

Jerome pointed at him and stammered.

Then he turned his gaze back to his daughter. “Bri! You tell me! What do you mean you didn’t come to see your father!”

“What are you talking about! If I didn’t come to see you, why would I come here at all?”

Brigitte shouted, then immediately ran into the duke’s arms.

“Because you’re training in such a dangerous place on a rainy day, your only daughter got worried about her father and came, of course!”

“Bri, your father can’t feel any sincerity in your voice.”

“Oh, come on, I’m serious!”

“Tell me the truth! What punk made you come all the way here! Who is it! Who dares to mess with my Bri…!”

Jerome raged like he was about to draw his sword at any moment.

“No, it’s really not like that! Calm down, Father!”

Brigitte clung to the duke’s arm with all her strength. And she didn’t forget to shoot a resentful look at Philip standing off to the side.

“The rain seems to have eased up a little.”

But the culprit who’d stirred up conflict between father and daughter calmly stepped outside the tent.

“Then I’ll go conduct the rest of the training. Enjoy your quality time together.”

A faint smile hung at the corner of Philip’s mouth as he left the tent. It was a mischievous smile you never saw on him normally.

“…Kids.”

Philip shrugged, recalling the prince and the duke’s daughter floundering helplessly.

“Who told them to be so adorably startled?”

It made you want to tease them.

The vice commander of the Gloria Knights let out a quiet chuckle as he walked. Thinking about how he should tease the prince next.

***

“Nanny, you must be freezing! First, wipe yourself down with this….”

Catherine ran into the lobby with her arms full of towels.

Then she met my eyes as I stepped into the Prince’s Palace, and she froze on the spot.

She looked like a rabbit facing a predator.

“A-are you all right, nanny?”

Catherine barely managed to speak in a trembling voice.

“Y-your clothes….”

She pointed at me with her slender fingers.

“There’s blood….”

“Ah.”

Even after dealing with the assassins, I ran into bandits on the way back and ended up in an unexpected fight.

It was probably bloodstains from then.

“I’m fine.”

I glanced down at the stains on my clothes, then nodded as if it were nothing.

“It’s not mine.”