Arthur seemed to want to avoid Leon attending the party and being ridiculed by people for his odd eyes again.
Unlike Arthur, Leon was a child, so it was easy to avoid attending under the pretext of being sick or having a hard time with the journey. He doesn’t want to hurt him by following the emperor’s orders.
‘If that’s what you’re up to, there’s no reason why I can’t agree with you.’
Convinced, Grace bent toward Leon and spoke kindly, eye-contacting with him, “It’s not like that. It’s because Leon’s still young.”
“……young?”
“Yes, Leon’s still young, so he has to sleep at night, right? But this time, the party His Majesty invited us to is held very late at night.”
“That late?”
“Yes, that’s why His Majesty didn’t invite Leon. A child about Leon’s age becomes weak if he doesn’t sleep at night, so that’s why.”
“I still want to go……” Leon straightened up at Grace’s persuasion. He was somewhat convinced by her explanation, but when Grace tried to persuade Leon again, Sir Oliver, who approached Leon, suddenly hugged him and said, “Stop resisting, Prince Leon. The Duke and the Duchess will feel troubled.”
“……but… I’m nervous.”
“I fully understand how you want to be with them. They will only attend the party and come straight back to the castle, right?”
“….really?”
At Sir Oliver’s words, Leon fluttered his long eyelashes and asked Grace. Grace smiled fondly and approached Leon in Sir Oliver’s arms, answering, “Sure. I’ll come back as soon as the party ends.”
“…will you come straight back? You won’t follow any stranger, right?”
“Ha ha, what?”
Leon had a cute frown on his worried face, and Grace laughed without realizing it. She quickly reached out her pinkie and grabbed Leon’s finger. She said to Leon in a comforting manner, “Alright, Leon. Don’t worry. I promise. I’ll never follow anyone.”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll stand by you so you don’t worry.”
Then Arthur suddenly replied to Grace, who promised Leon with a slight wave of her fingers. At that, Leon stared silently at Arthur’s odd eye, the same colour as him.
Hesitating, he asked, “… is that a promise?”
“Yes, I promise on my honour.”
At Arthur’s firm reply, Leon nodded with a relieved look on his face. Arthur shook Leon’s hair lightly with his hands and winked at Grace, who was standing next to him.
“Then, let’s go to the carriage. We’ve taken too long.”
“Oh, yes.”
“Have a safe trip!”
“Yes! I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
At Arthur’s urging, Grace quickly waved at Leon and walked in front of the carriage that was following him. She climbed onto the saddle of a decorated carriage, opening the window and reaching out her hand. Arthur got on after waiting for Grace to tidy up the hem of her dress and sit comfortably.
The horseman who was standing next to him, closed the door of the carriage, leaving only two people inside the carriage. And again, there was an awkward silence.
Grace glanced at Arthur who was staring at the slightly open window, and soon turned away.
The silence was uncomfortable, but both were hesitant to break it. So, Grace was also looking at the patterns in the carriage, without saying anything.
“…My Lady,” suddenly Arthur spoke up.
Grace asked back in surprise, “What?”
“Thank you.”
“….what, what for?”
“For what you just said.”
“…Ah,” Grace was taken aback by Arthur’s sudden thanks. She said shyly, avoiding his piercing stare at her, “There’s nothing to thank. I think I know a little bit about how the Duke felt about it.”
“……is that so?”
“Yes.”
The conversation, which seemed likely to continue, was cut off again by Grace’s short answer. The silence continued, and Arthur’s gaze left Grace to wander out of the slightly open window. How long has it been? The carriage, which was finally ready to depart, began to move. Grace quietly opened the window and looked at the landscape of Felix Castle, which gradually drifted away, and observed Arthur across from her.
Perhaps Arthur felt sleepy, since he closed his eyes with his arms crossed.
‘… what, is he sleeping? While going to the capital together, I didn’t expect to have a friendly conversation, but why am I a little upset when he falls asleep?’
Grace, in a weird mood, soon yawned long enough to understand she was getting sleepy as well.
‘Yes, well. It might be better to sleep until we get there than to look at each other without saying anything.’
Grace laid back comfortably with the intention of waking up after a short sleep. The waves of sleep came upon her in an instant.
Several carriages sped up through the dense forest road. In Duke Felix’s carriage, which was ahead, Arthur opened his eyes as Grace’s even breaths were heard.
Arthur blinked at the sight of her sleeping with her knees curled up. It seemed very uncomfortable to sleep with her head tilted, perhaps to prevent her hair from getting messy. He felt that he should fix her posture. Thinking so, he approached her side cautiously. Seated next to Grace, he slowed down his breathing, in case she would wake up, and pressed her head slightly to support her neck.
But contrary to Arthur’s intentions, Grace’s head tilted back and fell to Arthur’s shoulder, who was sitting next to her. At that moment, Arthur was so surprised that he thought his heart would burst, but he could not dare to breathe recklessly. If he moved or made any noise, she would wake up. But if he left her like this, her neck would hurt when she woke up.
‘What should I do? Better to wake her up.’
Arthur looked at her with a troubled look, and soon relaxed his shoulders with a low sigh. He should stay like this. He couldn’t bring himself to wake her up when she was sleeping so peacefully.
(T/N: Everyone needs a hubby like him >.>)
Rattle, rattle.
Her body, which had been swaying gently all along, suddenly felt like it was bouncing from place to place in the carriage. With the rough movement, Grace slowly awoke from her sleep and blinked blankly. Her ears perked up at the sounds coming from outside.
“Please show me your invitation.”
“Here you go.”
“Oh, Duke Felix and Duchess! The stars of the party are here. Do you want me to show you now?”
“It seems like they had a hard time on the journey. So I’d like you to wait a moment.”
“Alright.”
The voices of a stranger and of Roberts from Felix’s mansion.
‘Have we arrived yet?’
The voices and footsteps of people passing by, and resting carriages. Furthermore, seeing that darkness was already falling outside the window, it seemed that they had already arrived at the royal palace.
How deeply did she sleep? Grace blinked a couple of times, and brushed away the sleepiness from her eyes.
“You’re awake.”
“Ah!”
Arthur’s low voice sounded right next to her. Grace inadvertently turned her head in the direction of his voice and screamed in surprise. She didn’t know what was going on, but right now, she was resting her head on his shoulder. She gaped at him, eyes wide open.
“T-This is… what happened…”
“You slept pretty soundly, did you not sleep well last night?”
“No, no, no. It’s not like that…. oh my! On my clothes!” Grace ignored his question of whether she hadn’t slept well, since she didn’t know what was happening. Arthur’s navy uniform had white powder on the shoulders, from her makeup.
Grace spoke urgently, shaking Arthur’s shoulder with her hands, “I’m-I’m, I’m so sorry! Oh my God! Of all things, the navy uniform! What should I do?”
“It’s okay. I can cover it with a cape.”
“Really? … W-Will it come off if I wipe it?”
“It’s fine.”
Arthur gently led Grace’s hand down, which was brushing his shoulder in panic, and reached out to Grace’s cheek, where the makeup had been slightly removed.
Grace’s eyes widened in surprise at Arthur’s hand approaching her cheek. Startled by the sight of her confused self, Arthur hurriedly pulled his hand away and said, clearing his throat, “……I’ll call Sally right away.”
“…. Oh, thank you,” Grace replied awkwardly, touching her cheek. Arthur quickly approached the carriage’s door, opened the window and shouted out.
“Roberts, are you there?”
“Yes, Duke.”
“Bring Sally in right now.”
“As you wish,” Roberts replied, like he had been waiting. Then, a moment later, the door of the carriage opened with the urgent sound of footsteps approaching the carriage, and Sally walked in.
“Madam, you’re on your way to… Oh, no! Your make-up is gone!”
“Oh, yes. I’m sorry. Sally.”
“How did this happen?”
“….huh? H-How….”
As soon as she saw Grace, Sally checked on her makeup, made a fuss and pulled a box out of her bag. When asked what had happened, Grace avoided her gaze. Sally mumbled as if she wanted to ask something more, but soon closed her mouth and fixed her makeup. Grace cooled her flushed cheeks, thinking it was a relief no more questions were asked.