The Omega Princess and Her Two Leashes - Chapter 30

Schedule: Monday and Friday

Chapter 30

Arlenrose thought it was resentment. She thought it was inevitable that he would resent her.

But whether it was resentment or not, it did not matter. She wanted to hear his voice. She was so anxious that he had said nothing to her despite their long-awaited reunion, that he was simply looking at her from a distance.

“Rose.”

He used to call her that all the time. It was the only voice in the world that would call her name affectionately. How much she had missed that voice during the three years he had been away from the palace.

“Why on earth did you disappear without a word, Rose?”

She had wished he would at least question her like that. She would have gladly accepted any reproach he gave her. However, Camin neither questioned nor reproached her. Instead, he knelt before her and said something she had never expected.

“Knight Camin Modreo humbly begs to be accepted as a knight protector for Her Royal Highness, Princess Arlenrose Vi Fleurose.”

She wondered if she had misheard him. It was an extremely embarrassing situation. Yet, she accepted his request purely out of guilt.

Perhaps Camin was afraid she would run away again, and he wanted to stay close to guard her. If so, he would calm down after a while and return to his original position.

That was what she thought at the time. It was the only choice she could make, for she had no idea that Camin would stubbornly remain in that position for more than two years.

From that day on, the childhood friends who used to call each other’s names and stay close no longer existed. There was only a princess and the knight protector who guarded her.

In fact, Arlenrose still found their changed speech awkward, and she missed their old relationship. She was secretly annoyed by Camin’s old-fashioned insistence on using honorifics after he became a knight protector. Though she intellectually judged that it might be better to draw a line between them in this way, the line was not properly drawn.

She knew better than anyone that it should not be that way.

“Yes, I will. I will not go anywhere.”

Arlenrose smiled, pretending not to notice her pounding heart and reciting another lie with a masked face. Then, she quietly let go of his sleeve, which she had been holding until then, repeatedly reminding herself that she must eventually discard those lingering feelings.

* * *

As she spent her day in a daze, the surroundings gradually darkened. Arlenrose, who had been looking out the window without thinking, stopped when she noticed the sunset that was turning the mountains around her red. Night was approaching.

He said he would come at midnight, didn’t he? Arlenrose bit her lip, trying to ignore the sensation of her hands and feet growing cold as she realized it. Until now, she had been angry whenever she thought of his smarmy face, but now she felt suffocated.

For the time being, Arlenrose sent Camin away, saying that she was tired and wanted to go to bed early today. Afterward, as she washed as usual, she felt increasingly strange. Somehow, it did not feel real.

‘Will he really come?’

The thought came to her that he might not come. Could he have fallen head over heels for Violet by now? As she thought about it, she felt irritated for some reason.

Should she hope that Leybid would come? Or should she hope that he would not?

It was a difficult question to answer, and even if she tried to answer it, it would be meaningless. She did not want to think about it anymore. Arlenrose washed herself moderately, put on a moderate negligee, brought a moderate book, and opened it.

Bang!

She had been engrossed in reading for a while when the window suddenly opened on its own. Surprised, she looked up and saw Leybid straddling the window. She stared at him for a moment, and then their eyes met.

“What are you looking at? Are you admiring me? Do you suddenly think I’m handsome?”

His crescent moon-shaped eyes, which were turned away from the night sky, were as sharp and hateful as ever. Arlenrose sighed and replied, “I am not admiring you, but I am a little surprised. I did not expect you to be the type who keeps appointments.”

The clock on the wall showed both the hour and minute hands pointing to 12. He had kept his word to come at midnight. Leybid straightened up at her words.

“Why would you not expect that? I am the type who keep appointments.”

Arlenrose was taken aback by Leybid’s proud demeanor, as if he were bragging about something that was clearly not something to brag about.

“But why are you here now…?”

“Because I waited a long time. I thought I was going to die of boredom waiting until midnight. I regretted and regretted that I should have made the appointment earlier. I wanted to come before then, but I held back and kept the time. Am I not good?”

Leybid, who had come inside while chattering excitedly, approached Arlenrose and put his arm around her neck. Soon his nose and lips came close to her neck, and his warm breath tickled her skin.

Read ahead here.