Shadowless Night

Rosaline looked at Ricardis in awkward silence.

“Go get changed in the dorm and…come back.”

Ricardis, chin rested on one palm, stretched out his free hand with a smile. His large hand touched Rosaline’s waist. Ricardis pulled her toward him with his strength just like that. The sheet crumpled between the two. Rosaline’s eyes widened as she was pulled right up to his nose. Her expression seemed to say, “Uh, our weak and feeble Highness is stronger than I thought!”

“Rosaline.”

Ricardis pulled Rosaline even closer. As his body pressed against her, she stiffened. Ricardis’ face was reflected in her stiff green eyes. His silver hair, flowing like silk, glistened in the morning sun. Ricardis lowered his eyes and smiled. Rosaline’s breath stopped. She hadn’t noticed before because she was mesmerized by his beauty, but the distance…seemed very closed.

Realizing this, Rosaline gently pushed his chest with one hand in surprise as if telling him to come no further. Because the hem of his shirt was open, the palm of her hand touched his firm chest, making Rosaline even more flustered. His skin was so soft that it was smooth. She took her hand away in wonder, but when she realized why she had put it there in the first place, she pushed again. Then she panicked and pulled it again before pushing again with an “Oh, right”.

What are you fiddling with? Ricardis laughed at her absurdity. Rosaline’s eyes shook wildly.

“Your Highness, something is…”

Ignoring her dissuasion and embarrassment, Ricardis kissed her forehead with a smack. Hohh! A gasp was heard.

“I-is strange…”

It was a tearful voice.

“Good morning, Sir Rosaline.”

It was a faint smile that seemed to melt into the air. His face was more beautiful and moving than a natural scene with a ray of sunlight leaking through the dark clouds covering the sky. Rosaline was stunned by his incredible appearance. His smile deepened.

Haqab Hwi Livita. To think that ambitious man put ‘Ricardis’ on the line when the only thing that could be set up as a rival was ‘Ricardis’.

***

The mouth of Hannah, the head maid of the Moonstone Castle, trembled.

“… Yes, Your Highness? My apologies. I misheard a lot lately…”

“No, judging by your reaction, I think you heard it right.”

“So, today… you want us to dress you up with a deadly feeling like a rose with thorns and a dark scent in it… despite looking vulnerable even in the spring sunlight…”

“Exactly. That kind of feeling.”

The maidservant doubted her ears at Ricardis’ strange order. She didn’t say anything for a long while.

“Your Highness, wouldn’t the maid be embarrassed if you say so?” Isserion, who was beside him, interrupted the conversation between the two. Hannah cheered him on inwardly. What was with all the dress-up? The person who hated putting anything on his face became a different person overnight, so she couldn’t adapt. Secretary Isserion must’ve felt the same way. “Your Highness is already vulnerable as if you would fall apart in the faint spring sunlight, but wanting to have the feeling of a rose with thorns and a strong scent… is no different from asking to make adamantine from a stone.”

“…”

Behind him, the senior knight, Lewon, also nodded. Hannah looked at the two brothers with a puzzled expression.

Ricardis grumbled, “Look at this, Hannah. You can never communicate with Isserion.”

Clearly, neither words nor meanings made sense. Hannah was the first to come to her senses among the maids gathered in the room and reflected on what Ricardis had said. Vulnerable enough to perish even in the weak, intangible energy of the warm sunshine, yet like a deadly rose that seduces people with its thick scent…

It’s love at first glance. Master’s romantic feeling that I’ve never felt before in the 10 years of working at the Moonstone Castle! Hannah shuddered. Spring is finally coming to Moonstone Castle, too!

Hannah said to wait a little while and hurriedly dragged all of the maids out. She was on the verge of robbing the treasure trove. The room where the maids had all left was silent.

Lewon scratched his chin and then sneaked up to Ricardis’ side. The brothers Isserion and Lewon also had no idea what was going on. No way… Is he in love? Do flowers bloom in the Moonstone Castle? The moment he was about to ask, Ricardis called him first.

“Lewon.”

“Uh… Yes?”

“Find out who Sir Rosaline met with and what conversation did she have yesterday. Don’t miss anything out.”

What flowers? It was cold snow, as if even the growing flowers would be cut with a knife.

“Also, who she meets today and what kind of conversation she has.”

The face of Ricardis, who was staring sharply into the distance with his arms crossed, was… Well… close to the fatal blah blah of a rose, but it didn’t seem to be blah blah that would scatter in the spring sunlight.

“In addition.”

Sir Rosaline, what the hell have you done? Lewon sighed deeply inside.

“Was it Hessa?”

“What Hessa?”

“Sir Rosaline’s new apprentice knight. Bring him here, without her knowing.”

Lewon repeated the order in his head. What Sir Rosaline had done yesterday. What Sir Rosaline would do today. The apprentice knight who assisted in all aspects of Sir Rosaline’s life.

“And Sir Raymond.”

Even her guardian.

‘What have you really done…’

Lewon shook his head and left the room. Seeing Hannah, the head maid, returning with a lot of excitement, he put on a pitying expression. It was kind of dating, as Hannah expected, although a little bit mixed. But it felt more like a sticky and various tricks than the fresh atmosphere in the early days of dating. He wondered if Hannah ever wanted that…

He shrugged and moved on.

***

Rosaline stumbled. Her steps swayed, like a drunk or a hungry dog, going left and right and then stopping. She absent-mindedly passed the dormitory building. It was only twenty minutes later that she realized that she had passed her destination. So, it was exactly one hour and forty-nine minutes after she came out of Ricardis’ room that she grabbed the doorknob of her dorm room.

Click.

Inside the tidy, almost empty room, Hessa was sleeping curled up under the huge bed. Why wasn’t he sleeping in his room and on the floor…

‘Oh… right.’

The moment she saw the boy with swollen eyes, Rosaline remembered things she had forgotten. The necklace given to her by Haqab, the offer received with it, and even Haqab’s existence. It was because Ricardis in the morning was too shocking.

Rosaline pulled out a sheet and gently covered Hessa with it. She wanted to move him onto the bed, but the boy had a wild sense that was incomparably more sensitive than the two seniors. It was clear that he would wake up the moment she touched him.

Rosaline stared at the boy sleeping on the floor, thinking about last night.

[… From the moment you came to me…]

[Good morning, Sir Rosaline.]

Ricardis’ smirk spread over Haqab’s proposal. No matter what she tried to think about, even with the necklace in her hand, his twinkling eyes, the hard chest that she had touched earlier, and the big hand that pulled her and the soft and warm feeling on her forehead—!

Her whole head was full of Ricardis. Rosaline pressed down on her thighs.

‘Something more than this… It was elastic and the skin texture was soft but hard…’

The solid feeling of his chest was palpable. She wanted to press it one more time when she had a chance.

[My heart pounds.]

[That’s right. My face burns and I can’t even make eye contact.]

[How beautiful.]

She remembered a conversation she had with her colleagues the other day. It was something she sympathized with at the time, but now her heart really pounded, her face was hot, and she felt like she couldn’t meet his eyes. She didn’t even know how she had seen him until now.

Rosaline swept her dry face. Metal slid down from the inside of her clothes as she moved.

‘Oh, right.’

Haqab. She had forgotten again. This time Rosaline concentrated and briefly reflected on his proposal. If I get married, he will not only not touch Ricardis, but also protect him. Marri… Marriage.

[Do you know why Idelavhim made so many people, Sister?]

[… Uh… Umm…]

[It’s because you make a lot of wrong decisions by yourself. Humans are imperfect, and therefore they often make mistakes. So it is to help each other and make up for it. God has made us see the light of the world together. So Sister, if something happens, don’t just worry about it and share your thoughts with people you trust. Two human heads are better than one human head, and three are better than two.]

Of course, what Calyx said was a blatant lie because it was not described in the scriptures. He was horrified when he found out that his sister had been doing dangerous things alone in Balta. She needed to be warned once more, on such a scale that it had to attract the god that had made the huge world.

Thanks to that, it was engraved impressively in her head. She was suffering from headaches, so it was only natural that Calyx’s advice came to mind. Rosaline nodded. What can I do alone? Nothing.

She wanted to ask Macaron, but she hadn’t seen them since yesterday. Rosaline changed her clothes and left the room to find someone else.