The Abandoned Princess' Secret Bedroom

“Are you stupid, really stupid?”

“…”

“Because you broke into the dining room in front of the queen, breakfast was ruined!”

“What do you mean, princess? It was the commander who prevented the princess from being insulted!”

Paulo shouted. Dane also frowned. All the knights displayed clear hostility.

“Be quiet, Paulo.”

“Come on, Commander! Didn’t she disgrace the commander in front of the queen and Miss Maud, saying that Tristan was a foolish Zakat? To insult the leader of a country’s knights like this, does she have no honor!?”

“Stop.”

“The princess is not worthy of protection.”

“Stop it!”

Tristan screamed. Llewelyn pursed her lips.

“What they said is not wrong. So now…”

“Sir Paulo seems inappropriate as an escort. He will be removed immediately.”

“Listen to me, really! I hate Zakats. I hate it when a lowly person like you protects me! Just let me die!”

Llewelyn shouted as if she was really frustrated. The knights all turned to Tristan for guidance. Even though he was a knight, his patience was limited. His jaw was clenched, and his red eyes harbored a chill of anger.

The knights were all afraid of Tristan. They couldn’t predict what kind of anger he would unleash.

“Do you think I’ll go away if you say such bad things?”

His voice was calm. Still, she could feel a refined emotion in his calm, an anger that was about to explode.

“What?”

“What nonsense is this? Weren’t you crying because you wanted to live?”

At Tristan’s question, Llewelyn was speechless.

“I know what you are saying is stupid, and not from your heart. But I don’t want you to treat me like a fool.”

“What nonsense…”

“Did you not know that I knew you were deliberately harsh to me when I was assigned to the princess?”

At those words, the Red Knights opened their mouths in shock and stared at Tristan. Llewelyn’s face turned white.

“I was being sincere…”

“Didn’t you say those things because you were worried that my position would plummet, being a bodyguard for a princess without any power?”

Llewelyn was unable to speak. She was desperately trying to lie. But Tristan had an expression that he knew it all. Llewelyn sighed.

“Even if the Sir’s words are true, what will change?”

The princess’ voice calmed down. When Llewelyn began to calm down, Tristan also calmed down. 

‘Why do you think I don’t know? Why do you think no one knows?’

This princess was deliberately trying to keep people away from her.

*

Tristan had been the winner of the tournament held every three years. He was native of the Zakat tribe, who had been persecuted for having a different culture. Although Brigant and Zakat had coexisted for decades, discrimination still existed. Zakats had been excluded from Brigent’s mainstream society.

Like the famous story “The Adventures of Troel, the Wandering Knight,” Tristan wanted to become a brave knight. He wanted to live for something.

If you won, you became a knight. If you became a knight, you could train in martial arts with the strongest people. What a noble and wonderful thing! It was heart-pounding enough for him to give it his all.

The tournament lasted about six months. The tournament usually lasted three months, but was extended to six because a lot happened during that time. The previous queen was executed and blood flowed through the capital.

Six months later, Tristan took the victory all too easily. He even defeated the best knight of the Peta Kingdom.

Tristan gave all his prize money to villagers of his hometown, and chose the path of a knight. After joining the Red Knights, he was surprised to learn that the person he was going to escort was the king’s daughter. A princess. It was the duty of a knight to protect the noble and to protect the Lady.

A knight who protected the highest woman in the country.

He would become a sword for her in the future. Tristan was determined to sacrifice his life for this glorious mission.

“That’s the princess.”

A slender girl was standing where the senior knight was pointing. She was wearing black, in mourning. The wind blew, exposing a white neck as elegant as a swan. Her long hair was a reddish-brown color, like that of a deer’s fur coat. Her droopy eyes were the color of pumpkins. 

How could she look so light even in a heavy skirt like that? Tristan admired the princess from afar.

“A lowly Zakat, a commoner knight? This is disrespectful to me.”

But the little girl coldly rejected him. Her pumpkin eyes bitterly thought he was fragile. The princess proudly turned her head and insulted him with an arrogant expression. It was the first blatant insult he had ever heard.

The arrogant princess despised him. She walked away as if she didn’t even want to talk to him. Tristan was frustrated. Was that really the noble lady he was to protect? Such an arrogant girl? Tristan began to hate the princess.

But after that, something strange happened.

The treatment of Tristan noticeably improved. For the sole reason that Princess Llewelyn, who was an enemy of the royal family, insulted Tristan, everyone sympathized with him.

The nobles, who discriminated against the Zakats more than anyone else, agreed that Llewelyn’s discrimination was unfair. Those who rejected him slyly approached Tristan, comforting him for the insult he had suffered.

‘A stupid and eccentric princess who discriminated against him for his origin without looking at the skills of the knight.’

People looked down on Llewelyn and praised Tristan’s ability even more to prove that they were not racist. Thus, he was appointed the general manager of the Red Knights around the time of Bastian’s accession.

As the general manager, he fell into a strange confusion. No one in his village thought he would be able to become a knight because he was Zakat. Even he thought so. But he had found success. How did he find this success? It was because of his skills, that’s right.

But what would have happened if the princess had accepted him as her bodyguard? He had no idea about the inner politics of the royal family at the time, but if she had accepted his post of escort, she would have been noticed by the new queen, who was in power. Also, no one would have felt sorry for him or even looked at him.

Did the princess intend for this to happen? Tristan was not a fool who was driven by hatred and viewed people in prejudice. Putting aside his emotions as much as possible, he observed Llewelyn.

‘Everyone who followed the princess is dead.’

It was a rumor that spread among the people. It didn’t help that her maids changed often. Most of her maids were either kicked out or resigned.

One day, Tristan saw a young maid treat Llewelyn with kindness. But Llewelyn was displeased. People pointed at Llewelyn, saying that she was a foolish mistress who did not know the servant’s loyalty.

Another day, Tristan witnessed Llewelyn speaking harsh words to a young maid. It was a very small mistake, but Llewelyn picked out small flaws that she knew would hurt her.

The little maid ran away crying. Up to this point, Tristan was in a state of turmoil. But Llewelyn lowered her head, covering her face with a guilty expression. Between the hands that covered her face, a sense of shame was palpable.

Then, dropping her hands to her lap, she looked up to the sky with an empty expression. She let out a deep sigh.

Tristan realized. She was doing this so that no one stayed by her side. He realized her intentions.

He didn’t want to hate her. There must have been a reason for the incomprehensible behavior of the princess, and he observed her with a certain curiosity. 

He didn’t think about what her reasoning was. When he came to his senses, he was chasing Llewelyn with his eyes.

A being who was despised by everyone, ridiculed by everyone. Nevertheless, she was always heavily armed with sharp thorns and walked around with a frown on her face. Like she didn’t need anyone.

But sometimes she stood alone, staring at the sky, just as she did then, with the loneliest expression on her face. Tristan kept watching her.

He thought he would’ve stopped worrying about her by now, but she kept bothering him. She was pitiful, and he felt like she was going to break, going to disappear.

So Tristan couldn’t take his eyes off of her.