chapter 9

 

“…Do you know the moment when the sky is seen through the leaves in summer, it’s so bright that it almost seems to be giving off light through the green layers?”

“I’ve seen it.”

” I like that color the most, but this is a secret! My parents told me that I liked white the most, so I should like white.”

“… Not from now on.”

“Yes?”

What’s not? I’m not your Highness’s fiancee? Or is it that I shouldn’t like blue?

“The young miss likes the same blue color as her eyes, but it seems that this room is lacking that color.”

Leonhardt stood up. That hard tone is a tone that you wouldn’t see an eight-year-old kid use anywhere.

It’s just an opinion. Leonhardt laughed as he said so. However, the Duke understood the meaning behind those words, he clenched his fist.

How dare he intervene with his in-law family’s matters when they haven’t even held an official engagement ceremony….! But the Duke knew very well that his son-in-law, the Crown Prince was enraged.

“…Thank you for your thoughtful remark.”

“When her ladyship is well, I will come to see her again.”

Elizabeth reached for Leonhardt’s hem as she jumped out of her bed.

But her hand slided past Leonhardt’s hem.

Instead, it was Leonhardt’s hand that held hers.

“I hope you will have recovered next time I come.”

Elizabeth nodded unconsciously.

The hand of her fiancé, whom she met for the first time, was very large, warm, and he was holding her hand firmly as if clinging onto something that would disappear any time.

***

“How was it?”

As the nanny questioned, gazes of the maids focused on him. Leonhardt looked out of the window and scratched his cheek.

“…Buy a pair of shoes on the way back.”

The maids’ tumultuous chatter filled the wagon.

Leonhardt left them be and wondered what could be done for Elizabeth.

The first thing that seemed urgent is to get her out of the Dukedom.

If he left her in that state until the betrothal and formally entered the palace as crown princess, then apparently the same tragedy would repeat.

‘All I want to do right now is to get her out of the Duke’s house, and bring her to my side….’

However, they both must be at least 10 years old to be officially engaged. Leonhardt sighed as he tried to calculate each other’s age.

In the meantime, the carriage arrived at the shoe workshop of the best craftsman in the Empire.

‘Why do women have so many kinds of shoe to wear?’

It was Leonhardt’s first impression of arriving at the shop.

For court banquets, spring outings, prom dinners, tea parties, dance practice shoes for the prom, traveling boots and boots for daily use.

Boxes of shoes piled up like a tower on the table.

“High-heeled shoes are also popular among young ladies. To meet the demands of young ladies who want to look a little more adult-like, in our workshop, we don’t make shoes that are uncomfortable even with high heels…”

Leonhardt shook his head, interrupting the clerk’s words and called the craftsman himself.

The craftsman couldn’t even have the chance to take off his work clothes when he heard that the prince had visited the workshop in person, and ran straight to him. 

‘Bring everything that suits an 8-year-old child.’

The prideful boy was staring at the shoes in the box with a displeased expression. To deal with such a high-ranking person, the master craftsman patiently pulled out another box.

Come to think of it, isn’t his Highness the Crown Prince turning 10 this year? The craftsman smiled, thinking that he might have met a young miss he liked.

Even his grandson, about the prince’s age, was also unusual these days, looking at shoes for girls or consulting him about what kind of shoes would suit his lovable one, as if that would be a friend’s job.

Then the craftsman asked the most important thing, it could not be helped regardless of age and status.

“Do you know the size of the young miss’s foot-wear?”

“Of course…”

Of course… he didn’t know.

Leonhardt spread his palm and tried to demonstrate it’s ballpark figure, but he realized that it was too much to explain with a child’s hand and fell into despair.

“If the lady has stopped by our workshop, there should be set up samples. If you excuse me, may I know the name of the young miss?”

“Elizabeth Isolde von Elysium.”

The craftsman’s eyes widened instantly, the Elysium family was also one of his guests, as it is the best workshop in the empire.

One of the apprentices who made her shoes kicked his tongue, complaining how an 8-year-old child could walk in those things.

Not only her parents but His Highness the Crown Prince also intend to get her that kind of shoes too?

The craftsman brought out her shoe pattern, thinking that if it truly happened, he would somehow stop the prince.

“… Small.”

“Yes?”

“They are ridiculously small, is this really the size of her feet? How can she walk with those tiny feet?”

“….. Your Highness is also wearing a size that doesn’t look so much different….this is about the average size for the miss’s age.”

Leonhardt looked down at his feet and blushed.

He was only ten himself.

How funny it turned out to be to see a little boy say something small the moment he looked at his own shoes.

Leonhardt coughed awkwardly then got back to requesting some conditions from the craftsman.

“It should be light, get rid of all the high heels.”

“But if you’ve already worn high-heeled shoes at such a young age…. pardon?!”

“That’s why I’m telling you to break all of those damn heels! Make them from comfortable materials so that child can walk and run freely, dragon skin or anything is fine, just so that she’s able to walk properly!”

The craftsman responded to the Prince’s completely unexpected remark by blinking his eyes a beat late.

“Shoes without heels…..copy that.”

“I don’t need jewelry, so make it lighter, right, I’d rather they had embroidery.”

“Embroidery? Embroidery on a silk background would be fine… They will make lovely shoes suitable for spring. Do you have any patterns or phrases you want?”

Leonhardt fell into trouble for a moment, the craftsman smiled looking down at him.

The craftsman would be making them himself, so they had to be of the highest quality. But embroidery…hmm…

What is the best phrase or pattern that suits the finest materials? Leonhardt racked his little brain.

“… embroider the blue forget-me-not flowers.”

“Forget-me-not…huh? Your Highness knows quite a bit of romance.”

“I-It not like that! Just… because her ladyship said she likes the color blue… “

“If it’s blue flowers, there are other flowers, and if you want, you could engrave a blue rose that doesn’t exist in the world?”

The craftsman continued to laugh while looking at Leonhardt.

Leonhardt stared at the craftsman with murderous eyes stating that he would kill him if he went any further.

Oh, how scary, the craftsman displayed an exaggeratedly scared attitude.

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Leonhardt frowned, cooling his hot face with the back of his hand.

‘It’s just because forget-me-not is the only blue flower that I remember. Never forget me…I didn’t mean that, just that… simply because she likes blue. That’s why I did it.’

Leonhardt made up an excuse for himself, somehow he felt like everyone was making fun of him, including the staff in the store.

***