By Zephyria 
I thought we would go to the room after leaving the drawing room, but the destination was strange. The Crown Prince and I naturally used the main bedroom of the castle used by the lord and his wife in every territory we went to. But his steps, which had suddenly picked me up, didn’t go up the stairs leading to the second floor, but instead went straight out to the courtyard and then strode towards the garden.
“Eung? Where are you going?”
“We have to leave again tomorrow, don’t we? I thought we should get some fresh air before that. I heard you’ve been inside the mansion all the time.”
“Gee, anyone would think you’re worried.”
“Of course I’m worried. Why can’t you believe my sincerity?”
“Wow…. If you hadn’t been born as the Crown Prince, you would have definitely become a great actor. Do you really not know how happy and pleased your expression becomes every time you confirm that I’ve been waiting for you in the room all day?”
“Oops, I thought I wasn’t showing it, but I got caught.”
“Heung. You’re far from being able to deceive me.”
I won’t deny it. Perhaps because he was the first Alpha I started having relationships with in this body, and the first one I started seducing. If I wasn’t racking my brains and getting nervous, I was comfortable when I was with the Crown Prince. A strange familiarity flowing between the jokes I threw out playfully, a strange sense of déjà vu.
Soon, we stopped at the glass garden that Young Master Russell had mentioned a few times. It was elaborately decorated to suit the Countess’s luxurious taste, who had a hobby of gardening, so among the nobles in this area, being invited to a tea party held here was said to be the greatest honor and hope of a lifetime.
“Wow…, it’s beautiful…….”
Indeed, its reputation was not in vain. Unlike the darkening scenery outside, the small candles that were lavishly installed to hang long between the steel pillars that supported the glass windows were as lovely as fallen fragments of stars. It would have taken dozens of Magic Stones just to keep those candles from going out and transferring the fire to other places.
Among the ornamental trees that gracefully stretched their necks, an artificial stream flowed romantically, and flowers of all sizes bloomed harmoniously along the direction of the water. The fresh scent of trees and flowers combined was truly a symbol of abundant vitality.
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince dismissed all his escorts and walked into the glass garden with me alone, without hesitation. After walking for a while, we arrived in front of a large, unbelievable tree. On the thick branches, as thick as the passage of time, hung an adorable swing that seemed to have jumped out of a fairy tale. He sat me down on it and took off my shoes himself.
“I told them to spread soft flowers like a carpet so your feet wouldn’t get hurt. Sometimes, something like this isn’t so bad.”
He was right. The neat grass planted to tickle my ankles and the soil, picked clean of any pebbles, felt softer on my bare soles than any fancy carpet. I slowly walked around the tree, following His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s guidance. When I went around to the back, there was a rough table made by bending a large tree whole, and low, squat chairs that looked like they were for dwarves in a fairy tale, placed cutely like pebbles along the table.
“What is all this?”
When I asked with wide eyes, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, uncharacteristically, looked embarrassed and asked if I didn’t like it.
A banquet hall for dwarves in a fairy tale unfolded in a huge glass greenhouse. If something like this existed, Duke Russell would have brought me here a long time ago. The Duke only boasted about how elegantly beautiful the greenhouse garden was, and how many rare flowers there were, but there was no such Märchen-like scenery. It must be His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s work.
“No, it’s not a matter of liking it or not… How old do you think I am in your head, Your Highness? I graduated from this kind of taste at least when I was ten.”
I don’t know if His Royal Highness the Crown Prince knew this and decorated it this way, but in fact, the fairy tale about a young boy who gets lost in the forest and is invited to a dwarves’ banquet, embarking on an accidental adventure, was my favorite story before I regained my memories of my past life. I would beg my mother to read it to me again and again before going to sleep.
“Of course, I know that. If you were a ten-year-old snot-nosed kid, would I have been so eager to loosen your collar?”
“Really, if you can’t say anything nice…”
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince pinched and shook my cheek without hurting me and laughed lightly. He said he wanted to show me this scene at least once if he had the chance.
“If I had known it would be like this, I should have called you to the palace before you grew up. I’ve never seen you, and I’ve never thought about wanting to see you… I must have been quite curious unconsciously. Lately, a little kid who looks about ten years old keeps appearing in my dreams.”
“Could that be me?”
“Considering you run up to His Royal Highness the Crown Prince without fear and ask him to hug you, wouldn’t you think so?”
“Speak properly. I never asked you to hug me. You just pick me up as you please. It’s already embarrassing enough for people to see…”
“Yes, yes. I understand, Royal Consort.”
While I was grumbling, my shoulders slumped and I sat down on the squat chair. The squat chair and wooden table, which looked quite cute, were too low to actually use comfortably.
As soon as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince sat down opposite me, servants dressed as dwarves, who had been hiding somewhere, came out in a row and diligently brought food to the low wooden table. He must have been determined. Even the cutlery and the food on the dishes were exactly the same as the illustrations in my favorite fairy tale.
Hmm… The person His Royal Highness the Crown Prince planted in our mansion hasn’t been there long enough to know about my childhood, so where did he get this high-level information? Even I had forgotten about it.
“So. How is it? Would it be a memory suitable for an engagement anniversary trip?”
“I wonder…”
I smiled mischievously, scooping up a large portion of the tree nut-shaped tartar steak with a fork.
“If Your Highness would dress up as the chief dwarf, very willingly?”
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince threatened not to even dream about it, but he bent his back and stayed with me until the end of the uncomfortable dwarf banquet at the low table and low chair. It seemed like he was being cute for once.
The last night in the County of Hope was meaningful in many ways. …Thinking about what would happen tomorrow, I felt a little, just a little, sorry.
“Young Master, it seems you had a very enjoyable evening.”
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince said he would have drinks with the Count until late, so I was preparing to go to bed first when Nicole suddenly spoke to me.
“You’ve been chuckling to yourself since earlier.”
“Oh, have I? I didn’t know.”
“Anyway, I’m glad. His Highness is more affectionate than I thought. I was secretly worried that he would be grumpy.”
“That’s true… Ah, did you tell His Highness about the fairy tale I liked?”
“Me? Did Young Master not tell him yourself?”
“What?”
My eyes met Nicole’s, who was massaging my feet and calves with fragrant aroma oil. We were both puzzled and had question marks on our faces.
“Ah, no… I heard from the other servants earlier that as soon as His Royal Highness the Crown Prince was given a tour of the glass greenhouse on the first day, he suddenly said that this would be a good place and called in all the skilled artisans nearby and ordered them to make tables and tableware exactly like the ones in a fairy tale. So, I naturally thought that Young Master must have mentioned it while you two were talking…”
“Not really… I don’t remember saying anything like that… What is it, I don’t know. Maybe I just don’t remember.”
I was a little suspicious, but the fairy tale I liked was so famous that every child from a noble family would have read it at least once while growing up, so it could be a coincidence. Apart from the grateful and sorry feelings I had for His Royal Highness the Crown Prince, my head was so full of what I had to do tomorrow that I had no time to pay attention to anything else.
“I’ll have to go on a long journey again tomorrow, so I should rest early.”
“Yes, Young Master. Good night.”
“Yeah. You sleep well too.”
That night. I slept soundly without any dreams.
* * *
Clang, clang, clang!
“Protect His Highness! Don’t break the formation, everyone!”
The sound of animal claws and weapons clashing echoed eerily through the wide forest. It had been exactly four hours since we had set out on our tour again, receiving a grand send-off from the Count of Hope. After finishing the tour of the central region, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s party entered the mountain range, which was the widest and safest route for carriages, to head to the eastern region. The weather was clear, and the mountains were peaceful, with only the occasional sound of turtle doves cooing faintly and disappearing.
“At this rate, it will be dangerous. There are too many mountain beasts…!”
That was only the case until thirty minutes ago, though.
Coo-ook, coo-ook, coo-ooo-ook.
The sound of the turtle dove cooing three times at regular intervals was a secret signal that only I could understand. At that signal, all kinds of mountain beasts began to attack the party like a tidal wave in an instant. Wolves, wild boars, and bears. The attacking beasts did not have the killing power of Demon beasts, but they were threatening enough.
“What is the cause? If it’s just a matter of the beasts being hungry, we can just subdue them as they are, but… something is strange.”
“Kuh… It’s difficult to accurately grasp the situation at the moment, but as far as we can guess, this mountain range was originally managed by the Grand Duchy of Graham and the County of Hope, but both families have been focusing on stabilizing their territories, so they have not been able to manage the mountain range properly… As a result, the beasts have naturally become more prosperous…”
His Royal Highness the Crown Prince and the captain of the royal guard were talking with serious expressions. It wasn’t yet to the point where they had to worry about His Royal Highness the Crown Prince or my safety, but the problem was that there were too many beasts left. It was only a matter of time.
“Your Highness…”
“Don’t worry. I have the Crown Prince’s face to save, can’t I even protect you?”
When I leaned my head against His Royal Highness the Crown Prince’s chest with a frightened expression, he embraced my shoulders with a calm attitude.
I tried to pull down the corners of my lips, which were about to twitch, and hid deeper into his arms. Poor Adrian. The beasts, ordered by Carlisle, would not pose any threat or fear to me.
“Really? Then I’ll trust only Your Highness.”
I was scheduled to disappear here, protecting His Royal Highness the Crown Prince. In front of so many witnesses, without fail.