“This is the first time you’ll be standing beside His Highness the Crown Prince at an official event, so wouldn’t it be better to wear something like this?”
“Even so, it’s too eye-catching. If I send you out like this, there’ll be more talk about your appearance than rumors about a new fiancé.”
His Highness rejected the outfit chosen after the fifteenth change of clothes with an absurd reason.
‘If I’m standing next to His Highness anyway, I won’t be that noticeable.’
In reality, no matter how beautiful someone was, if they stood next to His Highness, they wouldn’t catch my eye at all. My thought was that although Aila had a fairly beautiful face, it couldn’t compare to His Highness.
“Then how about this one?”
“That’s just as flashy. And nothing with a lot of silver accessories. It’ll look inferior in quality compared to your hair.”
“I hadn’t thought of that.”
Suddenly I recalled what His Highness had said when looking at my clothing. It was the first day I attended a ceremony after becoming his guard knight. Even back then, His Highness had said, ‘It’s a shame about the silver accessories.’ But a mere guard knight couldn’t dare adorn themselves with gold accessories like His Highness, so my clothing never changed.
‘He said that even though I didn’t have silver hair as bright as Aila’s.’
I felt a subtle longing. As His Highness watched me like that, he soon pulled out one outfit from among the pile of clothes.
“I think this outfit would be good.”
It was a deep navy blue with touches of red as accent points. The accessories were all gold, so it didn’t feel particularly dark. However, the design seemed restrictive of movement, so it absolutely wasn’t something a knight would wear—it was clearly for a banquet.
“Will you try it on?”
His Highness asked, his eyes crinkling. Endlessly weak to that smile, I forgot that I was tired of changing clothes and immediately answered that I would.
“Good. I’ll dress you.”
“What?”
“The child is quite shy, so step out for a moment.”
As soon as His Highness’s order fell, the attendants who had been busy changing my clothes went outside without complaint. Not only did the words about dressing me concern me, but the way he addressed me concerned me too.
‘Child. Since when did he call Aila a child?’
When I was Tiel, we’d met at such a young age that it wasn’t strange for His Highness to call me ‘child,’ but hearing that form of address in Aila’s body made my ears burn.
‘Eight years isn’t that big a difference, is it?’
It seemed he was indeed projecting Tiel through Aila. Come to think of it, the times he called me ‘Sir Aila’ had greatly decreased as well. When I sneakily glanced up at His Highness as if testing the waters, His Highness extended his hand toward me. I reflexively hunched my neck, and his hand approached even more carefully.
“Your… Your Highness…?”
Long fingers touched the gold buttons. Only then did I realize that ‘I’ll dress you’ wasn’t just something he’d said casually. His Highness truly intended to attend to my clothing.
‘This can’t be.’
Unless I was ill, having His Highness attend to my clothing in this perfectly healthy state was something that shouldn’t happen. Attending to someone was naturally done by those of lower status.
“I’ll do it myself.”
I couldn’t quite push His Highness’s hand away and only gaped my mouth. As if he hadn’t heard my refusal, he brought his body even closer. When he got close enough that I could hear His Highness’s breathing, I couldn’t move a muscle.
On top of that, His Highness’s pheromones, which he always kept perfectly contained, began flowing out subtly, and as if adding insult to injury, my mind became hazy. Even though they were just gently flowing pheromones without much of a feeling of trying to seduce, I ended up reacting.
‘This won’t do.’
At this rate it seemed I’d start releasing pheromones too, so I took one step back. Then His Highness, who moved exactly that much closer like a ghost, made a soft sound of swallowing air.
“Shh, stay still.”
At behavior that was truly like disciplining a child, I forgot about trying to escape and accepted His Highness’s touch as it was. The clothing that was complicated and took a long time just to put on had its knots quickly undone by delicate yet swift hands.
“Can you spread your arms?”
When I reflexively spread both arms, His Highness, who had lowered his head, completely removed my upper garment. In the process, even the tip of his nose touched my nape, and my entire body turned red.
“Good boy.”
This person was merely dressing me, yet I was absurd at myself for constantly falling into strange sensations.
‘They say playing with fire for the first time is scary—is that it? Or is it this body that’s the problem after all?’
There had never been a time when I didn’t harbor feelings for His Highness, but I’d never reacted this severely physically before.
‘I can’t let him find out.’
The thought of not wanting to reveal my shameful parts to His Highness, who seemed almost ascetic, became even more intense. Unaware of my disgraceful inner thoughts, His Highness not only dressed me in the new clothes but even fastened the buttons himself.
“Hmm, shall we try white pants for the lower half?”
“No! I, well, dark-colored pants are good.”
At this rate it seemed he’d take off my pants too, so I hastily fabricated a preference. In truth, I had no particular likes or dislikes for pants as long as they weren’t conspicuous colors, but I wanted to escape from these touches by any means.
“Alright. I’ll remember that.”
His Highness, who laughed lightly, finally drew his body back. I exhaled all the breath I’d been holding at once. Only then did I feel that I’d been holding my breath for longer than I thought.
While I regained my composure like that, His Highness’s gaze didn’t leave me even once. I could clearly feel him scanning from my head to my toes. If eyes could devour a person, I would have been devoured long ago and then some.
“Shall we wear these clothes tomorrow?”
In the end, I was the one who couldn’t bear the silence. Since I didn’t want to change clothes again, I hoped for an affirmative answer.
“Yes. Very beautiful.”
Still, I didn’t expect such an immediate answer to come back. Moreover, receiving praise calling me ‘beautiful’ from the person whom that word suited best in the world made my insides churn. It was clearly words directed at Aila, yet somehow it felt like words directed at Tiel, which made it even more so.
“I’m glad it pleases Your Highness.”
I hastily gave thanks to hide my embarrassment. Once I’d blurted it out, I worried whether I’d misinterpreted it—he’d only said it looked good, but I’d said I was glad it pleased His Highness.
“I can’t help but be pleased.”
Fortunately, my interpretation didn’t seem entirely wrong. Relieved, I faced him, and His Highness, perhaps thinking I was curious about something, added an explanation.
“Men are all the same creatures to begin with.”
“What? Men, you say?”
It was clearly an additional explanation, yet I didn’t understand the words. Moreover, the ordinary word ‘men’ didn’t suit His Highness at all, creating a sense of dissonance.
“There’s no man who wouldn’t be satisfied dressing his beloved in clothes he personally selected with his own hands. I’m no exception.”
His Highness caressed the ornament at my neck, then adjusted it for me.
“All the more so if he can show that appearance to many people.”
With a smile of utmost satisfaction.
* * *
If yesterday there had been a commotion over clothes, today from dawn I was busy adorning myself from head to toe. Though I’d been confident that I always kept myself neat while living as a knight, I realized there was a big difference between being neat and being adorned.
“Is it really necessary to accessorize up to the arms?”
“You’re not even wearing rings, so you must wear a bracelet!”
I had strong resistance to rings because I remembered them being uncomfortable when gripping a sword. Then Shane acted resolutely as if he couldn’t concede on at least the bracelet.
‘What’s all this about, really.’
Seeing that His Highness, who was watching from the side, didn’t stop it either, it seemed there was no escape. Unlike me wearing uncomfortable and flashy clothes, His Highness’s outfit was simple, keeping hunting in mind. If you examined each piece, they were all high-quality and elegance itself, but it was natural to be compared to me wearing clothes closer to banquet attire.
‘It would be nice if I could hunt together instead.’
That was now completely out of the question.
“You must head to the venue now.”
“Let’s go then.”
His Highness extended his arm to me. At the clear sign of offering an escort, I took a deep breath and linked arms.
‘Since this is the first and last time, let’s make it so His Highness has no regrets.’
Though brief, I too had been placed in an excessive position I couldn’t even dare to wish for. Rather than feeling burdened, I decided to feel even a bit of joy.
“Everyone is waiting.”
His Highness took the first step toward the light.
