“Why are you so surprised when I simply called your name?”

He flashed a languid smile at Hazel’s reaction.

“It’s too… formal.”

Hazel said while trying hard to ignore her fast-beating heart.

He only called her name. It was just strange that her body reacted as if her heart was startled that much.

“I think you broke the formality first.”

“Am I?”

When Hazel asked with a doubtful face, Achilleon only gave her a mysterious smile.

“It’s good that you called me by name first.”

“That can’t be true. I don’t think I….”

Hazel suddenly stopped talking. Her green eyes was full of confused twinkles as she reminisced on her past memories. Then she uttered a short exclamation when the memories finally rushed to her mind as if he was just throwing a stone on the calm water and causing it to stir.

“Ah.”

Even if she wanted to not remember any of those moments, she simply couldn’t do that. Her mind had already become familiar with the man whose blue eyes were shining toward her.

“Keep calling me that.”

He showed a smile on his mouth as if he was satisfied with it.

“No way, that, that’s ridiculous.”

The Crown Prince and the Princess from separate countries call each other’s names casually.

“But you do that with my younger brother.”

“It’s…”

Hazel stopped talking when she was about to say it was a different case. Because Achilleon has got a point about that.

“I’ve seen the Prince since I was young. We’re like friends to each other…”

“…And you mean it’s different when you are with me?”

“…you are not the same.”

Hazel was hesitating before uttering an answer.

“Prince Sisef was an exception. Regardless of the fact that we are the children of the King and Emperor, I’ve seen him since I was young, so we’ve been keeping such things as manners and formality aside. But we decided not to do that for a while.”

“But it didn’t look like that earlier.”

“That’s because the Prince…”

When she remembered about their intense argument on the horse earlier, Hazel was left speechless again. Out of all moments, Achilleon had to witness that specific one, therefore she couldn’t hide them properly.

“We haven’t gotten used to it yet. We’re going to change our ways gradually. Because we are not children anymore.”

“Then, what about my reward?”

“Reward?”

“I saved you from falling off the horse and suffering from a broken neck a while ago, so you should’ve given me something in return.”

He playfully raised the corners of his mouth.

“You have something in mind, huh?”

Hazel asked back sharply. Like what he’d said, she wanted to act nice to him because he was the one who saved her earlier, but somehow it looked like he would be asking something difficult in return, so it didn’t come out easily from him.

“You saved my life, so please tell me.”

“It sounds like you are going to listen to everything I ask you.”

“…I will listen to it.”

She couldn’t bring herself to promise she would listen to everything he asked for. She knew what kind of person he was, but it was still great for him if she got caught in the trap even though she just answered with empty words.

“Then I’ll think about it.”

He smiled and hugged Hazel tighter than before. Hazel’s black hair tickled the tip of his chin as it fluttered in the wind. At that moment, the strength applied in the arm which was wrapped around Hazel’s waist intensified, and he increased the speed of his horse even more.

As they passed through the narrow road, she finally could see a familiar sight.

“Brother!”

The first person to spot them was Sisef. Lorette followed him. Mary rushed right away to her side after previously crying as she stood next to Lorette.

“Sister, where have you been?”

As Lorette approached Hazel, Achilleon got off the horse and opened his arms to Hazel. After hesitating for a brief moment, Hazel then leaned on his arm to get off the horse.

“Where have you been? I’m about to send people so they can track you down. How did you…”

Sisef was in an agitated state which was an unusual sight to see. She didn’t know what he was going to say if she left him as he was.

“Prince Sisef.”

Hazel quickly cut off Sisef’s words.

“The horse of His Highness must have been surprised. We had a hard time because it didn’t stop for a while.”

“…….”

Sisef looked alternately between Hazel and Achilleon.

“It’s just that His highness took some time trying to calm his horse down. I know you were worried but…”

It’s your fault that you took me to another place first. Hazel stared at Sisef and held back what she was about to say next. As if he noticed the thing which hadn’t been spoken by Hazel, Sisef couldn’t say anything and only clenched his fist.

“What? Callius didn’t listen to you?”

This time, Sisef asked Achilleson.

“Because the horse was so surprised. Horses are normally out of control when they are surprised.”

Hazel stepped up and replied once again. Achilleon, Hazel, and Sisef. People’s stares toward them were flashing unusually toward them. Miella’s gaze was also blending among them.

Miella looked as if she had lost her precious toy. Her pride must’ve gotten hurt enough that the gun in her hand trembled.

“Your Highness the Prince, I heard it could happen if the horse has gotten surprised. But it’s okay now because you two have managed to come back safely.”

Lorette said as if she was trying to calm Sisef down, but he didn’t loosen his expression easily.

“What Lorette says is right, Prince Sisef.”

When Hazel called him in a soft tone, Sisef’s eyes shifted slightly.

“What should’ve I done when the horse leapt up all of a sudden? If the Prince’s horse hadn’t leapt up in the first place, I wouldn’t have fallen off… It was simply an accident.”

Sisef’s expression became even darker as he looked at Hazel, who spoke plainly. Sisef’s eyes shook as he realized she regarded him in an extremely polite way.

“Hazel, I’m sorry. Because my horse leapt up and made you…”

“I think Hazel is the one who almost got hurt. Why are you the one being mad here?”

“Brother…”

Sisef was surprised and turned to where Achilleon was. The same thing was done by Hazel. Sisef looked alternately between Hazel and Achilleon with a confused look.

Achilleon only turned to face Hazel without even giving him any glance.

“I thought you allowed me to do the same thing because you had called me with my name earlier.”

“I…”

Achilleon took a step closer to Hazel when Hazel looked at himself with bewildered eyes.

“In return for saving her life, the Princess allowed me to address her more intimately.”

Hazel couldn’t help but stare at him with blank eyes.

“Aren’t you?”

Achilleon smiled and tilted his head. The answer has already been decided by himself, so it was an implied pressure to agree quickly.

“I…”

Hazel tried not to contort her facial expression.

Everyone was watching them. In this situation, she didn’t dare to humiliate the Crown Prince. Hazel looked at Sisef for a moment and then turned toward Achilleon as if she had made up her mind.

“Please do as you please, Your Highness. You saved me from almost dying, therefore it wasn’t such a big deal to call me by my name.”

When Hazel smiled brightly, Sisef stared at her from the side with the shock that was apparent on his face.

“Of course, I will keep using honorifics. I was just flustered earlier, so I ended up calling you that.”

“…Suit yourself.”

Achilleon’s mouth stretched out widely. He had a relaxed face as if he had seen through Hazel transparently.

“We came back safely without getting hurt, so it’s alright now. The hunt will begin soon, so each of us needs to do our own thing.”

Hazel said and looked around the crowd of people.

“Princess! I was worried for you.”

“Very much.”

Hazel smiled bitterly as Mary approached her again after making a way for her to pass through the crowd of people. Mary’s look was ridiculous when she tried to keep a low profile of herself but was noticed by people regardless.

“Lean on me.”

Hazel let out a sigh and laid her hand on the back of Mary’s arm.

“Everyone worried a lot. The Crown Prince suddenly disappeared following Prince Sisef and the Princess….”

“It’s fine because we just returned.”

Hazel was lost in her own thoughts when she gave a half-hearted answer.

It was the first time she had ever seen Sisef expressing his feelings to Achilleon like earlier. It was something she had never seen before, at least that was as far as they knew each other.

Except at one time, on the day Achilleon declared her as his empress.

“What’s wrong with him today?”

Sisef has always been obedient to Achilleon. In a flash, he took Hazel and she was deeply surprised as well as feeling bewildered at his action because he was not a person who would be edging on Achilleon like what he did earlier.

Lorette approached her while she was still preoccupied with strange changes that took place today.

“Sister, I’m so glad you came back.”

Lorette held Hazel’s hand. At that moment, Hazel found Miella looking over Lorette’s shoulder with a piercing gaze directed at her.

Miella finally made eye contact with Hazel, but rather than avoiding or sending a greeting, she almost glared at her. Hazel also looked at her without avoiding her gaze until the end.

Lorette approached and whispered in her ears once she noticed the staring contest between the two.

“The Crown Prince followed Prince Sisef’s horse after picking you up earlier. Thanks to that, Young Lady Miella was left alone right in front of everyone who watched the whole scene.”

Lorette’s voice when conveying the scene earlier was filled with subtle hints of joy. How dare he to openly ignore the daughter of the Concez family in front of many people. However, her opponent was the Crown Prince of the Empire after all.

“Sister, what’s wrong?”

Lorette asked Hazel curiously while staring at Miella’s direction. Hazel was wondering about what Miella had said earlier.

“The Princess can’t get married to a lower family than yours, am I right? Seemed like they had decided that you’d rather be the queen of a foreign country or the wife of a prince (in principality) because Your Highness needs a higher and proper rank. Whether it’s the kingdom of Patran or the Principality of Kent…”

If it was like what Miella had said, in which Ileos and Uncle Wilves was planning to marry her to the Patran Kingdom.

“Father didn’t raise me just to marry an old man on the outskirts like that.”

She was afraid it wouldn’t work out the way she wanted. Because Hazel was willing to give Miella the concubine position of the old king.

“Mary, get my gun for me. As well as a horse.”

Hazel said without taking his eyes off Miella.

“What… Excuse me?”

Mary looked at Hazel because she thought she might have heard it wrong.

“Sister Hazel?”

Lorette was also taken aback and asked her.

“I’m going to join the hunt as well.”

Mary exclaimed in surprise once she heard Hazel’s remark.

“Oh, no way. Your legs haven’t recovered fully yet…”

“I’m fine to hunt in this state.”

Hazel gently nipped with her teeth and stared at Miella’s direction. Miella’s eyes which were directed at her were still full of resentment.

Bang.

The sound of a gunshot resonated in the air from somewhere. It was finally the start of the hunt.

***