Chapter 14
I muttered my thoughts aloud without realizing it.
Inside the carriage to the temple, Clovis, who sat across from me with a cold expression, responded to my murmur.
Startled, I shook my head vigorously, denying anything was amiss. But Clovis’s hardened expression remained unchanged.
‘See? One little mutter and he glares at me like he wants to kill me.’
The banquet was the same. If anyone was at fault that day, it certainly wasn’t me.
Hestia had summoned me to the Imperial Palace, but as an orphaned commoner and trainee priestess, I wasn’t allowed to attend the official banquet. So I was simply amusing myself in Hestia’s waiting room.
Hestia had explicitly told me not to return to the temple until she came for me. So, I waited, enjoying some refreshments, when one of the new maids tripped, sending a tray of treats crashing down. I was drenched from head to toe.
Shards of glass littered the floor, I was covered in sticky, sweet… human dessert. It was a disaster.
The maids and knights, knowing Hestia’s fondness for me, were horrified. I repeatedly reassured them that I was fine. Once they’d calmed down, they suggested I at least change my clothes in the next room. I simply followed their instructions.
I didn’t know that “next room” was Clovis’s private chamber. I also didn’t know that Clovis would barge in while I was undressed, cleaning myself up. The maids and knights, preoccupied with cleaning the mess in the other room, hadn’t had a chance to inform him of my presence.
Clovis, startled, stared at my huddled form, frozen for what felt like an eternity, before turning and leaving like a malfunctioning automaton. Since that day, the kind Crown Prince had vanished.
He was still kind and just to everyone else, the perfect future emperor. But to me, he was a criticism-generating machine. A self-esteem destroyer.
Why this same man, who had so viciously, so spitefully called me a lowly, orphaned commoner, was now sharing a carriage with me was completely beyond my comprehension.
Being in the same space with Clovis, arms crossed and radiating disapproval, made me uncomfortable. My aching body only amplified the feeling.
My lower abdomen throbbed, making it difficult to sit upright, but with Clovis there, I couldn’t lean back or relax. I forced myself to sit straight, and beads of sweat trickled down my forehead. The cramping felt like the worst days of my menstrual cycle.
“Are you in pain?”
Clovis, who had maintained a stony silence throughout the journey from the manor to the temple, finally spoke when a bead of sweat rolled down my forehead.
“N-no.”
Out of habit, I instinctively denied my pain. We weren’t on terms where I could admit to any weakness. Clovis responded with his usual derision.
“Not in pain after losing that much blood? You’re quite talented.”
‘Yes, yes. I’m incredibly talented.’
‘This bumpy carriage ride is a divine trial, and being stuck here without even any undergarments is clearly my destiny.’
I hadn’t been able to retrieve my underclothes and trousers before Clovis appeared, so beneath my priestly robes, I was completely bare. My situation was… laughably pathetic.
“Ahem. Are you…”
“Yes?”
“Were you crying a lot… Never mind.”
Clovis started to ask something, then stopped himself, muttering a curse under his breath as he struck the carriage wall.
‘What in the world is wrong with him? Did he swallow poison?’
As I pondered the ever-evolving nature of his torment, the carriage arrived at the temple. Clovis hopped out, then beckoned me with a flick of his finger.
“Follow me.”
My status dictated obedience. I awkwardly disembarked, my gait as stiff as a penguin in Antarctica. I stumbled.
I didn’t completely collapse only because Clovis reached out and steadied me by the waist.
I stared up at him in surprise. He’d caught me reflexively, but surely, with his personality, he’d just throw me down now?
But Clovis…
“Oh!”
Instead of the expected rejection, Clovis, his eyes cold, simply scooped me up into his arms.
“Your Highness!”
Being carried like a princess by the man who had spent years relentlessly tormenting me was utterly bewildering. My theory about Clovis’s accidental poisoning gained significant traction.
“Put me down, please! I can walk. Why are you… Your Highness!”
Clovis ignored my pleas. He strode purposefully through the temple entrance toward his waiting knight.
“Inform Mother that I have an urgent matter to discuss with her. She’s likely with the High Priest. Tell them it’s important and they should both come.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
The knight bowed and hurried off, leaving Clovis to continue his brisk pace down the hallway.
“Your Highness! Please!”
My desperate pleas went unanswered. He carried me through the temple corridors and into my assigned room before finally setting me down. He then roughly loosened his cravat.
“If you have urgent matters to discuss with the Empress, I’ll excuse myself.”
While Clovis had represented the ailing Emperor at the victory celebration, the Empress had also been present, seated in a position of honor. She was likely now engaged in elegant conversation with the High Priest in their reception room. There was no reason for a minnow like me to be present at such an important meeting.
Discussion
0 CommentsReactions
No comments yet.