0&1 ch 4.3

The guard captain tried to hold his ground with brute force, but when he realized that the hand lifting him up was mine, he jumped to his feet.

“I’m sorry, Your Highness! How dare I!”

The way he quickly pulled away from my grip felt like a bug had touched him. He probably didn’t mean it that way, but it didn’t feel good.

If the guard captain hadn’t entered the gate in the first place, I wouldn’t have had to slam on the brakes. But that wasn’t his fault either.

“No, it’s fine… The guard captain must be busy. You came to the palace for work, right? Go do what you have to do.”
“Ah, Your Highness!”

I thought it would be better to just send him away, but the guard captain didn’t leave. He glanced at Dot with a fierce look and whispered to me in a low voice.

“I’ve brought the item you requested.”
“Oh.”

I’d forgotten I gave him a task.

The captain of the guards was covered in dust made by Sweetie. The man was already shabby, and now he was covered in dust, which made me feel sorry for him.

He came to the palace to search for the ring because of my order, and he was almost hurt because of my mistake. On top of that, the ring’s owner, the attendant, is not even grateful, but is just glaring at him. From the captain’s point of view, this is a terrible situation.

I couldn’t say sorry, though. Dot had made it clear a prince shouldn’t say that.

“Dot, could you escort this man to my quarters? I’ll be there soon.”
“Huh? Your Highness, you need treatment!”
“Yeah. I will. In a bit.”

I turned to the Captain.

“You can give the ring to my attendant first. Thank you very much. I’ll be there soon, so please wait a moment. You don’t have anything important to do today, do you?”
“N-No…” The Captain answered, dazed. 

I patted his shoulder and gestured for Dot to go. Dot made a sulky face and disappeared with the guard captain. Why are you being so rude to the person who found your ring?

Looking around, I saw that I was surrounded by soldiers. With all the commotion, they couldn’t help but come. I’m sure the Queen will be notified. All my efforts to cover up Count Baumkuchen’s misdeeds were for nothing.

Well, nothing to be done. I’d just have to keep Edward out of it.

I patted Sweetie on the neck. The horse seemed to be greatly startled and couldn’t calm down. Still, it managed not to run away. Probably because I didn’t let go of the reins.

It’s okay, it’s okay. I stroked the horse until its trembling stopped and tried to move on. But the soldiers moved in step with me

“Excuse me, I’m sorry for the commotion. Everything’s settled here. You can go now.”

One of them, head bowed, spoke up, “Your Highness, I’m sorry, but didn’t that horse harm you?”

I didn’t understand what he was saying.

“No? She didn’t do anything.”
“Your Highness, from what we saw…”
“What kind of creature that eats grass would harm a person?”

The soldier squeezed his eyes shut and shouted, “But Your Highness, endangering the life of royalty is a crime punishable by death!”

“What?”
“That horse is a criminal! No, a guilty beast! If Your Highness just takes her away…”
“You mean I can’t take her away?”

The soldiers lowered their heads in unison. I didn’t mean to put them in a difficult position.

Suddenly, I thought of Edward. Specifically, what he’d said about Joffrey using a promise as an excuse to ride his horse.

Joffrey fell off that horse. So what happened to Edward’s horse afterward?

I returned to Edward. Once I argued that I’d handle the punishment, the soldiers didn’t push further. Honestly, I think the Queen’s influence had more to do with it than my logic.

Thanks to that, the horse was safe, but I couldn’t bring myself to ride her again. There was no stool to use as a step, so the horse and I walked slowly.

Edward was waiting for me where I had caught up with the servant. The servant who had been running away was lying on under Edward’s body.

A scrawny little kid wouldn’t have been able to subdue someone on his own. The stablehand must’ve helped. I gave him a grateful look.

“Where’d you go?” Edward asked with a blank look on his face.

“For a walk.”
“I see.”

Normally, I would have grumbled, asking him if he had seen anything, and saying that horses don’t take their owners for walks, but I couldn’t do that this time.

Edward’s original horse was probably dead. The one he was riding now was from the palace stables.

“Is this the Queen’s servant?” he asked, glancing down. He hadn’t interrogated him yet so he didn’t even know who he was.

“I think so. If he’s my servant, he wouldn’t run away when his master calls him.”
“N-no, Your Highness!”

The servant struggled. Edward’s body, which had been crushing him, shook.

“Hold still.” Edward smacked the guy’s head. It made a cute slapping sound, though only the sound was cute.

The attendant looked up at Edward, stunned.

“… Alright. Answer me. Why did you run away?”

I was just as surprised, but I quickly regained my composure. Edward was indeed a bit absent-minded, but he wasn’t a fool.

He could at least respond to someone who had tried to harm him.

“I-I didn’t know it was Your Highness calling me…”
“Oh. You didn’t know when I was chasing you on horseback, shouting?”
“S-sorry…”
“Cut the lies. I know already. How much are they paying you?”
“… What?”

The attendant forgot he was supposed to keep his head down and looked right at me.

“I’ll pay you more. So tell me what you’ve been reporting.”

He shut his mouth tight. Not Dot, clearly. This guy might not have any attachment to Joffrey.

Or maybe the Queen scared him too much to sell her out.

“Then I guess I’ll have to tell Her Majesty you touched my belongings.”
“Your Highness!”

“I don’t want to either. Telling me what you saw would be like betraying the Queen, right?” I soothed him gently, like I understood. “Then let’s do this. You don’t have to tell me what you saw, just don’t report what you saw today.”

“But…”
“You really want to be known as a lying thief? The Queen is a bit strict, but she probably won’t banish you outright.”

In the end, the attendant agreed to pretend he saw nothing today.

“Good choice. Let’s get along. If you need pocket money, come see me tonight.”
“… Yes.” He replied reluctantly.

“Edward, let him go.”

Edward stood and whispered something in the attendant’s ear. The guy fled, face drained of color.

“What’d you say?” I asked.

Edward looked blank and a little gloomy. “Told him to be careful.”

He ran from that?

“… Weird attendant.”
“Yeah.”
“I’ll say it again. Don’t worry so much.” 

Edward gave a small smile.
“Okay. I’m not worried.”