7. Leonhart

- Urgh.

Lucia was groaning because she realized that the sun had come out. She tossed and turned in bed, still didn't want to wake up. Whichever world she lived in, it seemed like her personality couldn't change. "Why was there only 24 hours a day?" – she grumbled.

Too bad for her, the maid had already been knocking on the door. After agonizing over the fact that she was no longer able to sleep in, she pulled herself up, smoothed her hair, and adjusted her clothes.

- Come in.

Were given permission, the maids opened the door. Like how it was usually, they assisted her in doing the morning routine. She had got accustomed to living a princess's life and to be honest, it's nicer than she had thought.

The young maid was lacing the corset. Lucia wondered how come it was a bit tight today. She would be suffocated if it was any tighter. The maid usually didn't make such a mistake.

- Um, Ally. Your lacing was tighter than normal.

Hearing what the princess said, Ally, who had a bad habit of spurting out words she shouldn't, again couldn't hold back.

- Your Highness, it isn't the corset that is tight. It's your bell… y… um… um…

Ellen, the other maid, tried to prevent Ally from saying those words by covering her mouth with a hand. But it was a little too late. Lucia had heard more than enough to know what Ally meant.

Lucia rushed to the mirror in a panic and surely, she noticed that she was a bit chubbier than before. She lightly pinched her belly and to her horror, confirmed that the layer of fat under her skin became thicker. Somehow, the words her brother had said resurfaced in her mind. Although at that time she answered like she wouldn't care less, now she was still quite panicked when the consequence came.

- D@mn it! Ah no. I'm an elegant princess. Calm down. Calm down!

She was breathing in and out slowly to control her emotion as she looked at the mirror again. "Well, it wasn't too bad. I'm just a bit… um… healthy" She tried to delude herself but the cold hard truth wouldn't evaporate just like that.

- Ellen, from tomorrow onwards, wake me up earlier and prepare my workout clothes.

- Your highness, do you mean the weird clothes… um… um…

Ellen covered Ally's mouth again before she's saying anything stupid and answered respectfully.

- Yes, your Highness. I will have it prepared tomorrow.

Satisfied with the answer, she signaled them to continue lacing the corset and a bit looser this time, of course. When she was finally done with the dress, she took the basket which she had told the maids to prepare and went outside. The others also brought a lot of other things and followed her.

Her destination this morning was the knights' training ground. She's going to have breakfast with Lucius. Though it's true, that's mainly an excuse. Her real purpose was only to meet a particular man there. And although the training ground was full of good-looking men, this one was special to her. He's a handsome hunk. His facial features were manly and somewhat wild like a beautiful lion. He was tall and had a muscular body. One look and you could feel the pressure of an apex predator. He had a nice personality to boot. And the most important point, although she found it's stupid of a reason, was that he was a supporting character who stayed alive in the novel.

People called him "The Strongest Knight" in the kingdom and for sure it befitted him as he survived after participating in a lot of battles and became one of a few characters that stayed alive. He's so strong, it's just too hard to kill him so she felt safe standing beside him and wouldn't have to feel insecure if any chance they developed a relationship. The novel didn't describe much about him when he was just a minor character so she had guessed his personality wrong. Who would think that The Strongest Knight would be so sweet and gentle! "Is this what they call gap moe?"

As her thought was wandering about, Lucia reached the training ground. This wasn't the first time she came here. Ellen asked a squire to inform Lucius that his sister had come. A few moments later, they could see that he was closing in from a distance away, and next to him was a knight with burning red hair was clad in white armor. Lucius knew very well what her intention was as this wasn't the first time she used this excuse. He brought him along so he didn't have to bother with returning to call his friend again.

As she saw her target, her eyes lit up. "Oh, wait. I'm an elegant princess. An elegant princess." She chanted her mantras before beaming at the two guys. Observing a weird smile out of nowhere, Lucius cringed at her good-girl behavior. He rather saw her wild actions, which he thought was more interesting to see.

- Ah, Lucius. I want to have breakfast with you. Do you have time right now?

Lucia again used her ultimate skill, acting coyly. She knew very well that her appearance would boost the effect. Too bad, Lucius could see through this but that was none of her concern because her target wasn't him.

Lucius couldn't help but widen his eyes a bit. "Hey, sister. You're not even looking at me. Aren't you too obvious?" Lucius almost spat those words out but succeeded in swallowing them back. He could also see that maids were used to seeing this kind of scene. While Ellen kept her serious face like nothing ever happened, Ally was, um, excited!!??

- Um, Leonhart. It must be hard to train under the sun. I told my maids to prepare light food and drinks for everybody. Please tell them to feel free to take it.

Lucius didn't have the chance to answer when she continued to ask his friend and ignored his stare confidently. Hey, why bother to ask when you didn't even need an answer!!??

- Oh, thank you for your consideration, your highness. They would be delighted to hear so. – Leon gave Lucia a bright smile. His eyes squinted a bit and one could even feel his voice become gentler in contrast to his appearance.

"Hey, we're still here, three living people, ah no, three living light bulbs standing here. Don't act like we don't exist. How about being considerate of our feelings?" One could even see the surroundings were filled with glittering pink hearts flying around and a sickly-sweet scent permeated the air. The two looked like they used to ignore their surroundings. Seeing this, Lucius breathed deeply, wanted to control his emotion and prevent himself from letting it show as he kept an expressionless face.

He decided to ignore them and take the basket the maid was holding. And the basket in Lucia's hand? Hah, Lucius knew very well who it was made for. But he didn't have the strength to interrupt them. He was too hungry and thirsty to the point of his belly was making noises. "This is too much, these two sh!tty lovebirds! Just get it on already! Ah, no. Wrong phrasing. Just dating already!" He cursed them loudly in his head as he ordered the maids to set the table.

Lucius sat down and took a fork, intending to start eating. Lucia and Leonhart noticed his movement and decided to join in. As the two sat down, Lucius couldn't help but roll his eyes. "Why did you stop talking and come here? Please let me eat in peace!"

And apparently, his wish wasn't fulfilled as they kept stuffing his mouth with dog food. He was starving. He wanted to eat. But never before did he find it was hard to swallow when they kept flirting without giving a care in the world right in front of him.

Finally, such a bizarre breakfast passed by. Lucius was freed and quickly resumed his training. If someone didn't know the situation and guessed just by looking at him running, they would assume that he was chased by a beast or something. As Leonhart also had to resume his training, Lucia was reluctant but still let him go. "Stop it, girl. Don't be annoying! You're an elegant princess." – She mumbled.

Lucia was a bit tired so she walked to the side and sat in the shade of a tree to watch their training. The maids stood next to her in attendance. Ellen then pulled out a big umbrella. When Lucia saw this, she couldn't help but praise her silently for being so well-prepared all the time.

"Oh no, my mind wandered again. I really should fix this bad habit." Lucia shook her head. Right now she had a very important thing to do and that was to observe the training. It's only a pretense that she's watching Lucius though. Although her face turned towards her brother, she kept glancing aside. Eventually, she became so fixated on Leonhart that she didn't even notice her mouth was slightly opened.

Leonhart was carrying a giant sword. It would be abnormal back in the modern world. Probably because here had magic and martial arts that nobody found weird. "What's that called though? The novel didn't mention his sword or his martial arts at all. Greatsword? Bastard sword? Zweihander? Um, the shape is wrong. Claymore? Ok, I don't know very well about these things."

After a while, Lucius stopped and drank some water. He inadvertently cast a glance towards the place his sister sitting and saw a horrifying scene. Lucia, a princess, was so smitten that it showed on her face and some suspicious liquid was dripping from the corner of her mouth. "Holy… How embarrassing! If someone asked, I would never admit that she's my sister." He decided to leave first. Like hell he would wait.

Lucia still didn't know her appearance had become not-so-elegant-princess when all that occupied her mind was the training knight. She needed to watch carefully every inch of his body, especially his bare skin, and burn that image into her brain. She had to remember how sexy a part of his bare chest was revealed or how his sweat was flowing down his muscles or how his arms manly swung the sword or how…

- Ahem. – A cough from behind interrupted her thoughts. She looked back at Ellen in wonder and received a weird answer. – I think the weather is too hot. You might need a handkerchief.

Ellen then gave it to her while the princess still didn't have a clue what she's talking about. They were in the shade, not sweating. Why did she need a handkerchief?

It was then Lucia noticed that her maid was looking at the corner of her mouth. Realizing what Ellen implied, she quickly wiped her saliva and pretended to continue wiping the sweat on her forehead. "Thank God it was not noticeable!" – she thought to herself.

Leonhart put back his sword after the training ended. Seeing this, Lucia, who's not concerned about dropping the elegance she was desperately trying to keep, quickly stood up and rushed to him with a cool towel and drink she had prepared.

- Thanks.

Leonhart answered as he received the towel to wipe his face. Right now he didn't need to speak formally as there's no one near. They had known each other for a long time after all. After he drank a bit, he smiled at her and asked.

- Are you tired after being out all day?

Lucia shook her head lightly in return and laughed.

- I'm only resting in the shade. Why would I get tired?

Though hearing her answer, he still ruthlessly pointed out.

- But your face was kind of red. Are you sure you're okay?

Lucia was stupefied for a while before realizing why her face became red. "Oh sh!t!!! I can't say that the reason is me being too excited, right?"

- It's nothing. Um, I mean… I'm not tired. It's just… um, hot. Not because of the sun you know. Ah-ha, I'm in the shade after all… it's… um, like indirect heat or something… - She really wanted to punch her own face when she kept stuttering like that. Too bad right now she couldn't control her voice.

Leonhart found this side of her was cute but kept pretending he didn't know and led her to the hallway.

- Then we shouldn't be under the sun. Do you need some water to cool it down?

- Ah, yes. Thank you. – Lucia received the bottle and took a sip. Only after that, she realized: "OMG! Did we just have an indirect kiss?" And she started choking wonderfully.

- Hey, are you ok? – Leonhart patted her back and asked worriedly.

- I'm… fine. I'm just kind of hasty. – She coughed a few more times then spoke. – Okay, I want to ask you something.

- Yeah, I'm listening. – He nodded and looked her in the eye.

- Um, I'm going to a festival with my father. So I wonder if… I mean… - She didn't know how to say it because she felt like she was taking advantage of him. Though it's true that they would have better protection with Leonhart around, she also felt safe and secure in his company. She wanted to protect her father, but that didn't mean that she wanted to put Leonhart at risk. She just wanted that they'd both be safe. It's just… Arrgh...

- I think I will need some fresh air outside. I ask my father if I can be your guard that day.

Lucia was a bit taken aback. It's like Leonhart knew what she's struggling to say. Then she became overjoyed to hear his answer.

- Yay, thank you!!!

She jumped up and down and spun around. Then she noticed that he was smiling at her, she stopped and coughed twice with embarrassment. Lucia quickly said goodbye to him and ran away.