My Feelings Come Much Later

Silence enveloped Commander Eloria's tent following her honest assertion. Though the Emerido Crown Prince did not say anything, he never took his gaze off the Commander. Somehow, the expression on his face was calm yet hard to read.

"You are right," Hemeri suddenly agreed after the brief silence that seemed like forever, and his response took Eloria Camer by surprise. "When I did those things, I was yet to have feelings for you. Those actions were purely out of curiosity."

"Curiosity?"

Crown Prince Hemeri nodded his head. "Rumors and tales about you reach every corner of my Emerido because most of the present generation had never seen a female warrior like you. There might be a few in history but they were past and you are the present," he explained. "When it reached my ears, I failed to hold my curiosity and strived to know what you are really like. That's why I sent Vicus."