CH 7.11

The next day, Lila woke up to Michael’s early morning wake-up call.

“Why are you still sleeping?”

Michael seemed to have already washed and gotten ready.

“You have to eat, and you can’t skip breakfast, okay?”

“I’ll eat with you!”

Excitedly, Michael pressed the magic bell.

“You’re using the beauty cream I gave you, aren’t you?”

Lila asked, scrutinizing Michael’s face.

“Of course.”

She had given him vitaminized skincare products and sunscreen before.

“I think your skin looks better than before.”

Michael smiled, pleased that Lila was checking him out.

“I think so. When you go out in the sun, make sure you apply the cream I gave you thoroughly, okay?”

“Okay.”

Michael felt almost glad to hear her nagging, rather than hating it. He took Lila’s hand and headed for the bathroom.

“Come on, wash up.”

“Okay…”

Standing in front of the sink, Lila tied up her hair and began to wash her face. Michael stared at her beautiful bare face from the side, intrigued.

“She’s so pretty…”

Without the weird makeup, Lila was absolutely stunning. She was the most beautiful person Michael had ever seen.

“Hmm…”

Michael said as he watched Lila dab her face with a towel.

“Are you going to wear that weird makeup again?”

“Hmm… is it that strange?”

“Of course it is. Everyone else is desperate to be prettier, so why are you doing something to ruin your face?”

“Well… it’s kind of complicated to say… Can you just pretend you don’t know?”

“Okay.”

Lila smiled at Michael, who didn’t even question her words, and just answered immediately. She kissed him lightly on the cheek.

“Thank you, young master.”

With an audible yelp, Michael, his face bright red, stormed out of the bathroom.

“Hurry up and get dressed and get out!”

Do-do-do. Lila laughed as she heard his running footsteps. Pulling her cosmetics out of her purse, Lila applied makeup and touched up her freckles before heading to the dressing room.

Looking at the dresses that didn’t fit, she grabbed the one she wore yesterday.

As she changed, Michael, who was already sitting at the table with the food, got up and walked over, grumbling in frustration.

“Isn’t that the dress you wore yesterday?”

“I couldn’t help it.”

“Well, then, we must get out soon.”

Lila couldn’t help but smile as Michael casually took her hand and escorted her away.

It was nice to eat with someone other than herself. Sitting down in the chair he pulled out for her, Lila gazed tenderly at him as he bustled about with pleasure.

They sat down, picked up their forks and knives, and struck up a conversation.

“Shall we go to the dress shop first?”

Michael asked, and Lila nodded as she popped a cooked carrot into her mouth.

“Should we?”

“Yes. I’ll take you to the most famous dress shop in the North.”

“And the most famous place is run by a dressmaker named Doreen?”

“Yes, Doreen’s Dress Shop. Why?”

Lila tilted her head, shoveling crisp lettuce into her mouth. Michael, puzzled by her behavior, gave her a questioning, urgent glance.

Lila hesitated under his gaze before answering.

“Well, I had a dress made from her before we went to the capital…”

“And then? What happened, why?”

Lila paused before turning to Michael, who couldn’t wait for the pause.

“The side of my dress burst open at the coming-of-age ceremony, and it was very embarrassing. Thank goodness the Duke had the presence of mind to deal with it, because I almost cried on the spot.”

Michael’s pink eyes widened at her words.

“Your dress burst, why?”

“Well, of course, at the time I was kind of… you know, my body was just, like, this.”

She put down her knife and fork for a moment and spread her hands, pointing to her side with both hands.

“And how did you do that?”

Michael wondered about Lila’s suddenly slimmer body. He wondered if she was actually using magic, or if she had some kind of unusual tool.

At his question, Lila smiled wryly and covered her lips with her index finger.

“This is also a secret, will you keep it?”

“Of course!”

She didn’t know if it was at Michael’s insistence, but there were no servants watching over them. Seated at the table on the balcony of Lila’s room, she glanced around once more, needlessly, at the deserted surroundings, then leaned in close.

“I made it myself. I made a bundle of cotton to go around my waist, I’m a bit of a seamstress.”

“So, you’ve been wearing it the whole time?”

Lila giggled, looking up at the surprised pink eyes.

“It’s nice to be warm in the winter, but I thought I was going to die in the summer.”

Michael burst out laughing at her silliness.

“Ugh, ugly, if it’s so hot, you should have looked into magic tools! The Empire’s magic engineers are skilled. I’m sure they could have made you a magic tool like that in no time.”

Lila shrugged at Michael’s comment.

“But they’re expensive, and as you know, I’m only a baron’s lady, so I can’t afford them.”

“You can’t.”

“What?”

Lila narrowed her eyes at the child’s answer. Michael saw the look on her face and gave her a grim look.

“I’m going to be there to protect you. You see, you’re a bit clueless, and you should be grateful, because you’re the first person I’ve ever promised to protect.”

Her heart melted as she watched him cut the sausage into small pieces and pop them into his mouth.

Seeing him so young, yet so mature, made her feel a little sad. She chalked it up to just being a kid, and smiled broadly.

“You made a promise, so you have to protect me, because I admit I’m not good enough.”

“And what if you don’t admit it?”

“Hehe, that’s right, so I need you to protect me. I’ll protect you.”

Hearing her words, Michael stopped his hand for a moment and raised his round eyes.

“Really?”

“Yes, of course.”

“Promises are meant to be kept, never broken.”

“Then, shall we make a promise?”

Lila said and held out her little finger. She stopped and walked in search of Michael’s little finger.

Michael blinked slowly as he watched the wiggling, moving, intertwined fingers.

He finished the last of his food and stood up. Before he left, Lila carefully applied sunscreen to Michael’s face, and then to the backs of his hands and neck where he was exposed.

“Let’s go, young master.”

Lila said, taking the child’s hand. Michael, who had finished eating and seemed to be pondering something, looked up at Lila with a determined look on his face.

“We have each other’s backs now, and I know your secret… but I don’t think it’s fair that you’re the only one sharing secrets.”

Michael was so bright that she wondered if he was really a nine-year-old. The Duke had said he had a good head on his shoulders, and that made him more mature than most kids his age, Lila thought.

“So, how about we swap secrets? I wonder what your secret is?”

Lila asked nonchalantly, thinking that it was probably something she was hiding, or that she had made a mistake.

Any secret, however small, she was willing to keep.

Just then, a gust of wind blew into her room, strong and powerful for a breeze coming in through the balcony.

“My secret is…”

The wind was so strong it was hard to hear Michael’s words. Lila tightened her grip on his hand and pressed her body closer.

“It’s that I can do magic.”

Gold seemed to pool in the pink irises in front of her. Her eyes widened to tears, and Lila couldn’t look away.

She remembered a scene she’d read in the original book, in which Crown Prince Theobald’s fiery eyes mysteriously transformed into a shimmering veil of gold whenever he used magic.

I don’t know why I was reminded of the original, which I had almost forgotten.

Lila was mesmerized, staring into Michael’s gold and pink eyes.

The gust of wind was gone, gone cleanly. Or at least it left a trail.

The nameless flowers that littered the floor of her room were the traces of the gust.

Lila paused for a moment, the sweet, faint, fresh scent of flowers filling her nostrils.

“Did I surprise you?”

“You did…”

“If you hate me or something…”

She glanced at Michael, who was looking at her curiously, and quickly answered.

“Of course not, I was just surprised, you said last time that there were no mages…”

Michael, who had been worried that he might be treated strangely by her, looked relieved and replied with a bright smile.

“Nope. Except me.”

Lila’s mind raced. The memory that had just come to her must be the right one… But could Michael not know that the Crown Prince was a mage?

She was relieved to realize that even royalty could hide things from each other.

Just as she was beginning to wonder why she was relieved and lose herself in thought, Michael spoke up.

“This is a top secret, and you must never tell.”

Lila nodded like a puppet whose face was the only part of her that moved as he placed a short finger to her cute pink lips.

“So, shall we go out?”

Tugging on her unconsciously faltering hand, Michael said in a cheerful voice, “Let’s go.