“Ha, ha.”
Elena heaved in deep breaths of exhaustion. This wouldn’t have had a great of a toll on her in her previous life, but she wasn’t in peak condition anymore. When they managed to get to safety, Elena took stock of Carlisle’s condition. His face was very pale. She didn’t know how he managed to hang on this long in his wounded state.
“Your Highness, come down. Let’s look at the wound.”
Elena got off her horse and extended her arm, Carlisle looked at her as if she was being patronizing by helping him get off a horse like a child. However, contrary to his piercing expression, Carlisle quietly accepted her hand. He got off the horse then leaned against a tree, pulling open his ragged clothes. His right arm, which was covered in hard, lizard-like scales when she first saw him, was back to normal.
“Ah…”
It was as if the scales were never there, but Elena was not so naive as to mistake what had happened. Carlisle immediately understood what her brief pause meant.
“You’re wondering why this arm is now normal?”
There was some bitterness in his voice. Of course she wondered why, but she knew that treating Carlisle was more important at the moment.
“I’ll treat you first.”
Fortunately, Elena had carried medicine with her in case of emergencies. It was a pity that she had not brought much because it had to fit inside her armor.
“This will sting a little, Your Highness.”
Carlisle’s blue eyes gazed cautiously at Elena as she calmly took out the medicine. However, Elena looked at Carlisle’s large and small wounds with confusion. There were more than just a few wounds here and there. His body bore signs of deep scars, old scars. Carlisle didn’t even make a sound as she touched his painful looking wounds. This situation must be very familiar to him.
‘…Fortunately, the crown prince’s achievements were not exaggerations.’
Come to think of it, this was the first time she had seen the crown prince. One of the terrible rumors had said he was a large, hairy, and ugly man. She didn’t realize he would actually be this handsome…
As she worked she noticed his tight, hard muscles peeking through the torn edges of his clothes. He looked rather like an ideal man. In fact, his tall, handsome appearance was more akin a man who partied wild in the city than one who lived on the battlefield.
However, he had a dangerous air about him. Even when he was sitting on the ground his presence was so overwhelming she couldn’t easily find a weakness. Elena remembered what kind of empire the Ruford was. A country obsessed with war. There were many words for the emperors of the Ruford empire. The butcher, the bloody devil, the conqueror…she felt that all of those words could apply to that man who gave off that overwhelming aura. Elena glanced silently at Carlisle, and he spoke to her in a sharper voice than before.
“I don’t think you’re from my army. What did you save me for?”
Elena thought over how to answer to this question. It hadn’t been easy to rescue the prince, but now she found it even more nerve-wracking to talk to him. Still, she was determined to give him an answer.
Elena hoped that Carlisle would continue to survive long enough to become emperor and defeat Paveluc. She was willing to risk everything she had to help him. The road to make Carlisle emperor would be difficult, and there was no way to know what other dangers were lurking. She couldn’t let him know about it.
“…Your Highness.”
“Tell me.”
Elena had seen Carlisle’s power and accepted the fact that he might be suited to being an emperor. She remembered the people who said that Paveluc would not have been able to take the throne so easily had Carlisle been alive.
Since Elena was born an aristocrat, she had to marry the man that her father decided for her. In her previous life, her family was destroyed and she was free from such duties, but that wasn’t the case anymore. Elena now had to marry a man who would bring the most benefit the Blaise family. If so…the man was sitting right in front of her.
She looked at him up and down. He had a sharp jaw, a high nose, and fierce-looking blue eyes. His black hair, darker than the night sky, stood out against his milky white skin. She remembered the dark, monster-like scales on his right arm, but fortunately it wasn’t visible at the moment. Carlisle narrowed his eyes as Elena continued to silently stare at him.
“Well if–”
Carlisle was about to speak.
“I want to marry you.”
“…What?”
Carlisle’s composed expression instantly changed to shock. Elena repeated herself once more.
“Please marry me, Your Highness.”