"Alas! Always so cold despite having a soft heart! I would have liked it if you were a little more honest like your mother instead of being cold and arrogant to outsiders like your father," the Queen commented but the Crown Prince didn't seem to mind it.
"I only need to show the real me to those who deserve it," the Crown Prince said as he looked at Esther. "Is she deserving?"
Esther was listening to his sarcastic tone without showing any reaction. Although Prince Theron didn't like her even a bit, she could feel it from the way he was talking that he was merely a cautious person. Say, if Esther was not staying with his mother and had probably simply received some other reward for saving the Queen, he would have probably treated her as air.
'Well, I am here because I like the Queen and she likes having me around as well. Whether or not you are the nicest prince of this kingdom, it has nothing to do with me. I am here only because I gave your mother my word,' Esther grumbled in her mind. 'What matters is how the Queen and the other people in her palace treat me.'
The topic shifted to some random matters related to the nobility, and soon enough, their brief teatime was finished. The Crown Prince said, "I still have a meeting to attend. I will have to take my leave now, Mother."
"I won't be seeing you off, then." The Queen nodded and the Crown Prince stood up. Just as he was about to leave the garden gazebo, he stopped walking and paused by the entrance, causing both the Queen and Esther to stare at his broad back.
Prince Theron did not even turn around as he spoke in a low tone, "Do not ever think of betraying my mother's trust. If you do so, you will very much regret the day your little mind hatched that plan. I will make sure? you will be in so much pain, you will be begging me to end your life."
"Theron!" The Queen sighed at the way he talked to her saviour, while Esther only lowered her head. She wanted to say something, but she wished for him to leave as soon as possible. Keeping her silence was the best response in this stifling situation.
As she listened to his retreating footsteps, Esther could not help but let out a sigh. She found the situation somehow ironic. Although this young prince was perhaps one of the most capable fighters alive in this kingdom, he was just an ordinary human. On the other hand, she was someone with powers he could not even begin to comprehend…yet here she was, feeling intimidated by the aura this human had around him.
'I wonder why…'
After the Crown Prince left, Queen Theodora looked at Esther. "Don't mind my son's words. He is just being overprotective of his mother. That boy, really…"
"I understand his concerns, Your Majesty," Esther replied. "You have a good son."
Prince Theron was still suspicious of a few points that didn't match based on his investigations, but he trusted his mother's words about the ambush that happened in the western territory.. The statement of her personal knight, Sir Alexis, corresponded with the Queen's statement as well, denying the authenticity of what the rebels confessed about Esther's strange abilities.
However, the Crown Prince had to temporarily drop those unverified concerns now and submit a final report on the outcome of his investigation to his father. After all, only his mother knew the entire story, and it wasn't like he could point out his mother was hiding something. According to Sir Alexis, he only reached the forest to rescue the Queen after the rebels were defeated already. The two gravely injured knights who could have added information passed away due to the serious injuries they had, so the only eyewitness left was his own mother and rebels. The rebels' words could not be fully trusted and had to be taken with a grain of salt.
'My doubts are still not cleared,' he thought as he signed the end of the document containing the result of his investigation. 'I will have to continue monitoring that girl until she proves herself deserving of my mother's trust.'
Though he accepted his mother's testimony, it was only on the surface. He still refused to believe that her meeting his mother was pure coincidence. After all, how could it be that a? strange young woman who claimed to live in the forest just happened to be a really skilled fighter, yet at the same time moved with practiced royal etiquette?
Several days later, the King of Megaris summoned Esther.
The King had been very busy due to the situation in the western region of the kingdom, but he still made sure to visit his wife ever since she returned. Only today was he free during the daytime, and thus, had the spare time to reward the servant who saved his wife.
The King and the Queen were having tea when Esther came to them. She greeted them with a perfect curtsy. "This servant greets Your Majesty the King and Your Majesty the Queen."
"You may rise," said the handsome middle-aged man wearing an aloof expression that strongly reminded Esther of the Crown Prince.
She could not help but be silently amazed at the resemblance. If Prince Theron were two or three decades older, he could probably be seen as the King's twin brother. 'Now I understand what the Queen meant.'
"This is Esther, and she is the one who saved me that day," Queen Esther introduced the blond girl to her husband.
The King looked at the young lady and nodded. "You have saved my wife, the Queen of this kingdom. I would like to reward you."
Esther bowed gracefully to the monarch of this kingdom and said, "Your Majesty, there is no need as the Queen had already rewarded me handsomely."