Chapter 8

“But you’re hungry.”

“I, I’ve never said that!”

The prince turned his head like a child. What’s going on? What should I do?

Baffled, I looked at Sir Janiche. It seemed that he couldn’t come up with a good solution either as he shrugged his shoulders and let out a short sigh.

“Do you want it? If not, I’ll have it.”

There was no room to argue with the prince. I put the chocolate into my mouth. Then, the young man with silver hair made a bewildered expression. It seemed like he had misunderstood my intention of trying to feed him the chocolate by any means necessary.

“You won’t be leaving here anyway. So please wait a moment. I’ll bring some food up.”

“….”

In the face of hunger, there was no arguing. The young man, who I thought would certainly express dislike or that he didn’t need it, clamped his lips shut firmly.

In that case, every day, I have to make stops to my room, the dining room, get some food, and come all the way up here. I didn’t need to worry about gaining weight at all here.

After sighing, I walked past Sir Janiche, who was standing somewhat awkwardly. When I stood by the door and glanced inside, I could see Sir Janiche bowing his head to the prince without a word. The prince gave him a cautious glare and slightly squinted his eyes.

“Come to think of it, I’m hungry too.”

“Aren’t your shoulders hurting?”

“No, it only tickles.”

I hadn’t realized Sir Janiche had such a sense of humor as we descended the stairs. Still, it was fortunate that nothing major had happened. I never could have imagined that the little puppy that was merely as big as my arm could transform into such a massive beast. Did the royal family know about this fact? They probably didn’t.

The king and queen harbored intense aversion towards the prince, who was born with a non-human appearance. After hiding away the prince in the nameless castle, they had never come to see their own son even once.

“Are you planning to report today’s events?”

When we arrived at Sir Janiche’s room, which was across from mine, I asked.

He, who had been looking at my shoulder as if he had no thoughts, raised his head.

“No, His Majesty the King prefers not to hear news from the nameless castle if possible. And even if he does find out, it won’t be good news. Also, if an exiled knight like me gains some recognition, I doubt it will even attract attention.”

“Oh my. There’s no need to put it that way.”

I led Sir Janiche into the room. Then I sat him on a small chair that I used for reading books.

While I prepared the first aid kit, he quietly looked around my room. There was a wardrobe filled only with black dresses, a desk filled with romance novels, and a rather spacious bed that would be considered wide for a maid’s room.

The interior was far superior to the mansion I used to live in. Back then, four maids shared a single room.

“The room seems quite narrow. I thought it would be about the same size as my room across from here.”

“Oh? I was actually thinking that this room feels surprisingly spacious.”

“…Ah, I see.”

Sir Janiche awkwardly raised the corner of his mouth. He rarely smiled, so his smiling face was quite pleasant to look at. Given that he came from a fallen noble family, it was only natural that his room and mine were different.

At times like this, Sir Janiche felt distant. If I was to be reborn, I wished to be a noble or a royal. I wanted to live as someone wealthy, spending my time freely.

“Your wound seems to have dried up a bit. Is it alright if I clean it?”

“Oh, yes.”

I soaked a clean cloth in antiseptic solution. Painful as it might have been, he patiently extended his shoulder without saying a word.

It didn’t take much time to treat the wound. His condition wasn’t too serious despite the fact that quite a bit of blood had flowed, so it was relatively quick.

I wondered if the prince really transformed into that massive beast when he was truly angry. Would he become a creature so threatening that it would overwhelm a grown man completely?

I had learned something I hadn’t known before regressing. From now on, I should never anger the prince to that extent. I silently made a promise to myself as I tied a knot on the bandage.

“There, all done.”

“Thank you. Now I should go out to protect the castle.”

“You’re diligently protecting a castle that no one visits anyway.”

“It’s not like no one visits. Sometimes, nobles who stray off their path end up coming nearby.”

“Oh…”

“If I were to explain that this place is the nameless castle, people usually panic and run away.”

“But do they really need to be that afraid? Well, of course, the prince was a bit frightening today.”

“…Miss Daphne should have some sense of caution as well. It’s good to be kind to the prince, but we never know when something like today might happen again.”

Sir Janiche rose from his seat. He said he would go first, and left an apron soaked in blood in the room as he left.

Is that so? Should I be careful around the prince? But I had practically indebted my life to him.

In my previous life, I had done nothing for him.

In my dreams every night, he whispered that only I hadn’t treated him like a fearsome beast. But I had been so indifferent to him…

How lonely must the prince have been?

And to top it off, he was incredibly handsome.

“….”

It seemed such a waste for the prince’s looks to be confined within the castle. If there were celebrities in this world, the prince could have lived his life as an idol or a movie star.

It was such a pity. I clicked my tongue and headed to the dining hall. People transforming into beasts, it was normal. Even the male leads of romance novels I had read in my past life were often portrayed as mythical creatures.

In the dining hall, I prepared chicken soup, bread rolls generously slathered with butter, and a chilled pork dish for the prince. Then I began my ascent again. No, I embarked on the journey towards the top floor.

“Phew…”

It had been a week since I returned to the past, and my muscles didn’t ache anymore from climbing these stairs. However, I still couldn’t help but mutter complaints as I climbed. How could I make the prince live on the lower floors?

Upon reaching the top floor, I found the prince through the gap in the door that Sir Janiche had left open. Sensing my presence, he immediately turned to face me. His silver hair sparkled in the dim darkness as it swayed with his movements.

“I’m here. I didn’t knock since the door wasn’t closed. Shall we have our meal?”

I gestured towards the slightly ajar door. The prince robotically nodded his head and looked at me with a curious expression.

He was still seated on the cold floor, not bothering to put on any clothes. Wrapped in a large piece of cloth, he gazed silently at me as I approached.

“After your meal, just leave the tray outside as usual. I’ll come pick it up.”

“…You won’t touch me today, right?”

“What? When did I touch you, Your Highness?”

“You, you touched me! You, you called me cute and kept touching me. You turned me over and checked my lower body.”

“Oh, no… If you put it that way, it sounds like I’m a villain. Besides, if we really want to pinpoint it, it’s your fault for turning into a cute puppy first.”

“V-Villain…?”

Uh-oh. The prince didn’t understand the meaning of the word “villain.” He cocked his head, looked at me with an unjust look, and even raised his eyebrows, showing that he was upset. Seeing his endearing expression that stirred my protective instincts, I almost kneeled down and apologized immediately.

But I didn’t. If I retreated now, there would be no progress in our relationship.

“Villain means a bad person. Anyway, I’ll be cleaning outside.”

“If my room… is dirty, why bother with the outside?”

“I’ll clean inside too. But the corridor comes first. If you come down to the lower floors, there wouldn’t be a need for such efforts….”

I sighed deeply. I wondered if the prince was secretly sharing his food with spiders and mice without me knowing.

In order for the prince to have even the most basic human life, I had no choice but to go to great lengths. I lowered my head towards the prince and then left for the corridor. I picked up the duster that Sir Janiche had left behind and got ready to start cleaning.

However, I encountered a big obstacle before I even began cleaning. It was the fact that the ceiling of the top floor was unreasonably high compared to the other floors. This was bad. Even if I stretched on tiptoes, it felt like I wouldn’t be able to touch the cobwebs in the corners of the ceiling.

Wouldn’t it be better to start from the floor instead? I put down the duster and picked up a broom.

“…If I go down…”

“Yikes! You surprised me. Weren’t you in the middle of your meal?”

I let out a loud noise in response to the sudden voice from behind me. The prince seemed more startled than me and took a few steps back, not knowing where to look. He hesitated for a moment, then quietly hid behind the door.

With one long finger, he held onto the edge of the door.

“I finished eating.”

“So soon? You’re fast.”

“I was hungry.”

“You said it wasn’t time yet earlier.”

“T-That’s…!”

The prince opened his mouth as if to explain, and his lips soon stretched into a thin line. He looked so much like a child. I leaned the broom against the wall and approached the prince, who was fidgeting, not knowing what to do.

With the large door between us, we faced each other. He seemed lost, not knowing what to do, his gaze wandering aimlessly. He suddenly looked down, appearing oddly sulky.