It’s not raining but the air does feel a little damp.
It’s time for breakfast. The meal was served at the restaurant on the first floor of the inn this time but it seems that Princess Florencia is doing fine now. Seeing the princess taking her meal normally, Olivia was relieved that she’s in good health.
As expected, Legion was not at the breakfast table with her but his figure could still be seen watching over the princess from a distance as her knight.
Princess Florencia would occasionally take her eyes off the meal to look for Legion and she would always softly smile if her eyes met with his.
(Hmm, as I thought, their closeness can certainly invite some misunderstandings……..)
It’s not a bad thing that they get along but the sense of distance that they show in front of others’ eyes is still important. The princess has come to Brior to marry. Leaving if the marriage will happen aside, she should still avoid such a misunderstanding.
On the other hand, Alan seems to be completely absorbed into eating his ham steak and doesn’t even look at Princess Florencia. It’s understandable since Alan isn’t happy with this marriage arrangement but he should still be a little more concerned about the princess. What would he do if he offended her?
“Did you manage to have a good rest yesterday, Florencia-sama?”
Olivia decides to start the conversation herself as the meal would definitely end in silence if she leaves this to Alan.
In response, the princess smiles and replies.
“Yes. Thank you for your concern.”
“Is that so, I’m glad. We will board the train today and we will rest at the town of the terminal station to board the ship tomorrow. We should arrive at Zackfil territory by tomorrow evening so we should be on our way to Hilbal town where the ruin is located the day after tomorrow. What do you hope to see at the ruin, Princess Florencia?”
“What I hope to see, is it?”
The princess’s eyes repeatedly blinked as though she did not expect to be asked such a question.
Seeing that, Olivia tilted her head.
(Huh? We are going there because she’s interested in the ruins right……?)
Olivia feels a slight sense of discomfort from the princess’s reaction. It was Princess Florencia who said that she wanted to see the ruins but she doesn’t seem to hold any interest in them at all. Why?
Thinking that she somehow asked the wrong question, Olivia rephrased.
“Personally, I’m looking forward to the excavated literature. If there was any, I want to see what was written in it. Also, I’ve read that there were murals drawn into the wall of the inner palace during the ancient dynasty so I’m quite interested in that. It seems that the full extent of the ancient royal palace’s architecture still hasn’t been mapped out yet but apparently, they have a miniature model of what they speculated to be the closest to it exhibiting inside the museum. They said that the architectural style of the middle era of the ancient dynasty is mainly in a circular style and that there were many rounded and streamlined buildings in that age so I’m looking forward to seeing what they look like…….”
As she continues to speak, she gets more and more heated up and Olivia unknowingly leans closer and closer to the princess.
The princess was stunned while Cyrus who’s sitting next to her is making a bitter smile.
“Olivia, I’m glad that you are looking forward to it but you are scaring the princess you know.”
Realizing what she’s done, Olivia hurriedly corrects herself.
“My apology, I got too excited……”
“So you are interested in the ancient dynasty huh, Olivia?”
Probably because of how she fervently went on about the ancient dynasty earlier, Alan who was busy eating his breakfast stopped his hands and turned to Olivia with a curious expression.
At that question, Olivia got a little bashful and replied in a small voice.
“Y, Yes. I’ve only read about it in the books so I really wanted to see the real thing in person…….Also, I’m interested in what life was like in the old days.”
When Olivia replied so, Alan’s expression suddenly turned to one that is a mixture between regret and pain. Thinking that Alan must be feeling bad about how he did not face her properly when they were engaged, Olivia quickly changed the topic.
“It looks like it’s going to rain today, will the train be alright on a day like this?”
Olivia somehow managed to come up with a new topic but she immediately regretted it. After all, the topic itself is making her anxious about their ride today. At that speed, even a carriage might slip off the road on rainy days. What if the rain makes the train derail?
With her face turned blue, Olivia clumsily poured honey into her rose tea. Noticing that, Cyrus snatches the glass honey jar from Olivia’s hand with a smile while saying [If you put in that much then it will only taste like honey you know.]
“It’s going to be okay. Even if it rains, the train is not going to slip off its rail.”
“Is, is that so?”
“Yeah. it seems that they do suspend their services on snowy days but well, even in winter this place is not going to have that much snow anyway so they pretty much operate in any weather you know.”
When Olivia stroked her chest in relief, Alan’s brows knitted in worry.
At the princess’s comment, the expressions of the ex-fiance and his little brother who are not particularly on good terms with each other turned awkward.