Chapter Six

They are comfortable. Shoes with low heels, no, shoes with no heels felt awkward for her, but it was comfortable at the same time.

Was the carpet always this fluffy? It doesn’t hurt my toes! It’s not stuffy and it’s not heavy. Oh my goodness, might this be how it feels like to wear the winged shoes worn by angels?

For the first time, Elizabeth realized how stuffy the shoes she had been wearing all this time were. She had to hold herself back from wanting to walk around her room. From what she had learned, a graceful lady must never act frivolously under any circumstances.

She had heard from her mother that today’s plan was to have teatime with the Crown Prince in the garden. Imagining that she had to walk on the hard brick path with high-heeled shoes was terrifying enough, but maybe it wouldn’t be so bad with comfortable shoes such as these.

Leonhardt peeked at Elizabeth’s profile. She was only walking on a normal white rug, but she looked as if she was stepping on the clouds with how light she was moving.

Outside was a balmy spring day. Supple green grass grew throughout the garden, as if a piece of cloud had been soaked in green paint and then laid out on the earth.

“A child should play like a child after all. God, that stupid old man.”

“Pardon?” Leonhardt murmured when he saw Elizabeth was obviously at a loss on what to do because she wanted to walk under the sun straight away before they went out to the garden.

Rustle.

Having never walked on a lawn in such shoes, Elizabeth took a step back at the sound she had never heard before.

Rustle.

The sound she heard just now appeared again. It took Elizabeth a while to realize that it was the sound of her own footsteps.

I never made any sound when I wore high heels. For a lady to make such noisy sounds! What if His Highness is disappointed in me? She couldn’t even enjoy the soft feeling of the lawn before she was struck with worry.

Elizabeth tried her best to not make a footstep sound by staring at the ground as she walked. But the more she did it, the more she wanted to enjoy this unfamiliar feeling. It was so fun to see that whenever she heard the rustling sound, the short grass would bend and then spring up again. She could also feel the soft soil giving way to softness, under the spring sun, and right under her feet.

I thought walking on a soil path is more uncomfortable than walking on a paved brick path! She smiled at how the soil in spring felt much softer than the white carpet in her room. It emitted a scent she had never smelled before.

Leonhardt felt pride swell in his chest at his suggestion for them to cross the lawn instead of the well-paved trail. The gardener would probably feel a little sad if he saw this sight, but it wasn’t Leonhardt’s business.

From a distance, he could already see the table that was prepared for the two of them. Leonhardt let go of Elizabeth’s hand and strode ahead to grab his place first.

Elizabeth, who was left behind by herself, could only stand there with a puzzled look.

“What are you doing? Come here,” he called to her.

Upon hearing Leonhardt’s blunt words, Elizabeth began to hasten her steps.

Seeing her like that made Leonhardt smile in content. He didn’t like that she still tried to tiptoe so she wouldn’t make any sound even though she was already wearing flat shoes.

I know I shouldn’t do this. Mother would definitely scold me if she found out. But…

Swish, swish, swish. She liked hearing her footsteps that sounded like the flow of a stream tickling her ears. The lawn felt so much softer now that she was stepping on it completely instead of tiptoeing. When the grass that had endured winter occasionally brushed against her ankles, she would feel a dizzying and tickling sensation pass through her body.

I want to walk for a little longer. That was her first thought after becoming able to walk so freely by herself. To think that it would be so enjoyable to walk! It felt like she could even walk on the lawn for the whole day if she were asked to.

Watching her from nearby, Leonhardt thought she looked completely smitten with her new shoes and the feeling of walking without high heels. Leonhardt rested his chin and fixed his gaze on Elizabeth who arrived to sit across the table.

Instead of sweet snacks perfect for children’s tastes, he missed the biting flavor of cinnamon snacks. However, he knew what would happen to this young body if he ate something like that because he had tried it before. Leonhardt could only take a bite of the cookie smothered with sugar in silence.

Elizabeth knew best that it was rude to be busy with her own thoughts and ignore the person right in front of her. Moreover, since the person sitting across the table was Leonhardt, it wouldn’t be unthinkable for it to be lèse-majesté instead of mere rudeness. But her thoughts were so filled with the desire to walk just a little longer on the lawn that she couldn’t focus on the teatime anymore.

Delicately, Elizabeth put down her small teacup. She sighed, fiddling her fingers secretly under the table.

“It’s boring, isn’t it?”

Elizabeth, who was holding back her desire to run out at any moment by scratching her thumb nails together, suddenly raised her head.

Seeing that, Leonhardt couldn’t help but smile because he was reminded of a rabbit that would suddenly stand upright in the woods.

Elizabeth then realized that Leonhardt no longer had a sad look on his face. He was smiling. But why? Even though the only things she did today were disrespectful and unladylike actions?

“Lady Elysium, no, I mean… Elizabeth.”

Elizabeth unconsciously straightened her posture. Could His Highness be rebuking me? A shiver ran through her.

Leonhardt only called her name once, but he felt like the bitter taste in his mouth came back when he saw her looking like a frightened rabbit.

The duke had taken his advice and put some color into her room. Leonhardt didn’t know what the duke had told the duchess, but Elizabeth was wearing a considerably more comfortable dress today. And the shoes he put on her personally were flat with little ribbons and embroidery.

But he still felt like something was lacking. And Elizabeth still didn’t know how to express her desire. No, it was more like she herself didn’t know what she wanted.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

How can an eight-year-old child look so composed? Did they teach her to be like that by whipping her? Anger boiled in his chest. He asked her, “What do you usually do to have fun, my lady?”

“Have… fun?” Elizabeth’s blue eyes blinked rapidly as she tried to search for ‘having fun’ activities in her head. She parroted, “Sewing, reading poems, learning how to appreciate paintings…”

Leonhardt frowned. “Those are all just for studying, not for having fun. Have you ever felt like you enjoyed doing something?”

Enjoy…? The young lady of no more than eight years old tilted her head at the word that she had heard for the first time.

Seeing her like that made Leonhardt want to smash his forehead onto the table. But remembering that the bandage he had on his forehead when he first came to the duke’s residence was only taken off the day before yesterday, he opted to drink the hot tea in one gulp to control his feelings instead.

Suddenly, Leonhardt noticed that Elizabeth’s head had already turned to face the flower field. Now that he thought about it, she was in charge of all the flowers in the imperial palace. Did she learn about flowers in her classes to be the empress? “Have you ever sat on a flower field?”

“S-such an indecent thing is unbecoming of a lady.”

“Hmm, is that so?” Leonhardt stood, immediately heading toward the field.

Contrary to what it looked like, the flower field was pretty far to reach with a child’s legs. In the end, Leonhardt arrived at the flower field after running while silently cursing the air. He then gestured to Elizabeth, who sat in her seat with a blank look on her face, still trying to process the situation, beckoning her to come over.

“Come quickly!” He didn’t forget to order her to run just in case she would tiptoe over just like before.

Elizabeth was just watching with her mouth open when the Crown Prince suddenly rose from his seat, ran towards the flower field, and sat down there. She knew she should obey Leonhardt’s order to come after him, but she couldn’t help but worry about whether this was appropriate.

However… since he already told her to come, she should. Elizabeth stood quickly, before she changed her mind, and started speed walking across the lawn.

So soft. It felt as if she could feel the texture of soil and grass under the thin soles of leather. Elizabeth realized she was taking her time savoring that feeling and moving rather slowly. When she came back to her senses, she began to run to Leonhardt as he ordered.

Running was more enjoyable than she imagined. As she sped up, the sweet spring wind soared through her silver hair while whispering praise for her bravery. It was a bit scary for her, moving her body like this and finding herself out of breath, but she didn’t hate it. She even felt like she could run back to the table in one sitting.

“The Crown Prince was the one who did the indecent thing first, so it’s okay. You can sit down, my lady.”

“Your… Haa… Haaa… Your… Ha… Highness…?” With her face flushed after running at a high speed, it was like Elizabeth’s face bloomed like a flower.

Seeing her like that made a corner of Leonhardt’s heart tingle.

Elizabeth hesitated for a while before she eventually settled down carefully next to Leonhardt. He was fiddling with something with his hand.

What is he doing? Elizabeth tilted her head.

Leonhardt held out his hand to her. It was a dried clover, a flower she had seen in a book, fixed in a circle shape like a ring.

“Whoa, it’s very beautiful. How did you do it?”

“Elizabeth.”

“Yes, Your Highness?”

“…When there’s no one but us, just call me Leon.”

“Your Highness?”

Leonhardt bit his lip. For her whole life, she had only ever called him Your Highness, then Your Majesty. Now that he had turned back time, wouldn’t it be fine for him to be a little greedy? With that in his mind, Leonhardt once again urged Elizabeth. “Come on. If you call me Leon, I’ll give this to you. No, should I teach you how to make it?”

Elizabeth pondered over it for a moment. Is it really okay? Isn’t mother, no, aren’t father and the Crown Prince testing how I will fare when I’m with the Crown Prince?

However, she really wanted to have the ring Leonhardt was holding. And she also wanted to try calling his name. “L-Leon…”

“Good job.” Leonhardt smiled as he raised Elizabeth’s hand.
The moment his hand touched hers, Elizabeth put up her guard a little.

Just how has the duke been raising his daughter? Leonhardt felt another surge of anger, holding Elizabeth’s left hand. He said, “It’s just a flower ring for now, but… Lizzie, if you want, I can bring you the ring passed from generations of the imperial family as soon as tomorrow. So, Elizabeth Isolde von Elysium, will you be my wife?”

Elizabeth couldn’t fathom what was happening to her right now.

“Mother, will a prince propose to me one day?”

“Isolde. You were supposed to be born to be the empress, so there’s no need for His Highness the Crown Prince to propose to you. There is no way anyone else will propose to you either, so stop imagining useless stuff and just study etiquette.”

After reading the scene of the prince’s proposal in a fairy tale, Elizabeth had once asked her mother if that would happen to her someday. But her mother would always say that there was no way it would happen since she had already been decided to be the empress.

But it was happening here in reality. Moreover, a proposal from the Crown Prince himself! From the day he came to the duke’s residence, magical things seemed to keep on happening. The thing with the corset, the flat shoes, and now she even received a proposal. She was definitely supposed to be happy about it all, so why did it make her cry?

“Uwaaah… L-Leon… Leon… if I take this ring… Hic! I… Uwaaah… can I be Leon’s wife?”

Leonhardt thought he would get rejected because he proposed with a mere flower ring, but contrary to his expectation, Elizabeth sincerely accepted his proposal.

Leonhardt hid his flustered expression as he started to console Elizabeth. “Of course! So don’t cry… My handkerchief, here it is. Blow your nose into it. Lizzie—Elizabeth… Humph!”

“Humph!”

It took quite a while for Elizabeth to stop crying and calm down. Even though the princesses who got proposed to by a prince in a fairytale book always looked pretty. She didn’t need to look into the mirror to know how hideous she was looking right now. She just wanted to hide somewhere because of her shame.

Maybe because he noticed Elizabeth’s feelings, Leonhardt took her fair-skinned left hand and carefully, courteously put the clover ring on her finger.

“Now you put it on me.”

Under Leonhardt’s order, Elizabeth imitated what he did and carefully put the flower ring onto the Crown Prince’s ring finger on his left hand.

Above them, the sun beamed down. It was a particularly warm spring day. The passing clouds were scattered in the sky like feathers of an angel. All the colors that had disappeared from the ground throughout the winter had appeared one by one, painting the whole place in rainbows. The sounds of the bees and the butterflies buzzing about were an indication that this was not a painting or a dream, but something real.

On such a beautiful day, Elizabeth felt a throbbing pang in the corner of her heart. Did I get sick? She was suddenly fearful. What if it’s a terminal illness?

“What’s wrong, Lizzie?”

“Wh-what to do, Leon? I… I think I contracted a terminal illness.”

“What?”

Elizabeth’s huge eyes started to well up with tears again. “Here… it hurts here. It’s throbbing. It’s also tickling… and very…”

“Elizabeth.” Leonhardt held Elizabeth in his arms. He couldn’t think of any other way to comfort her. He wanted to tell her that illness was not the reason she felt like that. That he was also feeling the same symptoms. “If you would allow me, can I love you? I promise you. I’ll make you happy for the rest of your life.”

There was a loud heartbeat sound between them. A little pause as the words rang out. Then Elizabeth nodded her head frantically. She felt like she should do that. Even if she didn’t know what love was, she felt like a magical, amazing, and indescribable day like this would continue forever as long as he loved her.