Anna sighed as she was swiping around the pavilion near the swan pond, the same pond and pavilion that Prince Ignis showed yesterday. Edith said that Prince Ignis personally requested Anna to be stationed around the pavilion instead.
'He said that you did a great job cleaning his room, so he wants you to clean his private pavilion and attend him. Take this as a compliment. He said he will raise your wage,' Edith said before sending Anna to the pavilion.
Honestly, Anna didn't mind at all. Cleaning the pavilion was easy and would take less time and energy to clean rather than the garden.
But oh, she really wished she could return back raking those fallen leaves than cleaning this pavilion. Because there was a certain distinguished man who hid behind a tree like a kid. The man peeked at Anna a few times but dared not approaching her.
Anna darted her eyes at the tree for the fifth time, and the man immediately hid behind the tree like a shy little boy. Anna rolled her eyes and yelled, so the man could hear her clearly, "Your Highness, how long will you stay behind that tree? It has been an hour!"
Prince Ignis' heart jumped when Anna called him out. He honestly just wanted to watch Anna from his room's balcony, but he felt it was too far away, and it couldn't satiate his desire to gaze over her. However, he couldn't sit too close with her in the private pavilion until he sorted his own feeling.
"N—No, you continue doing your job and take rest if you need," Ignis said.
"Then why are you there? Do you have anything else to do?" Anna asked. "You can't be hiding behind that tree doing nothing, right?"
"O—Of course, I am also busy here!" Ignis replied.
"Then, what are you doing? Staring at me?"
"H—How insolent! Who would stare at you! You are just a maid, an insolent maid! Don't think yourself too highly!" Ignis rebuked harshly.
'Okay, now he is acting like a teenager in love. Oh well, I'm pretty sure it's just one of his antiques, as long as it doesn't cut my income, I guess I will just ignore him,' Anna thought.
She shrugged and continued doing her cleaning duty.
Prince Ignis continued staring at Anna. He had the whole day of doing nothing but rebuking his own feeling to Anna. He felt that he was ridiculous for having a stupid feeling to a maid. And they had only known each other for a week! What kind of crazy fairy tale was that?
Prince Ignis tried to count what made him attracted to an insolent maid.
'Let's see… she is not traditionally beautiful, but has a beautiful heart. She is insolent and has no manner, but she is sincere and didn't seem to have any interest in the court. She is money-driven but a commendable hard worker…'
'See? There is nothing good in her! How could I feel like this!?' Ignis rebuked himself again. Maybe those days in the military, surrounded by men without any women in the barrack, also took a toll on him.
He despised his soldiers who went to the brothel after they finished their duty to relieve themselves. He didn't like to get entangled with a random woman who would disturb him.
'Maybe because I haven't seen any woman for years, so my standard has been lowered until I can fall in love with a maid like Anna,' Ignis concluded.
"What are you thinking, Your Highness?" Anna suddenly appeared in front of Ignis and surprised him.
"Wha!" Ignis jolted, and he tried to distance himself from Anna. "N—Nothing! You should go back cleaning!"
"I already finished everything," Anna shrugged. "Anyway, since I've finished my job. I will leave now. Good day, Your Highness."
Anna turned her back and walked away. Prince Ignis felt lost for a moment. He wanted to stare at Anna for a while. Then, a sentence came out of his mouth spontaneously, "You are going to leave me alone here?"
"Huh?" Anna frowned. "Yeah, of course. Your Highness, this is your private pavilion. Nobody can enter without your permission. Do you want me to ask Edith for some young noble girls to come and attend you?"
Prince Ignis' showed displeasure immediately, "What makes you think that I need to be attended by some noblewomen."
"Because you are the Crown Prince. I'm pretty sure that Her Majesty will bring you many noblewomen for you to pick, and you can pick one of them to marry," Anna said nonchalantly.
'She is not even showing any interest in me…'
"How about you? Do you think you can be one of my choices?" Prince Ignis asked.
"No," Anna said curtly. "I'm just a maid, and you are the Crown Prince. Marrying a prince will just bring me endless trouble."
"You are befitting to marry a noblewoman, preferably from a duchy or another kingdom," Anna said without much thought.
Prince Ignis clenched his fist. Deep in his heart, he hoped that Anna would say that she wanted to marry him, or at least, she wished she could be a noble and marry him. But she was so nonchalant about it, showing no interest in Ignis at all.
Ignis felt that his pride had been stomped because he wished too much. He had never had this kind of thought before.
Feeling humiliated, he said to Anna, "Fine, I will bring many noblewomen here, and you will see me with them!"
"Good for you, Your Highness."