Gavin could feel his heart racing, too fast and too loud as Princess Carrie leaned even closer, her lips brushing lightly to Gavin's. Completely frozen in shock, Gavin watched as Princess Carrie slowly opened her eyes.
"Huh?" She blinked, slowly looking around as if trying to know where she was. Her eyes slowly went back to Gavin, then almost dramatically became larger and larger as she realized their position.
Aghast, she stood up instantly and glared at Gavin. "You- despicable, indecent man! H-Have you got any shame at all?!"
Gavin's eyebrows twitched. "Princess Carrie, I think you're mistaking something here. You're obviously the one who went after me! You- You- I was just sleeping peacefully here!"
Realizing she might have been wrong, Princess Carrie's face flushed even harder as she looked away in shame.
"So it's true you sleepwalk at night? I thought those are just rumors from your haters," Gavin commented as he stood up and straightened his clothes.
"Shut up!" Princess Carrie demanded, eyes still looking away.
Gavin noticed the way she fisted her hands and couldn't help but speak further. "There's also a rumor that says your soul changed when you were a kid. Though I don't know how that happens." Then he decided to tease a little bit more casually, feigning confidence as he tried to recover from the shock and calm himself. "I wouldn't be surprised if you're actually a reincarnation of the devil or something."
Princess Carrie's eyes turned red as she pushed him to the ground. Full of wrath as she stared down at Gavin, "I said to shut your mouth, didn't I?!"
"See, this is what I couldn't understand. One moment you act so elegant and graceful, then the next moment you become easily flustered, losing your composure and letting me see this side of you. You've always done this since we were young," Gavin stared back at Princess Carrie, looking at her eyes directly as he saw his own reflection filled in those flaring pair. It was the truth after all. While people spoke about the royal bloods, they never failed to include the never-dying subject about the princess of a concubine.
Princess Carrie was the only daughter of General Alpha Laius, the brother of Luna Veron, one of the concubines of the Alpha King. When General Alpha Laius died in the battlefield, Luna Veron took Princess Carrie, adopting her as her own child. The real mother of Princess Carrie also died when she was young, thus making everyone around her think she was a cursed child.
She had always been sickly since she was born, almost never leaving the bed while other kids her age freely roam around. Thus, everyone was beyond surprised when one day, she suddenly regained health and became one of the liveliest children in the palace. The servants always spoke about it casually but oftentimes, Gavin would hear them loud and clear. Apparently, Princess Carrie had died. But just after a few days, on the day of Gavin's return after being abducted, she was miraculously brought back to life.
No one knew if it was a work of the heavens or a work of someone wicked and merciless.
Of course, most people believed the latter as society had always preferred to have their rumors as extremely bad as they could sound. The worse a topic was, the more believable and easier it was to be spread around and talked about.
Looking straight to her eyes, Gavin asked, "Why did you come here, Princess Carrie?"
Gavin felt the trembling of Princess Carrie's hands gripping his collar.
People's imaginations were too large and wide and one couldn't help but conclude that the two events were actually connected. Some even said Princess Carrie's soul wasn't hers but of someone else and that it must have some connection with the Second Prince's return. Gavin chose to ignore such baseless rumors, he decided not to pry over matters he shouldn't. But as he got to know more of Princess Carrie, he slowly learned something was off about her and there was something deep inside him eagerly wanting to find out more.
If the rumors were somehow true and Princess Carrie was someone connected to Gavin's past, Gavin couldn't simply let her do as she pleased. He at least deserved to know what she already knew about the two of them.
"I... I want to help," she finally responded.
"What do you mean?" Gavin wanted to ask her where the hell she even learned about their quest. In the first place, wasn't she the person who desperately didn't want to go out the mainland?
"The F-First Prince... I-I want to help him," Princess Carrie said, the blush on her cheeks too bright it was impossible not to notice.
Gavin slowly retracted his look toward Princess Carrie. He turned his head away and with a sigh, he uttered, "So you're doing it for my brother..."