"I am so sorry! Why would you whisper in my ear like that?!" Meliora shouted at Kaid, her face flushed red like a tomato. But no one would blame her—what Kaid did would be considered offensive to any girl.
Well, girls in this world liked their men to provocatively pursue them, but Meliora wasn't used to that. She would rather be gifted video games. She had never been in any romantic relationship in her life.
She didn't realize that Kaid did it just to tease her. He massaged his cheek, asking himself why he even did it in the first place.
"I was just joking with you. Who knew the princess would be so violent?" he muttered under his breath in annoyance. Meliora still felt wronged as she stared at him with teary eyes.
"You can't do that again! I am an abandoned princess who has never experienced the outside world. And besides, what sort of knight whispers in a lady's ear when she isn't his wife?" Meliora ranted, pointing at him with trembling fingers.
She gritted her teeth in anger, maintaining a three-meter distance between them.
[Master, don't make it obvious that you don't belong to this world. Every normal young noble lady likes to be treated this way.]
"Well, I don't like that! He may be handsome, but it's wrong to approach a woman like that!" Meliora fumed at Crucifix's words, not realizing she had done it again instead of using her mind to talk to him.
She slapped a hand against her lips once she realized it, and Ashtarte and Lucie gave her the side-eye while trying to find the so-called person she was thrashing.
"..." Kaid narrowed his eyes at Meliora for a while before he turned around and disappeared. To everyone, he appeared angry, but they didn't notice the blush staining his cheeks.
Kaid had never been blatantly called handsome in his life because he had never interacted with females, no matter how many court officials tried to push their daughters toward him.
It didn't matter to him who Meliora was talking to, but the word 'handsome' kept ringing in his head, clouding the fact that he didn't remind her to get her tag.
Meliora, who watched Kaid disappear into thin air, had her hand hanging in the air because she wanted to stop him and properly apologize, but he was already gone.
"Do you think I was too harsh?" She turned to Lucie and Ashtarte, her eyes downcast and her lips drawn into a pout as she pointed at herself.
"No, Master, Sir Kaid might just be embarrassed that you slapped him. A knight's honor must not be tainted, especially since he belongs to the enemy's kingdom." Lucie beamed at Meliora, trying to soothe her nerves.
Meliora, though, didn't think so. Kaid didn't act like he hated this country; he seemed less fascinated by it, but there wasn't any kind of rage he felt toward the Clariant kingdom.
"I hope so. We should probably start leaving now," Meliora sighed as she mumbled, taking the initiative to walk ahead of them while Ashtarte and Lucie followed behind.
"If I heard correctly, that young knight told us that it was time for you to get your tag, so it's possible to head for the entrance now. We might be running late," Meliora widened her eyes in surprise.
She knew she was missing something.
She clapped her hands, a gasp escaping her lips as she turned around and beamed at them, "Right, this was the most important part."
Meliora seemed excited, maybe because all she wanted to do was leave for the inn and get out of this place. That way, the Queen and her daughter wouldn't target her anymore.
They rushed towards the entrance, and there they met with a huge crowd of noble ladies gossiping among themselves until she heard someone calling her name.
"Is the Princess Meliora here?" The voice boomed all over the place, and Meliora was stunned speechless for a moment until all eyes fell on her.
"Why is she late?"
"The organizer has been calling her name for quite some time now."
Meliora felt embarrassed once again, but because this one thing was crucial, she steeled her heart, clenched her jaw in determination, and, gripping the side of her dress, she marched forward.
The organizer sat on his chair, looking around in hopes of the person showing up. When Meliora made an appearance, his brow trembled in annoyance, and with a grunt, he ordered her to take a seat.
Meliora didn't like the expression on his face but chose to ignore it.
She sat down and watched as he brought out a piece of paper that was hidden under a pile of documents, and then squinted his eyes while scrolling through the names on the paper.
He sighed once his fingers tapped several times on the name he was looking for, and he extended another hand towards her.
"Recommendation letter?" he asked without even raising his head to look at Meliora while waiting for her to put the document in his hand.
Meliora seemed shocked. She turned around to Ashtarte and Lucie, and they gave her a wry smile while showing her their empty hands. Meliora couldn't prevent her mouth from falling wide open.
"Don't tell me she forgot the most important thing."
"Considering the fact that she is a princess, it's quite disgraceful."
Meliora sighed as the other noble ladies discussed among themselves, casting gazes full of malice at her.
"You don't have a recommendation letter?" The organizer finally looked up, his eyebrows raised in curiosity and disbelief. 'What sort of princess was she that she didn't bring the king's letter with her?'
"My carriage got hijacked, so I believe that's why my letter went missing," Meliora lied. Her father didn't give her a recommendation letter; he did that because he wanted to see Meliora humiliated.
Just for the fun of it.
Meliora had to lie because she didn't want any more commotion, but the organizer chuckled, putting on a mocking facade.
"I think you just made that up because you know the king didn't give you a recommendation letter." He giggled once again, wiping the wry smile from Meliora's face.
She glared at him. 'Why can't he just take the hint and give me something when I'm being nice to him?'
Meliora gritted her teeth as she clenched her fist.
"Hey! This is Princess Meliora that you're talking to!" Ashtarte walked forward and barked at the organizer. His smile slipped, replaced with a snort.
"If she is the princess, then she would have brought her recommendation letter. She's lying." He snorted again as he turned to Meliora, giving her a look of disdain.
The whispering of the noble ladies increased.
"It's probably because she is an abandoned princess, so the King just threw her out like a piece of trash," someone voiced loudly from the crowd. Judging from the voice, Meliora knew who the person was.
'Flies will always be flies.' Meliora rubbed her temples. 'Crucifix, what exactly are we going to do about this situation? I don't remember reaching this stage in my past life.'
[Just hold on.]
A vein pulsed on Meliora's forehead, growing tired of Crucifix's half-words. She hated thrillers, and she hated it when Crucifix did this to her.
Meliora closed her eyes and sighed heavily, while her hands rested on her hips.
"If you don't have your recommendation letter, then get out of the way. Maybe a nice baron will finally recognize you, but not our king. With that hideous face of yours, you don't deserve to be our queen." He scoffed as he placed Meliora's file down and planned to pick up another piece of paper.
But suddenly, Kaid appeared out of thin air, took the organizer by the collar, and stared deep into his soul with a cold gaze enshrouded with killing intent.
The man's heartbeat accelerated, and his eyes widened in realization when he recognized who had taken him by the collar. He wanted to rebuke the person but couldn't say anything once he saw his face.
"Apologize..." Kaid ordered in a baritone voice, and the latter shivered in his boots, his back already soaked with cold sweat. He looked behind Kaid to see Meliora's arms crossed against her chest, and he wondered.
'Who exactly is she?'
"Please forgive me, Princess Meliora," the organizer pleaded, but she just raised her chin and gave him a snort.
Kaid let go of him, then removed something from his inner jacket and tossed it onto the desk for the organizer to take a look at.
The man, with shaky hands, grabbed the paper Kaid tossed, and his eyes popped out in surprise to the extent that he abruptly stood up.
"This is..."