Chapter 11
He was staring straight ahead, but he could clearly feel the gaze brushing against his cheek. Following that gaze that reached him, Franz slowly and nonchalantly turned his head.
As if startled, the other party quickly looked away, bowing her head like she was pretending to be preoccupied. It was that woman again.
At some point, she began to stand out along every path he passed. Sometimes she sat on a bench reading a book; other times, she sat on the grass scribbling something in a notebook. One day, she even followed him from a distance, only to vanish all of a sudden. It was so brief that he couldn’t tell if she had actually been tailing him or if their paths had simply overlapped by coincidence.
‘What is this half-baked yet persistent tailing? If you’re going to follow someone, do it properly—or don’t do it at all.’
It was the clumsiest tailing in the world, obvious enough that anyone would notice.
Franz had sharp instincts and an exceptional sense of awareness. There was no way he wouldn’t pick up on someone tailing him.
Well, most people probably would—unless they had zero training whatsoever.
He could have easily dealt with someone following him this clumsily. Even if it were a skilled knight, he could have handled it. The only reason he hadn’t done anything was because she was so terribly unskilled at it.
‘At first, I thought she’d stop soon enough.’ He didn’t pay much attention to it. But when five days passed, he decided to just keep observing.
He figured he’d ignore her until she eventually revealed her intentions, then catch her and interrogate her. But contrary to his expectations, her awkward pursuit continued. At this point, he couldn’t help but feel suspicious.
‘Approaching me this way is certainly… new. Is this some novel tactic to attract attention?’
“Hans.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“Don’t make it obvious, but do you see the woman in the water-colored dress at four o’clock?”
“…Yes, I see her.”
“Find out who she is.”
“You mean… her?”
Even as Hans looked at him with an expression that practically said, Has your taste changed?, Franz replied without hesitation.
“Yes.”
“No, but… that lady—”
“What? Does she seem too modest and refined for someone who’s supposedly a shameless flirt who never lets a woman go?”
Franz hit the nail on the head without circling around.
Hans had to admit that was true… but it wasn’t the whole truth.
“Ahem… Please don’t jump to conclusions.”
Hans, visibly flustered, gave a lame excuse. Franz didn’t press further, as if it didn’t matter.
“She’s been tailing me. For a week.”
“A… a week?”
Hans thought this sounded serious, but the prince’s expression was so casual that Hans didn’t know how to react.
“Yes. Look now—she’s pretending not to look but still watching.”
“…”
She’s not pretending not to look. She’s just… not looking at all.
Hans glanced at the prince with a complicated expression. It didn’t seem like His Highness was lying, but it was hard to believe. After all, Hans had observed closely, and the woman didn’t seem to have the slightest interest in the prince.
“What’s with that look?”
“Nothing.”
“That woman is suspicious.”
“In what way, Your Highness?”
“Hans.”
“Yes, Your Highness.”
“You know how people usually look at me, right?”
“Of course. I know it all too well.”
Hans agreed without a shred of hesitation this time.
Prince Franz was undoubtedly someone who drew attention. Having stood by his side for years since childhood, Hans knew better than anyone what kind of looks people—both men and women—gave him.
“But that woman… I don’t feel any of that from her.”
Indeed, there was nothing in her occasional glances—no greed, no stickiness, no hostility either.
“Yes, that’s true. I’ve never seen someone like her before. But what’s wrong with that?”
“It’s wrong. Very wrong.”
Hans usually understood and carried out the prince’s words without issue. But today, it was hard to grasp what he really meant. Then Franz spoke again, and Hans realized he wasn’t the only one off balance today.
“You know how every woman goes crazy when they see me, right?”
“Right.”
Something like this had never happened in Franz’s life before.
“Then how could someone look at me and feel nothing? Isn’t that strange?”
Hans wanted to ask, So… are you upset that she doesn’t like you?—but he couldn’t. Even if it was unusually hard to read Franz today, he had enough sense not to say that aloud. Still, when he thought about it… it was odd.
“For a lady who doesn’t even like Your Highness to linger around you for a week—that’s definitely strange. It’s worth investigating.”
“Exactly.”
“But… is that really the only reason?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you want me to look into her just because it’s strange and curious… and that’s all?”
“What other reason would there be? Stop overthinking and find out quickly.”
Franz’s indifferent expression wasn’t much different from usual.
Hans glanced at the young lady again.
She wasn’t strikingly beautiful, but she wasn’t unattractive either. Still, she wasn’t the prince’s type at all—not because of her looks, but because of the aura she exuded.
“Yes, understood. And I’ll have the carriage ready for when you’re finished.”
Hans had come because of a message from the palace reminding Franz to attend the evening banquet. Hans brought it up again before leaving.
“Fine.”
“Her Majesty said that if you skip tonight’s banquet, the Countess of Winston will insist on staying at Grenville for the entire duration of her visit.”
And not just staying—she’d probably start summoning every marriageable young lady in the kingdom to Grenville every other day.
“Guess I’ll have to go, if only to avoid that kind of threat.”
Franz knew exactly what his mother was worried about after he’d skipped once last year, and reassured Hans before sending him off.
Lady Sylvia Winston—the aunt from the border city of Parrington in Lapland.
Naturally, the thought of a certain someone from Altria, the neighboring country across that border, left a bitter taste in his mouth. On top of that, Aunt Sylvia’s visit signaled the start of the full-scale ball season… and the prime time for relentless marriage pressure.
Lost in thought for a moment, Franz turned his head—but the spot where Iella had been was now empty.
“Ugh, I’m so tired.”
As soon as she arrived home, Iella stripped off her clothes, took a quick shower, and collapsed onto her bed.
Her body, tense from tailing Prince Franz all day, was finally sending out distress signals. She was so exhausted she could have fallen asleep right then and there.
Her body felt as heavy as a waterlogged sponge after several sleepless nights. Yet, lying in bed didn’t bring sleep.
Staring blankly at the canopy overhead, Iella slowly pushed herself up with a sigh.
“Ah… I just want one good night’s sleep.”
Ever since she started tailing him, nightmares had haunted her without fail. Dreams where she got caught and dragged off by the royal guards—so terrifying they lingered even after she woke.
“No matter how scary it is, I can’t keep being this timid. I need to finish this fast.”
Iella began flipping through the notebook on her desk. It was filled with croquis of Prince Franz. A few pages held more detailed sketches—but none of the drawings had eyes.
“I need to see them properly to draw them.”
A fleeting glance from the first day wasn’t nearly enough.
“Sigh… My imagination is so pathetic.”
She had gone her whole life not even knowing whether his eyes were more blue or azure—and had been fine with that. But capturing that color on paper was another matter entirely.
Everything in the world has colors that can’t be summed up with a single word. Human eyes are no different.
Blue eyes. She didn’t want to settle for something so plain. She wanted to depict the exact shade of blue—the exact radiance they held.
“What do I do? If our eyes meet, he’ll definitely notice. He almost caught me the first day… I’m lucky I haven’t been exposed yet. But still…”
She couldn’t keep tailing him from afar like this forever. Just waiting along his usual paths and catching brief glimpses wouldn’t cut it.
“Should I bump into him while passing by? …No, no. That’d be too obvious. He’d think I’m making a move—and that’s the last thing I want.”
There weren’t any better ideas, but her pride wouldn’t allow such a blatant stunt.
“Then what do I do…”
No matter how much she racked her brain, no perfect plan came to mind.
“Tomorrow, I’ll just follow him no matter what. Something will come up.”
Muttering that to herself, Iella reaffirmed her determination. Then she pulled out a piece of charcoal and prepared to sketch again, hand moving as she conjured Franz’s image in her mind.
The quiet room was filled with the soft scratch of charcoal. Occasionally, there was the sound of pages fluttering, then more scratching. Forgetting even her exhaustion, Iella focused solely on her drawing.
“Iella, my lady.”
Betty knocked before entering the room.
“Yes, Betty.”
“Were you drawing again?”
“Yes. I have a new commission.”
“Ah… Dinner’s ready. You should come down.”
“What? Already?”
Startled, Iella jerked her head toward the clock on her desk. It was past seven. A wave of fatigue washed over her.
“When did the time fly by like this…”
She had sat in the same position for four straight hours; her whole body ached.
“Huh? This person… Is it really him?”
Betty exclaimed in surprise the moment she saw the sketch.
“Yes, it is.”
“Seriously? But you hate him.”
“I don’t have a choice anymore. I got the job.”
“What? But… you usually refuse commissions like this.”
Betty leaned closer, lowering her voice as if afraid someone might overhear. “You might get caught…” she whispered.
Iella lowered her own voice in response.
“It just happened. Once I finish this, I’m never taking this kind of job again…”
