21. Annoyed
Adira stopped walking. “Wait!” she turned to where she met the couple noble. “That means I’m facing “The King of Swords,” who the general is talking about.” She closed her eyes and walked again. “It was so sudden that I didn’t remember General Agustin’s telling me.” She shook her head and entered the kitchen.
Meanwhile, outside, Queen Alice is already next to the car, ready to leave. They all just stood and looked at King Stephen and Prince Dylan.
“We are leaving, King Stephen,” said King Felip.Upstodatee from Novel(D)ra/m/a.O(r)g
“May your way to your palace be pleasant,” King Stephen said with a smile.
King Felip and Queen Alice entered the car, but Prince Franco was left standing still and facing King Stephen and Dylan. “I am glad, King Stephen, that you are in good condition now that we have met again. Until we meet again, King Stephen. ” His gaze shifted to Prince Dylan. “And you too, Prince Dylan, but we won’t be seeing each other for long because tomorrow I will attend the archery tournament.” He bowed in front of the king, got in the car, and left. While Prince Dylan did not seem to like what Prince Franco said in attendance tomorrow.
The day has come when the princes meet again for the competition in using the bow and arrow. Although nervous, Prince Dylan was excited to go to the venue of the tournament, but if the prince had a happy face, Adira did not. Her forehead was wrinkled, and she looked very annoyed.
The prince looked at Adira and seemed surprised by her appearance. “Why aren’t you happy today, young lady?”
She gave him a bad look. “I’m not happy, especially with you!”
He blinks his eyes several times at what she says. “What have I done to you?”
She closed her eyes tightly. “Who would be happy with what I’m wearing today?”
He looked at what she was wearing and smiled. “Don’t you like it? You’re wearing something simple today. Why are you complaining?”
Her eyes widened. “What a simple thing!” she yelled. “For me, it’s not simple because this cloth still looks royal. I told you that I didn’t want to wear the queen’s clothes!”
“Why don’t you want to wear that? You’re a young lady, so what you should be wearing is the same as what you’re wearing now.”
“I prefer to wear the one that I can move well in.”
He frowned. “You’re not wearing a dress now. How can you not move properly?”
“Did you see the clothes I’m wearing? Those are the clothes that fit me. ” He just shook his head at her complaint.
What Adira is wearing is a thick, long-sleeved black shirt with buttons on the front. Her pants are not too tight, and the color is white. She is wearing knee-high boots. The black gloves she always wears and her waist-length braided hair won’t go away either.
“Come on, because we might be late where we’re going,” he said to her.
“Where do I ride?”
“On the horse.”
“I don’t know how to ride a horse.”
“You are brave to yell at me. But you don’t know how to ride a horse.”
Her eyes were glinting when she looked at him. “I use motorbikes in my country, and there are no horses there, so don’t get started, dear prince.”
“She’s mad again,” he whispered while looking in another direction. He looked at her again. “We can just ride on the same horse, so you won’t have any trouble.”
“I know you have a car. Where is it?”
“Sorry, young lady, my father will use the car because he has somewhere to go.”
“Do you only have one car?”
He nodded. “So come on.” Irritated, she approached the horse. “Step on it.” He pointed to the tread on the horse’s belly.
“And then?”
“Get up. What else should come next?”
She looked at her blankly. “You’ve been here, Dylan. You know, I don’t know what to do, and you’re going to let me do it!”
“That’s the next thing to do.”
“It seems like you said it was sarcastic. Get ready for me when we train again. I’m going to torture you. ” Adira tried to get up and get on the horse, and she did.
In his mind, “Can’t I be the first to follow now that I know more about riding a horse.”
Prince Dylan also got on the horse, and he was behind Adira, who was just silently looking ahead. But when Prince Dylan tried to pull the rope attached to the horse, Adira was surprised and grabbed Prince Dylan’s hand.
“What!” she screamed.
“Why again?”
“Can you take it easy? I might fall.”
He smiled big. She doesn’t see it, so it’s okay for him to smile. “Just hold on to the rope or my hand itself. Don’t let go because I might not be able to catch you.”
Adira didn’t speak anymore and grabbed the rope instead of the prince’s hand.
“Get ready again, because I’m going to walk the horse,” he reminded her.
Prince Dylan’s horse was walking slowly. Four soldiers with them were in front and behind them and who was also on horseback.
“What time does the tournament start?” she asked.
“At nine o’clock, all the princes should be there.”
“I don’t know what time it is.”
He looked at the ground and their shadow. “It’s eight o’clock in the morning now.”
She was surprised. “How did you know you weren’t wearing a watch?”
“In the sun.”
“Huh?”
“Don’t ask too many questions, young lady.”
“Are we close to where we’re going?”
“No, it’s too far away.”
She turned to him, so he could see half of her face. “How can we get there if your horse is so slow? That we’re just going for a walk.”
“Is that how you feel? We’re just going for a walk.”
“Yes.”
He tightened his grip on the rope. “Let’s make it like a horse race.”
Without a word, Prince Dylan hit the horse with a stick he was holding, the end of which was something as hard as a wheel, which is why the horse immediately followed and ran fast. Adira was not prepared for what Prince Dylan did, which is why she was hugged by one of his arms. Prince Dylan smiled a little. One hand of the prince was now supporting Adira’s waist, and the other hand was on the rope. The horse sped even faster, and Adira closed her eyes even tighter while hugging Prince Dylan’s arm. She was so nervous that she didn’t notice one of Prince Dylan’s hands hugging her waist.
A few moments later, they were at the place where the competition was being held. Adira felt that the horse was slowing down, so she slowly opened her eyes and saw the people who were not too far away from them.
“Here we are.”
Adira noticed her hand hugging Prince Dylan’s arm and his hand hugging her waist.
She immediately removed her hug. “You might want to take your hand off my waist.”
He slowly removed his hand. “Your head is still hot. Won’t you be thankful that I supported you so you wouldn’t fall while the horse was running fast?”
“You didn’t tell me right away that the horse would run fast when you hit it with the thing in your hand. Now you want to thank me because you were able to support me with the horse running fast. I hope you told me your plan so that I could prepare.”
Prince Dylan didn’t seem to care about what Adira was saying.
“You might complain if I did that.” He put his mouth a little closer to her ear. “Sometimes, young lady, you should not be the only one to follow the two of us, especially since I am the one who knows about these kinds of events.” He got down and extended his hand to Adira.
“What is that?” she asked with a frown.
He looked at her in wonder as well as at his hand. “Hand.”
She gasped. “What should I do with your hand?”
“I’m going to hold on to help you down.”
In the end, Adira didn’t hold Prince Dylan’s hand and tried to go down by herself, but the size of the horse made it difficult for her, especially when the horse suddenly moved, causing Adira to get nervous and lose her footing. What happened was that she was now hugging Prince Dylan.
“Your face also has a different expression, especially when you are afraid of a horse,” said Prince Dylan while still hugging Adira. Adira’s eyes widened, and she quickly let go of Dylan’s embrace.
When Adira looked at Prince Dylan, he was serious, which surprised her because the prince’s voice sounded mischievous earlier while they were hugging each other. Adira didn’t even pay attention to Prince Dylan’s face and just looked in the direction where the princes of the various palaces could be seen.
When Adira turned her gaze in another direction, Prince Dylan smiled again and said in his mind, “I can say that I have the right to answer her first because I am the one who knows now. It’s really funny when she shows different emotions on her face. It’s not just frowning and smiling.” He just shook his head and looked at his fellow prince.
Earlier, he had the confidence and courage to face the princes again. Now it’s like he feels like what happened to him a few years ago is coming back, like being a coward.