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“Ah, before you go, Shinichi… Could you do me a favor?”
The dark-haired young man turned and looked at his father who sat behind his desk. He was leaning against the table, dark eyes observing him behind the glasses.
“Of course”, Shinichi answered.
“Since you are going to the town to do the princess’ business, could you…” The older man stopped and searched for something from the desk before moving a little bit away and starting to open the drawers. “Where is it…”
Shinichi stepped a little closer eyeing the desk. It was full of papers and some letters and what else. It looked like it had been organized not long ago, but now it started to be a mess again. “You shouldn’t let mom come anywhere close to your desk, you know”, Shinichi said eyeing one of those papers that had already some writing on it. He had enough time to catch the words “the princess”, “marriage” and “meeting”, and he ripped his eyes away. Gosh, better if he didn’t know more, otherwise he would burn that letter as soon as his father would turn his back on him.
“You know her”, his father answered while still searching drawers. “I can’t influence things that happen when I’m in a meeting.”
Shinichi looked away. “Maybe she needs her own desk”, he muttered, mostly to himself before turning around, looking around the room - his father’s study. Big windows to the yard, few armchairs for visitors to sit on, big, probably expensive carpet on the floor, and on the walls there were some maps and shelves. Shelves that were full of many kinds of books and maps of many areas and countries…
It gave him many warm memories from his childhood. Well, if he stopped to think about it, many rooms held many good memories. Memories when everything was easy and carefree and… Nothing mattered. Memories of him and a beautiful, kind little princess in a pink dress.
If someone would have asked how he had met princess Ran, he couldn’t answer it. Because she had always been here. Since Shinichi’s father was a king’s advisor and bookkeeper and his mother queen’s personal maid, he had been always there when the princess had been. They had sat on the floor and played together while their parents had done their job. And when they had grown more, they had started to have adventures together. Like in this room, how many books they had touched and moved pretending that one of them would open a secret door – and maybe hoping that they would really find one. His father’s writing was a secret language – well, mostly to Ran since Shinichi’s father had taught him to read and write very young age -, and sometimes they found maps that lead them somewhere - at a younger age to the kitchen to get something sweet, but later on the adventures around the yard and sometimes another side of the wall…
“Ah, there it is.”
Shinichi turned back to look at his father who straightened himself. Then he gave a letter to him. “When you go to the city, could you take this to the post office?”
“Sure”, Shinichi answered and took the letter. “Is there something else?”
“That’s all”, Kudo Yusaku answered and took a better position in his chair. “Thank you.”
Shinichi stepped outside from the door and started his journey toward the lower floors of the castle. His boots landed on the soft carpet, muffling his every step. He smiled. How many times he and Ran had run those corridors around servants’ underfoot before they had told them to go to play somewhere else? Oh, how many times they had sneaked in the kitchen and got some snacks for their journey, and how many times knights had got annoyed when they had been running somewhere where they shouldn’t have? And how many times did they get mad because they just couldn’t catch them?
But in the end, it hadn’t ever mattered. Inside or outside the castle, they have had fun. How much Ran had been into their plays, smiled beautifully, laughed with him – or sometimes to him…
She had been his only friend in the castle.
Well, not precisely only one, because…
“Hey, Kudo-kun.”
Shinichi stopped and turned. A short-haired girl ran towards him with an excited expression on her face.
“Suzuki”, Shinichi answered when the woman of his age stopped in front of him and crouched to take a breath. For a maid who loved to wander everywhere to hear all the latest gossip and make an impression on men, she had very low health.
“It’s… Sonoko-sama… for you”, she breathed out annoyed before she straightened herself and looked at him like she could order him as she liked.
Shinichi smiled as annoyed as Sonoko. “Is it?” he asked. “Last time I checked, you are princess’ personal maid when I’m her knight. I don’t see a difference here.”
But of course, there was a difference. As he was just common folks’ child, Sonoko was the second heir of the Suzuki family. Since Sonoko’s parents were royals and close to the Mouri family, Sonoko had visited here many times. Where Ran had been interested in Shinichi’s adventures, Shinichi remembered how Sonoko wasn’t a big fan of those. Always complaining about the idea to go outside and get themselves dirty. Ran was the only one who made Sonoko join them, and… well, if Shinichi remembered correctly, Sonoko had enjoyed them in the end even though she had complained so much.
And since Sonoko was Ran’s best and closest friend, and since the girls had taken him with their plays (unless they had been played with dolls, clothes, or admired their parents’ jewels), Shinichi believed that he and Sonoko was some kind of friends. Except, Sonoko was always so annoying, and on her every visit she had made fun of him, so in exchange, he had taken as his life mission to annoy her as much as he could.
Until came the day that queen Tomoko had sent her second daughter to Mouri’s castle as a servant. Shinichi hadn’t asked about it directly from Sonoko, but he was sure that the second child of the Suzuki family had been too carefree for a princess. Well, since Sonoko wasn’t the one who would inherit the crown, Shinichi believed that she hadn’t had even the slightest interest to use her time on her studies. Actually, Shinichi believed that she didn’t have a big interest to learn anything at all. She was much more interested to use her time ordering new dresses and organizing parties, festivals, and every kind of event. But taking responsibility for the kingdom? Nope. So what Shinichi had heard and made his own conclusions, he was pretty sure that Sonoko’s carefree personality and lifestyle had started to irritate the queen. If he knew Sonoko at all, he was pretty sure that she and the queen had a big argument about it until the queen had got enough and sent her daughter here to learn some manners, humility, and take responsibility.
Well, it had been years now, but it seems that nothing had changed. Shinichi wasn’t sure if Sonoko just didn’t want to, or if Ran was too kind to her best friend because, in the end, Ran was the one who made Sonoko her personal maid.
But there was no way that Shinichi would call Sonoko a princess. As much as he probably should, he wouldn’t do it until that girl would grow up, go back to her kingdom, and start to act like one – which seems like it never going to happen.
“But whatever, I didn’t come here to argue with you”, Sonoko said after she had tried to correct Shinichi. She just pushed something against him. Without thinking, Shinichi raised his hands to grab it and saw some package. “Since you’re going there, you could take this to Ran’s room.”
“What?” Shinichi answered and pushed the package back to Sonoko. “I’m going to town, not Ran’s room, you know. I don’t…”
“But I need to go!” Sonoko argued and gave it back to Shinichi. “There is a new girl in the kitchen, and I really want to see who she is!”
He sighed. “She isn’t going anywhere, you know”, he objected and again, moved the package back to her. “And even if she is living in the town, she would be here tomorrow and the day after tomorrow and… I don’t think she is going to stop working here today, you know.”
“But I need to see her”, Sonoko said and pushed the package back to him before taking steps back enough that Shinichi couldn’t push it back to her. “So, be a nice knight, and do as I said, okay?” she asked and winked before turning around and running away.
“Hey!” Shinichi shouted after her, but she pretended like she didn’t hear it. He almost wanted to run after her but stopped himself. It would be probably a waste of time. “Gosh, that Sonoko…” he muttered and looked at the package in his hands. Well, it didn’t look like he had many choices here.
He started to walk towards the upper floors and to the princess’ room. He also walked past the door, which once was the place where he and Ran had fought against their childhood’s ending. He remembered that old, scrawny Tokei-sensei, whose job was to give first lessons to the young princess who had just turned eight. Of course, Ran had asked Shinichi to come with her, but when they arrived, the teacher told them that Shinichi couldn’t join them. Just because he wasn’t a prince, he didn’t have any right to take lessons.
How much he had hated the teacher then. So unfair and too proud… Well, Shinichi kind of still did, but since nowadays he was the princess’ personal knight, he had all the right to go wherever he wanted to, and sometimes he took advantage of it and participated in Ran’s lessons just so that he can look and smile to that old man who didn’t have any good reason to throw him out like years ago. And always he could see in Tokei-sensei’s eyes how much he would have liked to get rid of him, especially when the princess didn’t concentrate (even if it wasn’t his fault that man’s lessons’ were boring), or when Shinichi opened his big mouth to question teacher’s lessons or ask him more and more complicated questions. Well, even if Shinichi didn’t have any right to participate in lessons, he still had all the right to learn. And he had been curious enough to do so.
So when Tokei-sensei had forced Ran to take her first lesson many years ago and made sure that Shinichi couldn’t get in, he had used those lonely hours to learn himself. He had read books, and his father had taught him many other things when he had time.
And every time Ran got some free time, they spent it together.
Until she didn’t have time anymore.
Shinichi opened the door which only a few could open without the princess’s permission. It was also the door which behind he had always come when Ran didn’t have much time for him. It had been tricky since there had always been someone guarding a little princess room, but still, he had always got in. And out, when they wanted.
Oh, those times. Shinichi smiled and put the package on the bureau. He wondered how they succeeded to trick those guards back then. Well, like it mattered anymore, and for his own sake, he wouldn’t go to ask those guards if they just pitied that eight-year-old little boy who didn’t have any other friends or didn’t they really see him.
Maybe if he hadn’t lived in the castle, maybe he would have had other friends. But since he and Ran were only children, and he was too young to go alone to the town to make friends, it wouldn’t surprise him if they had just pitied him.
Shinichi left the room and lock the door behind him. Then he started to make his way back to the lower levels and to the outside. Yeah, it all had been fun back then, so carefree. Sneak through the castle, take her always somewhere… Shinichi remembered how much he tried to look around the castle in his free time, trying to find all those beautiful and nice places to show to Ran and taking some snacks from the kitchen. Actually, there was one older cook who always gave something good to Shinichi. Back then, Shinichi had wondered why she had been so kind to him, but later he found out that she had just thought of him as her grandchild or something. And maybe she knew that he would share them with the princess…
However, it had been fun until they got caught. He remembered very well how unpleased the queen and king had been. How much he got scolded by them about how irresponsible he had been when he had taken Ran somewhere outside, that she could have gotten in danger because of him, and how he had sabotaged Ran’s studies.
And he remembered how Ran had tried to defend him but instead got scolded more hardly: how the princess shouldn’t be as reckless as she had been, how she should have stayed in her room until the morning, how she should have tried to concentrate to her studies instead of playing around because one day she’s going to be queen and she should be ready for it. And Shinichi remembered how that beautiful face got tiers, how orchid-colored eyes turned to stare at the ground to avoid her parents’ disappointing stares…
“Shin-chaaaan!”
Shinichi stopped and turned to look behind him. He saw his mother to ran towards him. She smiled brightly when she stopped.
“What’s up?” Shinichi asked and looked at her mother trying to find any hints about what she was doing, but there were none. Well, since she wasn’t with the queen, he guessed she had been walking around the castle for catching up as she liked to call it.
“You never guess”, Yukiko chirped cheerfully and clapped her hands together. “I was in the kitchen…”
Shinichi sighed and rolled his eyes. “Looking at the new girl?” he asked.
“That was rude”, her mother said and pouted. “I was there to welcome her!”
What is the difference? Shinichi wanted to ask but didn’t. But maybe he should have since there was a long silence between them. Shinichi just stared at his mother, whose smile slowly started to fade. And he had a bad feeling about where they were going with this.
His mother pursed her lips. “You’re not going to ask anything about her?”
Shinichi raised his eyebrows. “Why should I?”
“She was a beautiful girl, you know”, her mother said and started to smile again. She looked like she was holding her enthusiasm. “A little shy, but very beautiful! Long light brown hair, light brown eyes like gold, nice pink lips which were always on a shy smile…”
He wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn’t. And in the end, it wasn’t like his mother would see it either. Gosh, were they really going to go through this conversation again?
“… and she was around the same age as you, and single”, her mother continued and smiled mischievously. “I also told her that I have a very handsome and reliable son, who she should meet.” Shinichi kept staring at her, and when he didn’t say anything, her mother continued stubbornly: “You know, you really should go to say hi to her.”
“I can say hi to her when I see her”, Shinichi answered simply and turned to continue his way to the outdoors.
“Come on, Shin-chan”, her mother shouted and grabbed his arm, making him stop and turn back to her. “Don’t you understand what I’m trying to tell you?”
Yes, I understand, I just don’t want to talk about it.
“Yeah, I do”, Shinichi answered. “You want me to go to look at that poor girl who just had started her job here and now everyone is there staring at her like she was some kind of animal”, he said annoyed. “But I’m not going. I welcome her when I happen to meet her, okay? And just so you know, right now I have other things to do than just stared at other people. I need to visit the town before Ran’s lessons end because after that, I…”
“But that girl was so sweet, it wouldn’t take too much time to go pay a visit”, Yukiko interrupted. “It could make her happy, and…” She stopped and let her eyes lower a little bit.
“And?” Shinichi asked, even though he knew already how she is going to continue.
Her mother smiled sadly and met his eyes again. “I think she could be a good girlfriend for you.”
Shinichi let out a sigh and rolled his eyes while looking in another direction. “Mom…”
“I’m serious, Shin-chan!” Yukiko said and came closer to touch his shoulder, squeezing it a little bit. “She is a cute girl, nice… And… I think you could give her a chance to meet you and get to know you…”
“I give her a chance when we meet, okay?” he said. “And you know I’m a bad boyfriend to anyone. In the end, I’m around the clock working, so I don’t really have time for a girlfriend…”
“You can always leave”, her mother interrupted. “You know that I and Yu-chan will give you enough that you can start your life outside the castle, find a better job, and…”
“But I like my job here”, Shinichi assured her and smiled – well, it wasn’t a lie. “I’m doing something good and protecting our kingdom…”
“But you could also protect it in the town”, Yukiko interrupted again. “I have heard that you have many times helped the town guards with criminals and other things. I’m pretty sure that commander Megure would take you in, he had spoken so highly of you…”
“Mmm”, Shinichi hummed. He knew that his life would probably be better somewhere else, but…
“You deserve better, Shin-chan”, he heard his mother say gently, tightening her squeeze on his shoulder. “And if I can be honest, the princess doesn’t even deserve you.”
He needed to do all he could just stop himself from inhaling.
“Who talked anything about the princess?” Shinichi asked slowly, trying to look as neutral as he could. “This is my job, and I like it. Even if I wouldn’t be the princess’s personal guard, I would enjoy being a knight…”
“Shin-chan…”
“So don’t be worried about me, okay”, he continued and smiled as cheerfully as he could, trying to convince his mother not to be worried - again. “I promise, I leave from here as soon as I got enough of this, okay? But I need to go, so… see you later.”
He didn’t wait for her answer. Instead, he took long steps toward the closest door to get out from there, secretly trying to escape the upcoming storm between them. From years ago, after he and Ran had been scolded by the king and queen, of course, they had told Shinichi’s secret adventures to his parents. Of course, his parents had asked for forgiveness and promised to raise their child better. It was the time when little Shinichi felt bad for being trouble for his parents. It wasn’t his parents’ fault that he had been sneaking around the castle to see his only friend who the king and queen had tried to take away from him. And that was what he had wanted to say to them, but his parents had stopped him before anything unforgiving had happened.
He remembered that fight between him and his parents that night. Well, mostly with his mother, since his father was much more calm and patient than his mother. He remembered how he had accused the king and queen of stealing his only friend, and all the knights and other people for underrating him just because he wasn’t royal. He remembered how his parents had tried to explain it, but he hadn’t understood and accepted it. Well, it wasn’t like he accepted it now either. He understood, but it still didn’t feel right that just because someone had been born into a royal family, got all the rights in the world to do whatever they liked, while the other, common people just were the ones who needed to suffer royals’ greediness. For Shinichi, all people in the world were human, and to him, it didn’t matter if they were commoners or noble. Every human life was valuable, and everyone should have the same rights.
But sadly, some idiots have had the thought that there should be differences between humans, and sadly people had accepted it. That was what it had been for a very long time, and probably that is what it’s going to be.
Back then, Ran had been pretty important to him. Well, she still was. The nicest and kindest girl with a beautiful smile. Back then, he had angrily promised his parents to prove that he isn’t any different than those royals, and he would marry that princess when he gets older and prove to everyone that he would be as good as anyone else.
Stupid thing to say. But he had meant it. And… maybe believed in it.
His parents had tried their best. They really tried to explain to him that it would be impossible because Shinichi was – sadly – just a commoner, and princess Ran would one day marry a prince from another kingdom, someone who would be the king one day, who would rule the kingdom with princess…
Back then Shinichi had said it. He had told them that he liked her a lot more than anyone else. That liking someone hadn’t anything to do with royal blood. He knew her better than anyone else since they have been friends, she was his best friend…
“Forget her, Shinichi! You don’t have any opportunity with her. Find someone else, someone who deserved you...”
Maybe back then he hadn’t understood it really. In the end, he had been only a child. Or maybe he did, but he didn’t accept it. He had been angry that even his parents didn’t back him up, encouraged him to do it, to be the one who would prove that it wouldn’t matter if you were a commoner or noble…
Well, nowadays Shinichi had seen and heard enough to get a bigger picture and more understanding. It wasn’t like he wanted to accept it, but he knew that as much as he would love that princess, she could be never his. He had heard Ran’s parents talking about a prince who Ran should marry, he had heard how they had told Ran that they really need someone who could give some benefits to the kingdom. He had seen all the visitors, been on all the visits the royal family had made in other kingdoms, and he had seen what those people could promise and do something good for the kingdom.
Him? He couldn’t promise anything. He couldn’t give anything to this kingdom: no money, no relationship from anywhere, no army…
And he knew that his mother was right. He knew that he wouldn’t get any chance to be with the girl he loved. All he did now was that he was just torturing himself, teasing himself with jealousy, getting more cracks on his heart while looking at Ran with someone else, and still knowing that he couldn’t do anything to stop it.
His mother was wrong. It wasn’t like Ran didn’t deserve him. He didn’t deserve her.
As he stepped outside from the castle’s doors, the sun welcomed him, warming his face and his dark clothes. He started his way to the stables and saw how some of the knights were practicing, keeping their fighting skills up and seeing who would be the best warrior this week. He just looked with a little smile at how swords were clanging together again and again.
Shinichi had seen somehow similar scenario when he had been eleven. After Ran was taken away from him, he had been lonely. He had been a little helper on the castle since the king and queen didn’t look at it well if he didn’t do anything, but luckily they couldn’t throw a child away. Yet, he had known that there would be the day that they would kick him out. Like they would like to keep one extra mouth to feed if he wouldn’t do anything for them.
So he had helped others, and every time he had been outside, he had raised his eyes high to the castle to seek the window where Ran would be. He had learned about Ran’s lessons and knew where they would be at what time of the day, so he knew what windows to look at. And surprisingly, Ran had met his gaze. At first, he had doubted himself, but when he had seen her waving back, he had believed that she was happy to see him too. And since she had always answered his glance, he hadn’t given up on that habit.
But once, after he had waved at Ran, he stopped to look at knights. That day, they got some new recruits to guide and test their skills. They had been impressive while they were fighting with swords, some of them blocking attacks on their shields, and how they were dancing around each other to avoid attacks. Well, they needed to be the best, since they were the ones who would be chosen to protect and defend the castle and royal family. They would be protectors of the king and queen, guard the doors, patrol the corridors and courtyard, sometimes send to the town to help town guards or escort the royal family somewhere, and sometimes they got missions to do something else…
That had been the time when Shinichi got his thought of being a knight. He hadn’t known much about the fighting, but what he would have to lose? It would be worth trying. In the end, they would kick him out anyway, and… Well, he wasn’t a big fan of the idea to leave, since everything he loved was in the castle, and he also knew that as soon as he would step outside, he wouldn’t have a chance to step back. He would leave behind too much, and he wasn’t sure if he would be ready for it.
He also had known that he would never be good enough for Ran. He wouldn’t go anywhere with her. It wasn’t that he wanted to be king. Gosh, he wouldn’t even mind if he would never sit on the king’s chair, beside Ran! He wouldn’t mind if he wouldn’t make any decision come true! He just… wanted to be with Ran. That’s all he wanted. But like it mattered. And he had also known that whatever he would do, nothing would change. He could die for her, and it wouldn’t make any difference.
But as a knight… At least he could protect her. At least he could make sure that her surrounding would be safe, he could make sure that she would be safe… And of course, he would protect others. He would do something good, make others feel safe, and make sure that no one wouldn’t get hurt. He would defend those who couldn’t defend themselves.
They had laughed at him. All those knights had laughed when he had gone to them and told them that he wanted to be a knight, that he also wants to protect the royal family and their kingdom. “Maybe when you have grown up enough”, they had said.
Like he had had years to waste.
That time their old knight-commander was the one who gave him a chance. Who would it harm if a little boy would join their practices? “Boy would see what it really takes to be a knight, and if he hadn’t given up after a week, I’m pretty sure he has what it takes to be a knight.”
Shinichi wasn’t sure if that old man had pitied him back then, but he had shown him and the other knights that he had much more willpower than they had thought.
It wasn’t easy for him, since strength wasn’t on his side. How many times had others beaten him and laughed at his weakness and stupidity? How many times had they told him to leave back to his mother? Well, maybe he wasn’t strong, but he wasn’t the one who gave up easily. He was cleverer than others gave him credit.
He learned that swinging a sword and beating an opponent could be much more than being strong. He learned that among the knights, there was only the knight-commander who use brains, and others were just pawns who did what was asked, and that’s it.
Maybe Shinichi wasn’t the strongest one or even a fighter, but he had other skills that compensated for the lack of his strength. In the end, he was very good at predicting his opponent’s movements. His thoughts were running much faster than anyone could have imagined, and before they knew it, he already got his own plan. He was fast enough to make his moves, and when he just wanted to, he could be a very sly opponent.
So as soon as Shinichi learned to use his other skills, he started to be a thought opponent to other knights. They hadn’t seen it coming. Laughs and mockings stopped there. And it took many more practices to learn to be better, polish his skills and knowledge for better use and learn to swing the sword. He started to beat those knights. And in no time, he was one of the best knights in the kingdom, thanks to his brain and speed.
He had earned his place as a young and respected knight.
“Hey, Kudo!”
Shinichi sighed before looking at the one who had shouted at him. With this speed, he never gets to the town.
“What do you want, Hattori?”
Another young knight walked closer to him with his sword. He smiled wildly.
“Come to the ring”, he said and moved his head a little towards the ring where others were fighting. “I want to claim my place in the first place.”
Shinichi raised his other eyebrow. “How?” he asked and smiled to annoy his friend. “You haven’t beat me for a month, why do you think today would be different?”
“I had let you win at this point”, Heiji answered confidently. Shinichi didn’t believe that at all. “But I think that today it’s time for me to show others that I am a better knight than you.”
Shinichi rolled his eyes. This again?
“Well, sorry, but I don’t really have time”, he said and continued on his way while waving at Heiji over his shoulder. “I have business in the town.”
“But if you decline, it means you have lost to me!” Heiji shouted.
“Whatever you like”, Shinichi answered and speed up to get to the stables as soon as possible. Like it mattered to him if he was the best knight in the kingdom or not. Well, Heiji was a thought opponent and he really enjoyed practicing with him (or like Heiji said, they were competing which of them was the better knight), and in the end, they made a good duo together. Whenever there was something going on, a fight to be in, or whatever, he knew that Heiji was always there covering his back – like he was his. If Shinichi should trust Ran’s guarding to someone else, it would be Heiji. Even if the other knight was a hothead and hasty, he was talented, strong, and did what was the right thing to do. Shinichi trusted him with his life.
Finally, he came to the stables. There were workers who were taking care of royal horses. That’s where he should have gone to get his horse too, but since he had a little special case with him, he went to the little stable where there weren’t others. He put the lights on and heard some neigh.
“Hey, Arakan. Want to go to the town?”
There were movements before the black horse stood up on its corral. Shinichi went to the stallion and petted the bridge of the nose gently. The horse neighed and pushed his head against Shinichi’s hand. The knight smiled. Sometimes it was hard to believe that this one was a wild horse that Shinichi just happened to find injured and stubbornly nursed, but at the same time, Shinichi was the only person that the horse obeyed. And probably the princess since Ran had been there many times when Shinichi had taken his fight with the horse and treated him. It wasn’t like Arakan couldn’t behave, but if someone dared to treat that horse wrong, there is no way that the stallion would calm down before Shinichi was there.
Another reason to keep that black sheep away from royal horses.
Shinichi had tried to let that horse go back to nature after he was healed, but for some reason, the stallion hadn’t left. Instead, he had wanted to stay. And since Shinichi couldn’t have made the stallion leave, he needed to teach him to behave around other people and horses.
Shinichi opened the gate and let the horse out. Arakan stood calmly in place, just letting Shinichi saddle him and make him ready for the trip. After putting the reins, the knight led the horse outside. Shinichi was almost hopping on the horse before he remembered that letter. Was it still with him? He had been so much into his thoughts that he had almost forgotten it, and even though the trip to the town wasn’t long, he still didn’t like the idea to come back because of it…
He found it. After making sure it was still safe in his pocket, he took his helmet and put it on. Like he needed it, but at least it was on his head if something is going to happen on that short journey.
Then he got the feeling that someone was coming closer to him, trying to be as silent as they could. A playful smile came to his lips. Maybe he should let them have it.
“Take me to the town!” the soft voice shouted while arms wrapped around him, squeezing him tightly. Through his cape and clothes, he could feel the body pressing against his back.
“Is that the right way for the princess to act?” Shinichi asked without moving. “And besides, you forget something important from your request.”
“Please?” Ran’s voice added and she moved. “Pretty please?”
He sighed and moved, making her lose her grip enough that he could turn to meet her. Princess got one of her simplest dresses on her and a tiara, and on her shoulder was her travel cape. It seemed that she had planned this instead of deciding on a whim. “Shouldn’t you be in your class?”
Ran pouted. “I don’t want to”, she muttered. “Social studies are so boring.”
“Ran…”
“Really”, Ran shouted and moved away putting her hand on her hips. “I have listened to that monologue for two hours already and I’m so tired. The third one and I’m going to sleep.”
“As you would”, Shinichi smiled.
“But I would want to”, Ran answered and sighed. “It’s so hard to try to learn anything when you are so ready to fall asleep.”
“But those classes are important, because…”
“Because one day you’re going to be queen and you need to know all kinds of things”, Ran interrupted, fulfilling Shinichi’s sentence. Then she sighed again. “I know, Shinichi, I know. You have said that many times before.” Then orchid eyes met his and she smiled. “But I can read everything in the book later. It’s much more interesting than listening to sensei’s babblings…”
“But if there is something you don’t understand…”
“I can always ask about it”, Ran answered and came closer to him, putting her hands on his chest. “Or you can explain to me.” She smiled sweetly. “Aaaaand I think you are the best and much more motivating teacher…”
Shinichi felt his cheeks burning. He was happy that he got his helmet on already. Gosh, how that woman could be so bold sometimes, especially when there was a chance that there would be others… “Like I know anything…” he murmured.
“Don’t give me that, Shinichi”, Ran said softly. “I know you know more than you give yourself credits. And if you don’t, you do research to figure it out.”
Well, she wasn’t wrong. He may have done his own research if he hadn’t known something since he didn’t like the idea that someone would try to trick the princess with something. Ran was nice and kind and even though she could be strict when needed, Shinichi was kind of worried that someone would try to take advantage of her kindness…
“You can’t always rely on me, you know”, Shinichi said eventually. “I…”
“Rubbish”, Ran interrupted. “There is a reason why I keep you around in every meeting I have to participate. You’re my advisor, wanted it or not. You are reliable and I know I can trust you.”
“I can’t be everything, Ran, and you know it.”
“Why not?” she asked. “You are my personal knight. You are where I am, right? So, you can also be my advisor. I don’t see the problem here.”
Shinichi sighed. “I’m not a scholar.”
“And I think I don’t need a scholar to tell me what to do”, Ran said. “As much as I need a prince to be my king one day", she continued and rolled her eyes. And before Shinichi could say anything to argue against it, she stood on her tiptoes and let her lips touch his. It was a fast peck, but enough that Shinichi almost wanted to scold her for that. Yet those orchid eyes were there again, looking at him innocently, a beautiful smile on her lips. “So, I’m coming to the town with you”, she said and stepped beside him to pet Arakan, who had stood there all the time, just waiting when its time to leave. “Wouldn’t it be nice if I come too, Arakan?”
The stallion neighed which almost sounded like a positive answer.
Shinichi rolled his eyes but didn’t argue. Only a little had changed over these years they have known each other, though these days Ran had much more freedom than as a child. And since he was her personal protector, no one ever questioned if he took her somewhere. Of course, as long as he would bring her back safely.
But he was still the same boy that took her on adventures and showed her all the places, even if he shouldn’t have.
“Fine”, he answered eventually, making Ran look at him with a bright smile. “But this time I’m not going to speak you out from the trouble you’re making because of skipping class.”
And she was still that beautiful, kind princess in a pink dress.