She has a nightmare again, the same nightmare that recently haunted her in her sleep. Sometimes it was just blurry memories she tried to forget but other times it vividly depicted and woke her up with unpleasant feelings. Like something stuffed in her lung and holding her breath. She will end up curling up her body while holding her chest tightly because it was hurt so much.

Just like now,

In the middle of a big dark room that she could not see clearly because the pain she feels in her chest is too painful for her to stay in her right mind. She needs to calm herself down just like usual, trying to take a deep breathe even though it will take a while to do that.

" Breath slo-"

Slap!

and she brushed off the hand that touches her suddenly before she realize the golden eyes that looks at her who then, uses his sign language to say,

" Calm down, take a deep breath."

who makes her frown painfully before she remembers what was happened before. To then see this man treats her so casually as what he is seeing right now is something normal. It is hard to accept it. The unpleasant feeling that now she feels after knowing about someone who knows about her condition.

She does not even care to talk or act accordingly in front of the one and only crown prince of this empire. Her rationality or logic could not even work with this kind of feeling inside her. She just opens the blanket that covered her and steps outside. Yet, her weak knees are about to fall her down before the man holds her in his embrace. His grip feels so strong while he holds her arms as if he knows that she is now trying so hard to make him let her go.

[ Let go.] and she looked at him with an unknown fury she could not understand.

but the man just hold her arms without moving an inch. With a serious expression that he never once shown to her, because, as much as she remembers, he always gives her a smile and silly expression whenever they are together.

Now, he looks mad in his gravelly silence. Yet it somehow feels different. " Don't do something that will hurt you." and her hurt thumping every time she faces his face like this.

[ It is not your business, Your Grace.] but, the fact that he always trying to meddle into her world, making her feel so hopeless, and at the same time frightening.

So, she slowly looks away, as she starts to realize he will not let her go while his power is this much stronger than her to get away on her own.

" Your Grace, Ms. Arisha wants to meet you." and someone knocks on his door while Irisha decides not to look at him anymore. He grits his teeth while looking at the miserable woman in his hand. Who he holds tight, but feels so far from him.

and he sighs after a long silence, " Let her in." he then lets one of his hand go but one other still hold Irisha so she still stands steady.

Then, when Arisha comes in while the maid turns on the lamp, the gloomy and despairing face of hers is suddenly gone like it was not there in the first place.

[ Arisha?] the sparkles that will just come to her eyes whenever she is with her little sister.

" Are you okay, sister?" asked her after hugging her for quite a while. " The ladies said that you are not feeling well, so you take a rest here."

[ I am okay.] she said while smiling,

" Are you sure?" and she looks at her in concern.

[ Yes.] while slowly, her hands brush his hand casually and quietly. [ Let's go home.]

and Arisha looks confused while looking at him and her sister several times,

[ Arisha, come on.] but the sister who always greets and smiles to anyone decided not to look at him even for courtesy.

then Arisha looks at him, smiled quite awkwardly, and said. " Thank you, Your Grace, for letting my sister take a rest. See you tomorrow." and she runs to her sister who still trembling while walking but smiling in front of her.

and even he follows them from far away until they both go inside the carriage he has prepared. Irisha never turns her back like she usually does with a grumpy and sulked face.

"... I don't like this," he muttered while looking at the carriage that is already far away from his sight. He crossed his hands and covers his mouth. The gaze he gives in is so deep and dark. He knows exactly that he is now furious. Yet, the unpleasant thing about it was that he could not do anything about it. "... because you will go away from me if I do that." and even he could just force her, will she be the same? while just a second ago, he feels so uncomfortable whenever she decided not to look at him.

.

.

.

" He surely falls for that woman, huh?" and from far, in the front yard of the palace near the fence of the outer yard. Ivy looks at the carriage who is now gone eventually. With her golden eyes, she wonders, what is the best thing inside hers that makes all of her siblings obsessed over that woman? she then giggles, " Both of you are bewitched by the same girl."

" It is not sincerity as people excitedly thinking."

" The crown prince with the dragon's blood sincerely falls to a commoner?"

" Or, a commoner, sincerely falls for the crown prince?"

She laughed while doing her own monologue, before, in just a second the expression of hers was gone eventually. " There is no such thing in this world." and the expression on her beautiful face, darkens.

" Don't make me laugh."

***

.

.

It becomes so uncomfortable.

People could say that there is something wrong between those two. It is already the seventh day of this heavy atmosphere but there is no sign that something will gradually change to a normal daily one. Of course, both of them will just work together just like usual but, people could see the obvious thing between them.

...just like now, after the meeting.

[ After that I will send someone to inform you.] she said with her unusual dark expression.

" You come by yourself." He said without a glimpse of a smile, he usually showed.

[ I have something to do.]

" Asked someone to do that."

and she gripped her hands, so obviously as everyone could tell she is angry. A very rare phenomenon of Ms.Irisha they've known, [ .... okay, Your Grace.] and she will just turn herself away without their usual conversation.

Then after Ms.Irisha left, the pheromone will become so thick and everyone will try to go outside as soon as possible, because, even they have something to do with the prince, his face, is showing a sign for not trying to do that.

Even for Irisha, this is the maximum thing she could do to avoid him. After all, after her thought becomes clear enough to think rationally, the partner she faces right now is the famous crown prince of the superior Empire. The one that is known as someone who is blessed by the dragons. Which means someone she could not just freely mess with. Even she understands that what she does now has too much risque and consequence, if, in the end, she really did make him mad- what could she do? Because he is now just trying to dig more further inside her world... the world that she tries to keep deep inside in her heart.

" Ms.Irisha" and suddenly, while she is walking in the hallway, a very beautiful lady pokes her while holding her baby in her arm. " It's been a while, Ms.Irisha."

and she smiles at Lady Cordelia who is now fluent in sign language, [ Yes, it's been a while since the last time we met.] and she looks at the baby who is so beautifully handsome like his parents.

" Raya, says hi to Ms.Irisha." she said while smiling warmly with her hands doing some sign language to say 'hi'.

and the shy boy who Irisha met before, looks at her and moves his hands just like the way his mother did.

" Wow, good job, Raya!" and Lady Cordelia, will smile happily whenever her baby does that. Then she looks at her again, " Yesterday, he said 'dada' to my husband and he became so emotional and cried." she said. " We also start to try to use the method to get Raya's understand sound with vibration. It might need a long time or might not success at all, but, In the end, I am happy if he is happy too."

[ That's great.] she said while smiling gently. Especially when she is now witnessing how she becomes so cheerfully talkative Lady.

and she smiles at her, " You are truly our savior, Ms.Irisha." she said.

{ You are exaggerating, Lady Cordelia.]

" If you have time, why don't you join us? I make some food for my husband."

[ Eh, I may just bother both of you.]

" No... I am having fun whenever I am talking with you," she said. " It is especially rare, to talk with the famous Ms.Irisha so-"

and Irisha, in the end, could not go against the new and bright smiles of hers who is so beautiful and feels so warm. [ Well, just until the next meeting.]

" That's good!" and both of them then come to the training field where her husband leads the intense training of the elite Holy Knight. Then, Irisha finds herself speechless while looking at it even for a glance. Surely, It is a kind of training when they put their life and death in between.

" Please enjoy the food, Ms.Irisha," she said after setting down the picnic basket she brought in the field quite far from the training field under a very big tree. It is still astonishing to her with the fact that on this first floor of a 'flying' castle, there is a place like this. A spacious field with the black rocky mountain surrounded it. The mountain stands so high, but the sky still could be seen clearly.

[ ... I guess, I understand why people admire The Holy Knight.] she said.

and Lady Cordelia who is holding her son who is now eating soundly starts to do her sign language"... I, actually decided to practice my skill to be a knight."

and Irisha's eyes widen, " Really?" as she remembers how Lady Cordelia dreams to be a Knight.

Then she smiles shyly, [ I had a talk with my father and husband about it. I was thought that they will against it but, they said I could do whatever I want." she said while sighing in relief for a while before continuing, "... I was thinking that my father is a kind of person with a stubborn idealogy just like my mother, but, I was wrong- I should just tell about my feeling sooner so both of us are not misunderstanding each other."

and she nods, [ I agree.]

" But, because I decided to not go to the Knight academy while Raya's still young, my husband becomes my trainer right now... " She sighed heavily. "...and his training is so hellish as if I will die."

[ Wow! You are so lucky, is not it? many people told me how great your husband is. You will become a great knight too if he is your teacher.] she said before looking at Lady Cordelia who turns her face away after she's done talking, and waved her hand. She looks yelling happily, but Irisha could not understand it then decided to look to Lady Cordelia's way. She then found out the first commander of the elite knight is now running toward them in his practice suit.

On that very second, Irisha could say that Raya will be the most adored bachelor in this empire as his genes are all, stunning.

.

After arriving, the commander greets Irisha with his gesture before he sits beside Lady Cordelia, he seems to talk about something but she could not understand so she then looks at Lady Cordelia instead.

" My husband says he apologizes because he still not yet learned sign language," she said.

[ Ah, It is not something to be sorry about.] she said while waving both of her hands.

and Lady Cordelia's husband, whose name is Luke shaking his head. " I was going to officially give you my gratitude but, it seems we just meet sooner than I expected."

and she titled her head as she does not quite understand. [ What are we talking about?] she confused.

and Lady Cordelia laughing while looking at her expression, " It is about the last war, Ms.Irisha."

Then Irisha goes silent for a while to think, [ ... I can not recall something of my action that deserves your gratitude. In fact, Sir Luke was the one who was going in the front line in order to protect us. I am the one who should give my gratitude for your service.] she said.

and Sir Luke becomes awkward after he sees Irisha's gratitude gesture. He fanned his hand while holding Raya who is crawling toward him, " You embarrass me, Ms.Irisha. I am not doing anything at all in the last war."

[ .... but, you did push enemies' troops from Nara and even survived while protecting Nara's agreement who despised war in their area.]

"... well, they are all weakling if I could be honest," he said. Who somehow surprised Irisha more than she ever expected, because he talks in a serious manner, as it is not joking at all. "... even when we were cornered before, I could tell that their troops are not in the same level as our," he said.

Irisha becomes speechless while remembering the day when she was tried so hard to find the solution about how to help them. Yet, she just smiles and hides the thought inside her mind.

" But, in the end. Your solution is the best solution that we wanted after all," he said as he looks at her with a deep gazing as he wants to tell her how serious he is right now, " After suddenly the troop's enemies retreated and we went to Nara, that was the first time another people outside Malum Empire, welcomed us without being terrified with who we are." he said. " They were surprised with our dragons- they were also a little bit scared but several of them talked to us about them." and he giggles in clumsy gesture, a kind of gesture that people might be never expected for the first commander of the elite will do," I am in the end the holy dragon knight so, dragons for me is like my own friends. To see people try to understand them first without being terrified by the first impression makes me feels so happy," he said. " Many of my comrades were also confused at first, but then Nara's representative said something who made us understand all of it eventually."

[ What did they say to you?]

and he smiles widely, " They said, ' If the Malum's trading were not coming to this place, I will always getting terrified when a big dragon like this fly above me.'"

and she smiles gently after hearing such a heart-warming story, [ I am glad hearing that, Sir Luke.]

"... Ms.Irisha might be just an immigrant so could not really understand," added Lady Cordelia. " It was a known fact from hundreds of years ago that this empire was the empire where The Holy Dragon once ruled. with his terrifying and agonizing demeanor, the whole world will be shaken by his presence." then she laughed a little, " Even our ancestor, who was the indigenous civil was pressured and terrified by the existence of the dragon's blessing,"

and she looks at her for a while, after hearing that as that is also something she always asked in her mind, [ Then why do you still serve them if they only give you uncomfortable situation?]

and Lady Cordelia said what Irisha has said to his husband before both of them looked at her, with smiles. " Well I, myself, could not understand it too but... I know the fact that that family was always the first and the last one who stood still to protect our land," he said. " They were the one in the last war, who stood in the front line to keep and protect the place they belong."

Then Irisha somehow could understand it at a certain point. As she, who already spent her time with the heir of this empire could see how he tries hard to manage this empire. Despite how the methods he applied, In the end, he chooses the best option for his land. [... Even though I am only a newcomer, I am really happy to hear that... I thought all people terrify with the royal's family.]

and both of the smiles strangely, "... we do," and Lady Cordelia said while opening her mouth again as she finds confusion in Irisha's face. " Ms.Irisha, you are the only one who being treated differently by the crown prince."

"... Are you not aware?"

and she looks at them for quite a while.

' Am I not aware? they said,'

they asked as if they thought maybe she is confused by what they were trying to say.

Especially when she then just goes silent for thinking about, how could she is not aware while she is the one who spent a lot of her time in this past year with him? How could she is not realizing the fact that his kindness is different toward her when the one who gives her a gentle smile while touching her affectionately was him every time.

How could she is not- when he is the one who always gives her a chance to stand and see how beautiful the world is.

'... How could I do not know?' even her heart thumping while thinking about this now.

Yet, she smiles. [... No, I don't know.] while somehow slowly closing the feeling she feels just now.

'Just don't.'

'I should not.'

' Please, go away.'

***