Life As A Tower Maid: Locked Up With The Prince

Come to think of it, it’s not all that strange anymore for Albert to come and see me often. Just as he promised, he sought me out every day.

Now, however, I don’t know if I’ll be able to act like nothing had happened whenever I saw his face.

I heard all that about Albert from Mercy just now.

I’m not sure what I’ll do, but as soon as I see him, I might try to argue and say, ‘Back when you treated me from the black magic, why didn’t you tell me about how life-threatening it actually is?’ Even though I knew all too well that I’m not really in any position to argue with him about that.

Ah, what a headache. I grabbed my head, letting out a loud sigh.

After a while, with perhaps a determined voice, I muttered.

“I didn’t hear any rumors.”

If Albert doesn’t want me to know about it, then I’ll pretend that I don’t know for the rest of my life.

Mercy grinned at me.

“Yes, of course.”

* * *

Albert rented out that large two-story restaurant.

Indeed, even if we came here covertly, such a feat wasn’t difficult to do. After all, there’s no chef in the country who would hate for the king to come.

As we went inside, the first thing I saw was the splendidly decorated table in the middle, luxurious tableware atop it.

“You must be hungry. Did you get to choose the dresses that you wanted?”

“I think the problem is that I picked too many.”

“What limit could there be to the person who saved the king? Come, sit.”

We sat down, shoulder to shoulder. Whenever I ate with Albert before, I was always sitting in front of him, so I was feeling sort of awkward as I heard the sound of his breathing close by.

“…Wouldn’t it be better to sit while facing each other?”

“I don’t know about that. I prefer sitting like this, side by side. Put your favorite dragon fledgling¹ there in front of you.”

Albert shamelessly replied like that. Blanc tried to stick close to me, but when he found out that there was no room for him, he stood on the table.

Blanc glared straight at Albert. Of course, this had no effect on Albert.

Acting like this with each other had practically become a daily routine now, and as I saw this, I felt the tension in my body dissipate.

I tried to pretend that I didn’t hear any of those rumors. Because that’s what he wants.

But I wonder, was it still possible to still call out his name?

I had already decided to call him by name, but I hadn’t done that many times yet.

I wasn’t used to it, really. And since this place wasn’t like the modern times, I had to be more aware of other people’s eyes and ears.

But Albert wants me to call his name, so.

“Albert.”

Squeezing his hand slightly, I whispered to him. His hand flinched beneath mine. Furtively glancing up, I caught sight of his chin.

His languid expression showed a slight sense of impatience. It seemed like what I did was far from his expectations.

There were times when he, too, would get flustered. I came to realize this fact once again.

Still, it didn’t take him long to recover. Leaning down close to me now, his head tilted towards me, he whispered back.

“As I’ve said before… You’ve got me figured out pretty well.”

And I replied with a wide grin.

“Of course. Who did I work under all that time?”

Albert rested his chin on one hand.

“You wouldn’t have done that for no reason.”

He murmured, raising his half-lidded eyes.

I want to hear about it, but I can wait.

Albert stared at me. His red eyes glimmered with a shade similar to that of the setting sun outside the nearby window.

“You don’t have to do that.”

“……”

“If there’s something you want to ask me, then you can ask me. If there’s something that you found out, then you can continue knowing about it.”

The soft, gentle smile on Albert’s face held no darkness at all. His face, without a shadow, rather made me nervous.

It was a smile with the intention to comfort me.

And this smile made it difficult for me to tell what Albert’s feelings really were.

“Rosé, I am who I am right now because of what happened at that time. That’s what I think.”

He reached up and gently touched one cheek of mine. His calloused hand was a great contrast to his beautiful face, but even so, that too was a part of Albert.

“So, please don’t look like you’re going to cry.”

“Tears don’t mean pity.”

Maybe he didn’t want to tell me about it because he thought that I would pity him. And I was also afraid that Albert would think that I do.

Hearing my words, Albert shook his head.

“I know.”

He brushed a thumb beneath my eye.

“It’s just that I don’t want to see you cry.”

“……”

“Because I like your smile.”

Rather than preventing the tears from falling, his warm touch stimulated my tear glands instead.

Did Albert know how much his words right now sounded like a lovely confession?

Those words made my heart skip a beat.

Reaching up, I placed one hand over his hand as it continued to touch the place beneath my eye, and I smiled quietly.

He said he likes my smile, and so, I wanted to welcome him with a smile.

“I wanted to comfort you, but… I’m the one who ended up being comforted.”

After I heard the rumors about him, I wanted to ask if he was alright. But in fact, the moment I faced Albert, it’s as if all my worries would just vanish into thin air.

“I can’t imagine how hard it must have been for you.”

Hearing this, Albert let out a low chuckle, then he pulled me into his arms. His embrace always smelled so good, and this calmed me down.

Just as his scent grounded me once more, I wished that Albert could be comforted by my hug as well.

While I was still in his embrace, I reached behind him and patted his back.

I heard Albert chuckling quietly again.

“I’m fine.”

I then pulled back, slowly pushing Albert away. Then, I murmured.

“Don’t just say that you’re fine. You’re not really fine. I heard that you jumped into a lake.”

Of course, I didn’t forget to try and probe him.

If he was alright with talking about it now, then it might be best to do so. It was too heavy of a topic to try and bring up again later.

Overcoming childhood trauma would never be easy. His life must have been like hell before he went to Rosteratu.

As though he didn’t expect for me to go straight to the point, Albert blinked with a surprised face, but he smiled.

“I did jump into a lake, but… In the end, I never had a brush with death in that place.”

Wasn’t he contradicting himself? I tilted my head to the side, perplexed.

But I soon took a deep breath, and I stared straight into Albert’s eyes as I spoke firmly.

“I want to know how you were able to overcome that time, Albert. What was your childhood like? And, what do you mean that you never actually had a brush with death in that place?”

“I mean it literally. I was rescued by someone.”

Liam or Mercy? Or maybe Schubert.

“Who?”

Albert looked like he was trying to recall his past. His gaze became unfocused as he stared into the air, but his eyes gradually found their focus once more. Then, he said,

“I don’t know.”

This was unexpected. Did he not want to tell me, or not want to tell me the person’s name?

“I’m not really sure. Maybe she told me her name and I forgot, or maybe she never told me in the first place, so I couldn’t possibly try to recall it. Maybe I’ll remember it later.”

“…What do you mean?”

Albert narrowed his eyes and stroked his chin.

“She erased part of my memories before she disappeared.”

“With magic?”

“I believe so.”

The spell to erase someone’s memories was ‘Forget’. It was a familiar spell to me because it’s the very first one that I learned.

‘Forget’ was a powerful spell, but the true effect of it would depend on the spellcaster’s magic, that’s why the influence and power of the spell varied.

If Albert could tell that his memories had been wiped, then there were two likely cases.

First, the spellcaster was weak.

Second, Albert had become stronger than the spellcaster.

Judging by the current situation, the second guess seemed to be more likely.

Albert was sure when he called that person ‘she’. Now I’m really curious about who exactly was the person who saved him from the lake.

“Who is ‘she’?”

“…I don’t know.”

“You don’t know her name, but you’ve met her. I wonder what happened to her, and what kind of person she is.”

After I asked, Albert remained silent for a moment. He seemed to be hesitating about his answer.

“…It was someone who resembles you.”

“Me?”

“I’m not projecting. But right now, I can’t deny that she resembles you when it comes to her personality and way of speaking.”

His eyes observed me.

It seemed like he’s worried that I’ve become concerned about this mystery woman. Perhaps because he said that she resembled me.

But how dare I do that?

If she never showed up in front of Albert before, wasn’t it possible that she wasn’t around anymore?

Perhaps it’s because Albert himself helped get rid of my insecurities, but.

“Don’t worry, I’m not jealous. I’m asking without malice when I say that I want to know more about her.”

He said I can ask him questions. If it’s like that, then I’d like to know more about him.

Everything about Albert—including the woman who saved him and how he endured and survived.

“I want to know more about you.”

I want to hear it from his own lips, not from others.

While listening to his story, I wish to know more about his true feelings and about who he was.

¹ remember that the ‘fledgling’ part in ‘dragon fledgling’ can sound like a curse word (especially if you just substitute word ‘dragon’ with ‘dog’), so whenever Albert says this, he sounds like he’s cursing out Blanc in Korean lmao