Author"s Note: This is my first story. ***
This Kingdom of Kersh was a peaceful country.
Its climate was warm, and the same applied to its relations with its neighboring countries which were also stable and friendly. Peace was maintained.
—all of those were thanks to the kingdom"s constant efforts.
The Royal Family was very attentive of their people"s needs.
The Knight Order excelled at its job.
Among the group was an eye catching, tall, black-haired man. He was walking down the hallway.
His dainty azure eyes bore such gentleness, they belied any trace of him being a fighter. Yet, his trained body which could be seen even through the outermost layer of his garments, proved the otherwise—
—this man was undoubtedly a warrior.
"As always, he"s sooo handsome~…"
"So true~…"
When I sighed dreamily along with my colleague, Riona, I earned a reproachful stare from Sylvie, whom was standing in front of me.
"Get back to work, both of you. Tina, you see here? The edge is still dusty."
"Uh-oh, you"re right, sorry!"
No good. How could I, a maid that worked in the royal palace, miss such a big thing?
In contrast to me, whom was sweeping hard, Riona puffed her cheeks.
"Ugh, Sylvie is too strict! We rarely get a chance to see the knights. If we stared a tad bit too long at them, it can"t be helped, right?"
"Still, we"re at work." In contrast to the knight she just saw earlier, Sylvie was a pale blond beauty. She was silent, thus, giving an unapproachable aura. However, beneath, she was unexpectedly frank.
"Besides—" Sylvie continued. "—I"m not a fan of muscle."
See?
I laughed at her aloofness.
"—riiight. After all, Sylvie"s eyes are already set upon a certain kind government officer. Her fiancé, Yale, is not only gentle, but also slender."
Due to being teased, although still expressionless, Sylvie"s cheeks reddened.
"I"m fine with talks concerning Yale-sama, but it"s another story when you stop cleaning because of it—enough talking and get cleaning!"
""Yeees."" Both Riona and I answered, dispirited, although still laughing.
Sylvie"s engagement with Yale was still new. She wasn"t upfront about it, but she sure was happy.
"I want to congratulate Sylvie, but at the same time, I"m worried for myself, y"know?" Riona, whom had changed out of her maid attire, said so, seemingly dejected.
Sylvie went to eat lunch with Yale. So, today"s lunch includes only me and Riona. Recently, this had become a routine.
It had been two years since I started working as a cleaning maid. I, along with Riona and Sylvie, applied in the same year.
But we were turning nineteen this year. Hence the talk about the engagement.
"Really? I don"t think there"s anything to worry about, though…"
The age of marriage in Kersh Kingdom was long. Fiancés were decided early for the n.o.bility, but if you were a commoner, you could get married in your late 20s.
Both I and Riona were already independent enough, but I didn"t feel the need to get married yet.
"Tina is too laidback! You"ll lose a nice man in no time!"
"Eh, you think so?"
"Yes-!! A lot of people have decided to get married recently-!! Be it from the government office; Yale, Porter, Travis—or even the knights—!! One by one, they"re dwindling—!!"
"Huh? That much? Why, so suddenly…"
"It"s probably because His Highness has announced his engagement."
Prince Stout of the Kersh Kingdom was 25 years old. Although it wasn"t strange for a crown prince to have a fiancé upon birth, the King and Queen"s respect for their son resulted in him being able to be engaged with a woman of his own choosing.
Thus—
—although Prince Stout ordered no such things, there seemed to be an unspoken rule amongst the va.s.sals to not advance their own engagements before their future king"s fiancée was decided. It was out of respect for their prince.
—as a result,
"After the Prince"s engagement was finally decided, everyone announced theirs one after another."
"Then, that means everyone actually is…"
"—yup! Taken! They just haven"t announce it yet, is all."
Tina realized that both her seniors—Louise and Aria, might be engaged with each other, too. She struggled to hold her smile. Her beautiful seniors didn"t seem to have any fiancés yet—Tina thought it was because they hadn"t decided yet, but at the same time, they seemed close.
"There was a big ball the other day, right?"
"Yeah, when we were struggling to sleep amidst the heat."
Last month"s ball, regardless of being aristocrats, royal servants, or merchants—everyone was invited.
Such a wonderful day, all three of them obtained a new, joyous memory.
"Turns out that ball was also a matchmaking party."
"Hoh?"
"It seems like everyone met their spouse there… even that single and popular Knight Leader. It seems that during the party, he found his crush."
This time, even me whom was said to be the most laidback out of us three, was struck by impatience.
"Haa…" Exhaling a big sigh, I went through the halls. Because it"s nighttime, the lights were scarce.
To go on a night shift after receiving such a huge blow this afternoon …how unlucky I am.
—However.
"I saw the Knight Leader today."
It was only a glimpse, and yet it filled my mind.
Black hair and sapphire eyes. Despite the solemn t.i.tle of "Knight Leader", his soft smile attracted the gazes of both men and women. Thanks to his calm and gentle figure, they weren"t intimidated of his stature.
"…of course someone like that has already found his partner, huh."
…It"s fine, but still…
In the first place, there was almost no chance for a maid to interact with a knight. Even if there was, she would be too afraid to do so—after all, he"s THE Knight Leader.
…Being able to stare at you from a distance is already good enough for me…
"Yosh."
There was no use in being depressed forever—let"s be positive!
After all, there might be encounters in unexpected places.
***T/N : Howdy! If you didn"t notice, this is from the same author as ‘The Day I Disappeared"! It looks quite interesting to me, since the genre is fluff, I soooo wanna know how fluffy can it get! The story itself is quite short, only 8 chapters (the amount of character per chapter, tho…). Expect me to update in parts!