Tell Me To Regret, Don’t Tempt Me - Chapter 20
Chapter 20
“Vivi. Are you sure you’ll be okay going alone?”
“Of course!”
Vivian had been going to the palace a lot lately. She always went with her mother, Daisy, but today, Daisy had something urgent to attend to, so Vivian had to go alone. Unlike Daisy, who looked worried, Vivian couldn’t wait to go and was fidgeting with excitement.
Daisy was both relieved and anxious to see Vivian’s relationship with the crown prince improve. As Vivian’s visits became more frequent, Empress Annette subtly hinted at engagement matters to Daisy.
Not only the Empress, but the nobility had also started murmuring about a possible engagement between Vivian and Crown Prince Louis.
“Go on, Viv.”
“Yes, Mother!”
Vivian waved from inside the carriage. Daisy stood outside until the carriage departed and disappeared from sight.
“Tia, have you heard anything from Vivian?”
“What do you mean…?”
“Like what happened at the palace……. Even when we’re in the palace together, she’s either off to class or at the Crown Prince’s beck and call, so I don’t know.”
“Miss Vivian seems to be in good spirits lately, but there’s nothing particularly strange… Oh!”
Suddenly remembering something, Tia clapped her hands.
“Lately, she’s been drawing a lot of puppy pictures.”
“Puppies?”
“Yes. She often draws a white puppy and sings while she’s at it.”
With this unexpected information, Daisy sighed and glanced once more towards the road where the carriage had disappeared before returning inside the mansion.
***
“Aitor!”
“Vivian!”
As soon as Vivian entered, she headed with the knight who was waiting to guide her towards the Emperor’s Forest.
“Aitor! Where’s Zero?”
“Zero is now…”
Aitor turned around, looking at something in the distance. From there, a small white fluffball was rapidly approaching Vivian.
“Zero!”
“Woof!”
The white fluffball wagged its short tail vigorously and whimpered at Vivian’s feet.
“Do you want a hug?”
“Arf!”
Nodding its head, the little fluffball named Zero, a precious life left by Lily, was already growing heavier.
“It feels like he’s gotten heavier already.”
Vivian wrinkled her freckled nose.
“He eats so much, His Highness the Crown Prince would make fun of him for being a pig.”
“What a cute little pig.”
As if he understood Vivian’s words, Zero snuggled further into her arms.
“Louis said he’ll be a bit late today.”
“Okay.”
Vivian began walking through the forest with Zero in her arms. Following behind, Aitor recounted the events of the day, most of which revolved around Zero.
“Today, he even bit the veterinarian’s hand! If he had bitten a little harder, it might have made a hole.”
Zero had always been surrounded by people since birth, so his wariness of humans was lower compared to other Terias. However, his nature couldn’t be ignored.
Vivian and Louis were exceptions. Despite being unrelated to magic, except for Aitor, they were people Zero obeyed well.
Zero’s attitude towards Vivian and Louis was slightly, or rather, very different, which Louis didn’t appreciate.
“Zero, you can’t bite people, the vet only wants to make sure you’re growing up healthy!”
Scolding Zero with a stern expression, but Zero simply tilted his head and wagged his tail, unaware of his wrongdoing.
Seeing this, Aitor barely held back his laughter.
“We’re almost there!”
Aitor pointed to a small clearing not far from the cabin where no trees were planted. It was a place where the sun shone well and the ground was firm, ideal for Zero’s training these days.
Vivian put Zero down from her arms. As soon as she put him down, Zero whimpered, wanting to be held again.
“No, no. Zero. You’ve been sleeping all day.”
Aitor took something out of the bag on the tree stump. It was a duck-shaped toy. But this toy wasn’t just a toy; inside the duck was a magic stone. It was a training plaything to enhance Zero’s sensitivity to magic and his wild instincts.
Glancing at the duck toy Aitor put down, Zero pawed at the duck’s head.
Thud!
The fallen duck toy was ignored as Zero continued to wag his tail, looking at Vivian, and prompting Aitor to scratch his head.
“Who on earth does he resemble? Lily wasn’t like this.”
Vivian laughed, covering her mouth with her hand, at Aitor’s words.
“Aitor, weren’t you just like a nanny just now?”
Vivian’s nanny didn’t come with her to the capital due to a leg injury. When they were at the ducal domain, Vivian used to secretly hide books under the bed and read them late at night. Whenever caught by the nanny, she would always ask who Vivian resembled and take the book away.
When Vivian, who suddenly missed her nanny because of Aitor, made a face, Zero started whimpering at her feet.
“That rascal is definitely not a Teria.”
Louis had approached unnoticed and was now looking down at the whining Zero and the overturned duck toy.
“Greetings, Your Imperial Highness the Crown Prince.”
Upon Louis’s sudden appearance, Vivian and Aitor greeted him. By now, Aitor had become quite accustomed to greeting nobility.
“You, do you have any idea how much this costs?”
“Woof!”
Picking up the overturned duck toy, Louis shook it in front of Zero’s eyes. Zero then focused his shiny, gem-like eyes and began barking.
“Talking back to the nobility, how insolent.”
As Zero raised his paw in defiance, he lost his balance and fell over, exposing his belly. Though he quickly stood back up, his behavior seemed quite humiliating, and he began barking more fiercely, though his appearance was more cute than threatening.
Still not appeased, Zero went to Vivian and started wagging his tail.
This was Zero’s way of distinguishing between Vivian and Louis. He wouldn’t bare his teeth or attack like he did with the veterinarian, but he would simply ignore Louis.
If someone were listening, they might think Zero should be put to death, but Zero was simply ignoring Louis. When Louis nagged him, as he was doing now, Zero either responded to every word or pretended not to understand, looking elsewhere.
But to Vivian, he was like an angel.
Hugging Zero, Vivian held back a smile.
“It’s not talking back, it’s more like… giving an opinion?”
Upon Vivian’s words, Aitor barely managed to contain his laughter.
Watching Vivian holding Zero, while Aitor stood behind trying to hold back his laughter, Louis muttered.
“I’ll have to show my authority to them someday. This won’t do.”
But his voice was too soft, and no one heard Louis’s words.
After putting Zero down, and as if on a whim, he started playing with the duck toy. When he wasn’t interested, he pulled it around and chewed on it.
Suddenly, he threw it down and then took off running into the forest.
“Where are you going, Zero!”
Aitor started running after him as well. Seeing this, a startled Vivian jumped up and ran towards where Zero and Aitor had disappeared.
*Thud!*
A very distinct sound echoed through the forest. It was the sound of Vivian, who hadn’t run far, stumbling over a tree root and falling.
It hurt. And it was embarrassing. Too embarrassing.
Vivian fell flat on her face. Luckily, there was thick moss, so she didn’t get hurt badly, but the embarrassment kept her from getting up.
“Get up, you seem not to be badly hurt.”
Louis’s voice came from above her head.
“It hurts! It hurts, that’s why.”
Vivian slowly covered her face with her arms.
“Hmm… Should I call the physician then?”
“Oh, no!”
Vivian suddenly got up at Louis’s words. Her knees were a little sore, but there wasn’t any particular pain. Instead, her arms, stockings, and dress were covered in green moss stains.
Vivian began to wipe her arms and ruined dress with the handkerchief Tia had given her in the morning, but instead of getting clean, the green stain began to spread.
“Come over here.”
Watching this scene, Louis grabbed Vivian’s wrist and pulled her towards an old stump nearby.
“Louis!”
“Just stay still.”
Vivian was startled. It was because Louis had knelt down in front of her. It wasn’t appropriate for the Imperial Prince to do so. As Vivian tried to get up, Louis stopped her.
“I think it’s bleeding…”
Looking at Vivian’s knee, Louis untied the handkerchief around his neck.
“I’ll turn around for a moment so you can pull down your stockings.”
“S-stockings?”
“Yes.”
Louis said tersely and turned around.
Vivian doubted her ears.
Did the Crown Prince just say that? Did I hear it right?
Then Louis spoke again.
“Are you done?”
Vivian’s entire body flushed red at Louis’s words.
“I don’t need to take them off! It’s okay, it doesn’t hurt!”
As Louis turned back, he glanced at Vivian’s knee. Blood was oozing out, and the stocking was gradually turning red. Seeing the stocking, which had turned black as the green and red mixed together, Louis turned back again.
“You’d better take them off before I call the physician here.”
The red-faced Vivian turned ashen at Louis’s threat.
“Won’t it be more embarrassing if Aitor comes?”
Finally, Vivian slowly pulled up her skirt. Only then did she notice the stocking soaked in blood. As Vivian slowly took off the stocking, her face turned red again.
“It’s off.”
Only then did Louis turn around and examine Vivian’s knee.
“It’s bleeding more than I expected.”
Louis began carefully wiping the clean handkerchief over Vivian’s wound.
Vivian watched her own knee intently, but soon her gaze slowly wandered back to Louis’s focused, gentle movements as he cleaned the blood.
His jet-black hair still glistened today.
It would feel soft, wouldn’t it?
She wanted to touch it.
Unconsciously, her hand reached towards Louis’s hair. But Vivian startled herself and quickly pulled her hand back.
“Why? Does it hurt?”
Thinking Vivian had flinched because he had touched her wound, Louis looked up.
His golden eyes were close.
“Hiccup!”
Vivian started hiccupping as she met eyes with Louis.
How embarrassing.
Vivian wanted to flee this place, but with Louis holding her knee, she had to remain seated.
Her stomach churned, and her heartbeat quickened.
“Just bear with it a little. I’ll finish cleaning the wound and then we’ll go to the cabin. There should be some medicine there.”
“Okay. Hiccup!”
Vivian covered her mouth with her small hands, trying to suppress the persistent hiccups. Suppressing a chuckle at the sight, Louis finished cleaning the wound and stood up.
“You’re smart, but you’re not so good with your body.”
Looking at Vivian, whose face was redder than a burning fire, Louis extended his hand.
“Let’s go.”
Vivian looked at the hand he offered. As she stared at his hand, she thought that if she took it, she might not be able to return to how things were before.
But a pure desire to take his hand was welling up deep in her heart.
“Hurry and get up.”
Louis urged.
Vivian removed the hand covering her mouth. And slowly, she took Louis’s hand.
Grasping Louis’s hand, Vivian got up, following him with a limp, repeatedly clenching and unclenching the tingling hand.
And then, she realized what her feelings towards Louis truly were.