His timid reaction sent her interest in Aslan plummeting.

But she couldn’t back down easily with Ulfgar watching.

Riled up, Freya sat down beside Aslan without asking.

“How did you find the duel?”

“It was interesting.”

“What did you find interesting about it?”

“The fact that she took up a sword for the man she chose…..”

Aslan’s voice was pleasant to listen to. It wasn’t rough like a man who swallowed sea wind, and it wasn’t murky like a man who drank too much.

It lacked the edge of a man’s voice, but it felt warm, like a spring breeze that reached somewhere deep in the chest.

‘No wonder the maidservants came running.’

Freya looked Aslan over and gave a small snort.

“That was the part I liked least.”

“……?”

“Because I don’t understand why she held a Holmgang duel in the first place if she was going to choose a man who lost. You might not know, being from Ingrone, but Lindra is a fairly well-known shieldmaiden in Vaigon. A loser doesn’t suit her.”

A cool breeze blew and the canopy overhead fluttered. Yellow sunlight swept across his neat features.

His face looked even clearer in the sunlight.

“He must have known. That he was going to lose. Even so, maybe he wanted to show her how sincere he was…..”

Freya tilted her head. Wouldn’t losing just make it more embarrassing?

“The shieldmaiden must have stepped into the dueling ground after seeing that sincerity for herself.”

Aslan seemed to have done quite a lot of thinking from watching a single duel. She found it rather amusing, the way he laid out his thoughts to the end in that uncertain voice.

“You really did find the duel interesting. Going so far as to guess at what both of them were feeling inside.”

“……“

Embarrassed, Aslan lowered his head.

To think a grown man would shrink over something this small. His awkward, timid nature seemed pathetic. And somehow, a little endearing at the same time.

“Still, hearing your explanation, I think I understand a little better now. Lindra wasn’t looking at Sven’s swordsmanship. She wanted to see the courage and sincerity that wouldn’t bend even in defeat.”

Perhaps her agreement washed away his embarrassment.

Aslan, who bent his neck nearly to breaking with his bow, slowly raised his eyes.

“Oh…..”

Meeting Freya’s face for the first time, Aslan opened his mouth without realizing it.

Freya smiled with her eyes as she watched his throat bob in a hard swallow.

‘There it is.’

She thought his reaction was only natural.

Whatever he looked like, the way he acted was exactly like a man who never even held a woman’s hand.

He was almost certainly a v*rgin, true to Ingrone custom.

How beautiful must she look to the eyes of a v*rgin? Seducing him would be easier than breathing.

Freya tilted her head to one side. Her thick chestnut hair, full as a cloud, spilled over her shoulder.

“Is there something on my face?”

“Ah, I’m sorry.”

Aslan ducked his head in a fluster. In the short moment between, the tips of his ears burned bright red.

‘Hmm, didn’t he send all the maidservants away? Why is he this easy?’

A man who falls for a pretty face alone had no appeal.

‘So why do I want to tease him more?’

It wasn’t about tormenting him. It was about showing him something good. There wasn’t a man alive who disliked women.

Prince Aslan was just flustered and hesitant. He would enjoy it in the end, no doubt about it.

‘This might be the moment he wakes up to women. He’ll go back home and start chasing after every girl in sight.’

Before she knew it, she completely forgot why she approached Aslan in the first place.

She didn’t even notice Ulfgar glaring at her, his face red as a strangled man’s.

Her head was full of nothing but mischievous thoughts about how to coax the prince into having a little fun.

All things considered, watching a smooth and lustrous pearl was far more entertaining than staring at a rough chunk of rock.

***

Freya grabbed his wrist as he turned to leave.

Pretending not to see the startled look on Aslan’s face, she set off at her own pace. She planned to take him to a secret spot only she knew.

Was Freya about to cause trouble? The warriors tasked with keeping an eye on the hostage shook their heads from a distance.

Stopping Bjorn’s daughter was no easy thing, so they told the maidservants to keep watch over the two of them.

“Freya! Slow down!”

Knowing none of what was happening behind her, Freya picked up her pace to shake the maidservants off.

Before long, a grove of zelkova trees came into view. Freya stepped boldly into the forest and crouched down at the base of a trunk.

She tugged on Aslan’s arm as he stood there blankly. She pulled him down by the shoulder, urging him to hide before the maidservants spotted them.

When his head poked up above the bushes, Freya wrapped around Aslan like a mother hen brooding over her egg.

“Quiet. Stay still.”

Suddenly trapped in Freya’s arms, Aslan’s face blazed red.

She was already sweating from the effort of shaking off the maidservants, small beads forming at her brow.

The pounding of a heartbeat, a sweetly warm scent of sweat, a soft sensation. All of it came through vividly.

The two of them vanished without a trace, and the maidservants stamped their feet in front of the bushes before running off down the path.

“Freya!”

“It’s dangerous to go off on your own, Freya!”

Crouched and hiding, Freya pressed her palm over her mouth to hold back her laughter.

Freya released Aslan only after the maidservants disappeared.

“It was too crowded back there, wasn’t it? You must have felt stifled.”

She turned to look at Aslan, who was awkwardly resting one knee on the dirt.

Meeting her gaze, Aslan started to stammer like a fool.

“I, yes…… But, um, is this really all right……”

Aslan looked down at his own wrist and swallowed. His wrist was still in her grip.

“I don’t mind. Are you the one who’s uncomfortable, Prince? You’re not going to be mistaken for trying to escape, are you?”

“……“

“That was a joke. Don’t look so frightened. Haakon is treating you as a guest, so it’ll be fine. Haakon is a king with a big heart.”

Freya led him, still flushed, deeper into the zelkova grove.

It was a secluded path where no sign of people could be felt. Even so, she felt no particular worry.

‘If he were some hulking brute, I’d be on guard. But this feels like playing with a friend.’

It was probably because of his timid nature, unable to shake off a woman’s hand and just letting himself be dragged along.

What could a man this guileless possibly do to her?

Freya parted the branches like drawing back a curtain and invited him into her secret spot.

A small pond hidden beneath drooping branches appeared. It was a place visited more often by wild birds than by people.

Sunlight filtered through the leaves and glittered gold, and duckweed bobbed along the water’s edge. Crucian carp opened and closed their mouths beneath the surface.

“People don’t come here much. You can sit comfortably.”

Freya sat on a flat stone and gestured for him to join her. Aslan waved his hand awkwardly.

“……I think I’d better head back.”

“There’s nothing waiting for you back there.”

“I don’t want to invite unnecessary misunderstanding.”

Freya looked up at him and narrowed her eyes to a smile.

“I set this up specifically to invite misunderstanding.”

“……“

“I’m tired of being told to find a husband. I want to cause a little trouble.”

A gulp was audible. He started backing away, frightened.

“I don’t intend to……”

Is he actually trying to run away from me right now? Freya’s brow pinched together.

“Take one more step back and I’ll drag you over and throw you in the pond.”

The playful threat only made Aslan more guarded. Freya let out a frustrated sigh.

“That was a joke. I’m not going to eat you, so sit down next to me. If we head back soon, nothing will come of it.”

Aslan reluctantly sat down, keeping a wide gap between them.

Even then, he kept flinching like someone with burr seeds stuck to their backside.

Freya shot him a sideways glance and sighed again.

‘Good grief. There really are men who can’t take what’s being handed to them. The mood is this nice and everything.’