The Opposite Of Indifference

*Second past continues

Ann was surprised to see the king’s face for the first time in her life.

Frederick II defied her imagination. He was tall and well-built with a very handsome face. He was not the meek king who had been deprived of power by the nobles who virtually surrounded him at the Round Table, and who had been constantly harassed by assassination attempts for usurpation of the throne.

“Who’s this?” (King)

He, too, responded with interest to Ann’s surprise.

“Ann Belvard. The only child left to me by my husband, the Duke of Wind Whistle Rock, Your Majesty.”

“Yes, her eyes look like Jacob’s, don’t they?”

Frederick II smiled, and a somewhat dazzling halo erupted.

“Lady Ann.”

Moreover, he was gracious and polite to a child. Ann staggered like a drunken man as she was greeted by him.

“Her behavior resembles yours, Ambria.”

He called Ambria’s name too warmly.

“I wasn’t like that even when I was young, Your Majesty.”

Ambria, too, responded affectionately.

“There’s still some time before the tea party. I thought I would greet you first and we could take a walk and exchange our accumulated stories.”

Frederick II held out his arm.

“I would be honored.”

Ambria naturally put her hand on his arm.

For some reason, Ann felt like an uninvited guest and followed the two.

Fortunately, there were many places to turn her attention to. The Royal Forest boardwalk was diverse. Birds flew in the blue sky and squirrels ran among the dense trees.

“It will not be easy to govern a vast territory like Wind whistle Rock with a single woman…”

“Even so, it’s easier than remarrying and being another man’s wife.”

 The more the two adults’ conversation took an uninteresting turn, the more Ann looked in all directions.

“… Is Your Majesty still having trouble these days?”

“Well, I suppose the limits are clear when it’s my turn. Let us hope that Christopher will be able to do the same. He is a worthy heir to usher in a new era.”

It was then.

While Frederick II’s bitter laugh faded, Ann spotted a small shadow swaying ghostly among the large fir trees.

She was curious about its identity. Ann left the two adults on their walk down memory lane. She delved into the very dimly lit fir trees and immersed herself only in curiosity.

Finally, the king and her mother moved away. The surrounding area grew quiet. The shadow’s true identity was revealed.

It was a young boy. His hair, hanging down over his peach-colored cheeks, was black. But it was not as shaggy or light-colored as Ann’s. It was as black as the night sky and the texture was soft.

His eyes she met were blue. But they were still not as bright blue as Ann’s. They were mixed with gray like the paint on sable brush.

It was as if she was looking at a mirror with a distorted image because one corner was distorted. The person in front of her was so similar to her, yet so unlike her.

Perhaps that was why, for a moment, Ann thought an angel had descended.

“Clouds.” (Boy)

… Or rather, he was an angel until he opened his mouth.

“It looks like a puppy with hair pressed down while sleeping.” (Boy)

The clouds the boy vaguely pointed to were literally and truly clouds. It was a natural object that Ann had never once in her life granted any meaning to. Besides, they were just dogs drifting in the fluffy sky.

“What color is your hair?” (Boy)

The yellow hood on her head moved gently as Ann involuntarily turned her head to look at the sky along his fingers. Nonetheless, not a single strand of hair flowed down her neck.

Curiously, the boy showed interest in it.

“I’m not sure what color hair would suit your  face, though.” (Boy)

The boy asked again.

“You don’t happen to be blonde, do you?” (Boy)

Ann decided to ignore the trivial question. The boy was not an angel come down from heaven, but a lost fool. And fools were abundant enough in Wind whistle Rock.

The clouds drifted away. Losing her thinly veiled interest, Ann tried to turn around.

“Stop. Do not move in that direction.” The boy said. “The arrows will be flying soon.”

“…What?”

Ann furrowed her brow. But the boy, perhaps thinking it was faster to move than to explain, grabbed her arm and pulled her to him. Suddenly, he held her in his embrace.

Frankly, she wasn’t comfortable with it. The boy was similar in height to Ann. Because he was strong unlike kids her age who were as skinny as firewood.

However, that embrace was enough to block an arrow that really flew their way.

Perhaps thanks to the boy taking a giant step backwards with Ann in his arms, the arrow pierced the trunk of the fir tree. Instead of piercing Ann’s head. Fortunately, it was a good thing.

But Ann thought it was strange.

The arrow had been flying straight, but at the last moment, it seemed to stagger and break off its trajectory unnaturally. It was as if it had hit something invisible and bounced off.

“It was close.”

The boy smiled at Ann, who was more puzzled than scared.

“Stop it for today, Jadalin!”

Then he raised his voice through the gloomy fir trees.

“It’s the day guests come!”

There was no response back in the desolate forest. Still, the boy nodded as if satisfied that his meaning was understood.

“…Somehow you do everything I ask.”

Ann felt like she had been struck by the thunder of chaos, though she wasn’t sure if the other party would agree or not.

“You’re the one who does what you do!”

Ann raised her voice. The boy was troublesome, but still not to the extent that she wanted to get rid of him. She stopped short of giving the boy a shove.

“My name is Freddie. I am ten years old. My favorite food is pudding. My hobby is feeding other people bad food and watching them eat it. My dislike is hunting. My skill is to call the animals to me with my whistling.”

Unexpectedly, the boy recited a poem about himself that he wasn’t even asked.

“Oh, the clouds have changed —— from the shape of a puppy to that of an apple that has been eaten and vomited.”

“Where did you see that?”

Ann, in the loose air, couldn’t help but grumbled.

“The other side is the top of the apple because it’s pointed, and this side is the peel…”

Either way, the boy eagerly pointed to the clouds.

“But don’t most ladies say thank you when you receive grace?”

The boring explanation quickly turned into a thorny scolding.

“What grace?”

“I saved your life.” The boy shrugged. “I don’t like it. If you’re a lady, you should say thank you.”

Ann turned up her nose. “All right. Thank you.”

The boy said with a dim expression. “But I’m a man, what about the ladies?”

Ann stopped the conversation altogether, which was increasingly not worth listening to.

“Wait a minute, but wasn’t it an arrow aimed at you from the start and I was just passing by and got caught in the unlucky trap?” (M)

“I think you’re right.”

“Why would anyone want to kill you?” (M)

“A fearsome princess.” The boy hummed. “A princess as beautiful as a rose, but full of thorns.”

“Why a princess?”

Ann gradually lost patience.

“Once upon a time, there was a princess with reddish blonde hair.”

Even though Ann decided she would kill the boy if he blamed the invisible princess and talked about roses and blonde hair, she held back and listened for the time being.

“The princess was wise and had a big dream. But her mother abandoned her and she married a foreign prince. The princess was disappointed. The prince who married her was a silly child whom everyone called ‘Christopher’s horse head’. And he was much younger and dumber than the princess. So the princess decides to kill her husband.”

The boy said dreamily.

“Because she hoped that if her husband died, she would become a widow, and if she became a widow, she would return to her homeland. So the princess pretended to be a mistake yesterday and pushed the prince into the river to drown him, and today she shot an arrow at the prince who was alone in the forest.”

At that moment, a cold smile appeared on the boy’s face.

“Poor princess. She had no choice but to marry a prince who is not Christopher, the heir, not knowing that it was her mother’s intention to abandon her daughter forever.”

He had an emotion completely different with the innocent expression and tone of voice he had used so far.

“Foolish princess. And even if she becomes a widow who has lost even her little crown, her mother may not even look at her.”

The boy continued to murmur.

“But the princess will understand eventually. And she will fall into despair and apathy and cease all attempts, even pointless ones.”

Suddenly he smiled at Ann. “The prince decided to be patient until his time came.”

At the end of the fairy tale, which was not even interesting, Ann took a deep breath.

“Are you saying you’re the prince?”

Frederick II had two sons. The first son was the valiant Christopher, a prince who had already clashed with the leading nobles to make his presence known. And the second son, she was told, was Frederick, who had inherited the king’s name.

“No, don’t answer that.” Ann quickly corrected her words. “I met you without knowing who you were, and I’ll leave you alone. Then I won’t be doing you any disrespect.”

The boy didn’t even look offended.

“You’re really unladylike.” Frederick looked a little surprised. “You don’t even hesitate to be rude.”

 “Yes, I’m not ladylike at all, so you should apologize to the ladies instead.”

“Ok. Sorry.”

Again, Frederick responded honestly to the frivolous request.

“But after all, I’m a man, I can’t even take the place of a lady….”

“Did you really almost die when you fell into the river?”

Ann cut him off again with a wave of her hand.

“You mean yesterday?”

Frederick asked back, as if they were talking about someone else, even though he just told her his story.

“No, I’m a good swimmer.” He was pensive for a moment. “She’s been wasting her energy all day… but I got a little mad when she mixed some kind of medicine in my pudding. Isn’t it despicable to play tricks on food?”

“I agree.”

Ann, more than anyone else, a believer in the sanctity of food, nodded enthusiastically.

But that didn’t matter at the moment. She lowered her voice and continued her question.

“… how did you feel?”

“It was unpleasant the first try. But the Princess was frustrated that she was going to make real effort next time.”

“No, how did you feel like you were going to die?”

Ann made a strong impression on a part of Frederick that he had never expected.