章節 20: Chapter 20: promises

Blair and Sebastian were outside the castle, riding their horses, roaming the street that led to Sebastian's house.

A while ago, seb had interrupted Blair's conversation with her bodyguard and the latter had been angry about it.

Though, she remained calm. She yearned to rush back into her room and continue discussing with him. Like she had said earlier to herself, every moment with him was a euphoria.

Momentarily, Seb cleared his throat and began to speak with the princess, "I wish you can attend my grandfather's birthday. It's coming up next week"

The princess glanced at him, "Really? I didn't know that it would be this soon"

"Hmm. So you coming?" He probed further.

"I'll try" She responded with a smile.

"Thanks, Blair" He commented, swerving his horse to her side.

He leaned closer to her and opted to plant a kiss on her lips like he always did whenever they parted, but surprisingly, she shifted her face. As if, not liking the fact that he was so close to her.

Seb got confused about it and he didn't bother covering it up, "Why?" Inquired seb, his tone was sad.

"Nothing" Blair shook her head, too, she had no idea what was wrong with her since she laid eyes on her bodyguard.

She would do anything to be around him and refrain from doing anything he didn't like.

Seb clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Obviously, something's not right with you. Is it because of him? Did he turn you this way?

He shrieked in distaste, earning the displeasure of the princess as she glared at him.

"As I've said earlier, there's nothing wrong with me" She spoke through gritted teeth.

Noting that there was nothing left to discuss, "I'll see you at the event" She relayed and swiveled on her horse, heading back for the castle.

Arghh! Seb shrieked inwardly, pulled out his tongue to wet his dry lips and ran his fingers across his hair at the same time. He was pissed. So badly, that he could run mad.

All because of her!

"Hopefully you're telling the truth, Blair. I hope it's nothing" he muttered while watching the princess's hair and her dress flowing in the wind.

***

Blair rushed into her room the moment she arrived at the castle. There she saw her bodyguard sitting on the edge of his bed. His elbows leaned against his knees and his head bowed.

Seemed like he was onto something.

"You're back" He whispered, without taking the trouble to lift his eyes to meet her.

"Yeah" The princess nodded as she went to stand in front of him. He still hasn't lifted his head to look at her, so she sat on the floor in front of him.

This was an outrageous behavior that the royals were never supposed to do in front of their servants but Blair didn't care.

"You seem to have a lot of thoughts, do you mind sharing them with me?" she asked, tilting her head to take a better view of him.

"No" came his blunt response.

Blair sighed, she needed to stop anticipating a good word from this man. All that came out of his mouth were coarse words to her, and she had never been spoken to that way before.

Though he was rude to her, Blair never felt anything aggravating about it.

Instead, she liked that he talked to her.

"About our discussion, do you promise to protect me?"

Despite the fact that the princess had chosen him in front of the king and he had accepted her request. She needed to think about her bodyguard as well, he was also a being with feelings. And she didn't want to neglect her feelings, she needed to make sure he was satisfied with the job he was assigned.

Zephyr lazily raised his head to look at her, his gray eyes staring into her green ones. "And what do I get for doing that, princess?"

His words rolled into her ears smoothly like honey. She doubted that anyone had ever referred to her so beautiful like that, she could even feel her heart thumping in her chest. Yes! It was that sweet to hear.

She longed to hear it again from him, "W-what did you call me?" she faltered.

"I won't be using that title again" Zephyr noted.

"I asked what I would be getting, I don't involve myself in something that doesn't benefit me" He spat.

"Tell me what you want from me?"

Silence reigned in the room for a while as the princess watched Zephyr contemplating what to ask from her. Her gaze was concentrated on his pink lips and she wondered when it was going to part open to say something.

Zephyr stood up from the chair, he gracefully walked around the room. He went to stand by the window and placed his hands on the rails. His gray eyes looked beyond the horizon.

Blair's lips went wide with surprise, she wasn't joking when she thought his manners were royal. Now, she was curious to know where he came from.

"I opened my eyes to find myself lying in the forest, I don't know how and when I got there" He turned around to face the princess that was paying rapt attention to him. Her expression was urging him to continue.

Zephyr continued anyway, "I don't know who I am and where I came from"

'Oh' the princess's lips parted in surprise, she didn't know that his case was quite serious. When he told her that he didn't know his name, she guessed that he was lying or concealing it from her due to some personal reasons.

But now that he opened up to her, she figured he wasn't lying.

"Then... You want me to find out?" Blair asked the apparent utterance he was going to enunciate.

A subtle annoyance flashed across his eyes as he examined her. That was what he wanted, nevertheless, so why was he getting annoyed?.

Was it because she found out before he could give her a heads-up?

"Yes. Your man seems to have a lot of connections, if you can get him to assist you with the process, I should be figuring out about myself in no time"

"Man? You're talking about seb?" that was the only thing that registered in her tiny brain out of all that he spat.

"Who else?"

"W..wait, you don't understand, i-" she wanted to clarify, even though she didn't understand the reason why she felt the urge to.

"Are you interested or not?" he cut her statement short.

Gulping, "I promise to help you out as long as you remain by my side"

Zephyr's lips curled up and he took a long stride toward her. He could sense that she was holding her breath because of the slight distance between them.

Not sure what he was doing also, he leaned closer to her, since he was taller and whispered in her ear. "I don't break my promise"

Blair blushed.

He leaned back to hear the princess's words. Fortunately for her, she had no difficulty breathing out. "What if you do?"

His eyebrow shot up, "Then, be free to demand anything from me" He spontaneously replied to her inquiry.

"Your little maid is here" Zephyr informed her, his feet padded across the room to the side of his bed and he lay on it. Shortly, the maid knocked on the door, she was ushered to get in by Blair.

Helen invited the princess to dinner.