"There we go." Sophie grinned at her children and jogged with them across the valley. "I'm also not that bad to be around, right?"
Luciel and Jan happily panted and chased after her.
The two boys liked the Alpha, but they were also happy about spending time with their mother alone. Both Luciel and Jan thought their mother spent too much time with Leland and actually craved to spend more time with her.
Sophie eventually stopped at a field of flowers and smiled brightly as she fell back on them. "Ah, these flowers are lovely."
***
"What… is this feeling?" Nicholas held a hand on his chest and thought his palms were incredibly sweaty all of a sudden. Below the hill he was currently, there was a valley filled with flowers.
However, that was not what caught his eye at all. It was this person that he didn't even know.
Nicholas Hannenbergh did not believe in love at first sight. It was a ridiculous thing to imagine for a Crown Prince who knew that appearances could deceive you and first impressions could make you prejudiced.
However, when the young man looked over the hill and saw a beautiful woman resting in a bed of flowers and playing with two cute and adorable puppies… his heart leaped out of his chest.
He never felt anything like this before. If love at first sight was real... perhaps, it was something like this?
"Ahhh, I'm not dying am I?" Nicholas muttered to himself as his stallion snorted at him. "Yes, I've seen women before this. I'm not a hermit or anything so why am I… like this right now?"
Nicholas felt his throat become dry and his head started to spin at the sight of her. Every little thing seemed to scream at him and he couldn't turn his head away from her.
His stallion neighed a little but he quieted down the noisy creature as he watched the woman below him. The crown prince knew it was rude to watch a woman from afar, he felt terrible in doing so, but he couldn't take his eyes away from her at all.
"Who is she?" he whispered to himself.
Nicholas didn't think he was the type to be moved by appearances because he never batted an eye at princesses from neighboring kingdoms, daughters of dukes, and other important noblewomen… but this woman was different.
She had an effect that was like none other than him and his heart was moved. Where did she come from? Where did she live? Thousands of questions ran through his head and he started to descend down the hill.
"The best way to know is by speaking with her," Nicholas said to himself as he gathered the courage to go down and meet with this incredible and intriguing woman.
As far as Nicholas was concerned, he could see that the woman lying down with the black and grey puppies was someone bound to be free-spirited, exciting, and would be like a breath of fresh air.
"Drats. What should I say? I saw you and so I went down to say hi?" Nicholas muttered to himself and paused for a moment. He looked at his stallion and asked. "Do I introduce myself as the Crown Prince or will that scare her off?"
He thought he heard her laugh and refer to the puppies as her babies and just the sound of it made Nicholas' knees go weak. He was flustered beyond relief and his heart ached so much.
Did she hear him?
No.
She was laughing at one of the babies who spat out some flower petals.
Cute.
However, this wasn't bringing him anywhere closer to her, was it? All he needed to do was go down out of the hill and meet with the woman so why was he frantic and nervous?
"What is wrong with you, Nicholas?" he asked himself. "You're just going to talk with her. No need to get anxious or hesitate at all, there's no need to drag this any further."
He said that but still did the complete opposite.
"Ah, she's really beautiful. Is she the daughter of some local baron here? A faerie?" Nicholas muttered to himself.
He took the opportunity to admire the strange woman for another moment and savored the sight of her unperturbed and undisturbed. She was the most beautiful woman he had ever seen.
If he had met her before, he was sure he would never forget her. She had this unique ashen hair with streaks of pink. Her frame was a bit petite but she looked very healthy and happy.
Nicholas felt his heart pound faster and faster at the sight of her. For a moment, he was dumbfounded.
Once again, Nicholas found himself swayed by her presence alone despite not even saying a word just yet with her. Somehow it almost felt like he knew her but that was a ridiculous thing to imagine.
"I'm probably just associating a lot of things to her."
All of the women Nicholas encountered were dreadfully boring and preoccupied with a lot of notions of what it was supposed to be a 'proper woman' who fulfilled her duties and simply bothered their husbands with endless desires.
However, this woman resting in the valley looked at peace by simply resting underneath the rays of the sun. She looked content, happy, and everything that Nicholas longed and desired for himself.
"Okay, I'm finally going to do it." Nicholas prepared himself to go down but he was suddenly beaten to it by the sight of a dozen men on horseback. "Wait. Who are they?"
The crown prince finally realized where this woman had come from. There was another manor nearby the royal villa and it seemed the men had come from there.
For a moment, Nicholas was worried that they were bandits or thugs out to harass the woman. They all looked scary and ruthless. He was suddenly prepared to ride down the hill and rescue the woman.
However, contrary to his expectation, she didn't seem frightened when she saw the men coming near.
"Oh, they're her bodyguards," Nicholas muttered slowly to himself.
Once the crown prince spoke, one of the men on horseback slowly met his gaze. Nicholas blinked because he thought he had hidden himself well enough but he was wrong.
His presence was detected.
Did the wind carry his voice down below to these bodyguards?
Before Nicholas could even do anything, the woman and her two puppies were soon taken away without even giving him the chance to talk with her at all. The hope and happiness in his chest suddenly disappeared.
What replaced it was a sudden feeling of misery as Nicholas watched the woman be escorted away. He clenched his fist and gritted his teeth, but he couldn't look away from her even as she left.
"Why… Why does it feel like I've let someone special go?" Nicholas asked as he felt hot tears suddenly sting his eyes. The crown prince quickly rubbed his eyes and then turned away from the sight of the woman leaving.
Nicholas sped off back towards the royal villa.
The crown prince was completely unaware that this woman… Sophie actually had looked up at the hill. However, when she did it, Nicholas was already gone as well.
Updated from fr𝒆ewebnov𝒆l.(c)om