22 XXI. Not such a beautiful horse anymore

For the rest of the ride around a selected part of the kingdom, Ærtle kept silent and waited patiently for the carriage to return to the main castle grounds. However, his silly smile remained intact and Nä-ræl secretly wondered how so while she also wished to slap the silly smile of his oh so handsome face.

Brushing the thought out of her mind and ignoring his presence, she imagined Rapha in his place, she would certainly not reject Rapha's offer to hold her hand if he tried doing as she loved the warmth that he gave her even though he had only held her once or twice maybe. She imagined him declaring his undying love for her but was sad at the thought that there was never going to be that sort of relationship between her and Rapha.

She secretly wished she was a mere servant so that she would have the freedom to be with Rapha and not bother about what her mother would say if she had one.