As Vivid as Life

Roland had finished the entire books on the shelf. Without noticing the time, he found that it was already deep into the night. Even his sleepiness that had been chased away already returned.

Slowing moving from the chair, he yawned and walked back to his room and started desiring that lovely bed. For the day, he already did what could be done, or so it was supposed to be.

With his half-asleep eyes, he noted a silhouette of someone in front of his room. The hallway was still somewhat bright with oil lamps in place, but the area was nevertheless dim. It was only beginning to become clear as he approached.

It was neither Tyre nor any other maids, not the assistant minister Barov or even the chief knight Carter.

She was the witch who Roland had saved at noon.

It was not a nightgown she wore, but an identical set of maid dress that came for the maids in the castle.

"Can't she wait for her turn tomorrow?" Roland absentmindedly thought to himself.

Although he was very pleased with seeing her like that, he was feeling very sleepy.

Then again it was true that Anna got her freedom a day early.

Indeed things already not the same.

Trying to maintain a decent image of a prince, he suppressed his yawn and straightened his back, even secretly pinching his thigh to force himself awake.

"Good evening miss. What can I help you?" Roland greeted her.

Anna woke up in the middle of the night.

She was sleeping very, very soundly. The bed was the softest; it was almost too comfortable for her. The sheet kept her warm throughout the night, and there was a pillow not at all lose in the capability to comfort her tired body even when compared to the great bed.

But perhaps because she was not used to sleeping that early, perhaps because there was some noise, or perhaps she was curious with something that she eventually woke up.

She looked at the god's stone of retaliation that was hanging in the form of a necklace on her neck. Looking at it, she found it was hard to believe what happened.

This strange stone suppressed her ability that came as she became a witch. It can be said they were the trump card for defeating rampant witches.

Yet it was now hanging so simply on her.

Back when she was in prison, it was kept on her body in a way she can't pull it off. But this, this was the same as not giving her at all.

She remembered the words of the Prince that saved her.

"Please bear with it for now. We don't want you to trigger your power that you can't control yet accidentally."

He spoke so plainly that she felt perhaps what he said was common sense.

But what common sense besides antagonising witches and hanging them in the end?

His action...

Truly indescribable.

She walked to the balcony and found it was still long before dawn. Why was she sleeping so comfortably? Speaking of bed, she suddenly remembered the maids spoke that perhaps she was sought for her body.

Even if that was indeed the cause, it was still hard for her to believe. And even if she believed it, the fact that the prince didn't come.

Of course, it didn't mean if he didn't come now he couldn't just come the next day.

Anna fell into silence, her indifferent face masked what she might be thinking.

Her eyes wandered before she saw a bundle of clothes similar to what the maids were wearing in a basket next to the door. When was it placed there?

It didn't take long before she decisively wore it.

Perhaps, it was not him that was supposed to come to her.

Looking at the maid uniform that fit every part of her body, she felt for that reason the maids were groping her in the bath...

Opening the door, she looked at the unfamiliar hallway. How could she know his Highness chamber? Still, it didn't take long before she came up with an answer of her own.

She just needed to see the grandest room. Unless the prince was very humble, he would have the most prominent place for himself.

Walking into the dimmed hallway, she eventually walked to one she thought would be the correct place.

But when she faced the door, she froze.

She thought to herself, what exactly she was doing?

It was not as if she came specifically to offer her body, but then, can't she just waited till when the sun rose?

Even if she angered the prince, for her who was ready to die, why should she hesitate now?

She stood alone amid silence, yet she was not in peace.

In truth, Anna already knew the answer to all these questions herself.

While the world was unfair, and it worked in such terrible way that she suddenly became someone people feared and loathed, her father betrayed and sold her for money, there were still some good things left in this world.

For example, the kindness that the prince showed.

His smile was reassuring; his words were comforting.

For example, the delicious food she never tasted before.

It was a flavour for life to remember.

Why was she impatient? What was she even being anxious from?

Like the sudden reversal of her fate, Anna suddenly felt she didn't understand herself anymore.

Perhaps, since she had found the glimmer, a faint will to live inside her dying self, perhaps, what she needed was the courage to continue.

And for that, she had come to find the bearer of that light.

It was at that time when a gentle voice entered her ears.

"Good evening miss. What can I help you?"

"Your Highness," Anna answered back in surprise. She looked at the door and Roland who was beside her twice and didn't hide her confusion. "You..."

"I just came back from the drawing room." Roland smiled, holding back a laugh.

"Drawing room?" Anna was still somewhat muddled-headed.

"You can consider it my workplace," Roland answered patiently, but he was nevertheless very curious. "Why are you waiting in front of my room? Did you wait for long?"

Not to mention, wouldn't the guard caught her if she stood around like a suspicious person? On the one hand, it's good she was fine, but on the other hand, it's worrying that the night-shift guards didn't do their job properly.

"Ah, I just arrived here myself." Anna murmured.

For a moment, a strange silence fell.

Roland didn't know what she wanted, nor he expected his brain to work properly at the moment. He tried to make it clear, but before he managed to ask her a strange yet familiar sound resounded.

Between the two people, one person shrank her head while the other had his smile widen.

"Let's go." Roland snickered.

"Your Highness!?"

"My Lord, what are you doing here?"

Cries of surprise and inquiry flew around. At this late at night, the castle wouldn't be completely dead, but even those night crawlers would rather believe they saw ghosts than this figure.

The castle in Border Town was quite large, but not very big compared to others in more prominent places. Still, the kitchen was not only spacious, but it also held all the necessary tools and had separated space for ingredients.

Kitchens were sacred places for every household, and for places like the royal family and big-time nobles, it wouldn't be strange for there were people around all the time standing by.

In the kitchen, Roland was greeted by two night-shift guards and two servants who were taking a look and checking the quality of the ingredients for breakfast time.

In the era where people couldn't always reliably stored their food, some ingredients might go wrong all of a sudden or went outside one's expectation. One bad apple that appeared at night might spoil all others in the morning.

Food sanitation was a serious problem everywhere, but even with less advanced technology, it was not like they didn't have any understanding regarding it, especially for royal family members. To get poisoned from food would be a severe problem that even if it was just the fourth prince who everyone loved to mock, something went wrong and all the servants handling the kitchen might get implicated.

Roland had sobered up from walking all the way to the kitchen, and he quickly made sense of the situation. Along with them, he curiously looked at the ingredients, scaring the kitchen crews.

It can't be helped they were afraid since Roland had a pretty notorious reputation as a troublemaker. Even if it were known that he would at most only do petty things, tampering with food ingredients would be still a severe issue.

Of course, Roland wouldn't do that. He came for a reason, and it was to pick ingredients however he liked.

"Oh hey, is this wild boar meat?" Roland was like a child, smiling naughtily when he found some ingredients that interested him.

"Y, yes your Highness." Although all he had done was asking, Roland made the servants on edge.

At his side, a faint smile appeared on Anna's face.

The new storm identified as Roland didn't last long in the kitchen. After taking some ingredients and backup kitchen utensils, he went away with the confused Anna who helped him carry some things.

Neither he nor she spoke a single word as they walked down the corridor. Eventually, Roland looked to the side as his whisper reached Anna's ears.

"It's a bit early, but I guess we will go there."