WARM HAND, GENTLE AND RELIABLE

They continued walking side by side in silence. Elennora didn't know where to go, so he just quietly followed the Crown Prince's footsteps.

Neither of them uttered any words, but not the frozen atmosphere that enveloped them. The atmosphere around them was warm and lively, and they enjoyed how they felt at the moment.

It was because the people of Grinia were enjoying the feast that the King of Grinia was throwing. As they continued walking, they could see many foods stands surrounded by many people.

Those people enjoyed the food that their King sent to them, and they didn't even care if their stomachs would burst because they ate too much.

At that moment, Elennora realized something. Even though he was still embarrassed, he dared to glance at Levan who was walking beside him.

"Did you eat when we were still in the palace, Your Highness? You are our guest, and it would be rude of us to let you starve," the pink-haired Crown Princess asked a question despite hesitating.

He remembered seeing the Crown Prince at the party in the palace earlier, but he did not remember seeing the Crown Prince eating.

"Huh?" Crown Prince Levan turned to him with a confused look. "I haven't eaten anything, but I have good food in my hands now. You don't have to worry about me, Your Highness."

Levan waved the roasted frog in his hand while displaying a broad smile on his face, and Elennora frowned in disgust at the sight. "You really want to eat it?" He asked skeptically.

"Of course!" Levan answered without the slightest hesitation. "Back in Wrelloven, roasted frogs were my favorite dish. I wanted to see if Grinia's roasted frogs were any tastier than the ones we had in Wrelloven."

Once again, Elennora showed an expression full of disbelief upon hearing the Crown Prince's words. The roasted frog in Grinia was one of the cheapest meals. You could get two grilled frogs for just one copper coin, and that was very different from the roasted chicken which cost two gold coins if you wanted to taste the drumsticks.

With just that, Elennora knew that a roasted frog wasn't something a noble would eat. Not to mention that the taller man was Wrelloven's Crown Prince.

He would have thought that Levan was just playing around if he didn't see with his eyes how the Crown Prince used his teeth to tear the frog's flesh. He once again widened his brown eyes in disbelief.

The Crown Prince of Wrelloven actually ate the roasted frog as if he was eating roasted chicken.

Crown Princess Elennora continued to stare at him, and Levan noticed his gaze before he stopped chewing on the frog. "Wud yu lek tu test it, yu haies?"

The Crown Prince suddenly spoke a foreign language, and Crown Princess Elennora furrowed his brows. He had no idea that Wrelloven had such a unique language.

"What did you say, Your Highness?" The pink-haired Crown Princess asked in confusion.

Crown Prince Levan tilted his head while frowning slightly, but then he continued to chew the food in his mouth before swallowing it. He then repeated what he had just said, "Would you like to taste it, Your Highness?"

Now Elennora knew that what Levan had said was not Wrelloven's language, but it was the language of the frog in the Crown Prince's mouth. He felt disgusted when he took his eyes off the Crown Prince.

"No," he replied in a rather cold tone. "Frogs eat carelessly, even their habitat is not clean. I don't want to have a stomach ache."

Levan chuckled when he heard the Crown Princess' statement. "I've been eating roasted frogs since I was a kid, and I've never had a stomach ache―"

"I HAVE A STOMACH ACHE! MY STOMACH IS IN PAIN! PLEASE HELP ME!"

The Crown Prince of Wrelloven couldn't finish his speech because someone suddenly shouted for help. Both he and the Crown Princess turned in the direction of the voice, and all they could see was a large group of people standing in a circle, seemingly encircling someone within the crowd.

"Let's observe the situation, Your Highness," said Levan without looking at the Crown Princess. His forehead was furrowed, and he had a worried expression on his face.

Without waiting for Elennora's answer, he immediately started walking toward the crowd. Elennora had no other choice and immediately followed the Crown Prince.

But, the Crown Prince suddenly stopped walking in front of the Crown Princess. Turning his head towards the pink-haired Crown Princess, the taller man suddenly grabbed the thin hand, causing the owner of the hand to flinch slightly.

"No matter what happens, you can't do anything and can't leave my side. Do you understand, Your Highness?"

Elennora didn't understand why Levan suddenly showed a gloomy expression and gave him orders so sternly, but he still nodded his head because somehow, he felt safe under the protection of a taller man.

Smiling at the shorter figure, Levan then turned around again and tugged at the figure's hand gently.

The Crown Prince of Wrelloven could be awkward at times like when he ran around the palace and bumped into him, but at this moment, Elennora felt that the Crown Prince was gentle and reliable.

Elennora couldn't help but want to rely on the Crown Prince more, and subconsciously, he tightened the grip on their hands. The warmth of the hands managed to bring a small smile to his usually stoic face.

However, that smile didn't last long on his face because now they had arrived in the crowd. Levan managed to bring himself and Elennora to infiltrate the crowd until they finally reached the front row.

There, Elennora could see a middle-aged man lying on the ground clutching his stomach. Not long after, another man approached him to check on his condition. A few seconds later, the man screamed hysterically, "THIS IS FOOD POISONING! THE FOOD THE KING SENT IS POISONED! THE KING WANTS TO KILL HIS PEOPLE!"