Chapter 144: Pretty But Useless?
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When Shien and Vivian entered the room and came before the princess, the scene that welcomed the two of them was so moving that the two of them lost all capacity for words.
At that moment, the princess was sitting by the window and looking out toward the lake. She had a brush in her hand and a canvas before her, upon which she painted as she glanced out the window.
Yes, the princess was painting.
And it was very beautiful indeed.
Only, what’s beautiful didn’t refer to the painting, but the scene of the princess’s profile as she looked out the window, bathed in light.
A breeze blew in from the outside, disturbing the curtains as well as making the princess’s long hair wave in the breeze.
That scene truly was beautiful.
Especially when the sunlight shined down on the princess. It was like adding a shower of gold upon her snow white hair. It was unimaginably pretty.
Thus, it was not just Shien. Even Vivian lost the capacity for speech as she watched. It was like they’ve forgotten to breathe, or that they were afraid that their breathing might disrupt this beautiful scene. Thus, the entire room fell into a comfortable serenity.
The two of them didn’t even notice when the female knight that lead them in had left.
The two didn’t even know just how long it that serenity lasted before it was disturbed.
By the time the two of them came back to themselves, the princess had already at some point placed down the brush and looked toward them.
Those eyes were like the world’s most charming red wine. They were a very dazzling scarlet.
“Long time no see, Vivian.”
The princess broke the silence.
However, not only did it not ruin the atmosphere, it instead made one feel even more comfortable.
That charming voice was something that Shien had only heard from one other person before.
And that was Nien.
(This princess wouldn’t happen to actually be a goddess, right?)
Shien was a little suspicious.
However, that suspicion was unreasonable.
At the very least, Shien could feel the same atmosphere from her that all humans had and not the phantasmal aura that Nien did.
At this point, Vivian stepped forward and took a knee before the princess.
“I have been remiss. My apologies, your highness.”
Vivian gave an extremely respectful and formal greeting.
This was the first time that Shien had seen Vivian act so formally.
In the past, no matter how highly ranked the noble before her was, Vivian would only nod politely. She had never acted so respectfully and sincerely like this before.
However, her actions instead lead the princess to shake her head.
“I’ve said it before. Unless it’s in a formal occasion, there’s no need to act so formally to me.” The princess spoke, “Plus, it’s fine for you to just call me Lucy. There’s no need to call me ‘your highness’ outside of formal occasions.”
In response, Vivian instead also shook her head.
“That would be far too impolite of me.” Vivian spoke very seriously, “Being overly casual toward the descendant of the Hero who saved this world and defeated the Demon king is akin to disrespect to the Hero himself. Therefore, please forgive me for my inability to do as you asked.”
“Really, so serious.”
The princess – Lucy – showed a resigned smile.
However, that resigned smile was also beautiful and moving. So much so that Shien was on the verge of cheering from the side.
If it was in the past, there’s no way that Shien would have believed that someone so beautiful could have existed in the world.
No matter what kind of expression she made. No matter what kind of actions she was taking. Everything she did gave one an impression of absolute beauty. A woman like that probably couldn’t even appear in one’s dreams, right?
Be it Nien or Lucy, both of them were what Shien would all a 360 degree, zero blind spot, beauty.
That degree of beauty could perhaps count as unrealistic feeling.
However, rather than the princess who was so beautiful that it was suffocating, Shien’s eyes would instead keep glancing toward a certain corner of the room.
There, the Holy Sword that Shien previously saw hanging on the princess’s waist was silently leaned against the wall. It looked like an absolutely normal weapon, not at all like a divine weapon out of legend.
When he compared it to the Holy Sword still wrapped up and hung over his shoulder, Shien started grumbling in his mind again.
Why was his Holy Sword brilliant beyond measure while someone else’s Holy Sword looked so normal? Is this some kind of insinuation that his Holy Sword looked pretty but is actually useless?
But my Holy Sword could seriously part the skies if it got serious. If this counted as useless, what would something actually useful look like?
Unknowing of Shien’s thoughts, Lucy and Vivian made some polite small talk like your average neighbors. After a bit, they even basically forgot all about Shien.
It must be said, Lucy’s presence really is far above average. Even Vivian ended up getting dragged along and caught up in her pace, and she ended up completely forgetting about Shien over at the side.
Rather, it was Lucy who had her attention caught by Shien’s existence from the very start.
It couldn’t be helped.
Lucy knew full well how special she was.
Previously, any man who had seen her would end up with their gaze solidly fixed upon her, unable to move an inch away.
Shien was like that too. When he just came in, he was indeed completely caught by Lucy’s figure. He didn’t even notice the passing of time, which just shows how powerful Lucy’s charm was.
However, since just a moment ago, Lucy stopped existing in Shien’s eyes. Instead, he kept on staring at the corner of the room without shifting his gaze at all.
That was unquestionably outside of Lucy’s expectations, so it naturally drew her attention.
Thus, Lucy started seriously analyzing Shien.
With this analysis, Lucy’s eyes suddenly shook for a moment, and her gaze were similarly unable to move away Shien’s figure.
No. More accurately speaking, it should instead be said that her eyes couldn’t move away fro Shien’s shoulder.
A long bundle was hung over Shien’s shoulder. There wasn’t anything unusual about it on the surface, but Lucy had already felt it.
She felt a familiar magic power.
That is…
“Vivian.” Lucy finally stopped exchanging small talk with Vivian as she withdrew her gaze. She turned to Vivian and asked, “This is…”
Lucy’s words finally brought Vivian back to herself, and she remembered Shien’s existence.
Then, Vivian couldn’t help but be somewhat embarrassed. She looked at Shien with a bit of shame and quickly got serious again.
“Your highness should have already read the letter that I sent, right?” Vivian so spoke.
“Hn.” Lucy nodded, “You said that there’s something important that you needed to discuss with me, right?”
“Yes.” Vivian gazed at Lucy and spoke, “Before that, I need to introduce him to your highness.”
“This is Shien.” Vivian so introduced Shien.
“Shien.” Lucy repeated that name.