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As soon as Yvonne spoke, there was the sound of metal falling inside the store. There was no response, so Bianca thought they might not have heard her, as Bianca was about to tell Yvonne to announce her one more time, the entrance to the store shook and opened.
At the entrance of the store, Zachary, dressed in armor, looked at Bianca with puzzled eyes.
Bianca felt embarrassed because her eyes didn't look happy.
Zachary sighed and watched Bianca carefully.
"How did you get here?"
-How did I arrive? I just walked over here.
Bianca felt a little hurt by the lack of hospitality.
Of course, I expected to be welcomed. Much has changed during this time.
Bianca smiled and approached Zachary with easy steps, pretending to be as calm as possible.
Fortunately Zachary didn't send her back. When Zachary leaned over her head and raised the tent entrance to make it easier to enter, Bianca entered the tent with a small sigh of relief.
The feel of the cold armor brushing against his shoulder was unfamiliar.
Yvonne, who knew what Bianca intended to do, waited outside the store without going inside.
—Gaspard is not with you today…. Something happened?
"What could happen being so close to you?"
What could happen? Something very big. However, Bianca responded with as little expression as possible.
The shop servants looked at Bianca and tilted their heads in surprise. They were the ones helping Zachary put on the armor.
Bianca waved her hand at them slightly. It wasn't a story others shouldn't hear, but it wasn't a story I wanted to tell either. To be honest, she was a little embarrassed to do something that she had never done before.
When the servants left the store on Bianca's orders, only Zachary and Bianca remained in the store.
Zachary's appearance in armor was unfamiliar to her. When he came back from the war, he saw him from afar, but it was almost the first time he saw him up close. He must have seen it a few times when he was younger, but he couldn't remember.
The armor was made of iron down to the seams, so it should be quite heavy, but Zachary seemed familiar and comfortable. In fact, the current slope of the eyebrows was more stable than when he wore silk and velvet clothes.
His silver-gray hair fell naturally over his more gently curved eyebrows than usual. Her silver armor was polished to the point of shine, and over it she wore a black surcoat emblazoned with the House of Arno's coat of arms.
The knight from the legend looked like this, and his armored appearance was even holy.
As Bianca stared at Zachary, Zachary asked.
"Has anything happened so far?" Not in the stands.
“…I remembered something I forgot this morning.
Bianca, who had just come to her senses, answered slowly. Zachary, wondering what Bianca had forgotten, raised an eyebrow.
Bianca put her hand on his arms. The tips of the fingers holding her handkerchief trembled slightly. The conversation she had with Sauveur before they got here flashed through Bianca's mind.
— Sir Robert is worried that the lady might refuse the tournament roses.
'He cares about any nonsense. If you're so worried, wouldn't it be better not to give me the rose?
-OMG. If we don't give the rose to the lady, who would we give it to?
"Then you should worry about being rejected." If it's something you have to give anyway.
At the time, he made fun of Robert because he didn't seem to have faith in his actions, but now he seemed to know very well how Robert felt. Bianca felt a little sorry for him.
If Zachary is happy, he may not know it. She said that she was worried, but at first, she was reluctant to watch the tournament.
You might think that having a scarf, which you received from a lady, wrapped around your arm and going to a match was nothing but cumbersome and pointless.
Bianca's heart, deeply shocked by Zachary's reaction, was pounding. Her fingertips grew cold from the strain.
Please don't let him notice that he's shaking.
Bianca tried to be as calm as possible and straightened her expression. Still, she didn't have the courage to make eye contact with him, so she lowered her eyes slightly and avoided her gaze.
The handkerchief was in Bianca's hand for a long time. Bianca's heartbeat grew stronger and stronger. Sweat trickled down her cheeks and it was getting harder and harder to control her expression. She could feel her eyebrows starting to draw closer and closer. Many thoughts ran through Bianca's head.
“If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have come. Please take it. Say something…!"
Before the impatient Bianca cried out, Zachary's hand, which was covered in iron down to the fingers, slowly reached for the handkerchief. She took it so calmly that she thought the handkerchief had fallen from her hand.
When the scarf disappeared, Bianca was able to breathe. She now she's done. Whether Zachary's subsequent words were exclamations or criticism, it seemed she could take anything but this silent pressure.
But it was a mistake to feel relieved quickly.
Zachary, who was holding the white lace scarf, stood in a daze for a long time.
Zachary fiddled with his handkerchief in disbelief. The white lace scarf he held in his hand, which had grown duller with his gloves on, felt strange to her.
Zachary's silence lengthened. Bianca wondered what the hell she was thinking, but she still didn't have the courage to face it. She wishes Zachary would respond to something. In the end, Bianca couldn't take the strain and she added a little.
-I did it.
"Did you do it yourself?"
Zachary asked surprised. Startled, his voice grew louder and he took a step closer to Bianca. Bianca raised her head in surprise as the large armored body moved forward. For a moment, her eyes met. Bianca turned her head involuntarily. She released the tension that had been pressing down on her neck, but now she couldn't understand why her heart was beating so fast.
-Yes…. it is not a big thing.
-It is not a big thing? I really….
As if Zachary's throat was choking, his voice trailed off. As if something was blocking his throat, he couldn't speak easily.
After confirming that she didn't hate him, she could wait for his words more calmly than before, but the tingling in her fingertips was unbearable. As Bianca fidgeted awkwardly with the hem of her dress, Zachary, barely choking back the emotions in her throat, said.
-I'm really happy.
A deep joy was buried between his words. Zachary was so happy that Bianca felt embarrassed all over again.
He never thought he would like it so much. He felt fine, but he felt uncomfortable as if he was wearing clothes that didn't fit him.
Bianca added an excuse without realizing it.
“It really was nothing. It didn't require much skill, it was just knitted with white thread.
At that moment, Zachary knelt in front of Bianca.
Embarrassed by her unexpected behavior, Bianca remained unsettled. Until now, she had been looking at the ground, but when Zachary knelt down and looked at Bianca, her eyes met immediately. But deliberately avoiding her eyes would make it more awkward.
He had the illusion that the tent was swaying from side to side as his eyes rolled.
As Bianca rolled her feet, not knowing what to do, Zachary, who was holding the scarf to his chest, grabbed Bianca's fingertips with his other hand and pulled her gently.
The fabric that covered her hands slid down, revealing the back of Bianca's white hand. Her finger bones protruded from her skin as white as her milk.
Bianca thought it was unsightly and tried to pull her hand away, but she didn't even move because Zachary's grip, which she thought was lightly holding her, was stronger than expected.
Zachary whispered as he kissed the back of Bianca's hand.
"I swear on my family, I will dedicate my victory to you."
She could feel the movement of his lips on the back of her hand.
As if it had been captured by the
Gazing at Zachary, Bianca stared at him, unable to move.
The big shoulders, which always looked tall and broad, were under her gaze. He felt very strange looking down at Zachary, who he always looked up at.
It was awkward and unfamiliar, but he still felt a strange sense of accomplishment.
There was always a sense of exaltation on Zachary's cold face. It was surprising that he showed his emotions so openly without hiding them.
It was the most impressive reaction Bianca had ever seen from Zachary. Intense, different and totally misunderstood.
And maybe his expression wasn't so different from Zachary's.
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