East’s eyebrows moved up curiously. He had seen the peacock painting, so he was not sure how she would paint him. Nevertheless, he nodded. His father had told him to make friends with her if he could. If she was unfriendly, he did not have to force it.
As he sat motionless, watching her silently, he wondered why she had not comnted on his looks or looked at him inappropriately. Was she blind to his beauty or did she simply not care? He was relieved but he was also feeling out of sorts.
Was he suddenly unattractive?
The more he thought about it, the more insecure he felt. He was at a loss on how to act around her, not just because she was a crown princess and she was gorgeous but because he had never been around a woman outside his mother and sisters that treated him as if he was air.
"I have nice eyes." he blurted out.
Confusion visited Sigrid’s green eyes, she raised her head and looked at him. "Is that your way of telling that you want to paint them clearly?"
East was lost all the more.
"My jawline is very sharp." He said.
Sigrid nodded. "I noticed. It is just like your father’s, I bet he was very good looking in his pri. I would imagine that he had quite the number of female admirers."
East stood up suddenly, glaring at Sigrid as if she had insulted him. "You...you....do you like my father?"
"Huh!" Sigrid drawled out the surprise. "Which of my words say that I like your father?"
She decided there and then that he was a bit of a fool. No wonder the system had said that he was as innocent as they ca. It was a little adorable but mostly funny. "A person can complint you on your looks without harboring other intentions. Your father is a good looking man, that is undeniable. It does not an that I am planning to beco his mistress or start plotting against your mother in order to beco you step mother."
His upper body inclined downwards, "I apologize, your highness. I have experienced so things that have left wary of almost every word that cos out of a woman’s mouth."
Sigrid looked at his face and she scoffed. "Let guess, because of your face, you have encountered many won that see nothing in you but your beauty."
He nodded as he took a seat again. East touched his face and smiled sadly. "When I was younger, other boys were often cruel. It did not matter how powerful my father and brothers were, the boys called a girl. I worked hard to look as masculine as I do now but it resulted in their jealousy as won started to fawn over . What they don’t know is that the fawning can be disgusting in unexpected ways. I guess you can say that there is no winning for ."
Sigrid gave up on painting and she put down the brush. "You are wrong, you already won by having good looks. Nobody in the world wants to be ugly, trust on that. If it was the case, won’s make up, clothes and jewelry would not be the biggest business in our empire’s after food.
Think about this way, because you look good, your children will look good. Your entire lineage will benefit from you. If I were to be born as your daughter, I would be very grateful."
East laughed. For a reason unknown, he found her words both funny and comforting.
Sigrid pointed at the peacock enclosure, "Lord Fluffington is the best example we have. He knows that his beauty is his advantage so he does whatever it takes to remain the most beautiful creature around. It is not a sin or a cri to be beautiful. Other people’s jealousy and envy is no reason for you to hate yourself."
East was surprised, the rumored cold princess was not as hard to talk to as people assud. Perhaps, her rumored ruthless reputation was just like his baseless rake reputation. Empty air. "Do you always give advice to strangers?"
"Only the pretty ones." She answered.
His face stiffened up quickly. His mind quickly drew the conclusion that he had misjudged her.
Sigrid threw her head back and laughed lightly. "My goodness, you are so easy to tease! Can’t you tell from the humor in my voice that I am making a joke?"
East relaxed. "I have never truly had a conversation at great length with a lady that was not related to . It may sound stupid to you because I am five and twenty but..."
"It is not stupid." She jumped in and put an end to his self bla. "Before I married, I never had a conversation with any man at great length with the exception of my male relatives."
"That cannot be right. I have seen ladies and gentlen take walks, go on dates in parks and spend one to two hours in the company of each other. All supervised of course but they talk at great length during courtship."
Sigrid shook her head. "There was no courtship between my husband and I. We were married by a royal decree."
"Permit to say sothing that is not my business." He requested.
She nodded.
He touched his pocket and revealed a brown wand, shaking it gently twice before putting it back in his pocket. "I am mage, and I have a little familiar that loves to eavesdrop on the conversations of others. He ntioned your divorce to ."
Sigrid’s face changed, becoming cold.
East noticed the frigidness and he started to see where her reputation as a cold woman had co from. "I can assure you that he ans no harm, he is just a little spider that likes to weave webs everywhere. I should apologize to your family before Arachthys starts making your lives a nightmare of webs.
Anyway, I do not understand why you are having troubles with the crown prince but my mother encourages all her sons to court the won they marry. She thinks that a lack of courtship makes it hard to begin a marriage on the basis of friendship and understanding. Instead, you marry for need or convenience. Per her observation, half of such marriages end in misery.
Maybe that is where your troubles stem from. You never got the chance to understand each other."
"Your mother has a good head on her shoulders. n do tend to value the won they sought out to marry actively rather that the ones forced on them." Sigrid answered. "That said, I have no plans to discuss my marriage with you Mister Ridley. And I hope that you will be keeping what you have heard to yourself. I have no plans to divorce my husband just yet, I am simply thinking through so things."
East Ridley nodded. "Of course, I will keep it to myself. You have given so advice and we have shared our troubles. Can I take this a sign that we are friends?"
Sigrid nearly whistled. "Friendship between a crown princess of Eldoria and a possible next prince of doris. We are enemy empires, I know so people that would faint if they heard about this."
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