Chapter 132: Katharina
Seated within an opulent carriage bound for a predetermined destination was a young lady with lustrous pink hair cascading down to her waist. Her figure possessed a sinful allure that belied her tender years—one of the very reasons the prince remained so utterly obsessed with her. Those azure orbs that were her eyes held an almost hypnotic quality, beautiful things that captured the attention of any man fortunate enough to behold them. Her fair, porcelain skin seemed to glow in the carriage’s dim interior, and she was dressed in formal noble attire that tastefully revealed glimpses of her smooth shoulders and elegant legs.
"..." In profound silence, she gazed through the window with practiced composure, drinking in the passing scenery with what appeared to be calm indifference. Yet beneath that serene exterior, her mind churned like a tempestuous sea.
Whoosh.
A cloaked figure materialized beside the moving carriage, matching its pace with unnaturally steady steps that barely disturbed the dust beneath.
"Speak," she commanded without sparing the mysterious figure so much as a glance, her voice carrying the weight of absolute authority.
"The tracker... it suddenly picked up his signature," the figure reported, and her mask of cold indifference cracked, her eyes widening in genuine shock.
’El,’ she thought, and suddenly those carefully suppressed feelings that she had locked away for what felt like an eternity returned with devastating force. Her heart hammered violently against her ribcage, each beat echoing in her ears as her breath caught in her throat. His face materialized in her mind’s eye with startling clarity, and she whirled toward the figure with desperate urgency.
"How? When? Why? Where is he now?!" The questions tumbled from her lips in rapid succession, her composed facade crumbling entirely. She had harbored these strange, inexplicable feelings for so terribly long—from that very first day when he had smiled at her, accompanying the prince to her duchy.
Initially, she had dismissed the flutter in her chest as mere novelty, attributing it to his striking appearance. But as time passed and circumstances granted her more precious opportunities to spend alone time with him—those occasions when the prince would send him in his stead to deliver gifts—she began to understand the true nature of her feelings. This had started during the period when the prince began paying her noticeably less attention, using these gifts as compensation for his increasingly infrequent visits.