Chapter 134: Done Enough
"Princess Soleia, why are you sleeping here?" Ralph asked worriedly as he shook Soleia’s shoulder gently.
Soleia groaned into her hands at the rude wakeup call, before she realized she had a painful crick in her neck from sleeping awkwardly on the couch. "Ouch, my neck..." She complained, rubbing it carefully.
"Princess?" Sir Ralph prompted, and Soleia realized that in addition to concern, she could detect the faintest upset in his eyes. She could only blink in surprise.
"Has something happened?"
"You should be the one answering that question," Sir Ralph said, crossing his arms. "Why are you not sleeping on your bed? Why was your door open?"
"I must have fallen asleep. I was going to the infirmary, but then I got tired. Don’t look so worried― I felt a lot better after my nap!" Soleia said, hastily reassuring Sir Ralph, whose frown only grew more pronounced at her words.
Rafael was less than pleased to realize Soleia was napping on a random couch, unprotected. He walked right into her room since there was nothing stopping him.
"Princess, this is highly unsafe. What if someone else stumbled upon you and decided to take advantage of you?" Namely, his two untrustworthy older brothers― but he wouldn’t put it past any foreign royalty to not take advantage of Soleia while she was defenseless.
"That is highly unlikely..." Soleia said weakly, but she saw the wisdom in Sir Ralph’s words. The castle is now full of foreign visitors, and Sir Ralph was probably tearing his head out trying to keep her safe. "You’re right, it was careless of me. It won’t happen again."