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“Eh?” Anastasia looked at Everard in shock. She was so shocked that she forgot all her lady-like mannerisms.

Tilla was equally shocked to hear Prince Everard. She was contemplating whether she should leave the two of them alone or whether she should take her Princess away from such a bold and shameless man.

Everard also couldn’t believe himself. ‘Did I just dive into the question that was supposed to be the climax of our talk? What the hell is wrong with me?’

His ears had already turned red because of the embarrassment. But he still tried to play it cool and calmly asked again, “I’m sorry if I am overstepping, but I wanted to know if milady has some prior engagement with any suitors. Alex never tells me anything.”

Anastasia could feel her whole body heating up. Her cheeks and ears had already turned red. She looked down and stuttered, “I d-don’t have any.”

Everard suddenly felt a sense of relief after hearing that the Princess indeed was not seeing any suitors. He then thought of directly asking the Princess if she would like to give him a chance.

But before he could ask anything in a more embarrassing way, Prince Alexander saved both of them.

“Anna, what are you doing here?” Alexander asked from afar as soon as he saw Anastasia sitting beside Everard.

.....

Anastasia hastily got up from her seat and walked towards her brother. And she expressed her displeasure towards her brother for ignoring her ever since he came back. “Brother, you didn’t come to me, so I came to you.”

Alexander wanted to dismiss her, saying he would see her tomorrow. But he couldn’t even pretend to be rude to his sister. He knew how fragile his sister was, so he couldn’t think of hurting her even a little.

He lovingly gave her a hug and asked her, “I’m sorry for not visiting you. Eve doesn’t leave my side for a second. He’s such a pain.”

He didn’t fail to notice the expectant look in Anastasia’s eyes. So he gave a smile to his sister and asked, “Would you like to join us for lunch?”

“Can I?” Anastasia asked with excitement.

“Of course, you can,” Alexander then glanced at a maid-in-waiting and ordered her, “Prepare lunch for the three of us. And make sure to bring appropriate food for the Princess.”

“As you wish, Your Highness,” the maid gave a bow and left.

Everard had thought that Alexander would chase away his sweet sister, but unlike what he had thought, he invited her to join them.

“Did you finish that adventure novel that I sent you last winter?” Alexander asked his sister after settling down in the chair.

Anastasia’s face instantly lit up, and she happily replied, “Yes, I finished that within three days after you sent it to me. The story was really beautifully written. I felt as though I was the one who climbed those mountains and reached the peak.”

“I thought you would like it,” Alexander was visibly happy to know that he could at least do something to help brighten his sister’s boring life inside the four walls of the castle. “I will try to find some more good books for you.”

“I would love that.” Anastasia smiled and then said, “Now enough about me, brother. Tell me how your training went this time? And when’s your study going to end?”

Alexander looked sad instead of answering his sister.

So Everard answered in his stead, “It will take another year for us to complete our studies.”

“Still one more year...” Anastasia’s beaming face turned gloomy all of a sudden.

She looked at her brother and expressed her woes, “I don’t like it when you return back to Lavinya after spending merely a week or two here in the castle. And you don’t come back for another six or seven months.”

Alexander also wished to spend more time with his sister. However, he had to take the burden of the whole Kingdom one day. No matter how much he wanted to stay back, he had to complete his studies so as to become an adept ruler.

Everard was closely watching those two. He could clearly see that they longed for each other’s company. That made him guess that Alexander didn’t want his sister to get married because he hadn’t even had a chance to spend some proper time with her.

‘If that’s the case, then I can wait for 2-3 years before asking her hand in marriage. Or I will wait until my father hands over the Kingdom to me. I’m just 19 now. So there’s no need to hurry.’

Little did Everard know that the Princess didn’t have that many years left to live.

After having lunch together, though Alexander was giving a constant glare to Everard, he kept on putting efforts into making small talks with Anastasia.

He mostly talked about the places he and Alexander had traveled to together, the different races of people they had met, and also the literature and the art of those races.

He seemed to have hit right on the spot because the Princess began to open up to Everard as well. She genuinely seemed interested to see the world through Everard and her brother’s eyes. She couldn’t do that herself, no matter how much she wanted to.

After seeing how Anastasia enjoyed Everard’s company, Alexander stopped glaring at his friend. He couldn’t deny that Everard had the ability to charm everyone he met.

“Why don’t we go horse riding?” Everard glanced at the setting sun and suggested after talking for hours. “There’s a different kind of pleasure in riding a horse at dusk.”

Anastasia wrinkled her nose a little and politely denied, “I am afraid that I won’t be able to do so. I easily catch a cold.”

“Then...” Everard suddenly got a great idea, “How about I try my hand at painting? I would love to paint you.”

“How about we call it a day? Anna must be tired by sitting here all day,” Alexander tried to cut their interaction short.

“No, I’m not tired,” Anastasia replied with a smile. It wasn’t always that she got to have someone else accompany her than Tilla.

‘Just for today,’ Alexander thought to himself and arranged all the materials required for painting.

Everard was as good with brushes as he was with swords and pistols.

By the time it was nightfall, Alexander had painted two portraits of Anastasia. One to give to the Princess and one for himself.

“You’ve painted me to be more beautiful than I am,” Anastasia praised Everard’s painting skill after taking a look at the portrait.

Everard was beaming with happiness to get praise from the Princess. But he modestly said, “My painting looks beautiful because milady was kind enough to show her beauty.”

The next morning, after thanking the King and Queen for their hospitality and after thanking his friend for the invitation, Everard was ready to set off towards his own Kingdom.

Anastasia and Alexander were standing near the carriage to send him off.

Before he left, he kissed Anastasia on her knuckles and boldly asked her, “Milady, will you write letters to me when you write one for your brother? I would love to hear from you during my stay in Lavinya.”

Anastasia smiled and politely cleared her intention, “I will write letters to you if you promise to be my friend. I’m not available for suitors.”

She knew better than to lead a man into thinking that he had a chance of courtship with her when she wasn’t even sure if she would be alive tomorrow.

Everard, on the other hand, thought that he would be able to win both Anna and Alex’s hearts if he kept on trying.

So he wasn’t going to miss a chance to be Anastasia’s friend. He agreed with a smile, “Friends, we are then.”

For the next year, Anastasia became Everard’s pen pal. Anastasia would write letters to both Alexander and Everard as she had promised. The two of them were even on a nickname basis already.

She would mostly talk about the novels she read in her letters.

And Everard, in turn, would send some novels along with the letters, even though he would get scolded by his friend every time he would buy new books for Anastasia.

Everard was sure that if he was to ask Anastasia for courtship again, then she would definitely accept him. He had even thought of several ways to try and persuade her.

However, little did he know that the last he would hear from the Princess would be about her getting married to the King of Sorvando.

The news came as such a great shock to Everard that it literally transformed his life forever. He turned into the very thing he wished he would never be – a big bad wolf.