---
The street of the capital city smelled like morning bread and faint river mist today.
The townsfolk hadn't noticed him yet.
Ezrel walked quietly, hands in his sleeves, head tilted slightly as if listening to the wind. His usual clothes were replaced with an unmarked cloak, hood down, hair tousled.
He is being low-key today.
Beside him walked Lysette, her step light, her arms clasped politely in front of her. She smiled from eyes to eyes.
Lovely smile.
She said nothing on their walk.
She didn't need to.
He had brought her here.
That was enough. He already accepted her presence is enough for now.
---
It's been almost a year since the celebration. Since nobles whispered about blessings and royalty and the sanctity of arranged futures.
But Ezrel hadn't mentioned any of it since he already accepted it with calm mind.
If he can avoid it just tried to enjoy it.
After being in this world for a long time now his mindset already changed from passively finding a peace now he just need to follow the flow and and peace will find and knock his door.
And now he was walking beside her. In town. In daylight. With no guards, no maids, no duties.
Just the two of them.
Now...
He enjoyed this peace .
---
When he passed a fountain stop for a while and threw a coin in absently.
"I thought it'd be louder," he muttered.
Lysette tilted her head. "Did you wish for something?"
"No," he said. "I was testing if the gods still hate me."
She smiled faintly. "No... they don't hate you."
"They never fulfill my wish, didn't they?"
"You don't need them for it."
Ezrel didn't reply. He just kept walking.
And she followed.
---
They passed a few small shop selling ribbons.
There also a bookstore and store that decorated with pink colour, ribbon and bear. It must be a candy store.
Ezrel paused in front of the bookstore for a while to check book that they display.
He stared at a cover that read Quietest Kings: A Study of Silent Rulership.
He sighed. "They even made me a genre."
"Do you want it?" Lysette asked.
"No."
She bought it anyway.
---
They sat under a tree on a bench near the canal. A pigeon landed nearby and didn't fly away. Like itvwas attracted to him.
Ezrel rested his head back against the trunk and closed his eyes.
"Do you always bring girls into town?" Lysette asked quietly.
He cracked one eye open.
"…You're thirteen."
"I can still ask."
Ezrel stared at her.
Then closed his eyes again. "You followed me."
"You let me."
"That's different."
Lysette tilted her head. "How?"
"You my sister."
"So.." replied Lysette.
He didn't answer it.
---
She took that silent as permission.
In her mind, it was already clear.
This moment, this walk, this shared silence it was all proof for her.
He let her walk beside him.
He let her speak freely.
He didn't push her away.
She remembered what her manuals had said.
True courtship is built in silences it when the moments is shared without resistance.
She folded her hands in her lap.
"So this is what love is," she whispered.
---
Ezrel, half-asleep, opened one eye.
"Did you say something?"
"Nothing," she replied.
He nodded, satisfied, and returned to dozing.
Enjoying the sunlight.
---
In her pocket was the ribbon she had laced with thread last night. It shimmered faintly against her finger.
She didn't need to tie it around him yet.
Not today.
He had already chosen to walk beside her.
She just had to make sure he always did.
---
That night, in her room, she recorded the day in her hidden book.
It a book full of Ezrep photo and they relationship progress.
You can see her new notes today. Such as:
He let me walk beside him.
He asked nothing, and I answered everything.
We are already like those in stories. But ours will not end in betrayal, or exile, or war.
Ours will end in peace.
Because I will make it so.
She pressed her thumb against the page until the ink smudged slightly.
Then whispered:
"This must be love, then."
---
Meanwhile, in his own room, Ezrel stared at the book she'd had secretly slipped onto his desk .
The Quietest Kings.
He flipped through the first page, saw a line that read "Sometimes the greatest kings say nothing at all" and groaned.
He slammed it shut.
"Gods help me, please.... This book is nonsense"
He buried his face in a pillow.
---