This Princess is an Extra-Chapter 39: Bullseye

"Ah! Quite bright you are, young lord." Eli said, as she passed the candy to him who’s eyes were twinkling now. "So tell me... if a soon-to-be knight is being so responsible," she asked lightly, "why is he sitting here all alone, pouting in the middle of a big fair?"

"I’m not pouting!!" She heard him say, while he was unmistakably pouting, cheeks puffed like a sulking squirrel. "I am simply expressing disappointment through my face."

Eli bit the inside of her cheek to keep her from laughing. "Oh? And why might that be? Who has earned your disappointment?"

He sighed once again sounding far too world-weary for a ten-year-old. "My little sister is sick," he murmured. "Before I left, she asked that I bring her a balloon shaped like a rabbit."

"Mm-hmm," she encouraged, listening attentively.

The boy looked vaguely towards a colorful booth of the fair. "It’s over at that counter there. But they don’t sell it." His shoulders slumped even further. He then added quietly, "...one must win it in a contest."

So...?" Eli prompted gently, leaning a little closer. "You lost the contest?"

"No," he correctly her instantly. "I could do so without trouble."

Eli blinked, "Okay, tell me what it is, then?"

He huffed, slapped his palms back against his cheeks and resumed his tragic pose of elbows on knees, head in hands, looking like the world’s smallest, saddest philosopher.

"You need a friend to play along, whom you will compete with," he raised his head and muttered, "yet no one wishes to play with me."

Eli’s brows were pulled together as she heard those words. Are noble kids seriously bullying him? At this age? Given the original Eli’s childhood was also isolated, mocked and pushed aside; now that she thought about it, it wasn’t completely impossible. In fact, it was painfully believable.

She was more irritated on his behalf than she had expected and she found herself determined to help him out. When she looked again towards the booth the boy had mentioned, it seemed like a toned down arrow-shooting competition. She felt confident that she could easily win that rabbit-shaped balloon..... but she had already resolved that he would be the one to claim it for his little sister. All she had to do was miss every shot.....well, perhaps she’d land one or two for dignity’s sake and let him take the victory home.

"If you tell me your name, " said Eli springing to her feet. "I’ll play with you."

His head shot up with his eyes twinkling brightly, "Really?"

"Didn’t I say I’d be your fairy god-sister?"

"My name is Leo Remstone and I am the heir to House Remstone." he announced proudly as he stood up looking all cute, greeting in the formal introduction pose that children in Elarion were taught with his one hand closed and placed over his heart and the opposite foot positioned neatly behind the other, slightly bend.

"Alright, young to-be-knight Remstone, let’s go," she said with a confident grin and extending her hand toward the boy for him to take.

"Ten! Out of ten!! A perfect score for the young master!"

The little noble boy stood there, bow in hand, chest puffed with righteous pride as the crowd murmured in impressed whispers.

And her score was a perfect zero.

Speechless, she just stood there, unmoving looking at the empty target board alongside a bullseye one, when the booth attendant announced the scores.

She had assumed she would at least manage to hit a few targets, considering Eli’s early childhood training but alas, the original owner of this body clearly possessed a tragically poor shooting hand. Suddenly, her trail of thoughts was broken by a small tug of her calf-length skirt by the boy trying to catch her attention.

"I won!" Eli looked down at him who spoke with genuine childlike excitement.

"Indeed, you’ve proven yourself worthy for a knightly title. You certainly exceeded my expectations."

Eli was truly glad of the young boys’ talent, she bent slightly to ruffle his light, curly brown hair, when she heard him declare, "I will be your knight, elder sister."

"Oh? Will you?"

"Yes!" he nodded. Her plump lips settled in a line of smug happiness only to falter when she heard him next, with complete sincerity and no tact whatsoever he added, "Because if people see how bad your shooting is, they’ll talk!" he declared with utter seriousness, lifting his chin with tiny aristocratic pride, "And my friends must be good at many things... though I suppose I can make an exception for you."

Now she was no longer sure whether this young man had no friends because other children bullied him... or because he had impossibly high standards.

"Well then, would you like to watch the evening fireworks with this elder sister?" she asked before holding his hand to see him nod so vigorously that his hair bounced, "Good. Then hold tight," she said, smiling as she passed him the rabbit balloon. 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

It was already past six in the evening when everything was wrapping up for the day, the sky was darkening in its color and people were beginning to move towards the nearby riverbank where the fireworks would soon be displayed. That was when a sudden sharp gust of wind swept through and the balloon’s string slipped right out of Leo’s small hand as it began to rise swiftly into the sky.

"Ah-!" Eli heard him gasp and when she took a step back to catch the string, her back hit a wall and the wall was none other than the white-furred man who had been standing right behind her, though he wore no fur tonight. His one hand was raised up, he had already caught the string stopping the balloon’s ascent.

Eli blinked up at him, "...M-my Lord!" to receive a greet from him.

"It is an honor to meet you again," he spoke as he handed the rabbit-shaped balloon back to her.

"Elder sister, who is he?" before she could thank him a voice came from below, and her gaze broke away from the lord to fall down on to Leo who was now standing between them, his shoulders squared like a miniature knight.

"He—he’s a friend," Eli said, truthfully, she had no idea how she was supposed to address him, she had completely missed the timing to ask his name during their previous encounter... and now it felt far too late. All she knew was that he was a foreign noble and far too memorable to simply be "someone."

"If My Lady don’t mind, will you allow this friend of yours the honor of your company?" the man asked smoothly and it seemed his features softened when Eli addressed him as a friend.

"Elder sister," Leo whispered loudly, "He’s talking too nicely. That means he wants something, doesn’t it?"

Eli cleared her throat, flustered. "Well... I—suppose there’s no harm in it. We were going to watch the fireworks anyway."

And just like that, Eli and the lord, with little Leo sitting between them, settled onto a nearby bench. The evening air was carrying the faint scent of roasted treats from the fair. They waited quietly like the others gathered for the fireworks to start. That’s when, she heard him say in low voice,

"You’re generous, My lady."

At first she was confused, but seeing his serious face, she asked to him thoughtfully with her eyebrows that had drawn together, "Why do you say so, My lord?"

He let a small, knowing smile play at his lips and murmured so that the kid below could not hear. "Because a lady who can literally shoot a grown intruder clean above the heart... and yet lets a child win without landing a single shot, is remarkable."

"Ah-ha... you were there?" she said, smiling awkwardly. Somehow, this man had a peculiar misunderstanding of her actions, but she was too flustered and perhaps too embarrassed to correct him.

"May I ask, when you became acquainted with my brother?" she asked trying to change the topic.

"Since our years were but ten or twelve, I believe."

"Oh? And how are the festivities faring for you?"

"Good," he replied after a moment, his black eyes with streak of green looked into hers. "Although... I must confess, there is something that troubles me."

"Tell me more, my lord," Eli asked, interested in what he was saying right now.

"There is this thing that is important to me, which got taken from me on the very first day I arrived here."

"Taken? Pray, give me its features, and I shall see that the Crown’s guards—no, the royal wardens are set upon retrieving it."

"Oh, no—no, my lady," he said at once shaking his head slowly. "This... thing holds a meaning most personal to me. I wish to tell them of it myself someday, and have them keep it with their own hands. I would feel quite sorry to trouble you over it."

He spoke in general, yet the intensity in his dark eyes made Eli pause. She could not tell why, but it felt as though he were speaking directly to her.