“You,” the princess replied, smiling sweetly up at me because I am considerably taller than her.

That single word caused me to widen my eyes in surprise and reflexively exclaim, “Huh?!”

She continued to smile sweetly at me while everyone around me seemed to have lost the ability to speak. I’m not completely sure whether they understood the flow of our conversation, but it did look like they understood my question and digested her answer. They were looking unsure, and I was the same because I swear I could’ve heard it wrong.

“Um… Pardon me, but can you repeat what you just said? I swear I could’ve misheard your words,” I said, speaking as politely as I possibly could with the watchful knights behind her.

“Not a problem,” the young girl said, and her smile widened. “You asked me ‘what do you want?’ and I said ‘you.’”

I was stunned from the shock of knowing that I didn’t mishear but it did leave me speechless as my thoughts collided like tidal waves.

“What the hell?! She wants me? Why?! This is so confusing!”

When a girl said she wants you, it could mean a lot of things, especially if she says she wants ‘you’ so directly. It could mean she wants your skills, your wisdom, your strength, your help, or more. Just single reply to my question has so many meaning, it’s hard to imagine in what context she is talking about here.

“Still, I better be on my guard since she could be just playing me for a fool.”

I sighed and asked, “Excuse me, but what do you mean you wanting me?”

“It’s just like what I said; I want you,” she replied, smiling softly at me once more.

“Um…” I started and hesitated momentarily before saying, “What do you need me for?”

This time, her eyes dropped a little, and I thought she looked a little sad.

“I need your help. Let’s talk privately,” she said, and she turned to gesture at her carriage guarded by several knights behind her.

I looked at the carriage and was almost tempted to replied “okay,” but I controlled the urge. I’m in a different world with a different system, culture, rules and languages that I almost know next to nothing about. In times like these, I need to proceed cautiously, so I merely shook my head at her.

“I’m sorry, but I want you to state your business with me clearly. I cannot trust you by your words, even if you are a princess. Sorry.”

I added the last word as an apology just in case I sounded rude, worrying that she might order her knights to arrest or something. I’m pretty sure it is within her authority to do so but if she did that then I have a strong reason to not trust her one bit.

At that moment, a nearby knight got angry at my words and began snarling words at me.

“How dare you speak in such a manner with the princess?!”

“She’s a princess, and you are to do as she asks mongrel!”

“Princess! Give us the command, and we will apprehend this man this instance.”

I glance at them and raise an eyebrow, amused by their rant and said, “Stop ranting wildly and asking random requests. She’s the princess here, and she’s the one that gives orders, so stop persuading her forcibly.”

“W-What?!”

“F-Forcing h-her h-h-highness?!”

“What are you…?”

Their words were different, but I didn’t care as I said, “That’s what you’re doing, idiots. Get some common sense already.”

This angered them more and some of them said slowly, “Why… you…?!”

Opposite to their reaction, the princess giggled, surprising all of us and we turned to face her. She was wearing a wide smile on her face with such a beautiful smile that could’ve mesmerised anyone seeing it.

“You truly are interesting. I like you more now,” she said after calming down somewhat.

“Um… Okay…” I replied simply.

“Princess!” One of the knights said, stepping out of his rank to speak. “This man is a commoner barbarian! His manner of speech, such low respect for her highness and such lack of regard for authority! He must be punished!”

“My goodness! Stop throwing false accusations at me!” I thought, but I decided to remain silent as I realise my mistake of speaking out against them.

The one problem I have with is my lack of control over my mouth. I mean, I am naturally calm all the time and silent, but I tend to act rash, speak my mind directly and even attack if I feel like it. Sadly, though, in this society filled with people wearing masks of deceit, it’s really hard for a person like me to live. After all, if you don’t follow in their footsteps, they outcast you, and I hate that the most.

I remained silent and watched as the princess looked at the knight and said softly, “Perhaps, but I’ll be the judge of his character.”

Her simple words put an immediate end to the rant of the knight and his followers. Realising this, the man clenched his spear tightly and merely nodded his head at her before stepping back into his rank.

I, inwardly, sighed and thought, “Got to be careful! If it weren’t for the princess, I might’ve been in deep trouble for my loose tongue.”

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She turned back to me and said, “I’m sorry about their rude behaviour. They don’t like commoners.”

I merely shrugged her shoulders because I understood that clearly and she continued speaking.

“As for your question, I can understand how you feel, but I cannot speak to you freely in such an open place,” she said in a low voice, cautiously glancing sideways with her eyes.

“Mmm.”

“It makes sense to think that she has something secretive to tell me, but what could it be?” I thought curiously. “Still, should I believe her with such simple words? I mean, the woman is pretty much convincing with her attitude and behaviour, but it could all be an act to set me up.”

“And in return, I will help you overcome a problem you’re facing,” she said, and she winked at me.

“Huh?!” I exclaimed, surprised by her words because I didn’t expect them.

“What the hell?!” I thought, looking at her in surprise. “Help me overcome a problem I’m facing? Does she mean…? Is she referring to me being from another world? Maybe… Maybe, she’s the summoner that brought me to this world in the first place! Yeah! Yeah, that makes sense! If not, why would she think that I’m in trouble and need help overcoming it?”

Glancing at her once more, I noticed that she is giving me a charming smile that could make any man fall head-over-heals for her. I’m not sure whether she was doing it intentionally or not, but it did make me rethink a bit.

“Despite her convincing words, this all might be just an act she’s putting on for the real thing. I still don’t know how much I can trust her, but as it looks right now, I’ve got no choice but to trust her. All I can really do is being careful of my surroundings and be extremely attentive to everything that happens around me.”

I managed to control my feelings, stared straight into her eyes and asked, “Are you sure it’s me that you want?”

She simply nodded her head and softly replied, “Yes. It has to be you.”

Her reply caused me to smile, but I think I was smiling in embarrassment because of how romantic our conversation would’ve looked like to everyone else. I glanced around and inwardly chuckled to see the astonished looks on their faces along with the startled reactions from the knights.

“We’re not romantically involved, idiots. She’s probably my summoner and obviously, wants me to help her in something. There is still the chance of her getting romantically involved with me if she indeed turned out to be a good woman, but I don’t know.”

Since the start of my high school, I was pretty attractive for my height and the girls liked how strong I looked. Still, I always treated every girl as my sister and my mother as my mother without a trace of lust or longing. Well, I will admit that I did like a few girls, but I dropped the idea of proposing to them because I realised what I felt was not love after an explanation from my dad.

When I asked dad what love is, he thought for a bit and said, “Love is a feeling, a bond of longing for someone along with being able to understand each other, care for one another and respect mutually. When your love and the person you love meet those requirements, then your mutual love is truly strong and unbreakable.”

I found that explanation to be funny because my father and mother often argue sometimes over the smallest thing and again love another truly over the simplest thing. It’s hard to understand their form of love as it looks so complex, but again, I have yet to truly fall in love, but I knew the love I felt for those girls was just at face value and not really from the heart.

“This brings me to my current predicament. After all, being summoned to another world, getting into a fight to save a woman and then being called out by the princess of that kingdom sure makes this a cliché driven story. Oh well. Let’s see where this will lead me.”

I finally smiled at the princess and said, “Okay. Let’s go then.”

Her face suddenly brightened up, and she said, “Yes!” She turned to her knight retainers and ordered, “Prepare my carriage for immediate departure for the castle.”

“As you wish,” he said and began barking orders for his men to get ready for transport.

She nodded and turned to another man, saying, “Wrap this…” she paused and momentarily turned to face me, asking, “What’s your name? I forgot to ask.”

“Ram.”

Nodding her head at me, she turned back to the knight and said, “Wrap Ram’s hand with some cloth until we get to the castle and heal his wounds.”

“Understood,” said the knight, stamping his feet on the ground in attention.

While a few knights rushed back to get the carriage pointed towards the castle, the ordered knight pulled out a white cloth and asked me to hold my hand out. I did it, and he wrapped my wound tightly with the cloth. Initially, I wanted to refuse considering taking their generosity left me being in their debt, but I realised there was little I could do except follow.

Once the carriage was readied, a knight returned and informed the princess about it, to which she smiled in satisfaction.

“Well done,” she said graciously, and the man bowed a little with his armour making sounds a little. The princess turned towards me and gestured towards the carriage while saying, “Let us go on our way.”

She took the lead by walking in front of me, and I followed behind her while noticing the knights walking in a wall formation around us. I also noticed the watching people were staring intently at me with wondrous looks on their faces.

“Oh…! The princess spoke to him directly…!”

“Man! Must be great to be treated to special treatment by the princess.”

“Who is he? I don’t think I’ve seen him before.”

“I wonder what business the princess has with a guy like him?”

“I wish she’d pick me for whatever it is, and I’d die to accomplish it!”

Those were some of what I imagined them to be muttering amongst themselves as I smile wryly and thought, “Idiots.”

I may look like I’m meekly following the princess, but I am wary of her presence. I’m still not entirely sure whether she really did summon me or not, but it still doesn’t put aside the help she granted me and I’m no fool to throw it aside on a whim. Of course, I can’t ascertain her true nature from this short meeting, but going with her may prove to be useful for me in getting to know more in the long run so that I can live in this world.

“Still, there is the chance that I might be used as a disposable pawn,” I thought and gulped nervously.

That is indeed a worrisome thought, but I decided to shove it aside for the moment. It’s not always good to take risks, but there are times when you can only take risks and hope they paid off. It’s the same with doing an assignment at school; you do whatever you want and when you submit, you hope like hell the teachers are pleased with your work and give you a good grade.

While I was thinking, I stepped into the carriage and sat down opposite the princess along with two of her maids. They were obviously here to protect the princess from something that I might do, of course, I’m not a beast to do anything to a girl in the first place. In the meantime, the knights lined up around the carriage and jumped onto their horses.

As the carriage began moving, I look out of the window and smile to myself as I thought, “Oh well. Whatever happens next, I’ll think of it has lessons and take it with stride.”

The carriage moved away from the crowd of onlookers and entered the main road a few seconds later. I watched the streets fly by with the carriage moving at a steady pace with the knights’ surroundings us as guards. A few seconds later, we arrived at a large intersection and the carriage got onto the road and began to pick up speed.

I finally turned to the princess and asked, “Can you now tell me your reason for wanting me, princess? There are only you, me and your maids.”

While saying those words, I showed he an encouraging smile to motivate her to tell me. It seemed to have worked because she nodded her head at me and showed me this brilliant smile that would’ve made any man squirm in her presence, but I remained calm.

She opened her mouth and the words she uttered were so shocking that I couldn’t control myself.

“I want you to marry me.”

For a moment, I sat there staring at her with a frozen encouraging smile on my face. As her words slowly sank in and my mind digested their meaning, my expression slowly changed to that of utter shock and I reflexively yelled out loud.

“WHAT?!”