Without a bit of a change in the expression on her face, she continued to walk forward. Lucas didn't linger beside her either. He
then went on to greet his friends. Harper took one last look at Lucas before immediately shifting her eyes. Just then, he reminded
her to be careful with the empress.
Although Harper knew the empress would take her chances and make trouble for her and Matthew, she hadn't expected that
Lucas would tell her that. At that very moment, her entire being was suddenly wary and alert. If the empress was planning to do
something, it wouldn't be that obvious and simple.
Meanwhile, Francis was sitting in his carriage and idly molding a sugar figurine. He had been interested in molding the figurines
ever since he went to the temple fair. Now, he could already make them that looked like real people. As a gust of wind blew the
curtain, Francis raised his head and saw a familiar person walking past his carriage. In a second, he completely lifted up the
curtain.
"Aunt Harper."
Still lost in her thoughts, Harper didn't hear when Francis called her for the first time. As soon as he noticed that Harper didn't
stop walking, he quickly jumped off the carriage and chased after her. Owen hastily ran after him. Carrying his cloak, the servant
called out, "Your Highness, your cloak, your cloak."
"Aunt Harper," Francis called her again while running behind her. Finally, Harper stopped walking and turned around. Fred and
Forsythia stood aside to give way. But Francis was running so fast that he almost bumped into Harper. Fred stretched his hand in
an attempt to stop Francis. To his surprise, however, Francis managed to stabilize himself before actually knocking into his aunt.
The only problem was that he stopped when he was only inches away from her. His face was almost touching Harper's.
He hastily stepped back and felt embarrassed. He did not know what to say, so he looked everywhere else except on Harper's
face. Then, the sugar figurine in his hand caught his attention, so he immediately held it up and said, "Aunt Harper, look! I'm
better at making sugar figurines now."
When Harper saw the vivid sugar figurine in his hand, the corners of her mouth raised into a small smile. She took the figurine
from his hand and bit its head. While chewing the sugar bit, she said, "It not only looks good, but also tastes good."
Due to Harper's praise, a wide smile bloomed on Francis's face. He then walked towards the palace gate side by side with his
aunt. Forsythia deliberately looked at Fred, as if she was trying to tell him something with her eyes. However, Fred only looked
puzzled and had no idea what Forsythia meant.
Seeing the confusion in Fred's eyes, Forsythia glared at him. As if she was saying it to Fred, she thought, 'Don't you think Prince
Francis is getting a little too close to Her Highness? Don't you know that Prince Matthew gets extremely jealous of the smallest
things? If he became jealous again, both of us would be punished.'
When Fred noticed that Forsythia kept on looking at him blatantly, he turned away from her. He thought that there must be
something wrong with Forsythia. He felt like she should speak directly to him if she had something important to say.
Forsythia was very close to being mad at Fred for what he did. Giving up on him for now, she turned to Owen. Then, her sight fell
on the cloak in his hand. She snatched the cloak from him and said, "Prince Francis, your cloak."
The two people who were walking in front stopped in their tracks. Forsythia immediately took the chance to step between them
and handed the cloak to Francis. The prince took it with both of his hands and said in a gentle voice, "Thank you, Miss
Forsythia."
Forsythia blushed with embarrassment. After all, the reason that she gave him the cloak was because she wanted him to keep
his distance from Harper. She knew that Matthew didn't like to see any man standing by his wife's side in very close proximity.
Francis put on his cloak, but he couldn't tie it properly. When Harper noticed this, she helplessly shook her head, stretched out
her hands to untie the cloak, tied it smoothly, and even tidied up his collar. She did all of this in a very casual manner, as if she
had done it thousands of times.
Francis bent his knees slightly so she wouldn't have a hard time reaching him. They were so close that he could even smell the
light scent of medicine from her. Such a scent actually made him feel comfortable.
"Thank you very much, Aunt Harper."
"It's time for you to learn how to take care of yourself. How are you feeling recently? Do you feel a little better?" Harper asked
while they continued walking forward.
For a little while, Francis couldn't answer her question. With so much hesitation, he finally said, "I don't know what I have been
feeling, to be honest."
"Tell me and we'll figure it out together," Harper reassured with a smile.
After taking a glance at her, Francis said, "Whenever I think about something, I always feel tight in my chest."
"Tightness in the chest?" Harper mumbled in confusion. She was very concerned about his condition but she knew that it wasn't
the right time to properly diagnose him. "After the birthday banquet, let me check your pulse."
"Thank you very much, Aunt Harper."
Harper simply smiled as a response. When her eyes caught a thin figure in the distance, warmth filled her eyes. The man saw
her as well and immediately strode towards her.
"Harper, Prince Francis," Zack greeted them.
"Zack, long time no see. You look thinner. How have you been?" Harper said while she looked at Zack.
"I've just been busy with my work. I can actually say that things have not been bad, but they have not been good either. So
somewhere in the middle?" Zack responded while he looked at Harper's face. From both of their expressions and their
exchanges, one could tell that the two of them had been good friends for many years. They could understand each other's
thoughts by merely looking at each other's eyes.
"Take care of yourself even though you're extremely busy with your work. Anyway, it's almost time. We need to hurry, or else
we'll be late," Harper said with a faint smile.
"Sure, let's go," Zack agreed.
As a matter of fact, he walked beside Francis while Harper walked at a moderate and elegant pace. The three of them together
drew a lot of people's attention. After all, one of them was the gentle young minister from a noble clan and one was the
handsome son of the current emperor. No one was able to take their eyes off them.
"I heard Prince Francis has been very weak because of an illness. Why do I feel that he has fully recovered already?" someone
on the sides mumbled. "Prince Francis looks very handsome."
"He used to be a beautiful sick person. Now that he has recovered, nobody will be able to look away from him."
"Mister Zack's smile looks so attractive. Hold me; I feel dizzy." A lot of whispers could be heard as they made their way through
the crowd.