novelraw Chapter 4: Both of them are sick
Chapter 4: Both of them are sick
Beihai instinctively prepared to put the frog in his pocket, but after looking at the armor he was wearing, he decided to just hold it in his hand instead.
As for letting it stand on his shoulder or head like a little bird—after seeing the bumps on the frog's skin, Beihai thought, "That's enough, holding it in my hand is already quite generous."
According to the story's progression, it should have been tomorrow when they went, but Beihai chose to hold the frog in his hand and follow behind the little princess, accompanying her all the way to the front gate of the castle.
At the castle's main gate stood two guards who appeared dutiful and responsible, standing straight on either side of the entrance, guarding the castle's safety.
So when the two guards spotted Beihai, they immediately grew wary. After all, this was a knight clad in heavy armor.
As the saying goes, this guy before them was wearing full plate armor, yet he moved swiftly and effortlessly, even managing to twirl a greatsword with one hand.
This was no ordinary man—this was a monster in human skin. Probably only those legendary wizards could stand against him.
"No need to be tense, guards. I'm here to see the little princess. Your princess made a promise, and I am the witness."
Hearing this explanation, the two soldiers immediately responded, neither blocking his way nor denying his claim.
First, the little princess had not given any orders to the contrary. Second, vows and promises made before a knight held significant weight—if broken, one might very well face pursuit by the knight.Even from what Beihai knew of his original world, medieval knights took their honor and sworn oaths very seriously. Once a vow was made, they valued it more than their own lives.
No knight would joke about such matters. If one did, he would soon become notorious far and wide. Animals would shun him, and bards would spread tales far and wide,
depicting the faithless knight, the one who cast aside glory and promises.
No being would show him favor, no king would accept him as a knight, blacksmiths would refuse to forge equipment for him, and if he got lost in the forest, even the little fairies would keep their distance.
"I see. Sir Knight, please wait here for a moment. We will immediately inform our lovely little princess, and the king as well."
With that, one of the two soldiers at the gate disappeared inside. He pushed open the castle doors, ran into the castle, found the king, and told him about the knight waiting outside.
After learning of this, the king looked toward his beautiful little princess.
"My daughter, my kind-hearted daughter, what did you promise in front of that knight? He actually followed you all the way here. But no matter what it was, you cannot break your promise."
"But Father, I only made a promise to a frog by the well. That knight might have just been passing by and happened to overhear. We didn't ask him to be a witness.
It's just a frog, and now it even wants to come to the palace."
If this were any other king, he would have directly stated that in that case, the knight was just meddling in others' affairs.
Even here, some kings would become furious upon hearing that their princess promised to marry a common soldier, locking the princess away in a high tower.
So now, even if a promise was made, the object was a frog. Unless that frog turned into a prince, the king would still hold some prejudice.
Many stories are like this: unless the other party could explain that they were a cursed prince, according to the nature of curses, malice would surge toward that frog.
However, this king had a different idea. The princess was still young, and he hoped this would teach her a lesson. He said to the little princess, "This is your promise.
You must honor this promise. Let that knight in."
Beihai hadn't waited long outside before he was invited into the palace.
When meeting the king, Beihai explained everything.
The promise between the princess and the frog.
Hearing this, the king nodded and assured the knight before him that the promise would not be broken.
While meeting the king, Beihai was kneeling on one knee. By simply lowering his hand slightly, the frog he was holding could hop to the ground. The moment the frog landed, it immediately demanded that the princess pick it up.
"Quick, pick me up and place me beside you."
At the frog's command, the little princess's face showed reluctance. She really didn't want to hold an ugly frog.
The king, standing nearby, also gave an order: "Go pick up that frog right now. You need to listen to it and do as it says."
Hearing her father's words, the little princess had no choice but to step forward and pick up the frog. To make matters worse, the frog actually laughed while in the princess's hands.
It has to be said, one couldn't help but feel the frog was doing this on purpose. That raspy voice even sounded like it had phlegm stuck in its throat.
If Beihai didn't know the context, he would have definitely stepped forward, thrown the frog to the ground, and stomped on it twice to protect this princess,
to exercise his chivalry. But when asked, this was something the princess voluntarily promised.
Beihai could only cover his face with his hand. Thankfully, he knew how these stories developed. After understanding these tales, putting these two together could only be described as "meant to be."
Beihai stood up, cupped his hands toward the king, and prepared to leave.
Unexpectedly, the king stopped Beihai and asked him to stay for dinner before departing.
Getting a free meal, Beihai naturally chose to stay. If possible, he was quite curious to see how things would unfold.
During dinner, the king hinted that he hoped Beihai would stay and become a knight of this kingdom.
Beihai naturally wasn't interested. This world was rather peculiar—every position seemed to carry some extraordinary power.
Moreover, the knight profession was somewhat awkward position-wise, belonging to the middle tier, or perhaps upper-middle tier.
Seeing that he couldn't recruit him, the king felt somewhat disappointed. A knight was considered national property, the kingdom's prestige, the king's face,
the most trustworthy presence in the kingdom. Even in the most dire circumstances, a knight would surely draw his sword to protect the princess and king, or assist the prince.
However, the king's disappointment was nothing compared to the little princess, who was about to go insane, practically wanting to smash her bowl.
The frog demanded to share the delicious food with the little princess using golden bowls.
The ugly frog king took a few slurps from the little princess's bowl, and then the princess could only eat the food from that same bowl. To say she still had an appetite was impossible.
After the frog had eaten its fill, it said to the princess, "I'm full. Quickly carry me back to your room and prepare a comfortable blanket. After all, I'm going to sleep with you tonight."
Hearing this, the little princess completely lost it and started crying again. The frog was just too ugly—wet and slimy, with bumpy skin.
Beihai thought to himself, imagine sleeping with a toad, then feeling that damp, sticky thing pressing against your skin as you sleep.
The comfort the little princess expected did not come; instead, she faced the king's stern criticism: "My lovely daughter, when you were in trouble, he helped you without hesitation.
So you cannot look down on him. Now you need to help him too."
The king thought further; truth be told, he also had quite a few complaints about this frog. After all, the little princess was his favorite daughter.
What difference was there between this frog's appearance and some scoundrel? Thinking he could hook his favorite daughter with just a little golden ball? Dream on!
Regarding this, he merely wanted to use the frog to teach his daughter a lesson.
It was indeed wrong for the princess to break her promise, but picking up a little golden ball and thinking you could trick a princess into marriage? That was even more impossible.
What the king intended was to use this incident to teach the princess that she must not break promises, but also that she shouldn't easily agree to such conditions.
However, no matter how hard the king thought, he never imagined this wasn't some scoundrel, but a genuine prince.
The little princess had no choice but to take the frog back to her bedroom. What happened after that, Beihai could not see.
Still, this served as a reminder to Beihai: it seemed he shouldn't make promises carelessly in the future. Then he simply continued enjoying his dinner.
The little princess wanted to place the frog in a small corner of her bedroom, but unexpectedly, the frog jumped onto the bed.
It then told the princess, "If you don't let me on the bed, I'll tell your father."
This frightened the little princess terribly. Then, realizing that the king and that knight were still outside and no one else was around,
she immediately grabbed the frog and slammed it against the wall, thinking that would shut it up.
But unexpectedly, when the frog hit the wall, what fell down wasn't a frog, but a handsome young man.
The princess's eyes widened suddenly, and she covered her mouth in shock at what she saw. Then she stepped forward and gazed at the prince's handsome face—how incredibly dashing he was!
With just one glance, the princess realized she had fallen in love with this handsome youth. So the little princess hurried forward to help the handsome young man up and guided him to her bed.
The young man then revealed his identity: he was actually a prince who had been cursed into a frog, and now the little princess had broken his curse.
The little princess and the prince held hands, their eyes practically sparkling with affection.
The destined lovers were finally united.
Beihai, meanwhile, walked out of the palace. Hearing the system's notification, his expression turned somewhat uneasy. The prince and princess fell in love at first sight—both of them were something else.
Although he couldn't shake the feeling that these two had some serious issues, it didn't matter. He had obtained what he wanted. Still, he hoped to encounter fewer situations in the future where both parties had their reasons, yet both seemed a bit problematic.
Compared to this, he'd rather face an evil dragon.
He'd even prefer the boy who cried wolf.