Hamon gave her a questioning look, but now wasn't the right time to have a long conversation with this stranger.
Ara heaved in deep breath of exhaustion. This wouldn't have had a great toll on her in her previous life, but she wasn't in peak condition anymore. When they managed to get to safety, Ara noticed Hamaon's condition. His face was very pale, she didn't know how he had managed to hang on this long in his wounded state.
"Your Highness, come down let's take a look at your wound."
Ara got off her horse and extended her arm. Hamon looked at her as if she was being patronizing by helping him get off a horse like a child, contrary to his piercing expression, Hamon quietly accept her hand, he got off the horse and leaned against a big rock, pulling his ragged clothes, his gang and weird nails and purple like skin color, was back to normal. It was as if he never turned to a monster awhile ago, now the man in front of her was breathtaking, even with his condition.
Ara looked at his mesmerizing red eyes he had shoulder length silver colored hair, which was rare in their kingdom, a straight nose with high cheekbones and a sharp jawline, by all account he was handsome to look at, but Ara was not so naive as to mistake what she saw awhile ago. Hamon immediately understood what her brief pause meant.
"You're wondering why I look like that earlier, right?"
There was some bitterness in his voice. Of course she was wondering why, but she knew that treating him was more important at the moment.
"I'll treat you first." She said while searching for something on her horse.
"You don't have to bother about my wounds, I'll heal in a wh-"
Ara cut him off by saying. "No, I brought some medicine, I'll treat you with it, your Highness."
Hamon wanted to tell her that " the wounds will heal itself." Hamon's red eyes gazed cautiously at Ara as she calmly took out the medicine.
"This will hurt a little, your Highness."
Ara looked at Hamon's large and small wounds with confusion. There were more than just a few wounds here and there, Hamon didn't even make a sound as she touched his painful looking wounds, This situation must be very familiar to him.
'Fortunately the crown prince's achievements were not exaggerated.' She thought internally.
Come to think of it , this was the first time she had seen the crown Prince. One of the terrible rumors had said he was a large, hairy and a fat monster. She didn't realize he would actually be this handsome.
As she treated his wounds she couldn't help but peep at his hard muscle peeking through the torn edges of his clothes, he looked rather like an angel than a demon they say he was.
However, he had a dangerous air around him, even though he was sitting on the ground, his presence was so overwhelming she couldn't easily find a weakness. Ara glanced silently at Hamon.
Hamon on the other hand, just watched the stranger treat his wounds, Although the wound will heal by itself, but that could only happen once he changed back to his demon form, he didn't want to scare this person away. But something was wrong, this person wasn't part of his guards, with the color of the armor. Then who was this? Hamon spoke with a sharper voice than before.
"I don't think you're from my men, who are you? And what did you save me for?"
Ara thought about how to answer this question, it hadn't been easy back then at the battlefield, but now she found it even more nerve wracking to talk to him. Still she was determined to give him an answer. Ara hoped that Hamon would continue to stay in the kingdom, long enough to become king and defeat Cornell. she was willing to risk everything she had to make him stay. The road to make him king will be difficult, and there was no way to know what other dangers were lurking, she couldn't let him know about it.
"Your Highness...."
"Tell me right now!"
Ara had seen Hamon's powers and accepted the fact that his a match for Cornell and the throne. She remembered the people who said that Cornell would not have been able to take the throne so easily had Hamom been there.
Since Ara was born an aristocrat, she had to marry the man that her father decided for her. In her previous life, her family was destroyed and she was free from such duties, but that wasn't the case anymore. Ara now had to marry a man who would bring the most benefits to Boxton family, and the man was sitting right in front of her.
She looked at him up and down. He had a sharp jaw, a high nose, a fierce looking red eyes, his silver hair, his milky white skin. She remembered the scary long nails from earlier, but fortunately it wasn't there at the moment.
Hamon narrowed his eyes at the stranger who continue to look at him up and down without answering his question, it was starting to annoy him.
"Didn't I ju-" Hamon was about to speak when he heard something unexpected from the stranger.
"I want you to marry me."
"What?!"
Hamon's annoyed expression instantly changed back to shock. Ara repeated herself once more.
"Let's get married, your Highness."
A look of shock flitted across Hamon's face at the unexpected marriage proposal, but it quickly faded. He chuckled for a while and looked at Ara's eyes and said with a deep serious voice.
"I don't know what the rumors say about me, but I don't like men. Got it?"
"P-pardon me? It was Ara's turn to be flustered. Although she wasn't expecting him to accept her proposal from the beginning, but this was an entirely unexpected response. Was there a rumor that the crown Prince liked men? No, wait...Didn't she look like a man now? She had completely forgotten about her appearance, only her eyes were visible beneath the scarlet Amor, so it was natural for him to think she was a man.
"Your Highness, you mis-"
"And even if I liked men...did you really think I'll marry you just because you saved me? You must be very naive, young man."
Hamon's face was twisted into a sneer. He was right, even if he had a taste for men, a marriage to a woman would be more beneficial for him. Love and marriage were different for him.
"I meant to say I a-"
"If you think I am going to marry someone despite the curse, then you're mistaken."
Hamon was not that young but there was a reason why he had not married yet.
It was because of a curse that was placed on him since.
"If you haven't heard of the curse, then-"
"I know about it."
Yes she knew about it. That the first person to marry the crown Prince will spend their entire life in solitude, she will live an unhappy life before dying a miserable death. It was one of the things that made the king so politically turbulent before his death in the previous life. With such dark omens coming down, and with the rumors about him being a monster, no aristocrat wanted to marry his own daughter to the cursed crown Prince.
If the king would pass away, there would be no relatives who would support Hamon's claim to the throne, as his mother was said to be a maid and a bed warmer. The crown Prince's fate was obvious if he could not keep the throne.
There had been attempt by the king to connect Hamon to a good family. Even if a princess from another kingdom who didn't know anything about the curse and the rumors, was brought as a bride, the ominous curse would surly reach her.
There was only one way to break the curse, once the Prince married a woman who agrees to marry him willingly even after knowing about the curse. Then he could marry any other woman on good terms. Ara was going to take a position that nobody wanted.
' will I be lonely and miserable for the rest of my life if I marry the Prince...not only that...I'll die a miserable death?'
Ara had already spent her first life already so alone and unhappy, now that her second chance had arrived, she couldn't bear to lose it as long as she could protect her beloved family from Cornell, no matter how unhappy she'll be in the marriage, she was willing to marry the cursed Prince.
"How ridiculous, just because you saved my life, now I have to pay you back by marrying you?" Hamon looked strangely terrifying as he gave her a mocking laugh.
If he wasn't already wounded Ara might've loved to beat that laugh off his face, for her own peace of mind.
"Your Highness if you keep laughing like that, your wound will open."
"Shut your disgusting mouth, even your voice is disgusting." The muffled sound of her voice behind the armor irritated him.
"Your Highness, listen to what I ha-"
"I'm going to say this one last time. I'm not going to marry you...So You can take your sorry self and leave this place right now while am being nice!"
Ara wanted to fume At him when he kept on interrupting her again and again.
'He thinks I'm disgusting, after I risk my life to save him? What an arrogant pompous Prince!' Despite her anger boiling beneath the surface, she said in a calm voice.
"Can you please just listen to me first?"
"If I don't die from this wound, I'll die from your stupid useless chatter. Can you stop staring down at me like that?"
Ara quickly realized she was being disrespectful looking down at the Prince, who was sitting on the ground. She hadn't noticed because of the overwhelming sense of power around him. Ara immediately stooped down.
A low sigh escaped from beneath her helmet, she didn't think Hamon's personality was pleasant from start, but he was worse than she had guessed.
' He has no intention to listen to me. I have to make him listen.'