I looked at his terrified face and almost burst into laughter. Raphael seemed to have heard him say that and covered his red face as if struggling to prevent the same outcome as me. I took a deep breath and exhaled loudly.

- Prince Dorian, how do you expect to last on the battlefield if just a mere thought of running scares you so much?

The prince hesitated and let out a long sigh.

- ... I understand.

He returned to his seat and poured himself another cup of tea. The atmosphere turned into quite an awkward one so I decided to just continue talking.

- So... about the food. I think 4 meals a day would be impossible, right?

Raphael looked at me with a surprised expression.

- Well, not for the knights, that's for sure.

- Then, the knights should be able to have 3 solid meals per day with enough protein. The hydration has to be on point too.

- What?

"Again with those bewildered faces. I should stop using unfamiliar terms when I talk here."

- Simply put, they should eat a lot of meat and drink a lot of water.

- But how will they be able to drink a lot of water on the battlefield?

- That is something for you to figure out when you go to war. As for now, my purpose is to make sure your knights have all that is needed to build a healthy body and drinking water is one of those things.

The prince put down his teacup and looked at Raphael, the latter nodded, took a glass bottle of water from the table, poured the water into two glasses, and handed one to the prince. They looked at me briefly, exhaled, and gulped the glasses in one go like freaking shots.

- Oh my...

- You can talk to the palace cooks about the food, the head maid will inform them about you so there won't be a problem.

- Right... Now, there is only one thing left...

I felt kinda shy, mostly because I knew what kind of reaction the prince would give me after I have uttered that sentence.

- I need to take measurements from Raphael and Prince Dorian.

The prince's face became gloom and red at the same time.

- Uhm... Take Raphael's measurements first.

Raphael nodded at the prince and started undressing. I was not looking at him while he was doing so, mostly to spare him the embarrassment. When I walked closer to him and raised my head my hands suddenly felt out of control and I dropped the measuring tape and the notebook on the floor. Although only his upper body was exposed, what I saw broke my heart and made me want to cry. His back, his arms - the skin was mapped with scars so deep, it almost looked like he was wearing another layer of uneven skin. I wanted to touch his scars, cause they did not seem real, but I found the strength to compose myself.

- Alright... I'll start taking the measurements then.

I tried to wrap the measuring tape around Raphael's body as gently as I could, I did not know how painful it was for him to feel my touch. My hands were shaking which made it harder for me to write down my notes. Raphael noticed my concerns and tried to calm me down.

- Don't worry, miss Yoona, it doesn't hurt.

I looked up at his smiling face and exhaled so loud that I almost fainted.

- Sorry, I just don't like... hurting people.

When I was done with Raphael's measurements, he put his clothes back on and looked over my shoulder to read my notes.

- What... is this?

"I forgot I was writing my notes in Korean!"

- Ah, this... It's the language my country uses in my other world, it's called "Korean".

The prince also came closer to me and took the notebook. He examined it for a short while and then put it back.

- It would be better if you wrote everything in Arcadian, people might suspect you of espionage if you write in a strange language.

- Yeah, that makes sense. It's just that I don't really know how I am able to understand your language so I'm not confident in writing yet.

The prince gestured for Raphael to leave the room and he followed his command.

- Don't you think you should be able to write if you can read?

- Oh...

That thought hit me hard, I felt humiliated. The prince sighed again.

- Just practice writing from the books you have in your room, once you are able to distinguish each letter, it will be easy to write.

- Yeah, I'm not dumb, you know.

I mumbled under my breath, hoping that he didn't hear me.

- I noticed you were quite shaken by the sight of Raphael's body.

- Uhm... I just have never seen so many scars on one person before.

- He has more.

The prince said it so easily as if he wasn't talking about dozens of scars on a person's body.

- May I ask you what happened to him?

- You should probably ask him yourself.

- To be honest... I feel kinda intimidated by him.

I laughed awkwardly and scratched the back of my head. Raphael did intimidate me with his stern facial expressions and the way he held himself in my presence. It almost felt like his sole existence was meant to make people feel small and insignificant.

- You do not feel the same way about me?

"God, did I say something wrong?"

- Well... It's just that you seem so kind and harmless...

- What?!

His face turned red again.

"Is he that insecure? Or maybe he wants people to feel intimidated by him because he is the prince?"

- I'm sorry if I have offended you but you know, being intimidating is not always a good thing, even for a prince.

- I... don't want to be intimidating. Nobody just called me kind before.

- Well, it was my first impression of you, I don't know you that well so my opinion of you might change in the future.

I winked at him and laughed, the prince seemed to not like my words this time as well.

- If you are that curious, Raphael was an orphan growing up in one of the state orphanages. When he was 10, he was picked up by a mercenary who claimed he was training kids to become mercenaries too. It turned out he owned an illegal underground sword fighting place and the orphans he picked up were trained to participate in those fights. Raphael was one of the good ones considering he is still alive but the scars he has on his body are from the times when he had to fight against fellow kids in those illegal fights. When he turned 16, he killed his teacher and ran away. He then applied to become a real mercenary and since the word of his fighting accomplishments spread well outside the underground, he was gladly accepted. Raphael worked himself up to become the youngest mercenary leader when he was just 17 years old. When I got a chance to handpick my own knights, I offered him to come to the palace with me and take whomever he wanted with him, so he agreed and brought in twenty very skilled mercenaries to become my knights. I noticed his outstanding swordsmanship skills and appointed him to be my personal guard and the head of my royal knights. He had personally handpicked and trained every one of those 200 knights I have, and the way I handle my sword now is all thanks to him.

I felt my blood run cold. I did start slowly getting used to the idea of me being in this completely strange world, seeing and hearing all kinds of wild things, but this was out of line. The fact that Raphael was an orphan who was taken advantage of broke my heart once again. I now understood why he held himself the way he did and why I felt intimidated by him - he was deeply hurt and built a wall around himself to protect himself from being hurt again. I knew exactly what it felt like.

- Miss Yoona? Are you alright?

- ... Yeah.

- Now that I think bout it... Do you have a family? They are probably worried about you back in your other world.

- I am an orphan.

- Oh.

The prince looked away and covered his face with his big hand. He then walked up to me, took the measuring tape, and handed it to me.

- Let's finish my measurements too.

He started undressing but this time, I couldn't take my eyes off him. His movements were slow and precise, I almost felt like he was taking his time on purpose. I changed my mind immediately once I glanced at his face - red as a beetroot, he was taking his time simply because he was incredibly embarrassed.

When the prince finished undressing, he stood in front of me wearing just his uniform pants and boots. I took a good look at his body - lean to the point where I could see every muscle, every vein. He looked so different from Raphael, if I did not know better, I would say that Raphael would be more suitable to be a prince rather than Dorian.

I began wrapping the measuring tape around his body, he flinched every time my bare hands touched his cold skin. I was not sure if my hands were cold as well, so I tried to touch him as less as possible, in the end, I did understand that being touched by a stranger can be hard to bear.

- All done. You can put your clothes back on.

- So... what do you think?

I rounded my eyes at him.

- What do you mean?

- My body... Is it too... pitiful?

- Oh, don't worry, every body is beautiful, it's all in the eye of the beholder!

I laughed awkwardly again and turned away to gather my things from the table and let the prince dress up without me staring at him.

- Miss Yoona, the tailor will arrive today in the afternoon with your clothes, I hope you will like them. As for the food, please meet up with Raphael and discuss everything you need with our cooks. Once you are ready with all your preparations, you can send someone to look for me but I usually spend most of my time in my study.

- Alright, I'll go look for Raphael then.

- Just a moment.

He walked up to his desk and opened one of its drawers. He then took out a piece of paper and handed it over to me. I looked at it - the square piece of paper was the size of my palm, it had the word "PERMISSION" written on it in big letters and a black seal at the right bottom corner.

- This permit will allow you to enter any building at any time within the Imperial territory, which includes all three palaces, although I must warn you not to visit the Emperor's palace, that place can only be visited if you have an invitation from the Emperor himself.

"Geez, what did I forget in that place anyway."

- Alright, thanks!

I was about to open the door when the prince called my name again.

- Miss Yoona. I look forward to training with you.

"Damn. I'm a real trainer now."