Solitary Princess - Nalu ✔️

Chapter 19

The next day, Lucy was to return to her lessons. She wanted to stay with Natsu and have fun, but she had responsibilities she could not escape from. Natsu told her he would begin to meet the soldiers that day as well. Lucy was excited to hear how it would be for him with his general duties.

She sat at her desk once again, reading another book about politics, trying not to zone out. All she could do was wonder what Natsu was doing at that moment. Was he fighting? Meeting people? Was he shown respect?

Lucy didn't even realize she had stopped reading all together, her eyebrows scrunched, worrying about Natsu.

Capricorn, her tutor, studied her face and smiled inwardly, "Lucy, you seem to be very invested in politics today. What happened to change your spirits?"

Lucy looked up quickly, confused for a moment, "Oh ah... Sorry. I was thinking about- the Genral Games," she looked back at her book, "Did you watch them?"

Capricorn smiled softly, already understanding, "I did get to witness some of it," he grinned a bit, "And I must say, the new pink-haired general looks like he has ladies lined up." He dramatically swished his hand, gesturing to an invisible line of beautiful ladies.

Lucy blushed while unconsciously pouting a bit. She hadn't heard him talk about any women back home, but Capricorn was right. He must be seriously popular. Even the maids couldn't keep their eyes off him. Lucy scrunched up her face. She couldn't picture him with any other girl.

Then she blushed furiously, realizing she could only picture him with herself.

Capricorn watched her emotions dance across her face with amusement. He would help push her along if he could. The girl had suffered a lot and needed something or someone to bring her heart back. He had heard many maids talking of how they spent so much time together. Luckily, they were careful around the king, but it was easy for the tutor to see she had feelings for the pinkette. Even if she didn't know it yet.

...

Lucy rushed through her lessons after that, and was finally able to get free from the confines of the castle. After asking a few maids, she discovered Natsu was training outside.

She walked the grounds, hoping that her father would not spot her through his office window. She was bound to get in a load of trouble sooner or later.

Lucy made her way to the place where she and Natsu had seen the soldiers sparring days before.

Now there was a crowd watching whoever was in the sparring ring.

Lucy could not see over them, but she could hear the faint clashing of metal and hear them cheering on a fight. She couldn't see Natsu around, so she tried to peak over shoulders a bit but still couldn't see anything.

Eventually, a soldier noticed her and gasped, "Princess!"

That got a few soldiers' attention as Lucy bowed her head shyly in greeting. The soldiers that saw her dropped to one knee, causing a wave as one after another noticed her presence and dropped in greeting.

Lucy nervously smiled as the field went silent, "At ease soldiers, I am only here to see... How things are going."

The soldiers warily looked at each other. The princess had never really left the castle, much less walked right up to them and speak.

"Luce!" Heads turned as the pink-haired man who was fighting in the middle spotted the princess. Lucy smiled nervously, concerned of what the others would assume.

Natsu had no qualms of the sort as he pushed through the crowd to get to her, "Whatr' ya doin' here?" A few soldiers stepped forward to intervene, but stopped as they heard a beautiful sound like bells fill the air.

Lucy couldn't hold in her laughter anymore. The looks on the soldier's faces and Natsu's carefree attitude proved to appear more like a comedy than a dangerous situation to her. Not to mention, her nerves made her more susceptible to laughter. She laughed for a good moment before she was able to reel in her outburst and breath normally again.

When she looked up, she blushed. All eyes were on her. Natsu had some stupid grin and half of the soldiers had gaping mouths. They hardly ever saw the princess even if they were of higher rank and guarded around the castle. Few had ever seen her smile, much less heard her produce such a joyous, beautiful noise.

"I was wonderin' when you'd visit. How were lessons?" All eyes turned to the new general as he broke the awe-induced silence.

Lucy shyly looked at the ground, replying softly, "Boring. What have you been doing?"

Gesturing behind him, Natsu said, "Sparring with a few soldiers. Giving a few tips," he paused, "Ya know, this is more fun than I was thinkin' it'd be."

"I'm glad," Lucy replied with a genuine smile, "I was beginning to worry that you had already gotten yourself killed, but I guess you still have a bit too much life left in you. So I'll be heading back-" Natsu grabbed her wrist as she began to turn. A few soldiers stepped forward, but Lucy stopped them with a gesture, "He is a childhood friend, no need to worry about his intentions," she said to the confused and wary crowd.

Natsu, oblivious to their stares, continued, "Hey Luce, you should stay and watch me sparr."

Lucy smiled, only hesitating for a moment, before nodding. She gave little thought to the time or the situation because Natsu was there and he easily distracted her no matter what the situation was.

The soldiers brought out a chair for Lucy to sit on, unsure of protocol, but knowing royalty was to be provided with comfort at the very least. Lucy smiled, graciously accepting the things they gave her, like fresh water and slightly stale bread.

When the sparring finally began again, Natsu was up against what Lucy assumed to be one of their best.

This fight was much harder for her to follow as the speed and dust confused her thoughts. She only saw a few strikes here and there. The rest were just blurrs and Lucy was in utter awe.

Eventually, Natsu's opponent was unable to block a critical blow, and Natsu was deemed the winner.

Even though Lucy was deeply invested in the fight, she picked up some soldier's talk, hearing things like, "I can't believe he lost to some woman", "I could probably beat him if he didn't use those fancy tricks", and, "He probably only made it because he knows the princess. Three people forfeited the match against him. They must've been bribed."

Lucy could hardly believe what she was hearing, especially with a demonstration of skill like that in front of them. She wanted to call them out on it, but figured it'd be better for Natsu to just prove himself to them. She'd only step in if she needed to.

Natsu sparred a few others and Lucy just eventually tuned out the harsh words of the jealous soldiers as he won every fight.

She was beyond proud of Natsu, not only for training so hard to become so powerful, but for withstanding the mean comments so graciously. He was much more mature than he seemed.

As Lucy began to see color paint the skies, she knew it was time to go back inside. Natsu finished up and insisted on walking her to the castle. Lucy thanked the soldiers and quietly walked along the path beside the pinkette.

They listened to the sound of the tall grass in the wind as reds and oranges began to spread over the flowing hills all the way to the tips of far trees. Lucy sighed in contentment, causing Natsu turned his head to her.

Without a second thought, he took her hand in his. The princess almost tripped in surprise, but his hand held hers firmly, making sure she wouldn't fall.

Lucy tried to worry about being spotted like they were, but simply being in her friend's presence calmed her worries so easily. She smiled to herself as they carried on in comfortable silence, the content feeling washing over her chest as she squeezed his hand back.