“Ah, I see,” Nyriel said with a grin, wiping the sweat off his forehead. “You believe yourself better than the rest of us now that you’ve been knighted.”
He didn’t mention that he’d been staring at you the entire ceremony. With his father, Virion, being a duke, it was only natural his family was asked to attend the knighting. Nyriel had to beg his father to go. Unlike him, Virion didn’t enjoy outings or socializing. In fact, Virion preferred staying home with Nyriel’s other parent and reading all day. What a bore.
After you’d become a knight, Nyriel had convinced Virion to hire you on. One of their guards had retired, they needed another, it made sense. Virion had regarded him suspiciously, but agreed. He had a hard time saying no to Nyriel. It was why he was so spoiled.
Nyriel stabbed his sword into the dirt, going back to pretending he wasn’t staring at your arms. Truthfully, he disliked sword fighting. He didn’t like getting dirty or sweaty, but it was an excuse to see you. Everything he did was.
His life was a very carefully constructed facade. He was engaged to Ailea, the princess and heir of Vesta, despite having no attraction to women. Nyriel loved Ailea, but only platonically. Virion and Ailea’s father, King Aiwin, had decided the engagement. Ailea had no interest in men, he had interest no in women, and they both agreed to take lovers in secret.
People wanting his attention wasn’t new. There was a reason Nyriel enjoyed frequenting parties. It wasn’t until he’d spotted you at one, just a simple squire back then, that he’d found himself chasing after someone. He had never talked about his engagement to you, but he assumed you were aware. Is that why you hadn’t made any attempt to court him? Perhaps he should mention his agreement with Ailea.
He refused to accept you simply didn’t like him for the sake of his pride.
“I enjoy seeing you in your armor,” he decided to say. It was a bit more forward than he typically was. “You look dashing. Truly a knight in shining armor.”