As he drew his lips away from the princess's cheek, Siegfried gave her a lightly puzzled frown. Though he believed she enjoyed his kisses, that being a great part of why he gave them so often, those feelings were normally expressed with a reserved smile and a coy glance. Her gasped giggle startled him; it might not have been unpleasant, but it was certainly rare to her such open joy from her. Too rare, in fact, and so it was a desire to repeat whatever had called the sound from her that led to his inquiry, as much as curiosity had done.

“What is it, my princess...?”

She just shook her head, straightening cordially in her seat beside him. The throne room might have been empty, but she kept her airs drawn about her as well as she could, and seemed to be trying to pretend no sound had escaped her before now. However, her efforts were not completely successful, betrayed by the absence of a fitting excuse, and her awareness of what she lacked, which made her  hesitate before she addressed his question at all. “Nothing. I was just... startled.”

The prince dipped his head to the side thoughtfully, his feathery hair flopping to partially cover his eyes, though he was careful to keep his curiosity from causing him to lose his crown. If she would not give him a proper answer, then he would merely have to make the discover for himself. The matter would, it seemed, require some measure of investigation. He leaned toward her again, treating her to another kiss, and he might have lingered if she had not pulled away with another gasp. Her hand covered part of her neck, slender fingers shielding the ivory skin. His eyes widened, and it was hard to say whether the light or his own inspiration flashed in the gold.

Whichever it was, she easily caught his change of expression, and regarded him with poorly concealed wariness as she made another attempt to collect herself, but it was even less successful than the first had been, with her lips pressed too taut. She glared at him, without any true anger behind it.

“Really, my prince...” She sighed, but it was perhaps the first time he had heard her have to force primness, and she lowered her hand to smooth her skirts rather fussily, although they did not need it. She seemed to suffer from the belief that her dignity was at stake, but he thought her laughter was far more important than that. In fact, though he heard her, he paid little attention to the reprimand. He had turned his gaze down at his own court apparel, running a hand over one of the long feathers that adorned his collar.

He did not have to look up at her for her to know he was smiling. It was undisguised in his voice, in his evident wonder at what he had come to suspect.  “Rue... are you ticklish?”

There was but an instant of pause. Siegfried had no expectation of a straight answer, or indeed, any answer, while she found herself faced with a choice: leap from her throne in an obviously ruffled fashion, or attempt to face him without wavering when he took a more direct interest in uncovering the matter. She warned him with a look that would have simply frozen anyone else. But her prince had always been such a warm person, and so when his fingertips brushed over her neck, held up by pride as it had been, she collapsed into laughter. “M-my prince... don't...”

He chuckled musically, a decidedly mischievous tint coloring his bright smile now. To think his princess, the striking beauty with more elegance than any true swan, would have such a simple way to draw a smile from her. It was nothing he would ever have suspected, and he rather loved it, as another part of her had not seen before. Also, it certainly harmed nothing that she was utterly adorable when she laughed. He ran a hand over her stomach, and she doubled over, giggling enough to make her struggle for breath.