Herietta looked at Bernard with deep, wary eyes. Then she secretly pulled away from him. Seeing that, he laughed out loud.

“Wait a minute. It wasn’t that I liked you that way, it just meant that I liked you as someone I could talk with freely.”

Bernard explained. But Herietta hardly showed any signs of trusting his words.

“What’s with those eyes? You don’t believe me?”

“.....”

“It really is, truly. I swear to God, I’ve never seen you with any other intent.”

Bernard waved his hand and emphasized it again and again. It seemed very unfair that she misunderstood what he meant. His figure trying to make her understand somehow even made him look somewhat reverent.

As Bernard continued his firmness, Herietta relaxed her body a bit. Her sharp eyes softened, and her stiff shoulders started to descend.

“Then you should have said that from the beginning. I was surprised when you said something strange.”

“I admit I was a bit vague, but it is. But isn’t it also wrong for you to interpret it that way immediately?”

“Ask the people on the street. One hundred out of one hundred would have misunderstood you like me.”

Bernard complained that it was unfair, but Herietta did not lose. She shrugged her shoulders casually and started looking for sugar for the tea. Noticing what she was looking for, Bernard, without a word, pushed the sugar, which had been placed in front of him, towards her.

“By the way, isn’t Sir Knight busy?”

Herietta said with a smile in her eyes as a thank you.

“I don’t know much about that, so.... Aren’t knights usually so busy that they don’t even have time to close their eyes?”

“What are they so busy with?”

Bernard raised an eyebrow and asked back.

“That’s, I don’t know. Whether it’s morning training, a meeting, or performing a given task. There must be such things.”

“No. Everyone just pretends to be busy. No matter how busy they seem, there are a lot of people in this world who live without doing anything.”

Bernard snorted, and leaned against the back of his chair. His arms crossed and one leg folded and placed obliquely on top of the other leg looked very arrogant. Herietta, who had been pouring sugar with the teaspoon, narrowed her eyes a little.

“I don’t know. I think that might be too extreme.”

“It’s not extreme, it’s true.”

“Well. There was an old saying. You see what your eyes see.....”

“.... You are very ignorant of people.”

The man wrinkled his face and muttered in a growl. But Herietta pretended to ignore him and scooped out two tablespoons of sugar and poured it into her cup.

The white sugar melted in the clear brown tea. Herietta stirred the tea in the teacup using the teaspoon.

“The tea must have been cold?”

It’s been a while since the maid brought the tea out. The tea in the teapot was cold, not to mention the tea in the cup.

As Bernard wondered if he should order the maid to bring a new tea, Herietta picked up the cup without hesitation.

“It’s okay. I also like cold tea.”

Then, without time to stop her, she put her lips to the cup. Gulp. She drank the tea in one gulp. It was like drinking cold water.

Bernard looked at Herietta with a puzzled face. Her beauty didn’t stand out, but she was decent enough to look at. But that thought shattered the moment she opened her mouth.

“What’s wrong?”

Herietta, who had emptied the teacup in an instant, asked, wiping her mouth with the sleeve of her clothes instead of the prepared napkin. Whoever looked at it, it was far from elegance and nobility. Her behavior was so natural that it was doubtful whether all of Brimdel’s nobles were the same as her.

Bernard pictured in his mind the women that he knew. No matter how, he was royalty. He was also the only royal family to be born with a deficit among his brothers. No one had ever been so rude and selfish in front of him.

‘That’s why you misunderstood that I like you.’

Bernard chuckled. And in his heart, unless Herietta was the only woman left in this world, he was confident that he would never fall for her.

* * *

After leaving the garden, Bernard went straight to the study. His study was located in a little corner of the castle. He used it often as he did not want to be disturbed by others.

Bernard opened the door and entered the study. Inside the study, which he thought would be empty, there was a guest who came first. Noticing the presence of the uninvited guest, he paused and stopped walking.

“You’re here?”

A man wearing Velicia’s knight uniform greeted Bernard with a polite manner. It was Jonathan Coopert, one of Bernard’s escort knights.

Bernard’s expression softened as he checked the other person’s identity. He walked at a leisurely pace across the study to his desk.

“Since when have you been here?”

“Not long.”

Jonathan immediately answered his master’s question.

“In that case, where did you come from, Your Highness?”

“Ah, I did some flower viewing. To get some fresh air.”

Bernard, who answered indifferently, sat down. Flower viewing. Jonathan’s eyes narrowed at the words that didn’t suit him at all.

“Were you seeing that Brimdel’s handmaid by any chance?”

Janice Herietta Dolmorran.

She was the handmaid who accompanied the princess of Brimdel, who was to marry Bernard. She is the only survivor of the gruesome attack.

They never exchanged words, but Jonathan saw the woman a few times. When he first discovered her, she looked so terrible that he thought she was already dead. Even if she was treated, he wondered if she could survive.

However, it was probably thanks to the medical staff of the Velicia’s royal family who had excellent skills. Contrary to his expectations, her body seemed to be recovering little by little.

Bernard did not answer Jonathan’s question. Instead, he thought quietly about something and grinned as if something interesting came to mind.

“She treated me like a loafer.”

“What?”

“She said I keep coming to her for no reason, and she treated me like I have nothing to do.”

The royal family is a loafer! Jonathan was a little startled. It was true that Bernard, who was frankly indifferent and ruthless, had time to spare, but still there were things to say and things not to say.

“So did you charge her with the offense?”

“Aahh. I thought I should, but I lost track of time because I was just thinking about it.”

Bernard answered naturally to Jonathan’s cautious question.

Jonathan tilted his head. It was clearly a grave sin to utter a remark that was degrading to the royal family. He was worried that Bernard’s knight, him, might have to step forward and catch her.

Still, Jonathan couldn’t move. Because Bernard, who was the person involved, didn’t seem to feel bad at all.

What should I do? Jonathan pondered seriously, as Bernard tilts his head back and opens his mouth.

“Sir Jonathan.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

“Are you always busy?”

Bernard left no other explanation and asked only the main point. It was a question that he could hardly guess what was behind it. Jonathan blinked his eyes at him with a slightly dazed face.

“What do you mean?”

“She said that. She said that it is normal for Knights to lead a busy life.”

When Bernard refers to the person as ‘she’, he must also mean Brimdel’s handmaid again.

“She kept asking me why I was seeing her when I was always busy living my life as a knight.”

“.... Obviously we don’t have enough time.”

‘Especially, from a position where I have to assist you, Your Highness Bernard.’

Jonathan added quietly to himself. Hearing his words, Bernard exaggerated and gave a surprised look.

“Oh my. I guess I’ll have to give you a vacation first before you collapse from overwork.”

Bernard said with a playful look.

“If you look at all the laws, you don’t know how lucky I am to be a prince and not a knight. Even if I wake up from death, I will not be able to live as diligently as Sir Jonathan.”

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