Chapter 72

. . . He couldn’t find a good reason as to why Rieta shouldn’t be making friends.

“You don’t need any other friends besides me!”

At his cry, Rieta opened her eyes wide and tilted her head slightly.

‘To hear Noel speak so childishly . . .Well, he was still young.

So Rieta decided to answer according to his level.

“But Noel has a lot of friends besides me, right? That is unfair.”

“If you want to use a difficult word, pronounce it right. Why do you say ‘unfair’ with that flat pronunciation?”

“Because it is unfair. Noel is always writing letters to Count McLean. You do have friends besides me, don’t you?”

“You, you . . . !”

When the word ‘McLean’ came out of Rieta’s mouth, Noel was so startled that he jumped to his feet.

“How do you know, Count, Count McLean!”

Moreover, the pronunciation was surprisingly accurate.

As though she had called that name many times.

“I saw it.”

“Did you peek at my letter?!”

“I’m a Princess. I don’t do that.”

She had merely read what was written on the envelope in Noel’s hand.

‘Hugh McLean’

In fact, when Rieta first read the name, she was unsurprised.

She knew that Hugh McLean, the male lead, and Noel Mayer, the supporting male lead, had been friends since childhood.

But actually witnessing the two of them exchanging letters . . . It was a little weird.

“Anyway.”

Noel looked at Rieta, wearing a wary face for some reason.

“You can’t make friends just because someone’s a little friendly at the party.”

“Then how do I make friends?”

“Of course, it has to go through the Duchy’s strict scrutiny. You are now under the care of Duke Mayer.”

They will have to go through document screening, then three rounds of interviews.

Of course, Noel intended to drop them all in the document screening.

“Pfft~”

Rieta started to laugh a little at his words.

He was sincere, what’s so funny about it?

“Oh, don’t laugh! It’s ‘simple’*!”

“Simple?”

He cried out, covered his mouth and began weeping exaggeratedly. “Your flat, ugly pronunciation has been transferred to my graceful speech!”

“Is it my fault?”

“Then whose fault is it? I mean, who else around me has that flat pronunciation other than you?”

“Then shall we play quietly? A puzzle or something.”

Noel’s face turned blue at the word ‘puzzle’.

He still hadn’t found the piece of the wooden puzzle that Rieta had lent him.

“Uh . . . Nope.”

He quickly waved his arms.

“Let’s play while talking. You have to speak to improve your Imperial language.”

“But the flat, ugly pronunciation is contagious.”

“Who dares to make fun of your pronunciation? Who?!”

And he suddenly began to defend Rieta’s pronunciation.

“That’s a good pronunciation with the Kingdom vibe! It is something to be proud of as a Princess of a country!”

Fortunately, Noel knew how to defend the Kingdom’s pronunciation.

At his sudden change of attitude, Rieta narrowed her eyes and looked at him.

“You know, Noel, I’ve felt it before.”

He would suddenly be kind when Rieta just said the word ‘puzzle’.

He would also be very noisy.

Until now, she used to use the word ‘puzzle’ partly because it was interesting.

But by this time, she started to wonder what was going on beyond that word.

Where else in the word ‘puzzle’ surprises him so much?

“What did you say before? I’m a genius? I, I know!”

“. . .”

He was trying so hard.

It seemed that he was somehow trying to avoid her interrogation, so Rieta decided to stop asking him questions.

Besides, she could subdue Noel with a single word, so he could stay like this for the time being.

“I know, Noel is a genius. You’ve already solved the puzzle I lent you, right?”

When she asked that question, his face turned blue again.

Rieta thought Noel was cute, and she laughed again.

* * *

Rieta hastened her preparations to meet the Princess.

The Duke passed on the story to the Imperial family so that Rieta could attend the birthday party.

She decided on her dress with the help of the maids.

She didn’t forget to take intensive lessons on ‘party etiquette’ with the teacher, of course.

It was really hard. It was much more difficult than Rieta had thought.

It carried meaning with every single little gesture, any eye contact.

How the hell do you memorize all this?

“You don’t have to memorize everything. You just have to avoid behavior that is disrespectful.”

Things like turning your head away when eyes meet and ignoring the other person.

With such simple manners, Rieta would be able to behave herself.

The preparations progressed so slowly, but there was still one thing.

The most important thing was not resolved.

She had yet not chosen the Princess’s birthday present.

*) Rieta used to mispronounce ‘sincerity’, so I changed it to ‘simplicity’ since it’s slightly the same.