Chapter 10

After they waited a little while, the Duke and Noel’s brother came in.

The four of them had breakfast together in a quiet atmosphere.

Rieta ate all the smooth soup, but this time she didn’t eat half of what was on her plate.

No way, did it not suit her taste?

Or is it possible to live by only eating that much?

‘I don’t think that’s it.’

The Duke, her guardian, went to work and thought he should ask the emperor, whose nickname is the daughter’s fool. (t/n: daughter’s fool means about a father who loves his daughter too much)

****

“You’re looking for a book on the Kingdom of Liz?”

When he was asked by a librarian of the royal library, Noel looked around for a moment and said yes.

Fortunately, there was no one around.

“There might be some books on the small bookcase, but you’d better not expect much.”

Few scholars wanted to study the culture or language of the small country.

Of course, even in a small country, topography, military features, and royal family ancestry were sufficiently researched.

Noel couldn’t see those records, however, because they were not open to the public.

The librarian took him to the “weak little country’s” bookshelf.

There were astonishingly few books about the Kingdom of Liz.

There were one old travel journal and three analyses of its linguistic characteristics, and there were about five books written in the kingdom’s language, which he could not read.

“Why is there so little information….”

He picked a travel book whose cover was titled ‘All About the Kingdom of Liz! Curious Things About the Territory.’

“I’ve found it.”

While checking out the book for Noel, the librarian kindly chatted with him.

“I heard that the princess of the Kingdom of Liz is with the Duke? I caught word that she is quite the beauty.”

His question sounded like, ‘Are you borrowing this book because you’re interested in the Princess?’

Noel’s face turned red since it was, somehow, embarrassing to be thought of that way.

“Now that I think of it, t-this isn’t the book I want to borrow.”

He uttered a strange squeak, taking a step back, and left the Royal Library as though he was running from something.

*****

Noel learned a monumental lesson from today’s ‘Library Incident.’

‘Let’s not be uselessly curious.’

He was the son of a Duke, the nephew of the Emperor, and a cousin of the future Emperor, so it was natural for other nobles to pay attention to his every move.

It was quite dangerous.

At any rate, there could have surfaced an unfortunate rumor that “Noel of the Ducal House was interested in the beautiful woman from the Kingdom.”

“Noel.”

He looked up at the call from the other side.

He saw Rieta holding a teacup.

It was a little inconvenient to have tea alone, but it couldn’t be helped.

This was his father’s order.

‘Converse an hour a day in the Imperial language.’

Although that didn’t mean that her flat pronunciation would improve.

As Rieta was unaware of Noel’s mental machinations, her blue eyes shone bright with smiles.

“Tea, do you like…tea?”

Ah. It was a good idea for her to use the new words she learned.

Her stuttering out sentences with poor pronunciation was a little cute.

“Well, not much.”

He replied with a slight glance.

Perhaps because his answer was beyond her knowledge, Rieta tilted her small head.

She probably didn’t know responses other than ‘yes’ and ‘no.’

So, he corrected his answer.

Anyway, he had to talk to her for an hour according to his father’s orders.

“No, I don’t like it.”

His sentences were shortened, but he couldn’t help it.

He thought she wouldn’t understand if he added more words.

“Noel, tea, doesn’t like.”

“Noel doesn’t like tea.”

As he corrected the sentence beautifully, her smile returned.

‘Why would a princess smile like this?’

Noel thought that Rieta was extremely annoying at that point.

The smiles of royals were supposed to be rare.

At least, he believed so.

“Noel doesn’t like tea.”

After following his words, she stared at Noel.

She always asked ‘Did I do well?’ with that face.

“…Well, perfect.”

“Perfect?”

“You’re good.”

“Ah.”

While she practiced ‘perfect’ several times, he glanced at the clock.

He prayed that time would go by quickly, and fortunately, heaven must have granted his wish.