CH 184

“. . . Ummm.”

Rieta rested her head on the sofa.

Anyway, when Rieta heard this news, she felt that she wanted to return to her country as soon as possible.

All she could do from this far away was worry.

But still, Rieta’s age was fifteen.

Without the permission of the Emperor, she could not freely leave this land.

“One more year.”

Rieta gently crumpled the newspaper.

In the meantime, please.

Please let nothing big happen to Liz.

* * *

“You were looking for me, Princess?”

In the late afternoon, Darrel, who returned to the mansion, visited Rieta.

“Darrel.”

Rieta jumped up.

“Sorry. You didn’t have to come on purpose. I was trying to find Darrel, but you’re busy.”

“Even if I came on purpose, it was only crossing the hallway.”

“But still.”

“Besides, I had something to offer.”

He held out the little box he had been carrying all along.

When she opened it, there was a dessert filled with cream.

Come to think of it, she remembered in today’s newspaper that there was a long line in front of the store selling this type of dessert because it was so popular.

“Did you go to buy this?”

“Nope.”

Darrel shrugged his shoulders slightly.

“I just got it as a gift by chance. I wanted to eat with the Princess.”

Rieta quickly removed the newspaper from the table, and she offered Darrel a seat.

The quick-witted maid hurriedly started preparing the tea.

“I have to thank the person who gave you the gift. Who was it?”

“Well.”

Darrel seemed a bit troubled by Rieta’s question, but of course it was not difficult to grasp the meaning.

Rieta had been living with him for several years already, and they had been really close in the last few months.

It looks like someone has confessed their feelings . . .

Darrel seemed to have refused again.

“Umm, Darrel’s eyes are too high.”

“Oh, is that so? I think it’s pretty normal.”

“Then it means that the number of people who have confessed to Darrel so far are not normal.”

“That is a different matter.”

Darrel nodded his head lightly to the maid who prepared the tea.

“They were all great people. If there was a problem, it was probably on my side.”

“What’s the problem?”

As Rieta asked persistently, he sighed for a moment and touched his forehead.

“What’s wrong?”

“No. I just thought that the Princess has grown up enough to question me about this.”

Because to him, Rieta was just a cute little girl scared of ghost stories.

“Oh, I apologize if I was presumptuous. Sorry.”

“It’s not like that. Of course you can ask. I always wonder if the Princess and Noel are doing well.”

Why did the topic of Noel come up all of a sudden?

Rieta tilted her head, unable to follow the conversation, and Darrel simply placed a piece of dessert in front of her.

The soft and fluffy cream seemed to have the taste of love.

“Is it delicious?”

“Yes, Darrel is a fool for rejecting a nice person who gives this as a gift.”

“You are finally admitting that I am not very smart.”

His gaze said, ‘Eat more.’

“But I have to go eat dinner soon. I can’t eat that much.”

“Don’t worry. In fact, the human stomach is divided into several parts, so the stomach for sweets and the stomach for meals are in different places.”

At the unbelievable argument, Rieta narrowed her eyes and looked at him.

“Are you serious about that? As the heir to the Duchy?”

“Uh, um . . . No. But I am speaking as the Princess’s guardian, so just listen carefully.”

As he replied brazenly, Rieta chuckled for quite some time.

But she soon realized one thing and stopped her laughter.

Darrel’s gaze . . . His eyes seemed to be filled with deep concern.

“Darrel . . .?”

“Ah, Umm. Sorry.”

He looked away slightly, and for a moment his eyes stayed on the newspaper that Rieta had put away.

Rieta now wondered why Darrel was staring at her. And she realized that he had made her laugh by saying this and that.

“I guess you must have read the newspaper. Right?”

“I read it every day.”

“Still, it’s a small, inconspicuous article. It’s like a ghost story where you don’t know where or how the story came from . . .”

“It’s pretty obvious where those words came from.”

“Obvious?”

“Perhaps they were merchants or gatherers who crossed the border from time to time.”

“Gatherer?”

“Oh, did I just say gatherer?”

Darrel asked with a surprised look. Rieta was stunned and nodded her head.

“It’s strange. That’s the secret of the Empire, and even if it’s unintentional, I told the Princess.”

He glossed over it moderately, ‘I think I have become too comfortable with the Princess.’

“Sometimes I do too. When I talk with the Imperial Princess, I will say everything without thinking.”

“I see. In any case, it is no wonder that the article about the Kingdom caught your eye. Just as the Princess reads articles about the Duchy very carefully.”