It hurt my pride.

When I looked down at Eutis with a condescending look, he choked up, and screamed.

“You!”

“What?”

When I turned to the familiar voice, I saw Sihael, standing with his head tilted a little.

“Bro, brother.”

“You, what. Tell me.”

Seeing the sweat on his forehead, he must have been looking for me. Eutis shuddered and looked away from his eyes, perhaps because he was afraid of Sihael.

But after a brief moment, the scared Eutis pushed his reddened wrist in front of him.

“That woman made my wrist like this! Look!”

“Hmm, that looks serious.”

“Right?!”

Contrary to the word “serious,” Sihael, who was looking at Eutis’ wrist with emotionless eyes, reached out his hand. And he took hold of his wrist,

Crack.

He twisted it.

“Aargh!”

“Well, I got it right again. Now are you satisfied now, Brother?”

“Ah, uh. It hurts so bad. Are you being so harsh with me because I touched your woman? That’s too much, Brother!”

Eutis, with tears dripping from the corners of his eyes, gave off a weird pitiful glow.

Was Eutis originally such a character?

‘He’s such a crybaby. He really whines a lot.’

Unable to see a grown man holding on to Sihael and whining, I pushed Sihael aside. Then, Sihael was meekly pushed away. Seeing this, Eutis forgot what he was screaming and blinked blankly. It seemed that he was very surprised to see the scary Sihael behaving calmly.

So what? You will be more surprised from now on.

“You know what, Prince?  I was quite famous in the Duchy of Katzel.”

Approaching Eutis, I murmured in an eerie voice that was quiet enough to be heard.

“They called me a mad dog that won’t let go once it bites.”

Eutis shook his shoulders, startled.  His golden eyes resembling Sihael lost their gleam and trembled, probably remembering what happened to him earlier.

“So in the duchy, everyone who saw me was busy hiding. If you were bitten by me, you had to break something to get out.”

“Bro-brother, is this woman out of her mind?”

Eutis, frightened by the continuous threatening words, hid behind Sihael using him as a shield.

But there was one thing Eutis overlooked.

That Sihael was on my side.

Sihael grabbed Eutis by the collar and dragged him in front of me. I smiled at Eutis, who was sweating coldly.

“Next time, don’t play with your hands carelessly. Understood?”

“Ugh.”

I lightly patted Eutis on the shoulder and turned my back. I then held Liliana’s arm in one hand and Sihael’s arm in the other.

Eutis shouted from behind.

“Hey!  Next time we meet, I won’t leave you alone!”

People who say such words usually never act on their words. Ignoring Eutis’s words completely, I left the garden leisurely.

“He’s a prince, will it be okay?”

“I know. I should have knocked him out by hitting the back of his neck instead of bending his hand. Then he wouldn’t have seen my face.”

But strangely, I wasn’t worried.

Was it because Eutis was like a child, unlike what I thought, or was it because I had someone strong like Sihael behind my back?

Maybe it was both.

“There’s nothing to worry about. Even if he looks like that, he’s a pretty smart guy, so he won’t wage a losing fight.”

“You know him very well. Seeing you earlier, you two seemed quite close. Are you both close?”

“What do you mean close?”

Sihael, who snorted, shook his head, as if he remembered the image of his pitiful younger brother. I didn’t know what Sihael thought of him, but Eutis seemed to like him a lot.

“Rosetta.”

“What?”

I struck my hand reflexively, surprised by the sudden touch on my cheek. When I turned my head, I saw Sihael’s hand floating in the air. Sihael, who opened his eyes wide, quickly apologized.

“Sorry. Were you surprised?”

“It’s alright. But why the cheek…?”

“To disinfect. That idiot touched your cheek.”

Sihael stretched out his hand once again and gently rubbed my cheek.  I was about to get rid of that hand, but when I saw Sihael’s rugged face, I lowered my hand.

‘Okay. I lost, I lost.’

I might give in once this time.

“Now is it done?”

“Not yet.”

The touches that I thought would end after rubbing once didn’t stop until my cheeks turned red.

“Your Highness, my cheeks are going to become swollen.”

“I think you’ll look cute even with a swollen face.”

Somehow, the body temperature of Sihael, who persistently stroked my cheek, was not bad.

“If you like it so much, you can press your own cheek.”

I managed to push away the mischievous Sihael’s hand and accelerated my steps to avoid being caught by him. It was just when we arrived at the entrance to the garden.

A thought struck me and I looked at Liliana.

“Ah, Liliana. Didn’t you say you were looking for someone?”

“It’s all right now. She came looking for me like a prince.”

“Could it be me?”

As I pointed her finger at me, Liliana nodded her head in response.

“Why me?”

“My Lady, congratulations on becoming an adult. I have been looking for you to tell you this.”

Seeing her eyes folded like crescent moons, I touched my tickling fingertips. The fact that she came to the garden just to say congratulations was so cute  that it tickled my heart. My first same-sex friend was such a sweet person. I was obviously one lucky woman.

“Thank you so much for congratulating me. I’m happy.”

Liliana kept touching her cheek as if she was embarrassed by my fixed gaze. With a shy smile, she put a small bag in my hand.

“This is a small gift.”

“Have you prepared a present?”

I had already received too much. Half happy and half sorry, I opened the bag and opened my mouth wide.

‘Hey, how many scrolls are there?’