Rashid only shrugged indifferently despite seeing how shocked I was through the slightly opened door.

“Come out now.”

“What? W, why, all of a sudden…”

“You don’t want to?”

He definitely didn’t look like he was here to capture a sinner or put an end to whatever it was. Instead, his neatly combed back blonde hair turned him into a gentleman, a side of him that I’ve never seen before. On top of that his navy blue uniform, silver epaulette, and the sword that I haven’t seen in a while; he looked like a prince that had walked out of a comic book.

I was flustered at his unfamiliar look, but his next words were not gentlemanly at all.

“I’ll go in then.”

Seriously, what is he doing?

I may be a widow living all alone, but wait. Shouldn’t he refrain from coming over unannounced? I was honestly confused at this point in time. I tried to not think too much into it, but logically speaking, there was only one of two reasons someone would come knocking the other party’s door unannounced.

Enemies trying to capture a sneaky little rat, or a couple missing each other all day.

“…Catherine. What’s with that weird expression now?”

Of course, there’s no way. There’s no way it would be the latter. He doesn’t even reflect on his actions and instead put the blame all on me, labeling me the strange woman. I then thought of a third explanation.

‘He’s just really a do-whatever-I-want-whenever kind of guy, huh.’

This would explain all of his actions. Feeling much more as peace, I gently covered Haniel with a blanket, who was still sound asleep in the basket. Selene was beside her, but was still angered at the humiliation since she was brought along out of nowhere.

[Hmpf, seriously. Where has all my luck ran to? I’m not even trying to leech on my master’s wealth or ride on her virtue… I only wish to sleep whenever I want but I can’t even do something so simple. Sighhh.]

“…”

Did you think I had a good sleep?

I was left speechless at Selene’s grumblings but I could only swallow my dissent in front of Rashid. Knowing full well that I coud only remain silent in this situation, Selene continued with her one person conversation.

[I’m saying this because I feel that it’s too much. Sir Darren is holding a swimming lesson for adults since it’s the weekends but…]

“Ha!” I snorted reflexively.

“Is that directed towards me?” Rashid’s head stiffened at my sudden reaction.

Selene then openly feigned ignorance and went on to fluffing her own feathers, blatantly saying ‘let’s see how you deal with him on your own’.

“…No, it’s not. Of course not. I’ve got too much going on in my head while watching them…”

“Is that so? Speaking of which, I’ve got something in mind as well.”

“What is it, Your Majesty?”

Thinking of which, Rashid’s gaze was fixated at the basket. Somehow, his eyes had voluntarily stayed on Haniel; I unknowingly swallowed while observing his reaction.

“That bird… Your daughter, Reina.”

“Yes, what about her?” My princess. If she knew her brother was talking about her, she’d be scared out of her wits. I covered her ears gently, hoping that she would sleep all the way. On the other hand, Selene did not forget to stuck out her tongue at me.

‘Aigoo, she’s seriously!’

“I’ve never thought of her to be particularly cute or pretty before.”

Hmm? Two words that I’ve never thought would come out from a man like Rashid appeared. As my eyes widened in disbelief, Selene too turned her head around.

“Ah… I see. What about her?”

“She looks better when put together with that speckled thing.”

Ohhh, Your Majesty. I never knew his straightforwardness could be so refreshing. I stifled my laughter by covering my mouth, while the speckled thing, no—Selene croaked while clutching her chest.

“Is it because she looks ordinary?”

“Caw!”

Selene had both feet up in the air by now after getting completely shot down and cleaned out by the deboner. Ahhh, it’s great that I followed him out today.

Rashid looked at me, unhappy at my biting on my lips holding back my laughter and my trembling shoulders. I’m not sure if he knew that my reaction would just turn for the worse when he’s speaking in such a serious tone, but his gaze returned to me.

“What. Is this because I made fun of your bird—daughter’s friend?”

“N-no, definitely not!”

“You’re the Majesty. God’s representative and the empire’s Sun; of course you’re free to do whatever you like.”

Hmm. Though I’ve given him a deft answer, there was still suspicion in his eyes. But my usually bright smile made him looked away, with his fingers crossed.

“Well, since you’ve said so, I’ll do whatever I like then.”

But, that pleasantness wouldn’t last long. And that was a huge flaw of his. Now I know why I had that creepy feeling crawling up my body. It was time for me to return to reality.

“Uhh, but where are we going right now?”

“Curious?”

“Well, yes. You came to find me so early in the morning, so there must be something relatively important.”

In fact, I felt slightly resentful. I haven’t had a good night’s sleep for several days now since I had to protect Haniel, my eyes were even blurry now. This shouldn’t happen now.

Even though I’m on the same carriage as His Majesty, I shouldn’t lower my guard….