unedited

“You know, Duke.”

“Yes.”

Rieta talked with her face buried in his shoulder.

With a voice filled with love.

“Actually, I never doubted that I was loved by the Duke. You always acted in such a way that I knew.”

It was short, but for a moment she heard a low laugh.

“I, too, have never doubted that the Princess regarded me as special.”

Lies, Rieta thought so.

Because she hadn’t been as kind as the Duke.

But now she decided not to call it out.

Instead, she decided that for the rest of her time, she would try to keep the Duke from doubting Rieta’s feelings.

To make him feel fully loved.

Just then, a knock came from outside the living room.

The wizards were ready, and they came to call the duke.

Feeling that it was the end for some reason, Rieta hugged Duke Mayer tightly.

I really like the Duke, she muttered.

“And, be careful. Duke.”

“Yes, I will probably be back tomorrow morning at the earliest.”

“What?”

“There are a lot of people in the Imperial palace who are on vacation, so I can’t be away for a long time.”

“Yes, but Darrel said it might take a few weeks . . .”

“Of course, it could have been like that normally.”

“I-I made a fuss for no reason. Sorry. I could have just waited a day.”

“No.”

He lightly removed Rieta’s body, looked at her, and replied.

“I like it now, too.”

Rieta responded with a bashful smile at his firm answer.

“Yes. I . . . I like it now.”

“Perfect.”

When he said that and smiled, everything really felt perfect.

* * *

After the Duke used magic to leave, Rieta returned to the Duke’s house in a slow-moving carriage.

There were several reasons for the carriage’s slowness, first of all, it was dangerous to drive fast in the dark of night.

And partly because the poor horses were a little weary.

So when she arrived at the front door, the moon was hanging in the middle of the night sky.

“Did you meet the Duke?”

Rieta nodded her head as the butler greeted her.

“Yes.”

“That’s a relief. More than that . . .”

“That’s right! The necklace, I managed to give it to Everett.”

The butler tried to bring up something else, but Rieta clapped her hands as if something had suddenly come to mind and she said it first.

“Thank you for helping me fix the necklace.”

She bowed slightly in homage, and the butler gladly accepted the thanks.

“What about Darrel, by the way?”

“Yes, he is doing the duties for the Duke. More than that . . .”

The butler tried to talk to her again.

But this time, too, Rieta did not listen to her butler’s story.

Perhaps because of something quite good, it seemed that other people’s words could not come in.

“Well, I have a question for Darrel. You know that the Duke is coming tomorrow, right?”

“The Duke is coming tomorrow.”

“I hurried because Darrel said it would take weeks. Anyway, it’s okay since I had a very perfect time with the Duke.”

Her words moved so quickly that the butler couldn’t find a chance to intervene.

Rieta then said that she was tired because she didn’t sleep last night and began to climb the stairs.

The butler had something to say to her, but somehow it didn’t seem like the time, so he decided to stop.

When she goes back to her room, she’ll find out.

Unaware of the butler’s feelings, Rieta yawned as she headed to her room.

Her whole body was sore and tired.

That was obvious.

She couldn’t fall asleep while repairing the necklace until dawn, and she infiltrated the academy and hurriedly went to the place where the movement magic circle was located.

Thinking that all this happened in one day, she was just amazed.

Is there anything else I need to do?

It seemed that there was nothing in her mind.

Rieta yawned once more.

She pulled the door open, wiping her teary eyes with her fingers.

A small candle was lit in her room.

It felt kind of eerie.

Who lit a candle in an empty room?

As she had a small question, something suddenly came to her mind.

“Don’t say anything, just wait quietly at the mansion.”

. . . Noel.

Come to think of it, they were supposed to meet at the mansion today.

Rieta found a black shadow sitting crookedly on her bed.

Anyone could see that it was Noel’s silhouette, so she cautiously approached.

He must have waited quite a while, judging by his annoyed face and his chin resting.

How should she explain it?