unedited

“Uhh.”

He scratched his head for a while. His chest felt stuffy.

He wondered how he could explain all this to Rieta.

“Listen. This is my sincere advice as your friend.”

“Huh.”

“Don’t let others stay by your side too easily. Anyone.”

“It has been like that until now anyway.”

Noel was stunned by the answer that she just said out without much emotion.

“The Princess had appeared with Hewitt and McLean on either side?”

“The two of them have been meeting me quite often lately. We went to the lake together.”

“What, why are you going to the lake with them!”

He hadn’t heard of them going with Rieta to the lake.

There was no doubt that the two predator men had kept it a secret from Noel.

The lakeside was one of the best dating spots in the capital city.

“Because the weather was too hot, so we practiced the play there.”

“You are joking. Wouldn’t the Duke’s mansion be cooler?”

“We only found out about it when we got to the lakeside. Thanks to that, I couldn’t even practice and fell into the water.”

Rieta laughed and talked about what was so funny, but Noel wasn’t amused at all.

On the contrary, whenever the events were revealed one by one, only anger soared in him.

He wished he could just tie this rowdy girl right next to him.

He didn’t think she’d be able to realize how dangerously she was acting.

Of course, if Noel actually had Rieta tied up, diplomatic problems could arise, so he couldn’t actually do that.

“It might be . . . better to keep your distance, Rieta.”

So he chose a peaceful way.

A persuasive way.

“Distance? With them?”

“Okay.”

Rieta asked.

Unlike before, Noel’s face did not reveal much emotion.

Maybe it’s because he was sincere.

“Perhaps it is because of my return to the Kingdom? Being acquainted with the capital’s aristocrats . . .”

“No. Not that.”

“Then?”

Noel seemed hesitant for a moment when he heard Rieta’s question, but then he carefully opened his mouth.

“That . . . What if Hugh McLean has . . . str, strange thoughts about you?”

In fact, in Noel’s eyes, it already seemed that way.

“What?”

However, judging by the look on Rieta’s face that she didn’t know why, she seemed to feel nothing at all.

“Hugh McLean having strange ideas? It can’t be.”

“Why couldn’t it be?! Huh?! When you’re—!”

Stunned, Noel screamed without realizing it, and then almost said embarrassingly that Rieta was very pretty.

It was fortunate that he came to his senses quickly.

“. . .”

After a rather long silence, Rieta sat down on the bed and asked.

“What am I?”

“. . . Nothing.”

Noel sighed and turned his head away. He regretted saying something useless.

“What do you mean?”

Even so, Rieta persistently inquired.

“Noel?”

“. . . Annoying girl, really.”

“You have to speak properly. It’s not that I’m annoying, it’s that Noel doesn’t talk properly.”

Despite his annoyed muttering, Rieta refuted clearly.

“Will you listen to me properly after I tell you?”

“It’s something I’ll decide after hearing it.”

“Can’t you feel that I really care?”

Rieta giggled at his question.

“Don’t laugh!”

“But Noel’s story is somehow interesting.”

“It’s interesting at all! Don’t you know it’s a serious story?!”

“Yes, I have no idea.”

Rieta gave a long yawn, and dropped her body across the bed.

Her eyelids felt heavy.

Now that Noel had come to the mansion, she has been wanting to talk all night, just like she did when she was little.

“Are you sleepy?”

“Yes, a little bit.”

“You have no loyalty.”

Noel’s criticism was somehow cute, so Rieta laughed bashfully.

Soon his hand tickled her white cheek.

“If you go to sleep now, I will scribble on your face.”

“Uh.”

Noel’s words are probably not mere threats.

Even when he was little, he had left scribbles on Rieta’s face while she was sleeping.

Rieta reflected on the situation at that time.

What did he write . . .

‘Guess a guest.’ Perhaps he wrote that on her forehead . . . ?

She doesn’t know why he wrote such meaningless words.

“Let me sleep. I’m tired.”

“After hanging out with other guys?”

Rieta laughed a little at his criticism.

“Why are you laughing? Is that something to laugh about?”

“Yes, because Noel is cute.”

Noel immediately frowned at her nonsense.

However, her voice, like a sleepy tantrum with the end of the word slightly stretched, was so cute that he couldn’t resist.

“. . . Bad girl.”

Except for tapping Rieta on the cheek for no reason.

Even though he continued to bully her like this, Rieta’s reaction dulled little by little. She was probably falling asleep.

“Don’t you have any vigilance?”

As he asked for no reason, she only answered by calling her name “. . . Noel.”

She must have fallen asleep while trying to talk about something.

Thus, Rieta’s lips parted slightly as if calling out his name.

As he was watching it, he couldn’t help but feel something strange.