How far did they go? Perhaps, it was because they were moving quickly on horseback, they arrived at the mouth of the village much faster than the carriage.

“Can we send a repairman before sunset?”

“I will look for it.”

The twins talked to each other and waited for his permission. However, Kiehl was looking at Bella as if honey would drip from his eyes.

The twins’ faces rotted seeing him like that.

“Wow… I can’t get used to this.”

“Find a repairman. I’ll find an inn or something.”

* * *

“Can you lower your head a bit?”

He was being so considerate and never thought that riding in front would make them feel more like lovers.

‘Rosanne wasn’t able to do that either…’

It wasn’t that she hated the strange pounding of her heart though she felt a little guilty. The two-hour journey by carriage was almost doubled. Still, that time felt like an apocalypse to Bella. She stiffened her shoulders for that brief moment as she tensed up so much.

As soon as they reached the mouth of the village, she called Kiehl’s name again in a strange voice.

“…Bella?”

“Nothing. Let’s get, get down. It’s, it’s hot.”

It was still a chilly spring, and it was still hot despite the cold wind while running on her horse. Suddenly, Kiehl got off his horse the next moment and glanced up at Bella before placing his hand on her waist.

“….!”

“What’s wrong?”

Even though she flinched in surprise, Bella tried to pretend not to.

“What… are you doing?”

He smiled meaningfully and took her hand.

“Aren’t you going to get off?”

As she barely turned one leg away, Kiehl released his grip on her hand and pulled her by the waist. It was like he was pulling her down, but gently. Knowing knew how fast her heart was beating, he asked with a mischievous laugh as he locked Bella in his arms.

“Are you nervous?”

“Yes. It was my first time riding a horse.”

“Aha.”

Bella fanned her hands and hurriedly turned to the twins.

“Twins…! Where are we going to stay? Let’s eat!”

* * *

Meanwhile, the demons were having their own games near the broken carriage.

“It was a good thing I sent the Miss away.”

Jenkins praised Iwer for some reason. At that, she glanced at him and smiled meaningfully, “Now, with Sir Zanbar…”

“I’ll take care of it.”

He bluntly cut off her words and turned around. Looking at his back, Iwer imitated him.

“If you know, that’s fine.”

“Iwer! By the way, does Iwer agree with the Jenzan couple?”

Pur opened her eyes and asked Iwer.

“Well, I’m a dream demon, so any love story is good.”

“That’s what the dream demon says. All the bears died because of Jenkins!”

At those words, Iwer laid down like a joke, then jumped up and sat down.

“Ah… that’s.”

Lucit, Jenkins’ mother, was a bear like Pur. She was the most trusted among the generals and a colleague and friend whom Zancar respected.

And, the Demon King’s companion.

Then, one day, suddenly, something called ‘son,’ a concept that was not in the demon realm, appeared, and it was supposed to be a half-demon that was created with a human.

In the first place, ‘playing with love’ was ridiculed as a low-key game done by dream demons. However, it hurt a demon’s self-esteem that she was involved with a human who was insignificant to demons.

“Well, with all the bears dead, you can be by the Miss’ side, right?”

The bear tribe was annihilated, and whether the previous demon king had any conscience, the last remaining bear tribe member, Pur, was spared.

…And, when he hibernated.

He came to Pur, who had no help from anywhere and had not learned to speak, before appointing her as the successor’s maid. No one knew the intentions of the previous Demon King. Later, if Bella inherited all of the Demon King’s powers, only she would know.

“Then, I must like Jenkins!”

Fortunately, Pur was simple and seemed to understand strange logic well.

“I should support them, too!”

“Yes, yes. What’s good is good, huh?”

Iwer liked that Pur was always so bright and a little lacking. Although she only used her to gain the trust of the next Demon King.

“Then Pur, are we going to bet?”

“Yes!”

“I bet that the two of them are sleeping!”

“Me, too!”

“We can’t both bet on the same thing!”

* * *

Kiehl went out with Rio.

Since this was the former territory of Marquis Vivre, it was now one of the territories that Kiehl had to manage.

“The repairman will come with me at dawn tomorrow morning.”

Rio took care of things he didn’t have to care about. Skimming around the village, Kiehl was at the documents he had prepared.

“Isn’t it a lot smaller than I thought?”

It was a small town where the Lord did not have a separate place to stay for a while. He heard that the people mostly gather in the inn without a town hall.

“Why do they get taxed so much?”

Kiehl frowned.

“Rio, call the Imperial Palace and tell them to organize an investigation team.”

Even the villages he saw with his own eyes were collecting too much tax in comparison to their scale.

“Ah. While we’re at it, I’ll have to secretly investigate all the land of the empire.”

“….”

“It will take some time, but I will set up a manager in the middle to check if the tax paid to the lords matches the report to the Imperial Palace…”

Kiehl muttered, and his eyes met Rio’s. It was disconcerting to see him with very bright eyes.

“What’s wrong?”

Rio was genuinely worried.

When he first saw Bella, he thought she was, as Kiehl said, ‘an angelic person.’ Especially when he caught a glimpse of her running around in the garden, when she put a fork in her mouth and glared at food with a desire to eat more, he even thought that she absurdly looked like Rosanne.

—“Are you worthy of living these days?”

However, there was murderous energy lingering in her laughter.

—”What are you looking at? Is this the first time you’ve seen it broken?”

Rather, she looked like a gangster—as Jenkins said. He was worried about how his master might have fallen in love with a dangerous person. Besides, Kiehl looked at Bella as if he was going to give his heart and soul to her.

“I thought since you fell in love with Miss Bella, things went off the table.”

At that, Kiehl frowned.

Even though he did feel like he wanted to get rid of everything and just stay by Bella’s side, he knew well that if he didn’t do his job, the blame would eventually go to her. So, because he was afraid that his work would be delayed because he was going to Cruelle, Kiehl didn’t care about staying up all night.

“By the way, Miss Bella, where do you like her? She was definitely different from Rosanne…”

“Do you mean, if she were different from Rosanne, she would have nothing to like?”

“Oh, no. Not like that.”

At the sharp question, Rio rambled and waved his hand.

“Ah… I’m, I’m going to have a drink.”

“Is it time for a drink? When you enter the inn, first send a letter to the Imperial Palace.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Kiehl turned the horse’s head.

‘Where do I like…’

Did it make sense to say that he couldn’t even say it when he looked at her? From head to toe, there was nothing he didn’t like.

Then, he thought of Bella, who had been in his arms on the horse. The small body pounding and tickling. She must have been quite nervous, so much strength was put on her shoulders. The red-tinted cheeks were cute and lovely.

Was it true what Iwer said a long time ago?

—“Even if you do, those beasts don’t feel emotions! This is the best way!”

Surely, it might be better to give her heart a beat with a gesture like this than to impress her with delicious food and nice clothes.

Nonetheless, Kiehl didn’t want to.

He was afraid she’d break it if he treated her carelessly. Not a single failure was tolerated in this love. Because Bella was so precious to him, he didn’t want his hasty and immature greed to make everything go wrong.

When they got back to the inn, Rio opened the door wide.

“Rio, go up and the Imperial Palace…”

And unexpectedly, Bella was in front of his eyes.

“Bel…la?”

Her face was as red as her eyes.

“Why are you here now?”

He still couldn’t tell if the beating heart was hers or his.

“I’ve been waiting for you.”

The next moment, she leaned in his arms as if she was about to melt before opening her mouth, “You know how much I love you, right?”

“…What?”

Her scent was very intoxicating.

* * *

While Kiehl and Rio went on a brief scout, Bella sighed heavily as soon as she arrived in the same room as Rinne. Those gestures and eyes like that from a while ago. These things are real… It felt strangely like a lover.

‘Will Rosanne hate me?’

She experienced things she shouldn’t, she spent Kiehl’s childhood. For some reason, in the axis of the antagonist that Kiehl had to defeat, she felt like a villain that Rosanne had to deal with.

‘She doesn’t seem to hate me because of her personality.’

Because Rosanne in the novel was such a gentle and kind child that she looked like a saint, she even insisted on pardoning Shuria Cruel for poisoning her.

Thinking that, Bella muttered to herself as she flopped on the bed, probably exhausted, too.

“Uaah… I want to have a drink…”

A drink…

Come to think of it, Bella had never had a drink since she possessed this novel. The time she returned to the Demon Realm was when she was an adult.

“Shall we have a drink then?”

“What? Oh, you can’t.”

“Why?”

“Kiehl doesn’t like drinking during his travels.”

It was an unfamiliar thing to Bella. Kiehl was old enough to drink. She knew that, but why couldn’t she imagine that?

‘I want to drink because we are talking about drinking.’

She also enjoyed drinking quite a bit in her previous life.

Ever since she became a police officer, whenever she worked hard or had a hard time, Bella would buy a few cans of beer at the convenience store on her way home from work. When she got home, she watched a movie on her laptop and fell asleep while chewing squid.

The more she thought, the more her mouth watered, so she suggested.

“Is it okay if he doesn’t find out?”

She didn’t think Kiehl was going to scold her just because she would be caught. However, even up to this point, there were things that Bella did not put into the calculation.

It was the first time she drank alcohol with that body.

…And, habits were scary.

__