/
When the crying subsided, it was quiet again.
Noel told the story of his past in a muffled voice.
He told her about his fears.
Rieta stroked Noel’s black hair, and she listened.
And she thought . . .
Could it be that Noel’s obsession was created by fear . . .?
But that wasn’t something Rieta could fix.
His mother’s incident was the worst disaster ever to happen, and that ‘accident’ was in fact something that could happen again anytime, anywhere.
So Rieta couldn’t say, ‘It’s okay now’ with a light heart.
“. . . Noel.”
All she could do was call his name and hug him.
“I’m . . . a fool, right?”
At Noel’s question, Rieta shook her head.
“Incorrect.”
He tilted his head slightly. His face was messed up with tears.
“Father and brother are fine now, but it seems like I’m making a fuss alone.”
“Now that you say that, Noel seems a little silly.”
Noel tried to get angry at Rieta’s slurred reply.
He couldn’t do that in the end.
“. . ..”
“It can’t be okay. It’s not anyone else, but the Duke and Darrel. Of course, Noel knows them better than I do.”
Noel’s expression became complicated.
It seems that he was upset about yelling at his father and older brother.
Whatever it was, it was because he was really nice.
Rieta smiled slightly and opened her arms a little again.
“Would you like me to hug you again?”
Noel glanced at Rieta from top to bottom, then stepped back in horror.
“Never mind! Don’t hug me while treating me like a baby.”
If she couldn’t treat him like a child while hugging him, what kind of treatment should she give him?
Rieta slowly lowered her arms.
For some reason, the atmosphere was a bit awkward.
At this point, she wished someone would show up and make Noel laugh with an interesting story.
Growl~
Surprisingly, Noel’s stomach did a great job.
He quickly shook his head violently as his arms wrapped around his stomach.
“No, not me!”
But his stomach doesn’t seem to agree with that opinion.
Groooowl~.
As it starts to growl with an even more intense sound.
“I think something similar happened.”
Rieta smiled bashfully as she recalled her past.
Of course, the situation was the other way around, and it was Rieta’s side who was hungry.
“It’s not similar at all?”
Noel groaned and put down the luggage he had left on the window sill.
“Because I won’t eat sugar or anything like I did back then.”
He sat down by the window and unpacked.
“An educated gentleman does not dip his finger in sugar.”
At that time, the Duke mumbled the Kingdom language that Noel had used as a punishment.
Rietta squatted down next to Noel and smiled wildly.
“Noel, your pronunciation is strange.”
“Your pronunciation of the Imperial language is also strange.”
After exchanging offensive words with each other, the sandwich in the luggage was revealed.
But there was a problem.
The thing is that the bread and the contents were pressed and pushed by other stuff, and the shape was completely ruined.
“The sandwich is strange too.”
Noel sighed and picked up the damp bread.
“I saved it to eat while going out.”
“You’re eating it at home now?”
“Who to blame?”
Noel ate the sandwich in an instant and picked up another slice.
Of course, this one was also pressed and burst, and the shape was strange.
“I feel a little . . . better?”
“I don’t know. Once I eat something, I felt a little better.”
Noel put down the luggage and took a deep breath.
He wanted to run out of the mansion with this luggage again, but he decided to stop because it seemed that this foolish Princess would be chasing after him.
“Because our Princess can’t live without me.”
He added that it was annoying and yanked Rieta’s hair ribbon again.
It was always fun to see her long hair swaying and falling.
It was pretty too.
“Noel could not live without me either.”
Rieta grunted and took back her ribbon.
Noel was really stubborn and didn’t know much about grace.
All he could do is make fun of a good friend who cared for him all morning.
“I don’t know if the female lead can keep up if you keep bothering her . . .”
Noel asked, “What?”
“You don’t have to know.”
Rieta turned her head in a pout.
Then she saw that someone had left bread and soup by the door.
Perhaps they had secretly left it while the two were arguing.
Was it Darrel?
Was it the Duke?
No, maybe it was both of them. She didn’t know.
At that moment, she heard the noise of Noel’s stomach being hungry again, so Rieta grinned.
* * *
The next morning.
The Duke made all the servants who were trying to wake Noel return to their posts.
He was thinking of letting him sleep a little later today.
Because it seemed as though he had been having a hard time until dawn.
He carefully turned the doorknob and looked into Noel’s room.
The scorching sun was shining in the room, which was surprisingly messy.
Objects were placed randomly everywhere, and on the table was a bowl with the remaining soup stuck to it.
While looking at such a scene, the Duke smiled a little.
I’m glad you ate it, he thought.
And soon he looked up at the children sitting on the sofa
Rieta and Noel had fallen asleep with their heads touching.