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Since he grew up under that kind of Duke, I could understand why Orion’s behavior was so perfect.
Rany looked at me and clicked her tongue as if I didn’t know anything.
“Try to think about it. There is a grown-up man in an environment where he meets with the knights in the drill hall everyday, but then a cute, pretty, lovely little sister entered his family.”
I sighed as the serious atmosphere had changed at some point.
We were talking about the prince, so how did the conversation topic jump to this?
While sighing, I tried to return to the topic.
“When you go back, you have to keep checking on Zen’s condition, and there are few that you should look into.”
We couldn’t use memos or letters.
This was sensitive yet difficult information to talk about carelessly.
To the point where I was worried to ask for a favor regarding this.
“If there’s a problem on the way, you should remove any traces of your inference right away.”
Despite several warnings, Rany replied to me by hitting her chest a few times, saying to believe in her.
“If the Master of the Rocke Merchant Guild guarantees it, the only thing we can’t do is change the throne.”
“. . .”
How scary is it to guarantee someone else’s debt.
What did your father do wrong?
* * *
After sending Rany, who went back confidently, the mansion became quiet again.
When I came down to have dinner, Sir Rune sat on Orion’s seat and welcomed me.
“Welcome.”
“What about Orion?”
“He is absent. I don’t know why, but he’s not present since this afternoon.”
“. . .”
He stared at me intently and drew a light smile.
He was certainly confident that I was the culprit behind Orion’s sudden outing.
I feigned innocence as I sat on my seat and shrugged.
“I’m sure something happened.”
“And that something has no relationship with our young lady, right?”
“You should be having dinner with the other knights, why did you come here?”
“I don’t want to leave you to eat alone. It’s good to have good dishes in this vast mansion, but on top of that, you need someone to eat together.”
My hand that was about to grab the spoon stopped at that.
Sir Rune pushed a plate to me while flashing a soft smile.
“It’ll be delicious if you eat it with this.”
I quickly asked as I saw his skillful unburdening movement.
“Do you have a little sister?”
“I do.”
Looking at my surprised face, he smiled bitterly and added,
“Although we never ate together like this.”
Without saying anything, I put the dish he gave to me to my mouth.
When the food that had cooled down enough to eat entered my mouth, my appetite soared up.
Thanks to that, I was able to concentrate on eating immediately despite the awkwardness.
I suddenly realized something while eating.
That he was not only used to serving others, but also perfectly well aware of the empire’s etiquette.
It was natural enough to believe he was this nation’s people if it was not for his exotic appearance.
I never heard if he is a mixed-blood though.
He only introduced himself as someone from a desert’s tribe.
Noticing that I was stealing glances, he smiled as he propped his chin.
“If my Lady looks at me like that, it will make my heart flutter.”
“Oh, sorry. I won’t look at you then.”
“Gosh, how sharp you are.”
As I closed my mouth because I felt like I was being teased, he continued without erasing his laugh.
“You can ask if there’s something you’re curious about. If I can’t answer, then I will tell you that I can’t answer it.”
I hesitated for a moment then chose an easy question.
“Why are you being nice to me, sir?”
Well, I heard that Orion had a big romantic idea about a little sister, but Sir Rune looked like he was far from that kind of idea.
He was indeed gentle, but looking at how he treated the knights, or how he treated Orion, he was someone who clearly drew lines between public and private matters.
“Am I similar to your sister?”
“Not at all.”
He answered firmly.
“The reason why I never have any proper dinner with my sister is because that kid always holds her knife and runs wild whenever she sees me.”
“. . . Sorry?”
“The times we were together was so thrilling.”
His eyes looked sentimental as if he was reminiscing the memories.
I looked at the man, who was smiling while reminiscing about knife fighting with his little sister, then quietly pushed the emptied plate to the side.
The maid who came to clean the plate asked me with a smiling face.
“Should I bring your dessert to your room?”
“Huh?”
“Now that you’ve finished your dinner, it is better for you to have dessert in your room. The air circulation in this place isn’t good.”
She, who was shaking her hand in the air as if there was dirty germs, looked at Sir Rune with murderous intent.
Then, she also retrieved Sir Rune’s plate with still remaining food there.
“Wait, I still haven’t-”
“Do you have to eat all of this? Do you want to eat more?”
The murderous intent in the maid’s eyes was lit up.
The dinner knife on her hand that certainly had never held a sword, looked very dangerous.
His little sister . . . is impossible.
There was no way this maid was the little sister who always shoved a knife whenever they met and had never eaten together, right?
With an alert gaze, I asked the maid, who took away Sir Rune’s plate.
“Can you bring the dessert to the prince’s room?”
Even after waking up from his long sleep, the prince kept staying in his room.
The one who truly was shocked mentally and in pain wasn’t me but the prince.
Sir Rune asked with a wretched expression.
“Will my dinner really end like this?”
I only shrugged once.
What’s the use of listening to a mischievous person?