/
When Dorothea coughed, Clara hurriedly brought her water.
Dorothea drank the water and barely managed to calm her breathing.
‘Why does Clara have such a good hunch?’
‘How did she know that Ethan likes me?’
“I just choked
”
“Yes, I know, Princess.”
Clara looked at Dorothea and smiled.
‘It was a truly mocking smile!’
“How did you know
 that Ethan liked me?”
When Dorothea finally spoke frankly, Clara smiled as if she’d known it was coming.
“Did the master express his feelings to the princess in a day or two?”
Clara said, putting the glass of water on the tray.
“Ethan expresses his feelings?”
“That brooch. Who would give a gold brooch to the opposite sex when he has no heart?”
‘This
 It’s because of the spirit stone.’
“What do you mean ‘a day or two’? So you knew for a long time?”
Clara’s eyes lit up meaningfully at Dorothea’s question.
“I’ve been noticing it since you were in the detached Palace.”
“What?”
Dorothea’s eyes widened.
”What happened with Ethan when I was in the detached palace? We were so young, nothing had happened.’
“Master Ethan, he came almost every week as if he were going to work.”
“Well, Ethan didn’t have any friends other than me.”
‘He was the ghost of the Duke family, so I was the only person he’d come to see.’
“Yes. Until then, I had seen it with fresh eyes. But sometimes, Master Ethan’s eyes were different.”
Clara said Ethan used to have eyes that didn’t fit his age when he looked at Dorothea.
Sometimes, His eyes were sad, pitiful, and at the same time hot and deep. Clara thought those eyes were strange.
“To my surprise, it was the eyes of a mature man who had been in a hopeless and painful love.”
“Ah
 no way.”
Dorothea’s heart was pounding for nothing.
“I thought I was misunderstanding because he was so handsome or maybe he was born with such a deep look in his eyes.”
Clara says that’s why she always kept a close eye on Ethan whenever he came to visit Dorothea.
‘Weren’t you just busy looking at him because he’s handsome?’
‘I’m sure I’ve heard the servants in the detached palace gossiping about how cute and handsome Ethan is.’
Dorothea was a little suspicious of Clara’s words but decided to move on.
“I knew it too, Princess!”
Joy, who had been quietly listening to Dorothea and Clara’s conversation from behind, couldn’t stand it.
“Did you know too?”
Dorothea felt a little betrayed, knowing that Joy, who was likely to be dull in such a situation, knew.
Dorothea wrinkled her brow seriously.
“That master was always mad at me whenever he saw me.”
“Ethan?”
“Don’t you remember the handkerchief incident? Of course, it was my fault then, but Master Ethan Bronte also completely deceived me.”
‘Ah, that time
!’
“I was wrong. So please
 don’t cry.”
Ethan hugged Dorothea crying and begged.
‘At that time, I couldn’t understand him hugging me and trembling as if he was afraid of something.’
But now she seemed to know what he was afraid of.
“Do you know how badly he behaved when the princess went up to Lampas and he delivered the letter? If he wasn’t so handsome, I might beat him up, even if he was a duke.”
“Did he?”
“He must have been jealous of me, who received a lot of love from the princess! He must be jealous even now!”
Joy, who had just been voicing about Ethan, quickly raised her chin in triumph and shrugged her shoulders.
‘Hmm, maybe Joy’s jealousy and Ethan’s jealousy are different
’
“I knew for sure the moment you told me that you were going to be debut partners with Master Ethan this time, that Master Ethan is really scary
!”
When Joy finished talking, Clara nodded her head with a serious expression.
Then, Stefan, who was still behind her, nodded his head.
“Did Stefan notice too?!”
At Dorothea’s question, Stefan nodded as if it was natural.
His silence and careful judgment might make him seem insensitive and dull, but he was a sensitive man.
Besides, he was always silently guarding Dorothea’s back, so no matter how dull he was, he could recognize the strange atmosphere current flowing from Ethan.
No matter how much he promised, he came from Ceritian to Lampas to fulfill a childhood promise. It’s something no ordinary person can ever do.
‘In addition, isn’t the debutante partner a very meaningful and important position?’
“When he came to pick up the princess, I realized, ‘Oh, today is the day’.” Clara added.
Ethan’s appearance that day was so beautiful that she thought he had done his best for that day.
He was not of the human realm, as the handsome man had done his best to decorate himself.
Besides, the tension, anticipation, fear, and joy that she can see behind Ethan’s smile at Dorothea.
It was as if the new groom had come to pick up the new bride.
“Still, don’t get carried away by the atmosphere or fall for the master’s handsome face.”
“What did I do with Ethan
!”
“Whatever! Whether holding hands, hugging, kissing, or spending the night together!”
“Clara
!”
Dorothea shouted at Clara’s forward worries.
* * *
“Raymond.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“I thought I told you to bring me a plan to increase wheat production in the Barahan region.”
Carnan threw the report Raymond had written down.
“Yes, by changing the variety of wheat, it should increase by about five tons from now.”
“Only five tons.”
Karnan emphasized his figure.
“How many people do you think you can feed with that?”
5 tons of wheat can be seen as a large number, but considering the population of Barahan, whose staple food is wheat, it is less than expected.
In particular, Barahan does not have much land to cultivate wheat compared to its population. Therefore, it is necessary to support as many people as possible on limited land.
“We don’t have enough land, so half of it has to be cut off.”
“But the Barahan region has a lot of difficulties in producing wheat due to the poor soil. We have to leave half the land fallow to support the population.”
This is the reason why there was no significant increase in production in Barahan.
Since half of the limited plains have to be cut off, the efficiency is not good no matter how good the wheat variety is planted.
“Raymond.”
“Yes, Your Majesty.”
“At least find a way to make it possible.”
Somehow, with the help of an old farmer or an agronomist, he must find an answer.
This was Carnan’s first task to test Raymond, who graduated from Episteme.
“I understand, Your Majesty.”
Raymond shut his mouth and quietly walked out of Carnan’s room.
After graduating from Episteme, he had to focus on running the empire in earnest.
But it wasn’t always smooth sailing for Raymond. Broken, scolded, and made mistakes, even though he was confident in his field.
‘I did a lot of research and consultation to find the perfect wheat variety for the Barrahan land.’
‘It’s because I’m immature.’
Raymond bit his lip.
“Your Majesty, next, we have an appointment with Marquis Dmitry.”
“I know.”
There was no time to ponder,  Raymond moved on busily.
‘I thought graduating from the hellish Episteme would give me time to breathe, but it wasn’t.’
Carnan had been urging him to be more mindful, and nobles from the provinces who had come for their debut were lining up to meet the Crown Prince, who had officially entered the state affairs.
Because of that, Raymond has only slept two or three hours a day for the past few days.
‘Should I say I’m glad that I could close my eyes that much?’
It’s already been a week since I couldn’t go to the garden.’
‘After graduating from Episteme, my schedule was full, so I couldn’t even say hello to the garden.’
A week ago, I only looked around and came out, and the servants took care of the crops.
‘I really don’t want to work
’
He wanted to take a nap in the cool shade next to the garden.
Or play with Theon or Julia, or go to meet Dorothea who has awakened a spirit.
‘If only I could rest for just an hour
’
“Your Highness, your expression.”
“Okay.”
When he showed that he was tired, the aide next to him pointed it out softly.
Raymond opened his mouth once and took a deep breath.
“The Crown Prince has arrived.”
When the door opened, the people inside stood up to meet him.
“Long time no see, Marquis Dmitry.”
Raymond walked in, smiling as usual.
* * *
At Carnan’s order, Dorothea left the small Converta Palace and moved to the larger Palace.
The new Lenascor Palace was where Dorothea’s mother, Empress Alice, stayed for several months during her lifetime when she needed a rest.
Because it was a palace built for rest, the garden was particularly spacious, and the palace itself gave her a very comfortable feeling.
The palace, which had been vacant for ten years after Alice’s death, received Dorothea with a clean look after several days of renovation.
“Dorothea!”
Dorothea looked around the garden when she heard a familiar voice in the distance.
Turning his head, he saw Raymond taking off his jacket and running toward Dorothea.
“You finally moved! Good job, Dorothea!”
He said as he looked around Dorothea’s new palace.
“Good job? I only had to move my body.”
Compared to the servants who were busy moving things that had not yet been organized, she had done nothing.
“Have you looked around the new palace?”
“Only the bedroom and bathroom.”
The new Lenascor Palace was twice the size of the previous one.
It was too big for Dorothea alone, so there was an empty room left.
‘I haven’t been able to properly look around the rooms that I haven’t decided what to fill them with yet, and I’ve only looked at the essentials first.’
“Do you like it?”
“yes. It’s too wide.”
“I’m glad you like it.”
Raymond smiled widely, and Dorothea stared into his face.
“You look tired, Ray.”