It was when I arrived near the dining room after passing through an empty corridor.

A person’s shadow flickered among the softly lit lights.

Hup.

I swallowed my breath and stood still. For a moment, all sorts of thoughts flashed through my head.

Surely, it couldn’t be a thief?

Yeah. Probably not.

There’s no thief bold enough to try to rob the Richter Duke’s family.

Then, surely it’s not an assassin or something?

Humorously, an assassin seemed more plausible than a thief. Especially since there were royals in the house.

While I was lost in serious imagination, the person’s shadow turned towards me.

“…Huh?”

The owner of the shadow was an unexpected figure.

“Lady Richter?”

“Your Highness?”

Why is the prince coming out here?

Strange. I heard he had gone to bed early.

Looking closely, he was dressed like me, with outerwear over pajamas. He must have woken up and come out, or gotten up after lying down to sleep.

Was he thirsty and found the water jug empty?

No. That can’t be.

If nothing else, I had checked the guest rooms meticulously several times.

Barhan also said he would take care of it.

Which means…

Maybe trying to dig up something?

Was there a royal command to bring back secrets or weaknesses of the Richter family?

In movies, dramas, books, and comics, there are often such cases.

Pretending to be a guest and subtly trying to uncover secrets…

“I’m sorry for startling you. I just couldn’t sleep, so I thought I’d take a little walk.”

Sensing my eyes narrowing, the prince hastily answered.

He couldn’t sleep so he was going for a walk?

It was a quite plausible reason. More reasonable than the prince searching the duke’s house.

I let go of my suspicion and tilted my head.

“Was your bed uncomfortable?”

Maybe he was cold.

Unlike the summer weather that might still linger elsewhere, the north had already entered early autumn weather.

Even I sometimes feel a chill on the bridge of my nose when I lie down to sleep now.

“No, not at all. The room you prepared was very nice, and the bed was comfortable. I just have trouble sleeping in general, so please don’t worry about it.”

“Oh dear.”

“Well. I’m used to it now.”

The prince showed a light smile.

But the smile created by his pale face from lack of sleep felt bitter.

…He’s a bit pitiful.

If he’s used to it, it means he’s suffered from insomnia for quite a long time.

It reminded me of Dante from before.

The Dante who used to walk around with dark circles under his eyes, unable to sleep properly because of me.

The Dante from the original story must have also gotten used to such sleeplessness later on.

Hmm.

Thinking that he was similar to Dante, I couldn’t just stand still.

I told him to wait a moment and went out to the garden.

The night air before dawn was cool. Ugh. It’s going to be really cold in winter.

Sniffling for no reason, I plucked flower petals and placed them in my skirt.

Chamomile and lavender.

Ah. Doing this feels just like harvesting frost.

But I had already received permission long ago with a “Use it as much as you want when you need it.”

As I was crouched down harvesting flowers habitually, I felt a gaze.

The prince, who had followed me out at some point, was peering with round eyes.

“You didn’t have to come out.”

“I was curious. What are you doing now?”

“There are herbs good for insomnia. Chamomile and lavender.”

“Aren’t those flowers?”

He knows one thing but not the other.

“Flowers can also be herbs depending on how they’re used.”

He nodded with admiring eyes.

His sparkling gaze was just like a child watching their mother cook.

Like when they see fluffy flour being kneaded and want to try it themselves, wiggling their hands in the air…

“Would you like to try?”

“May I?”

The prince responded to my casual offer.

“If you want to.”

“Then I’d like to try.”

I nodded and scooted over slightly.

The prince sat down next to me and followed along, glancing at what I was doing.

It wasn’t particularly difficult, so he followed along fairly well despite being clumsy.

Ah. This reminds me of Dante.

Our Dante also used to work like this at first, glancing over. Now he can skillfully do farm work on his own.

I’m so proud of him.

By the way, I wonder if he went back to sleep well.

I felt concerned, thinking I might have woken him up. I also worried that maybe he couldn’t sleep deeply.

As I continued my thoughts, the flower harvesting soon came to an end.

We returned to the dining room with the harvested flowers.

It was to brew tea.

Originally, they should be dried well before use, but there’s no choice when in a hurry.

Still, the fragrance was quite good for something made hastily.

“Thanks to my new friend, I got to have a good experience.”

We were sitting side by side in the dining room, drinking tea at the prince’s invitation.

“Ah, *cough* *cough*.”

I was just planning to drink quickly and go to bed, but I choked at the word ‘friend’.

“Don’t tell me you forgot we agreed to be friends?”

“Of course not.”

I forgot.

I completely forgot. Since I had answered absent-mindedly during the day, I had forgotten all about it.

“We’re friends, aren’t we, friend? Wow. I’m so excited.”

Joshua laughed at my awkward response.

“Honestly, it’s understandable if you find it absurd. The relationship between the Richter family and the Imperial family isn’t exactly pleasant.”

“…”

This man is more outspoken than I thought.

I didn’t expect the prince to talk about the bad relationship between the Imperial family and the Richter family with his own mouth.

Not quite able to agree, I just answered with silence instead.

The prince glanced at me, shrugged lightly, and took a sip of tea.

“But I sincerely want to be friends with the Duchess.”

“Why me?”

“Because you are the person I aspire to be.”

“Pardon?”

Is he saying his future aspiration is me?

I felt like I had suddenly become a bewildering figure.

“A strong and cool person.”

Me?

When did I show any strong and cool side?

I wanted to ask back so badly, but I restrained myself by tensing my head.

I didn’t understand what he meant at all, but I figured he must have his own reasons.

However, the prince’s words became more and more puzzling.

“Actually, when I saw you at the wedding, I secretly thought you and I were similar. I felt a sense of kinship.”

“In what way?”

“Well…”

What is this?

I couldn’t help but show an expression of disbelief.

I tried to compose my expression belatedly, but it seemed I had already been caught. Judging by the way he was trying to hold back his laughter.

…Mom. I think there’s something odd about this guy’s personality.

But oddly enough, I didn’t dislike him.

As he said that I seemed similar to him, I also somehow saw my past self reflected in the prince.

“They say friends become alike, don’t they? If I become friends with you, won’t I also become a strong person?”

“…I don’t think that’s how it works.”

Oops, my mistake.

With him constantly saying friend, friend next to me, I ended up treating him like a real friend.

“No, I mean, what I’m trying to say is that the most important thing for a person to change is their own mindset rather than friends…”

Somehow, the more I tried to explain, the less I was able to smooth things over.

I just chose to squeeze my eyes shut and close my mouth.

Soon, a soft laugh was heard from beside me. I slightly opened my eyes to see the prince nodding with a smiling face.

“You’re right. One’s own mindset is more important than friends.”

“Of course. I think friends are also very important.”

“You don’t need to try so hard to agree.”

“No, it was sincere agreement from my heart.”

The prince chuckled again.

If someone saw us, they might think we were drinking alcohol instead of tea.

“Then, will you really be my friend?”

By this point, I could feel that his fixation on friendship was genuine.

…What should I do? Does he not have friends?

Ah. I don’t have friends either.

I started feeling sympathetic, but then felt more sympathetic towards myself.

No, no. At least I have a husband, and there’s Barhan, Siena, Mari, Markops, and Ena too…

Hmm.

Strange. Why does it feel more bitter the more I think about it?

To be honest, I thought it wouldn’t be so bad to be friends.

Honestly, there’s no one in my life I could call a ‘friend’. It wouldn’t be bad to make one friend.

However, the reason I couldn’t sincerely answer right away was because of Dante.

The Imperial family is practically the enemy of the Richter family. Wouldn’t it be a betrayal if I became friends with the prince?

Besides, I’m a married woman.

Is it okay for a man and a woman to be friends? The Confucian blood I had in my previous life was boiling.

Honestly, I’ve been almost confined in this life, so I’m not sure about the sentiments of this world.

Maybe in this world, people don’t care about such things and live coolly?

But suddenly, all these worries seemed ridiculous.