“I came because I have a drill for you.”

After saying that, Kai went to fetch the bag he had tied to the saddle. As he brought a bag with a few peanuts, a sense of absurdity suddenly overwhelmed him. Coming all the way here just to deliver this?

It was the first time he realized that in such a short period, he could feel such a variety of emotions simultaneously.

“What is that?”
Perhaps because he mentioned having something to give, Stella’s stubbornly turned head shifted towards Kai. The moment Stella’s gaze met Kai’s, the complex emotions that had been tearing through Kai’s mind in countless ways suddenly consolidated into one.

She came to see those eyes. It wasn’t just to deliver peanuts.

Kai’s hand, which was holding the bag, dropped it down.

Thump, thump, thump.

His heart pounded faster than when the enemy was nearby. With nothing but his heart in his stomach, the overwhelming sound of the heavy heartbeat echoed through his ears, making Kai lose his composure.

“Did you really come to give this?”

Stella opened the mouth of the bag, peering inside and repeatedly asking. Kai sneakily glanced at her side profile, and when she turned her head abruptly, he stubbornly stared forward again as if saying, “When did I see you?”

His heart was pounding so wildly that he felt like even a cough could make it jump out of his mouth.

“When you said that you came to give this…”

Kai was about to explain about sugar peanuts.

“I know.”

“Really?”

Kai, who was about to confidently explain what he heard from Harming, blinked at Stella’s unexpected response.

“It’s sugar peanuts.”

“Did you try them?”

“Yeah. Did you eat them now? Did you come here because they’re delicious?”
Kai remained silent and tightly sealed his lips. It felt like being a child who had run over to get the remaining half of a delicious biscuit from his mom. He didn’t want to feel like this.

Lois, who had rushed over with a bag of peanuts to give, looked unexpectedly adorable.

“How kind of you.”

“What?”

Kai was so surprised to hear a word he never expected from Stella that he unconsciously used informal language. Kind? It was a word he hadn’t heard since he was a child.

Stella, looking at Kai with a pleased expression, suddenly reached out and gently stroked his black hair.

While offering her head to Stella, Kai couldn’t gauge whether he was feeling bad or good right now. It was regretful to avoid, and staying put hurt his pride. Nothing was easy.

“Lois.”

“Yes?”

“How old are you this year? Can I just call you ‘nuna’ comfortably? Rather than saying ‘princess, princess’?”

“Nuna…?”

What is this about?

Kai couldn’t understand what Stella was saying. Based on what he knew, Stella was twenty, four years younger than him.

Just by looking at their faces, you can feel the age difference, can’t you? Kai, feeling perplexed, couldn’t understand what Stella was saying. Stella, with a regretful expression, gazed into the distance without realizing Kai’s confused feelings.

“I turned twenty this year. Am I old? I don’t know when this happened. So, don’t think of it as being difficult to call me ‘princess.’ Just think of me as ‘nuna.’ If you’re a low-ranking knight… now…”
Stella tried to reassure Lois, who looked older on the outside, not to get hurt by appearing as close to her own age as possible. However,

“I’m twenty-four.”

“Okay. So you’re twenty-four now… What?”

Stella, who had been casually nodding her head with an expression that seemed to expect this, suddenly widened her eyes and mouth simultaneously at the unexpected number.

Kai, grinning, picked up a sugar-coated peanut and gently placed it into Stella’s mouth, which had frozen like a malfunctioned paper puppet. The peanut sat quietly on her pink tongue.

Nevertheless, Stella, without even thinking of chewing, kept her mouth wide open for a long time.

Kai chuckled, then put another sugar-coated peanut from the opposite pocket into his mouth, chewed thoughtfully, and stood up, brushing off imaginary dust.

The peanut breaking apart in his mouth was unusually sweet.

“Viscountess Melissa has requested your presence.”

After finishing the morning training and entering the office, Kai was informed by Harman in a cheerful tone. Harman knew well the reason Kai smiled whenever Melissa visited.

He probably wants to see Melissa and me together in any way.

Despite explaining multiple times that he and Melissa were nothing more than friends, Harman nodded as if he understood, subtly smiling again. It was as if he knew everything about Kai’s feelings.

“She asked you to come in.”
Kai had never once rejected Melissa’s request to visit. Even when he was sick and lying in bed, he willingly met with Melissa if she came.

It was early in the morning, so Melissa must have just finished her training. However, for some reason, she was not in her training attire but dressed in a dress.

“Are you going to an important place or something?”

Kai asked, looking at Melissa’s attire as if questioning what was happening.

“I’m not going, but I came.”

Melissa, wearing an expression of frustration, placed a pretty bag on Kai’s office desk. The bag emitted a sweet fragrance from its contents.