“Devan, please allow these two to stay overnight together in this village!”

Village chief Devan blinked his eyes for a while as he looked at Bianca, who suddenly shouted.

I was just as surprised.

‘Cedric and I… together… in this village?’

While I was indeed taken aback by the unplanned schedule, I thought this might be an opportunity.

It would be a chance to gain favor with the villagers.

‘Anyway, Cedric and I will be using separate huts, so whatever.’

I slowly nodded my head and then opened my mouth to village chief Devan.

“I’m fine with it. I’d also like to stay here for a while and help out with the village work.”

“……”

“Of course… if village chief Devan and the villagers allow me to stay here.”

Then Bianca hugged my skirt with both hands and added.

“Hehe, then I want to stay here with you two as well!”

Looking at the child smiling brightly, village chief Devan couldn’t hide his embarrassment.

He ignored me and only looked at Bianca as he continued speaking.

“All the villagers would agree to have Your Highnesses the Grand Duke and the young lady stay here. You two are always appreciated and welcome. But young lady….”

“Yes?”

“Would His Highness the Grand Duke accept that proposal? The proposal that he must stay here together with Her Highness. There’s no way he would….”

Village chief Devan’s mouth, which had been speaking as if it were obvious, shut for a moment.

The old Cedric who used to loathe Rebecca, and his appearance just now that he witnessed.

He seemed to have suddenly become confused in the huge gap between the two.

Moreover, what Cedric said next added fuel to village chief Devan’s confusion.

“I’m fine with it.”

“Pardon…?”

“I said it’s fine. So you don’t need to worry about me.”

Village chief Devan blinked his eyes as if he couldn’t believe it.

“But, but Your Highness the Grand Duke…. This place would be very inconvenient for the young lady to stay….”

Village chief Devan, trailing off his words, glanced at me.

He had only used Cedric and Bianca as an excuse, but he seemed to not like the fact that I would be staying in this village at all.

However, once again, words that deflated village chief Devan’s inner thoughts were heard in succession.

“No? I really like it!”

“Young, young lady…!”

“Staying outside the family castle with my family has been my lifelong wish in my eight years of life, you know?”

Bianca pouted her lower lip and showed a pitiful expression at village chief Devan’s troubled look.

“You know too, chief butler… I only have these two as my family since I was born. I was so envious whenever I saw friends traveling with their families….”

Bianca’s transparent eyes, as she spoke like that, seemed to well up with tears at any moment.

Then, the villagers’ gazes, which had turned murderous for a moment, poured out simultaneously toward village chief Devan.

‘It’s Princess Bianca’s wish! Why are you hesitating instead of accepting right away, chief?’

Those murderous gazes all seemed to be saying that.

However, the one who was startled by Bianca’s sobbing was none other than village chief Devan himself.

Floundering in front of the young lady, he eventually nodded his head with a long sigh.

At last, village chief Devan’s gaze finally turned to me.

“Oh dear…. There’s no helping it.”

His eyes, looking at me, were still filled with distrust, but he let out constant sighs with a half-giving-up expression.

“I should at least serve you some tea.”

“……”

“Both of you, please come to my hut for a moment.”

.

.

.

After the Grand Duke couple headed to the chief’s hut.

Bianca had a mischievous expression, while Mina had a somewhat ominous expression for some reason.

The two girls, exchanging glances from a distance, slowly approached each other.

And like spies secretly exchanging information, they began to whisper softly.

“Staying here wasn’t part of the plan, but it turned out even better, young lady.”

“You think so too, Mina? I’m so excited!”

“Me too. Let’s take this opportunity to definitely help the relationship between you two! To do that….”

Mina’s gaze, trailing off her words, reached village chief Devan.

Mina, smiling suspiciously, soon approached village chief Devan while looking around.

“Devan, I have a favor to ask. It’s nothing big.”

Village chief Devan, who had been looking at Mina with suspicion, eventually reluctantly lent his ear to her gesture as if giving up.

Then Mina, giggling, whispered softly into village chief Devan’s ear.

“This is something Princess Bianca really wants too, so you have to do as I ask. Understood?”

* * *

Inside village chief Devan’s hut.

As soon as the door closed, I turned to look at Cedric and frowned.

“Cedric, since when have you been following me?”

Cedric, who had been stroking his thick eyebrows with an embarrassed expression, slowly opened his mouth after a long time.

“…Since you got in the carriage and left the Dark Mansion.”

So he had been following me from the beginning.

Pressing my temples, I shook my head back and forth.

At that moment, I remembered what Cedric had said with a somewhat desperate look in his eyes.

‘Even if you say you’re leaving, I have no intention of letting you go nicely anymore.’

It seemed Cedric also recalled that scene, as he fixed his gaze out the window and moved his lips with an awkward expression.

“I couldn’t see anything back then. I thought you were really going to run away.”

“….”

“When I even heard that Adrian had left the Dark Mansion today of all days, I really thought I was going crazy.”

I blinked my eyes in confusion.

“Adrian went to the main house in the Demon Realm today. He reported to me that he had some business related to the family succession.”

“….”

“But why are you bringing up Adrian here?”

Cedric blinked his wide-open eyes a few times like someone whose inner thoughts had been exposed.

It was only after clearing his throat awkwardly a few times that he opened his mouth again.

“By the way, what made you decide to apologize to them? I thought they had forgotten about this place.”

“Did you know about Grayzon Village?”

Cedric nodded.

“Of course. Ever since they settled down here, our family has always supported them. I’ve also stayed here from time to time.”

“….”

“As much as we receive treatment as the leader of the half-bloods, we have a duty to protect them.”

“I see…. That’s a relief at least.”

He stared at me as I smiled slightly.

It was around then that words that were not like Cedric at all flowed from his lips.

“So you don’t need to go out of your way to apologize to them at the cost of your dignity.”

I looked at Cedric with an unbelievable expression.

“…Pardon?”

The old Cedric would have told me to apologize right away.

No, he might not have even given Rebecca a chance to apologize.

But now he was even considering my dignity.

Not only that.

“If it really bothers you, I’ll somehow change their minds. If that doesn’t work either… I can send them all back to the Demon Realm.”

Cedric, who took it as his mission to help the half-bloods adapt well to the human world.

He said he would send them all back to the Demon Realm?

Thinking it was a joke, I smiled softly and raised my head.

“That’s not like you to say such…”

Then I stopped mid-sentence as a thought occurred to me.

‘I heard Vincent often goes around pretending to be Cedric, could it be…?’

I opened my eyes narrowly and scanned Cedric, then took a step back and asked.

“Who are you?”

“It’s me, who else?”

“Are you perhaps Vincent Norman?”

“…I’m Cedric Twins.”

Cedric shook his head back and forth and grumbled, “Why does everyone keep calling me Vincent?”

There was not a hint of playfulness anywhere on his face.

“Then… you’re really Cedric right now, and you were serious about what you just said?”

Cedric just silently nodded.

‘The fact that Cedric said those words… does it really mean he could send the people of this village back to the Demon Realm?’

I hurriedly waved both hands.

“Never, never do that! What if those people hold even more of a grudge against me than they do now?!”

If I incurred even greater resentment from the half-bloods, my fate would be death even if I avoided going to the Infernal Tower.

The moment I got goosebumps all over my body just from that thought.

The hut door opened, and village chief Devan entered carrying a tray with teacups on it.

“You should have remained seated, Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

Devan said as he placed the teacups on the table.

A neat and elegant movement that didn’t match the shabby background.

Indeed, it was befitting of a former head butler of the Light Mansion.

It was then, as I quietly watched village chief Devan’s movements without him knowing.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke, please come and sit here. You too… Your Highness.”

An awkward silence lingered around the table where the three people sat facing each other for a long time.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke, are you really sure you want to stay in our village? What about all your duties?”

Village chief Devan poured out his worries stemming from long experience.

But Cedric just shrugged his shoulders as if it were nothing.

“The work won’t be paralyzed just because I’m away for a day or so. I still have outstanding subordinates, don’t I?”

“Of course that’s true, but….”

“If it’s not too much trouble for you all, I’d like to stay here for a while as a vacation.”

At Cedric’s words, village chief Devan smiled kindly.

“Trouble, you say. You know very well that Your Highness the Grand Duke is always welcome in our village.”

Village chief Devan’s complexion, which had been showing a bright smile toward Cedric, awkwardly sank as soon as his eyes met mine.

‘The welcome is only for Cedric and Bianca, definitely not for me.’

No matter where I go, I’m in this situation.

I pursed my lips, feeling oddly embarrassed.

“Then, I should guide you to the hut where you’ll be staying.”

Village chief Devan, who said that next, unrolled a leather scroll and spread it out on the table.

On the light brown leather, a detailed map of the village was drawn.

“You two….”

As village chief Devan spoke, his finger moved out toward the outskirts of the village on the map.

“You can stay together here.”

The hut he pointed to was in a very remote place, closer to the forest than the center of the village.

“Here… alone with Cedric?”

I asked without hiding my absurd tone.

“Yes, I was told you had to….”

A tone of voice as if conveying a decision made by someone else on his behalf.

Even village chief Devan, who was answering, looked as clueless as I was.

It was then, when I was about to open my mouth in a hurry out of bewilderment.

“Let’s do that.”

Cedric nodded leisurely and answered.

I slowly turned my head toward Cedric and reproached him in a whisper.

“Cedric, what are you doing now?”

But Cedric made no effort to lower his voice at all.

“What am I doing. The village chief said to do so. He’s the leader of this village.”

“That’s true, but….”

“Rebecca, there aren’t many empty huts here. If we stay separately, there will be nowhere for Bianca and the maids to stay.”

Cedric shrugged his shoulders as if there was no choice and calmly continued.

“So we have to compromise, what else can we do?”

“…Huh?”

“Besides….”

He paused and looked at me intently for a moment.

Then the corner of his lips curved up smoothly.

“Sleeping together in the same space is only natural for a married couple, isn’t it?”