“Cheek……”

“Ah….. That’s.”

Upon hearing Teishar’s words about going to get a scroll containing a healing spell, I thought she might have fallen and bruised herself while walking with her already weak body. However, her left cheek was swollen and bright red. It was clearly a mark swollen from being hit by someone.

“Who did this to the young lady’s cheek?”

“There was a reason I was alone with Illina for a moment.”

“Who is Lady Illina? I will tell Princess Charlotte about this and not let it slide.”

“Illina is my half-sister.”

Suzanna, suppressing her upset face, gently brushed Lorencia’s red hair. Then she brought a light beige dress that could be worn comfortably indoors and helped her put it on.

“Is it comfortable?”

“It’s comfortable.”

At the count’s mansion, she always wore stiff and rough-feeling dresses that made her skin itchy. But since entering the imperial palace, she began wearing cute and comfortable dresses.

Lorencia was wearing such a cute dress for the first time, so she moved carefully to avoid wrinkling it. However, she was amazed that the dress didn’t wrinkle easily even when she moved.

“Do you like it?”

“I like it very much.”

Standing in front of the large mirror in the room, Lorencia twirled around twice and her lips curled up involuntarily.

-Meow!

“Leo.”

“I just gave him a bowl of tuna stew. He ate it and has been sleeping until now.”

“Thank you for taking care of him, Suzanna.”

“I told you that’s not how you should say it, Lady Lorencia.”

“You worked hard taking care of him, Suzanna.”

“You need to try to get into the habit of speaking informally to those below you. Understood?”

Lorencia nodded.

Teishar, who had left the room, quickly headed to Charlotte’s reception room. He needed to report to Charlotte and return to Lorencia with food on a trolley. When he opened the door and entered, Adrian had already arrived and was sitting next to Charlotte.

“Your Highness Adrian. Have you already returned?”

“If you use the teleport hall, it’s a distance you can quickly go and come back from.”

“Did you retrieve the letters successfully?”

Adrian took out two letters from his breast pocket and showed them to Teishar.

“As Lady Lorencia said, there were two letters that Lady Illina sent to Lord Lorirolls.”

“Did Lord Lorirolls hand them over easily?”

“When I conveyed the message that Lady Lorencia would break up with him if he just gave the letters, he handed them over right away.”

“What a foolish man.”

Teishar began to read the letters Adrian handed over. As he read on, his grip on the letters tightened. The content was so unforgivable that Teishar unknowingly crumpled the letters.

“Duke Teishar. It’s troublesome if you damage the letters.”

“I apologize. I got angry and……”

Looking down at the crumpled letters, Teishar smoothed them out neatly and returned them to Adrian.

“Charlotte has told me to some extent. That Lady Lorencia is an important figure lost from the Polroid Empire.”

“I have something to discuss about that as well. And I heard an interesting story from the conversation between Lady Lorencia and Prince Ruans.”

“An interesting story?”

Adrian showed interest in the story Teishar brought up.

“It seems Prince Ruans made Lady Lorencia drink a potion every day.”

“A potion?”

“Lady Lorencia asked Prince Ruans where in the imperial palace she could get that potion.”

Adrian slightly furrowed his brow.

“How did Ruans answer Lady Lorencia?”

“He told Lady Lorencia that she no longer needed to drink that potion and hastily left.”

Adrian looked at Teishar with an incredulous smile.

“You’re saying Ruans even lied that it was a good potion from the imperial palace and made Lady Lorencia drink it every day?”

“That’s correct. So it would be good to investigate. The ‘Red Moon’, the shadow of the Spencer ducal family, will arrive tomorrow.”

“We’ll be able to start the investigation right away then.”

Adrian’s lips curled up slightly at the thought that he might be able to catch Ruans faster than expected.

After a brief conversation with Charlotte and Adrian, Teishar stopped by the kitchen and had the chef prepare a meal just for Lorencia.

“Finely chop thick beef, then with various vegetables…. It shouldn’t be greasy, so sprinkle a little lemon….”

The chef was flustered by Teishar’s demanding cooking instructions, but with the pride of an imperial palace chef, he prepared the dish as requested.

As the finished dish was beautifully plated, Teishar placed it on the trolley, startling the servant.

“I’ll do it, Duke.”

“I’ll do it myself.”

The servant watched with a pitiful expression as Teishar carefully placed the food on the trolley. When all the food was on the trolley, the servant tried to pull it himself, but Teishar blocked him.

“I’ll pull it.”

“Duke… I should be doing this kind of work.”

“I won’t say it twice.”

The servant sighed deeply, unable to follow Teishar as he unilaterally pulled the trolley away. The servant couldn’t understand why he was acting like this.

Regardless of what the servant thought, Teishar’s mind was filled only with thoughts of serving Lorencia.

When we return to the Polroid Empire, should I learn to cook for her myself? As he imagined the food he made entering between her small lips, Teishar’s lips twitched upward.

Like a gardener personally fertilizing trees. He felt satisfied at the thought of personally taking care of everything Lorencia needed.

Teishar pulled the trolley loaded with food and returned to his room where Lorencia was.

Suzanna propped a cushion behind Lorencia’s back, allowing her to lean comfortably against the bed’s headboard. Then she unfolded the bed table and began setting the food from the trolley onto the table.

“Regarding your studies, Lady Lorencia.”

“Yes, Duke Spencer.”

“Princess Charlotte and I have prepared some options. You can choose directly.”

“Options?”

“First, study with me all day. Second, study with me only in the morning. Third, study with me only in the afternoon. Fourth, study with me in the morning and with Princess Charlotte in the afternoon. These are the four options, but I recommend the first option to Lady Lorencia.”

Lorencia awkwardly looked at Teishar, who somehow wanted to be with her. What kind of existence was the child of Goddess Ella to this person, for him to treat her so well? She was very grateful for the kind treatment. However, those red eyes that seemed to see something through her appeared very suspicious.

“Is there no fifth option to study with Princess Charlotte in the afternoon?”

“No, there isn’t.”

Charlotte had said she would assign a good teacher, but Lorencia refused. She thought it would be better to study alone with Teishar rather than with someone she didn’t know well. Fortunately, it seemed Charlotte hadn’t just made an empty promise to help with her studies.

“Then I’ll choose the fourth option.”

Teishar visibly showed disappointment when Lorencia chose the fourth option. But unlike him, Lorencia’s heart began to flutter and race at the fact that she could learn letters and study.

“To think I can learn letters……”

It felt like a dream. She worried that the future, which had twisted differently from before, might change for the worse.

Even if she wanted to use the power of the amethyst necklace, Suzanna or Teishar was always by her side, preventing her from seeing the future. Not being able to see the future made her somewhat afraid of having to judge and decide everything on her own.

Still, she planned to make decisions and move carefully on her own.

“If there’s anything you’d like to learn in the future, please let me know.”

“Things I want to learn?”

“If Lady Lorencia wishes, we can go anywhere, see anything, eat anything, and learn anything.”

Lorencia’s heart pounded at Teishar’s words.

“I’d really like that to happen.”

“I intend to make it so for you.”

Lorencia looked at Teishar’s face, which was gazing at her with a gentle smile. Deep double eyelids and large, round eyes. The more she looked at his straight nose bridge, the more he appeared to be a neat and manly handsome man. But when their eyes met, his cheeks turned slightly red. Lorencia tilted her head, not understanding why his cheeks were reddening.

“Before that, let’s fill Lady Lorencia’s hungry stomach.”

Lorencia swallowed her saliva as she looked at the food Teishar pointed to on the table.

“It’s a beef tomato stew that’s quite tangy and will stimulate your appetite. And this dish is……”

She swallowed her saliva once more at his explanation. There was so much food in front of her that she was at a loss as to where to start and how to eat.

“Lady Lorencia must eat the food here and then finish a cup of cocoa topped with plenty of whipped cream.”

“There’s whipped cream on top of the cocoa too? Does that taste different from just cocoa?”

“Cocoa with whipped cream is incredibly sweet and delicious compared to plain cocoa.”

“Yes, I’ll be sure to drink it all.”

Lorencia’s eyes sparkled without her realizing it. The fantastic taste of cocoa she had tried for the first time came to mind automatically. The chocolate-topped bread that Ruans had brought before tasted good but was dry. However, the cocoa that Teishar had brought, which she tasted for the first time, was warm and easy to swallow like water.

“But can I eat all the food here?”

“It’s alright to leave some if you’re full.”

“It would be a waste to leave it.”

“Don’t worry. Since we’ve served the food cleanly, others will eat the leftovers.”

“I see.”

Teishar cut up an appetizing steak from the food laid out on the table into small pieces and placed it on Lorencia’s plate so she could eat it.

Lorencia alternately looked at the meat placed in front of her and Teishar, then stabbed a piece of cut meat with her fork, put it in her mouth, and chewed thoroughly.

“This is the first time I’ve tasted something like this. It’s so delicious.”

“I’ll convey that to the chef.”

“Yes, please do.”

Teishar diligently cut the food and continued to place it on Lorencia’s plate. He smiled pleasantly as he watched Lorencia’s thin cheeks fill up with meat. He felt joyful and excited, as if he were a mother bird feeding its chick.

“Here, this is milk with honey. Please drink it together, Lady Lorencia.”

“Thank you for taking care of me, Duke Spencer.”

“You’ve spilled some. Let me wipe it for you.”

“I’m sorry for spilling it.”

“I often spill milk when I drink it too. There’s no need to apologize for such things.”

Teishar’s touch was very gentle as he took out a handkerchief and wiped the milk that had spilled around Lorencia’s mouth.

“I’m full.”

Although Lorencia wasn’t hungry, she continued to eat even after her stomach was full, tempted by foods she had never seen before. She couldn’t stop using her fork, tasting delicious food for the first time. However, Lorencia’s thin stomach quickly became full.

“But you’ve eaten so little……”

Suzanna appeared behind Teishar, who was trying to feed Lorencia even a little more.

“Now, please step aside, Duke.”

Teishar’s face was full of regret as he reluctantly made way.

Suzanna removed the cushion that had been propping up Lorencia’s back and began rubbing her back.

“My lady, this helps with digestion.”

While Suzanna was helping Lorencia with her digestion, Teishar began clearing the food dishes from the table onto the trolley.

-Meow

Leo, confirming that Lorencia had finished her meal, approached and began to cry in her arms.