“You said we can find an accomplice?”

I asked Leoprick again after leaving Arianna’s room.

“Of course. If the person I’m thinking of knows about this, everything will be resolved easily.”

His expression as he nodded was brighter than I expected.

I tilted my head at his expression that was too bright compared to the burden of having to somehow win over someone from Lloyd’s side.

“Your Highness, do you perhaps have someone planted in advance?”

That was the only explanation for his expression.

When we need to secure a witness as soon as possible and accuse Lloyd, he looks like something he’s been longing for has happened.

When I asked that, Leoprick just smiled brightly.

It was a face that said he had a way but wouldn’t tell me.

“Your Highness, this is something I need to know too.”

“It’s also something that can be resolved without you knowing.”

“No, but still…”

When I grumbled, Leoprick gently stroked my hair.

“You already have a lot to worry about, don’t you, Amelia? I’ll handle this, so don’t worry too much.”

He comforted me in a gentle voice.

Indeed, there was a lot to do.

I had to check and proceed with the matters of the merchant guild, the North, and now the newly started support situation in the East.

I also had to keep an eye on Duke Valois’s movements.

But still, can’t you tell me?

Despite his comforting, my expression didn’t improve, so Leoprick held my hand with a helpless look.

“Let’s go back to the room and talk.”

So cheer up, okay?

His voice was somewhat ticklish.

The soft tone he used to soothe me as usual didn’t change, but it felt a little more ticklish and exciting somehow.

I nodded, trying not to blush for no reason.

“I’m not angry.”

“But you just had an angry face.”

“It must have been a serious face. I’ve never been angry.”

“Then that’s a relief.”

I’m most afraid when you’re angry.

This time, Leoprick added in a slightly playful tone.

No, when did you see me get angry and say it’s scary?

Even if I got angry a few times in my previous life, I don’t think I’ve been angry with him here.

When I looked at him puzzled, Leoprick just laughed.

“Fortunately, it seems we timed it well. Let’s hurry back to the room.”

Then he held my hand tightly and urged us to return to the room before the palace staff’s shift change ended.

Just like when we came, he held my hand tightly without any gaps.

The only difference from when we went was that there was a little conversation going on.

We put aside Arianna, Lloyd, and other work-related matters and talked about what we liked and disliked.

Favorite foods, disliked foods, colors, clothing preferences, hobbies, and so on.

As we continued our ticklish conversation like a newly dating couple, we arrived at our destination in no time again.

“I felt it earlier too, but time seems to pass really quickly when I’m with you.”

Leoprick said with a soft smile.

He seemed to have been thinking the same thing I was thinking.

I smiled at him and nodded.

“I thought the same thing earlier.”

“Is that so? I guess we are meant to be then.”

Leoprick joked as he closed the door.

I burst out laughing at his expression and lightly hit his shoulder.

“Stop joking around. We’re back in the room now.”

“Are we? Then let’s continue our conversation.”

Leoprick led me to the sofa, still holding my hand.

Sitting side by side like that, he fiddled with my hand and opened his mouth.

“You’re right in what you thought. I planted someone on Lloyd’s side.”

He spoke casually in a smiling voice, still fixing his gaze on my hand.

And I felt a little confused looking at him.

It’s good that my prediction was correct, but Lloyd is still officially not rebelling at all.

Although he is secretly winning over nobles through Duke Valois, it’s not a big problem since every noble has their own supporting forces.

So if he’s monitoring Lloyd to the extent of planting someone just based on that, it seemed a bit far-fetched.

Since when has Leoprick been suspecting him?

If he’s gone as far as to plant someone, he must have noticed something.

“Since when?”

“Since we returned from our honeymoon?”

“You found Lloyd suspicious since then?”

If it’s when we returned from our honeymoon, it must be before he acted together with Arianna or Lady Gilroyd.

How does he know something unless he knows something?

As I kept looking puzzled, Leoprick laughed at me.

“Well, Lloyd kept showing interest in you.”

“…What?”

“What man in the world would like someone else showing interest in his woman?”

Don’t think it’s so strange.

Leoprick laughed awkwardly, averting his gaze slightly.

So in the end, he attached someone to him because Lloyd kept trying to persuade me?

I gave a hollow laugh looking at him.

In other words, it’s jealousy.

To think that attaching someone out of mere jealousy would be used politically…

“Lloyd was already a target of vigilance even without that. He had been messing around in social circles here and there, trying to make allies.”

When my expression must have been quite unusual, he hurriedly added while looking at me.

Asking me not to think of it as pathetic since there was such a reason.

At his words, I finally couldn’t hold back and burst out laughing.

My goodness. What woman would think it’s pathetic that someone monitored another because they liked her so much?

I couldn’t stop laughing at him who seemed to be genuinely fidgeting.

Because that gaze toward me was too cute and lovely.

And because I was grateful for his feelings.

It was also fun to see his expression changing every moment, which he probably didn’t expect me to laugh at.

“Hm. I’m glad you’re laughing like that, but you’re laughing in a good sense, right?”

Even him asking carefully like this felt somehow refreshing and enjoyable.

After laughing for a while, I saw his expression becoming more and more awkward, so I barely stopped laughing.

“Ah, sorry. It’s just that the reason was something I never imagined.”

“The reason for all my actions is you, Amelia. There’s no grand and fancy reason like you imagine.”

He replied with a chuckle.

And the way he looked at me seemed somehow deep.

“So, who did you plant? Is it someone I know too?”

I hurriedly changed the subject.

And he laughed at me as if I was cute, and then.

“You’ll know when you see the face. It’s someone who used to work at the Wayne’s branch of the Jenit Guild.”

He mentioned someone I truly never imagined.

Lloyd’s aide, Zero, was diligently performing his duties as an aide today as well.

He quietly watched his lord, who seemed to be in a bad mood, keeping his mouth shut and being as inconspicuous as possible.

A few days ago, after kidnapping Arianna Valois and then releasing her, Lloyd’s mood had been hitting rock bottom.

Even from his perspective, not knowing anything, Arianna was someone Lloyd absolutely needed.

With her outstanding sense, vast knowledge of high society, beautiful appearance, and brilliant mind.

On top of that, with the backing of being the daughter of Duke Valois and the title of being the next flower of high society.

There was no better choice for Lloyd, who had ambition and greed but lacked the necessary information network.

It would be stranger for Lloyd to reject or push away someone like Arianna.

But for some reason, he ran out of the mansion at the crack of dawn, intercepted Arianna Valois who was heading somewhere, and kept her locked up for days.

He seemed to periodically visit her and say something, but as a mere servant, Zero couldn’t hear the details.

Whatever it was, judging from Lloyd’s triumphant expression each time and Arianna’s very downcast look, it seemed like he was threatening her with something.

And after a few days passed like that, Lloyd released Arianna Valois with his own hands and even gave her a horse.

Telling her to keep in mind what they had talked about.

After that, with the rumors he intentionally spread overlapping with the news that Arianna Valois didn’t return to the mansion, Lloyd began to crumble quickly.

I’m not sure if ‘crumble’ is the right word, but anyway, Lloyd was being haunted by what he had done.

He should be happy that Arianna disappeared and he ‘eliminated’ her as he wanted.

But Lloyd without her was like a sailboat that lost its sail.

The support projects he had to do himself, keeping up with the trends in high society, meeting the heads of each family to gather forces and persuade them, and so on.

He couldn’t properly accomplish any of those things.

To the point where one would doubt if a viscount of a country could lack so much ability.

‘Someone who can’t do anything alone without someone by his side.’

The words Leoprick had said to him sometime before came to mind, and after a few days passed and Lloyd’s hysteria reached its peak.

Zero recommended Lady Gilroyd for now, as instructed by Leoprick and his aide Arnold.

Fortunately, Lloyd was satisfied that there was another solution instead of bringing Arianna back, and it seemed like it would be a good day.

But unfortunately.

At the place they arrived, Count Philipa, who had arrived earlier, was there, and she stirred up the entire merchant guild again for the support project, turning Lloyd’s mood upside down.

And this was the result.

“No. It’s all that bastard Leoprick’s fault.”

Staying by Lloyd’s side as he blamed others like a child, Zero was holding his breath as if dead.

At this rate, I’ll really become a shadow, not a person.

As he was thinking that and sorting through the bundle of letters that arrived at the guild…

A plain white envelope with neat handwriting and no postmark.

And the postage stamp was not stamped.

Zero, immediately guessing the origin of the letter, quickly tore open the envelope.

And…

“Um, Viscount sir. May I take a brief outing today?”

He quietly raised his hand.

To escape from this suffocating place.