The next morning was very, very unpleasant.

Not only had Leoprick’s words lingered in my ears all night, but the sight of his chest rising and falling right in front of my eyes in real time was also quite burdensome.

I finally managed to force my eyes shut and sleep for a few hours before dawn, only to be awakened by the sound of Leoprick leaving early in the morning.

As soon as I opened my eyes, I felt my eyelids heavy.

My body felt heavy, but I still had to move.

I forced myself up and roughly arranged the bedding.

There wasn’t much time, so I had to move quickly.

I needed to go to the capital and talk to Hayley, and find out how Lloyd suddenly appeared in faraway Waynes without even passing through any villages…

I gathered the bedding in my arms and opened the door.

“Oh? You’re up already?”

As I stepped out of the room, Betty, who was packing her luggage, widened her eyes.

Surprised as if she didn’t expect me to wake up this early, I put the pile of bedding on the table as I looked at her.

“We have to leave early.”

“Still, His Highness said to let you sleep a little longer.”

“I’m wide awake. It’s fine. Where is His Highness?”

Betty quickly finished packing the luggage she was arranging and reached for the pile of bedding I had placed.

“He’s outside talking with the knights. I think they’re discussing today’s schedule.”

“Is that so?”

Discussing today’s schedule.

We’ll just be rushing to reach the next village or a traveler’s inn as quickly as possible, so what is there to discuss?

I tilted my head as I helped Betty pack the bedding.

“Is there a schedule we don’t know about?”

“I don’t think so? As far as I know, there’s no other schedule except getting to the capital as fast as possible.”

Betty shook her head.

There was no contact in the meantime, and there was no incident that would require a change in route, so what were they discussing?

Filled with curiosity, I walked outside.

I moved with the intention of listening to what they were talking about outside, but as soon as I approached the door, I heard their conversation.

“So, anyway, this road isn’t very good right now, you’re saying?”

“That’s right. Even if we have to take a slight detour, it’s better to go around the next village than head straight there right now.”

“Then we’ll have to camp out tomorrow night as well.”

“If we ride fast, we should be able to reach the village after that before sunset.”

As I quietly listened to the outside, I saw Betty come up right next to me.

“They’re saying we should take a detour? Why?”

Betty mumbled, barely making a sound with her lips.

But how could I know what she didn’t, when she woke up early?

If Betty, who should have grasped the situation first, hadn’t heard anything, then I wouldn’t know the reason for that decision either.

I lightly shook my head and turned my ear to the outside again.

“It shouldn’t be too hard on the two of them.”

“We’re paying as much attention as possible, but as you know, they are both skilled riders. This much should be fine…”

“I don’t think that’s for you to judge.”

As soon as someone’s words ended, Leoprick’s chilling voice rang out.

At his words that sounded like a rebuke, all the sounds coming from outside stopped.

Even without opening the door to check, I could tell that all the knights who were talking outside had closed their mouths.

Was it really necessary for him to speak so sharply about something so trivial?

I lightly clicked my tongue inwardly, and voices were heard from outside again.

“I misspoke. Since the two of them have been handling the schedule so effortlessly…”

“Only the two of them know whether it was really effortless or not. And even if that were the case, does that mean we should forget to be considerate of them?”

“No. I was being rash.”

It seemed to be something that didn’t need to be so harsh about, but he apparently thought differently.

Listening to his voice scolding the knight in a sharp tone, I felt grateful for his consideration, but also a bit uncomfortable.

Neither Betty nor I were weak enough to need that much consideration.

But people react differently to the same situation, and it seemed Betty, who was listening next to me, had a different opinion.

“Isn’t His Highness so cool?”

Betty mumbled, unable to hide her slightly excited face.

What part of this was exciting, and what was so cool about that?

I looked at her with a dumbfounded face and let out a chuckle.

Then, without any particular response, I turned my ear to the conversation outside again.

“If by any chance this sudden change in route was made without any consideration for the two of them-”

“No, no. That’s not the case.”

The knight’s flustered voice was heard in response to Leoprick’s still chilling words.

And at this point, I also started to become curious.

Why, for what reason, were they suddenly trying to change the route?

Furthermore, why was Leoprick emphasizing consideration for me and Betty like that?

And as if answering that, the knight continued.

“As I said, that road is better than this one…”

“If there’s no other reason than the road being better-”

“…”

“I don’t see how taking that road, which can’t even shorten the time, is a good idea.”

Leoprick cut off the knight who was stumbling over his words.

Right. That was my question too.

I listened even more intently to the outside as the main point was starting in earnest.

“Well, that’s, I mean…”

“You’re telling me to take an inefficient method without being able to give a valid reason?”

“No! There is a reason, but that’s…”

For some reason, the knight kept stuttering like that, unable to complete his sentences.

It couldn’t be because he had an ominous dream last night or something, could it?

I was having that reasonable suspicion when-

“Last night, we saw Young Duke Alois riding ahead on the road we were planning to take.”

Words that could instantly resolve that suspicion and the numerous questions that followed, no, perhaps could be a truly valid reason, struck my ears.

Lloyd Alois.

Come to think of it, I had received a report that he had suddenly appeared in Waynes.

At that time, I didn’t have a chance to think long about it, so I couldn’t confirm what happened to him who seemed to have fallen from the sky.

He went ahead of us last night.

“I apologize. I thought it wouldn’t be good if our paths crossed with him.”

That’s why, last night, the knights whispered among themselves and hastily revised the route.

No matter how detached the knights were from high society, there was no way they hadn’t heard the most fatal rumors about someone related to the master they served.

And they could have reasonably suspected that I still had feelings for Lloyd.

“If I overstepped, please forgive me. But I couldn’t stay silent knowing the direction he was heading last night was the same as ours.”

“So you do know you overstepped.”

“…”

The knights must have made that judgment out of sincere loyalty to their master.

Even though I’m acting quite close with Leoprick now, they wouldn’t know how I might react if I met my old lover.

But, yes. No matter how long they served Leoprick, they overstepped.

I let out a small sigh as I heard his voice speaking in an even chillier tone than before.

“I’m not saying I don’t understand what you’re thinking, but did you not consider that it could lead to disloyalty to your master?”

“No, Your Highness! We only had Your Highness in mind…”

“The ‘Reinhart’ you serve now isn’t just me alone, is it?”

Silence fell outside again at Leoprick’s words.

And I, too, agreed with his words.

They are knights of the imperial family.

To be precise, knights who protect the Reinhart family.

And the Reinhart they must protect here now is not just Leoprick alone.

I also became a Reinhart by marrying him, and I am included in the masters they must serve.

Yet they were acting based on rumors.

What they did was tantamount to disparaging me under the pretext that I had a deep relationship with someone other than Leoprick before marriage.

Making the presumptuous assumption that if Lloyd and I met, we would be swept up in past memories and the emotions from that time.

“You seem to have forgotten even the minimal courtesy towards the master you must serve.”

“…”

“I will deal with the reprimand for this matter when we return. It seems I have overestimated you all this time.”

And perhaps genuinely angered by that fact, Leoprick’s voice was unprecedentedly cold.

I felt Betty glancing at me from the side.

If it weren’t for the fact that we were eavesdropping, she knew it would be a situation where I could rush out and tell Leoprick that I was upset.

I stayed put for a little longer, then carefully turned around and went back to where I was packing my luggage.

“…The knights didn’t mean it in a bad way.”

Betty, who had moved with me, carefully observed my reaction and said that.

It’s not that I don’t understand the meaning of what she said.

Perhaps it was their own consideration, worrying about my once passionate feelings for Lloyd.

In their minds, that was probably the best they could do for their master.

But that’s only when I couldn’t hear it.

“I know that too, Betty. If we hadn’t been eavesdropping, it would have been a situation where we could fully take issue with it.”

“I know. I don’t really want to defend them either. But still…”

But you can still understand them.

I could almost hear the words Betty carefully swallowed.

We’ll have to travel a long way together anyway, so there’s no point in getting on bad terms here.

I understand what she means, but…

“…Right, it’s not like they said those things to my face.”

I didn’t want to make the mistake of overlooking the most important point.

They didn’t say it with any malice towards me, and it’s not like Leoprick would just stand by and let me hear that directly either.

So I just had to gather my feelings here for a moment and face them as if nothing happened.

As Betty said, there was no need to make a fuss over it.

“Don’t worry. What you’re concerned about won’t happen.”

So all I had to do was keep in mind that I might run into Lloyd, whom they said they saw, at some point during this trip.

While thinking about what reaction would be least likely to upset Leoprick.