Franz stopped crying abruptly.

It seemed hard for him to believe that his identity had been exposed.

“How did you know? My shoes? Or my voice?”

“No. Thanks to the knights.”

“Those bastards treated me like baggage. No respect for the Crown Prince. How dare they……”

Franz tilted his head, seemingly forgetting our recent argument.

It appeared curiosity had suppressed his sorrow.

For the first time, he looked cute.

“The knights didn’t even ask about your identity.”

“So what?”

“It means they knew. That you’re not an ordinary servant and can roam the palace as you please. What 10-year-old could do that besides the Crown Prince?”

“Hmm. Not bad. What else?”

Franz replied in a much softer voice.

I added a few more clues.

“They didn’t block the dog hole either. It means there’s no point in blocking it. You’ve been sneaking in here since before I arrived.”

“……”

“The dirty uniform itself doesn’t make sense. Cleanliness and neatness are duties of royal servants, right? Aren’t your servants from noble families too?”

“I don’t want to talk about those fools.”

Franz answered sulkily.

Though trying not to show it, he seemed eager to hear more of my deductions.

“Any other evidence?”

“Your cheap hat doesn’t suit the palace either. If you were a real servant, it would have been confiscated immediately, right?”

“You’re calling my hat cheap?!”

“Isn’t it? I think I saw something similar at the market.”

“Don’t insult my treasure!”

Why would he call that worn-out hat a treasure?

His inner thoughts were as inscrutable as his father, Nikolai.

“I’m bringing your meal, Lady Elizabeth.”

It was the voice announcing lunchtime.

Below the canary room’s door was another small, flat door.

Thanks to this, trays of food could be passed without unlocking the main door.

I wondered if the previous occupant of this room had also been confined.

The feeding hatch didn’t seem to have been hastily made just for me.

“Today’s menu is butter-roasted duck, lavender jelly, salad, and potato cream soup.”

The dishes on the shiny silver tableware all emitted fresh and savory aromas.

Though I wanted something spicier, I was in no position to be picky about the menu.

“You should go back, I need to eat.”

I told Franz as I sat at the table for two.

As I spread the napkin on my lap, Franz complained.

“How uncivilized. It’s common courtesy to offer food to a guest.”

“Aren’t you the last one to talk? Besides, you’re not a guest, just an ill-mannered intruder.”

“So you really do hate children!”

“Thanks for remembering.”

“And you think you can be my education supervisor like this? I absolutely won’t allow it!”

I lightly ignored Franz’s fuming.

I spread the lettuce widely, placed a piece of duck on top, and added mustard honey sauce.

Though incomparable to lettuce wraps stuffed with garlic and ssamjang, it tasted good due to the quality ingredients.

“The duck is especially tender today.”

As I chewed a mouthful of lettuce wrap, a clear sound came from Franz’s stomach.

Grumble.

Franz rolled his eyes, flustered.

I was equally surprised.

“Franz. Are you hungry by any chance?”

“It’s not like that!”

“I heard a grumbling sound though?”

“It’s just like whistling. Something I do when I’m bored.”

Franz pretended to whistle while making an absurd excuse.

Grumble again.

The signal of hunger was much louder than his clumsy whistling.

Franz’s cute face turned as red as a burning sweet potato.

Though he was known as a little devil, it was hard to ignore a hungry child.

Especially one smaller and thinner than his peers.

“Want to eat? It might not suit your taste though.”

I didn’t really think he’d eat.

Wasn’t Franz the one who treated even the finest dishes made by his personal chef like garbage?

But to my surprise, Franz’s lovely lime-green eyes lit up.

“Can I really eat?”

“Huh? Oh. Sure!”

“Then, just a little bit.”

Franz scurried over to the table.

He neatly hung the napkin around his neck and started eating my portion of the meal.

Where was all that wariness from earlier? Running over excitedly just for food. Seeing him like this, he was every bit a child.

‘Is this really that picky eater? He’s eating everything neatly without spilling.’

His refined dining manners showed the dignity befitting a Crown Prince.

He ate so deliciously that even I, who wasn’t very hungry, started to salivate.

While tearing and eating some white bread, I asked Franz.

“Why did you bully the servants?”

“I never bullied them.”

“I heard you stripped them and hit them with wooden swords?”

“It’s karma. They deceived me first.”

“How did they deceive you?”

“……”

“Why did you chase away the previous teacher?”

Franz looked up at me silently.

The hostility and sarcasm that had been blazing in his transparent green eyes were gone.

He seemed to have realized that his bravado and sharp tongue wouldn’t work on me.

“Want some advice?”

Franz asked in a serious voice.

I wondered how many faces this boy had.

Why did he need to have so many faces?

A corner of my heart felt chilly, like when Nikolai took off his Casanova mask.

“If you want to stay alive, keep quiet. Don’t feel safe just because you’re surrounded by knights.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Don’t try to know too much. I’m returning the favor for your advice.”

I was briefly grateful that he took my words as advice, but his un-childlike calmness was saddening.

I’d said not to worry about celebrities or the rich.

Yet here I was, worrying about the Crown Prince.

Even while thinking it wasn’t my place, I couldn’t leave him alone.

Franz was sweating again.

“Should I call a healer?”

“No need.”

“But your forehead’s flooding? And you look pale.”

“I’ll be fine soon, so don’t worry about it.”

“Still, you should get examined. What if it’s a serious illness?”

“I know my own body best!”

Franz slammed his fist on the table.

It was a sensitive reaction different from children who just fear injections.

I could sense a deep-rooted distrust and fear towards healers.

‘Should I tell Nikolai? But that man probably wouldn’t give a damn. Ah, there’s that method!’

I slapped my knee as a brilliant idea came to mind.

Just then, the knight outside announced Nikolai’s arrival.

“His Majesty the Emperor will arrive shortly. He orders you to be awake this time.”

Franz and I looked at each other with startled rabbit eyes.

‘What should we do? There’s no time to escape!’

Before I could finish deliberating, the lock turned.

Elizabeth was unusually talkative today.

She seemed excited, but also a bit anxious.

“I don’t understand why I still need to be confined. You said you’d appoint me as the Crown Prince’s education supervisor, right?”

With every flutter of her lips, a sweet fragrance wafted out.

My nerves, on edge all night, gradually relaxed.

Last night too, the wolf hadn’t let Nikolai go.

The same went for the women who had waited for the wolf’s touch.

Even though he didn’t allow himself to go all the way, the wolf persistently provoked Nikolai’s instincts.

“Enjoy life, Nicky. Make living a bit more fun.”

Though he never showed it, Nikolai feared the wolf coiled inside him.

He was afraid he might someday succumb to its tricks.

The women who became empresses were convinced they had captivated the emperor with their beauty.

They didn’t know that Nikolai barely endured the stench, that he detested this time of feeding the wolf.

Amidst the women groping him, he resisted the urge to run to the canary room.

He wanted to see Elizabeth. This morning too.

As much as he hated to admit it, he couldn’t help it.

After holding back again and again, he finally came under the pretext of inspecting the palace.

Just after a single day had passed.

‘Does this count as enjoying life too? It’s a bit awkward and confusing, but.’

Of course, it wasn’t all unpleasant.

Every time he bantered with Elizabeth, his face flushed hot.

It was quite difficult to hide his willingness.

“Education supervisors are granted privileges. Free access to the palace is one of them. Though there’s no guarantee you’ll actually become the supervisor.”

“So you mean I should win over the Crown Prince’s heart first.”

“Shouldn’t be hard for you? Didn’t you declare you’d seduce the emperor?”

“!”

“What’s your strategy today, Elizabeth?”

Nikolai tucked Elizabeth’s fallen hair behind her ear.

The wolf often aroused women with such small gestures too.

Elizabeth flinched almost imperceptibly at each brush of Nikolai’s touch.

Her black pupils trembled finely like those of a country girl unfamiliar with men.

She seemed unaware that her feigned nonchalance stimulated Nikolai even more.

‘She’s different from the women in the harem. I want to keep touching her. Her hair, her nape, her lips.’

Elizabeth, nervously rolling her eyes, muttered while barely moving her lips.

“Save such talk for later.”

“Why can’t I say it now?”

“It’s broad daylight. Someone might… overhear.”

“Is pretending to be modest your new strategy?”

“I’m naturally demure.”

Everyone would laugh if they heard Elizabeth Amster say such a thing.

Monopolizing attention, teasing handsome men, using affection to fulfill her vanity.

This woman was completely different from the Elizabeth who had shown innate talent in all those things.

Was it true that she had changed as a person after the fever?

Her carelessly tied crimson hair and simple dress didn’t seem deliberately staged.

Unlike her gorgeous appearance befitting the queen of flowers, she looked natural and pure.

Even Nikolai, ignorant about women, could tell that this enhanced her inherent beauty.

“Why are you dressed like that? I heard carriages brought clothes from the Amster mansion.”

“They were all revealing, tight, uncomfortable party dresses. I’ll need to call a tailor.”

“I’ll summon the empire’s finest craftsman. I’ll buy you the highest quality silk too. Let you choose any jewels you want.”

“I have plenty of money.”

“Let me do it. I want to win your heart too.”

Elizabeth’s lips parted blankly.

The small, snow-white teeth visible between her plump lips caught Nikolai’s gaze.

The same went for her repeatedly blinking eyelids, and the long lashes that seemed like they’d make a rustling sound with each blink.

When proposed the seduction game, Nikolai had dismissed it as childish waste of time.

He signed the contract, but it was merely an excuse to possess the mysterious fragrance.

He thought he had no competitive spirit. But he couldn’t understand why he kept getting serious.

‘If I win the game, I can possess everything of Elizabeth’s. No need to feel guilty either. Whether it’s impulse or curiosity, it doesn’t matter to the winner.’

Nikolai didn’t understand meetings between men and women.

The emotion called love was the same.

Contracts felt much simpler and more beneficial than vague emotional games.

If it was a game where he had to win someone’s heart to be victorious, he just had to win.

‘Does it matter what I do to win? As long as I keep the contract.’

Nikolai couldn’t even imagine how this would come back to him like a boomerang.

Nor that Elizabeth would suddenly make this request.

“If you want my heart, return the Nettleton family heirloom.”