And the Duke’s eyebrows twitched, perhaps annoyed by Alex’s words.

“That man is… the Crown Prince?”

Only then did she remember the facts she had forgotten. The Duke who went to war with the Crown Prince.

And another man called a war hero along with the Duke. The golden hair like the royal emblem. And even the name Alex.

Veni Alex Legrum de Regnator

That seemingly ordinary man was the first Crown Prince of this empire.

Alex asked about the Duke’s wellbeing in his usual voice, as if he had made an appointment.

But Valige did nothing but glare at him with eyes that looked like they were about to spew venom.

“You look like you’re about to rebel?”

Alex, seeming to tease, shrugged his shoulders, and the Duke opened his mouth as if resigned.

“What brings you here?”

“Is there a need for a reason to meet an old friend? You, on the other hand, have come all the way here with your knights. It’s not like you came to meet me… is there another reason?”

The Duke lightly ignored Alex’s probing question.

“You’re still speaking nonsense.”

“I’m always consistent. But rumor has it, you’ve changed?”

Still wearing a playful face, the Crown Prince looked at Valige, who let out a long sigh. Then, pressing his forehead as if in pain, he continued.

“…Let’s go. I will escort you to the castle.”

An unusually disrespectful attitude from the Duke for a masterservant relationship, and the Crown Prince’s acceptance of such behavior from Valige.

Lina watched their interaction with curious eyes.

‘The Duke and the first Crown Prince were said to be special, right?’

It was a wellknown fact among the children of the empire that the two had been wandering together on the battlefield since childhood. But seeing it with her own eyes felt different.

‘What do I do now?’

Surprised by the sudden revelation of the man’s identity, that was only for a moment. She began to grasp her situation.

Already, the people gathered in the square were kept at a distance from the Duke and the Crown Prince by the knights. However.

Being so close to Alex, Lina, who couldn’t be pushed away with the others, stood ambiguously behind the Crown Prince.

“Staying here like this is dangerous.”

Lina wanted to get out of this place as quickly as possible.

Since she had cast a spell of oblivion on Valige, he would surely not remember her now, but it was best not to encounter him in this state.

But she couldn’t leave her place at will, for fear of catching the Duke’s eye.

At a time when anxiety was tingling at her fingertips, and she was just biting her lips quietly,

One of the black horses behind Valige sniffed something and looked around.

Lina, who had been thinking about escaping this place all the time, didn’t grasp the strange behavior of the horse.

“Okay. Now’s the time.”

After rolling her eyes and looking around for a while, Lina began to step back sneakily.

As she gradually moved away from the Crown Prince, her eyes met with one of the black horses that had been looking around.

At the moment she tried to pass by the horse staring at her, an unknown foreboding gripped Lina’s ankle.

“……Thunder?”

The proud black horse standing next to the Duke, looking at her, was Thunder.

The joy of meeting Thunder again after a long time was only momentary. Thunder snorted, recognizing her.

“I’ll find you later.”

Lina, who took one more step back, cautiously greeted Thunder, who was staring at her intently. But was the horse’s movement towards her just an illusion?

“No way.”

Thunder let out a short cry and twisted his body to approach Lina. There was no way to hide her astonishment at the horse’s suddenly excited behavior.

And the unknown anxiety was gradually becoming a reality.

“What, what is this……!”

Watching the horse’s movement, which seemed about to rush to her, Lina unknowingly swallowed dryly.

Only then did Valige, who realized that Thunder’s behavior was strange, try to calm the horse, but it was already too late.

Before the Duke could restrain Thunder, the horse was already rushing towards her.

“Thunder!”

Valige, confused by the horse’s erratic movement, called out its name, but it was in vain.

“Don’t! Don’t come! Thunder!”

Here, if Thunder greeted her, everyone’s attention would be drawn. Then her plan to quietly slip away would fail.

“Please! Just stay there……!”

Lina begged Thunder not to come with desperate eyes, but there was no way Thunder understood that signal. Rather, thinking that she was greeting him, his approaching steps only became more lively.

Snorting, the black horse, which came up to Lina’s nose in an instant, passed the Crown Prince and pushed his head towards her, playfully asking her to touch him.

“I’m doomed.”

In the end, due to Thunder’s sudden behavior, everyone’s attention was focused on Lina.

“Haah.”

Unable to resist Thunder’s aggressive affection, she finally stroked Thunder’s mane, looking around. Thunder snorted in satisfaction at her touch.

“I’m really going crazy.”

She glanced at Valige with a blank expression. Had the Duke been looking at her too, their gazes met in the air.

As his servant, Lina had met his eyes dozens, hundreds of times, but this time it felt different.

Staring blankly at his yellow eyes for a while, Lina soon turned her head to the side, avoiding his gaze.

But still feeling the Duke’s intense gaze, she looked at him again, surreptitiously.

And Duke Valige was still staring at Lina intensely, without blinking an eyelash.

‘Why does he keep looking at me like that…?’

As his persistent gaze quickened Lina’s heartbeat, Duke Valige asked her,

“Who are you?”