This really works.

‘Why does it work?’

But the relief was short-lived. My efforts to avoid dredging up past events returned as an extravagant late-night feast. I’m not sure why I think this is only good for Reus when I’m the one who will be eating it.

‘It’s definitely going into my stomach.’

I knew it was a strange train of thought, but Reus, who had firmly settled in next to me, also looked rather pleased. Is it fortunate that I’m not the only one having strange thoughts…?

‘If I had known it would be like this, I should have pretended to be sick…’

“Roel. Didn’t you say you were hungry?”

“…Aren’t you eating, Reus?”

“I don’t particularly feel like it.”

Unlike you. His words were tinged with a slightly annoying tone after expressing disappointment. Since it wasn’t to the point where I couldn’t eat at all, I picked up my chopsticks. And just before putting food in my mouth, I asked Reus, just in case:

“It would be wrong to bring personal feelings into work, right?”

“Well.”

“…”

“I’m an emotional person, so I’m not sure.”

I had almost directly asked for Reus’s opinion, but the answer I got was one that no one would nod in agreement to.

“That’s the first time I’ve ever heard you say something like that.”

“I’m glad you’ve learned at least a little about me now.”

If nothing else, I’m certain of one fact – Reus has a voice that can make nonsense sound like it has substance.

“You weren’t originally that kind of person.”

“I’ve always been that kind of person.”

“You’re lying…”

Reus gently pushed my arm that had been hovering in the air, as if to say it was time to stop stalling. Reluctantly, I began to eat.

Then I was dumbfounded again. Who would have thought I’d end up worrying about such trivial things while looking at this man!

‘Since when did I start worrying about things like this?’

Reus tends to do unexpected things in strange places.

With that face that looks like he would never do such a thing, I was more than a little worried that he might mix personal feelings into business over something like this, but now even that doesn’t seem strange at all.

‘Now I’m not worried about whether he’ll do it or not, but to what extent…’

I don’t want to defend Roze’s actions, but I also don’t want to react to every little thing from a child showing immaturity and jealousy just before coming of age.

‘Besides, Teron already embarrassed her in a similar way.’

I thought about pretending not to know until the end as usual, but remembering that she’s definitely not the type to let this slide, I concluded it would be better to just lay it all out.

“That incident… it’s already over. It wasn’t as serious as you think. No, that’s not it either. Before it became a problem, Teron already-”

“That damned Teron again.”

But a gloomy voice came from Reus, as if his mood had suddenly soured.

Did I really talk about Teron that much? I don’t think I’ve done that very often until now, so I’m not sure why he’s reacting as if he’s sick of just hearing the name.

“Reus, Teron didn’t do anything wrong…”

“He didn’t appear before it became a problem, but rather he only stepped in when it was about to become a big problem, right? What kind of guard protects their master like that?”

“It’s Teron’s first time being a guard-”

“Are you taking his side?”

“No, I’m not trying to take sides, but…”

I said it out of concern that their already poor relationship might worsen, but my words seemed to upset Reus even more.

“Why are you so angry…”

“Why?”

His face seemed to ask if I really didn’t know, but there was no way I could know the reason. Reus shifted slightly, as if about to say something, but then leaned back against the chair.

“…Never mind.”

He wasn’t the type to swallow his words at all!

I told him he could just say what he was going to say, but in the end, Reus didn’t say anything and just furrowed his brows in irritation before turning his head away.

This was the first time he had so blatantly refused to talk.

Morning came, but Reus’s mood still didn’t seem to have improved. If anything, it seemed even more dejected than yesterday.

He wasn’t keeping his mouth shut or refusing to talk, but…

“Reus, you’re not still upset, are you?”

“I’m not.”

“Hmm…”

He said he wasn’t, but it was clear he was being stiff because of yesterday’s incident.

“Roel. Don’t skip meals, if nothing else.”

Even in the midst of this, he didn’t forget to meddle in things related to me, including meals, before leaving the hotel a little later.

‘What exactly is he angry about?’

Seeing him nag as usual, it didn’t seem like he was terribly angry with me. I pondered all morning, but couldn’t come up with an answer.

“Forget it. I should read a book.”

I had packed 5 books thinking I’d have a lot of time to read during the trip, but today was the first time I opened one. As I was sitting by the window reading for a while, suddenly a voice dropped from above my head, startling me so much that I dropped the book I was holding.

“How focused were you to not hear someone coming in?”

“Ah… Did you knock?”

“Yeah. I even yelled loudly, but you didn’t hear?”

Teron picked up the book that had fallen to the floor and placed it on the table. He squinted at the title for a moment before frowning.

“You’re sitting here reading this kind of book even on a trip.”

“What’s wrong with this…”

“How many people read philosophy books on vacation?”

“But it’s kind of fun in its own way-”

“You know, you may be quiet, but you’re quite the oddball.”

I’m not sure why I’m being called an oddball for reading a book I brought because I had nothing particular to do, just like at the Grand Duke’s mansion.

“Lunch.”

“Ah.”

Looking at the clock, I saw that it was well past lunchtime. Perhaps because I had eaten dinner like that yesterday and gone straight to sleep, I wasn’t hungry today and had missed mealtime.

“I was planning to skip lunch.”

“It’s your choice, but… won’t there be another fuss?”

“Hmm…”

He didn’t mention the subject, but it was clear to anyone listening that he was referring to Reus.

Teron made a slightly frustrated expression for a moment, then seemed to reach his own conclusion and waved his hand as if to say not to mind his reaction.

“Fine. Eat or don’t eat as you please. It’ll only be more troublesome if I meddle too. It’s not like someone dies from skipping one meal.”

I particularly agreed with the last statement.

I nodded slightly and reopened the book that Teron had placed on the table. As I rested my chin on my hand and tried to focus on the book again, Teron spoke up once more after a short while.

“Aren’t you bored?”

He didn’t seem to understand the book I was reading at all, and apparently didn’t find the act of reading itself very appealing.

“You were doing this all the time at the Grand Duke’s mansion, and now you’re doing it on a trip too, so I’m just curious.”

“It’s a little boring, but I only have to do this today and tomorrow.”

“Ah. So you are bored?”

“It is a bit boring to just sit around doing nothing.”

“Is that why you were always clutching a book at the Grand Duke’s mansion too?”

“Well…”

Honestly, I couldn’t deny it.

When I was at the Count’s mansion, I would help with Eni’s work to alleviate boredom, or the Ivelle mother and daughter would take turns tormenting me, so there was no time to be bored…

‘But there was none of that at the Grand Duke’s mansion.’

After getting married, I was initially given work as the Grand Duchess and had plenty to do, but that didn’t last long as Reus didn’t want me to, so it would have been stranger not to feel bored.

“Why don’t you go out for some fresh air?”

Normally I would have been tempted by those words, but for some reason I didn’t feel like it today. More precisely, I could imagine what kind of nagging Reus would unleash when he returned.

‘He’d probably scold me a lot for skipping a meal and going for a walk.’

As I was lost in these trivial thoughts for a moment, Teron asked with a slightly disgusted look:

“Don’t tell me that guy is already preventing you from going out?”

“Huh? What do you mean by ‘already’…”

Why is he using the word ‘already’ here?

I’m not sure why he’s saying that, but I do feel like Reus would probably follow me anywhere if I said I was going out at the Grand Duke’s mansion.

After all, he’s the type of person who would enter a place with only women’s dresses without hesitation. I could easily imagine Reus following me around and nagging about this and that, as long as there wasn’t any major incident.

However, ultimately, it wasn’t because I was conscious of Reus that I didn’t go out.

Originally, I wasn’t in a position to go out freely at the Count’s mansion, so I felt more at ease staying at home rather than going out.

‘Actually, I was even happier not having to attend balls and such.’

Isn’t it because Reus rejects every invitation he receives without even caring where they come from that I’m living like this idle person?

And since I’ll be leaving soon anyway, I wanted to stay at the Grand Duke’s mansion as much as possible, so it was pretty much my own choice in the end.

Of course, now the main reason is that it’s bothersome.

“We did go to the festival street not too long ago.”

“Hey, how long ago was that for you?”

“I’m not really the type to go out often…”

“You mean you couldn’t go out.”

“Well, that’s true, but… Anyway. I didn’t have much reason to go out since everything I needed was in the Grand Duke’s mansion.”

“Tsk, that’s the problem, don’t you understand?”

“Um… And I only have to do this until tomorrow. The day after that, we’re planning to sightsee in Leveren.”

“That’s still two days from now. If you’re really bored, you could at least take a look around the hotel.”

“Nah, it’s fine. No need to go through the trouble-”

“I heard there’s a Monzeto National Ballet performance in the hall next door. It seems to be a very famous performance, are you not interested in that kind of thing?”

Ballet? That piqued my interest a bit.

The Kingdom of Monzeto is known for its excellent arts despite its small size. Especially for aspiring ballerinas and ballerinos from various countries, studying abroad in Monzeto was considered the elite path.

“If you want to see it, you could go for a bit.”

“Hmm…”

“I’m here so you can move around freely. If not for me, you’d probably have several knights from the Grand Duke’s household trailing you.”

“But I’m not sure if I should go out on my own.”

“See? That guy has been hinting at you not to go out, hasn’t he?”