“…….”

The Crown Prince quietly put his hands in his pockets and let out a deep sigh.

The next moment, the Crown Prince leaned back in his chair, tilting it backwards, and tilted his head towards the fountain.

“Rembrandt!”

And he shouted to call them.

Rembrandt and Arthur’s wife turned to look at him from the other side.

The Crown Prince shouted.

“Come here now! Unless you want to be misunderstood as having ulterior motives towards Arthur’s lady.”

[This is the timeline separator]

“Excuse me, Lord Arthur.”

Rembrandt, who had escorted Reina to Arthur, politely bowed.

“Not at all.”

Arthur extended his arm to Reina, who had been escorted by him.

“…….”

Reina gave a brief nod of thanks to Rembrandt and moved to Arthur’s side.

“…….”

“…….”

This is driving me crazy.

The Crown Prince quietly frowned at the awkward atmosphere.

He already owed Arthur a lot.

Whatever happened, if it was his mistake to call Rembrandt here without permission, he had to take responsibility.

Just as the Crown Prince was about to open his mouth to smooth over the atmosphere.

Reina, who had turned her head to look up at Arthur, said softly.

“……Arthur. Let’s talk for a moment.”

And she pointed towards the fountain where she had been talking with Rembrandt earlier.

“Over there.”

At that moment, the Crown Prince and Rembrandt looked at Reina simultaneously.

“…….”

Arthur also looked at Reina with a slightly surprised, stiff face.

Reina, with her hand on Arthur’s arm, asked the Crown Prince.

“……Your Highness. I know it’s impolite, but may I excuse myself for a moment?”

The Crown Prince looked at Reina, a bit flustered by the unexpected situation.

She added apologetically, hesitating slightly.

“I’m sorry I couldn’t properly host you when you visited our humble home.”

“……It’s nothing.”

When the Crown Prince answered, Reina smiled slightly in response and pulled on Arthur’s arm.

“Arthur.”

“…….”

Reina gazed at Arthur with clear eyes.

“…….”

Arthur, who had been hesitating, briefly bowed his head to the Crown Prince, then began to escort Reina towards the fountain where she had been talking with Rembrandt.

The same path Reina had taken earlier when escorted by Rembrandt.

“…….”

The Crown Prince glanced at Rembrandt.

He also had a somewhat surprised look on his face.

It didn’t seem like Rembrandt had advised this.

“……Was Lord Arthur very upset?”

Rembrandt asked.

“……To be honest, he was a bit, but I think it will be fine.”

The Crown Prince answered, looking at Arthur and Reina’s retreating figures.

[This is the timeline separator]

Alone with Arthur, Reina immediately looked up at him and opened her mouth.

“Actually…… I had met Lord Rembrandt before.”

“…….”

Reina began speaking without preamble.

“But until now, I didn’t even know that I had met Lord Rembrandt before. When I met him that one time…… I thought he was his attendant. But at that time I…….”

Reina hesitated briefly before saying.

“I was a bit rude, not knowing he was Lord Rembrandt.”

Reina lowered her head, pressing her hand to her nape.

“I…… showed him a bit of my unadorned self…….”

As her hand went up, her dress sleeve opened slightly, revealing a clumsily tied lace handkerchief inside.

“…….”

Then she lowered her hand and clasped it with the other.

The lace handkerchief was hidden again in her sleeve.

“So when I just heard that he was Lord Rembrandt…… I was a bit surprised.”

“…….”

Reina raised her gaze again and looked at Arthur.

“…….”

Arthur was silently looking at Reina.

“…….”

To speak so honestly to him about herself, skipping over ‘Christina’…….

It felt reckless, but.

Reina continued speaking.

“……I looked a bit funny at that time. Lord Rembrandt thought it was amusing, so he thought he could just talk about it lightly like a brief enjoyable story…….”

And Reina pressed her nape again, looking a bit embarrassed.

“But when I was so flustered, he said he was sorry, that he didn’t know I would be so surprised and flustered……. He said he would keep it a secret that he saw my unadorned self.”

“…….”

Reina lowered her fidgeting hands and interlaced her fingers in front of her skirt, palms down.

And she looked up at Arthur with honest eyes.

“……That’s all.”

“…….”

……Would he understand?

That she was surprised because she had met Lord Rembrandt not as a young lady…… but as a maid.

Reina quietly faced Arthur.

“……I’m sorry for going to talk to someone else in front of you, my lord. Did it harm your honor?”

Reina asked carefully, looking up at him.

“……You probably…… didn’t like it…… either?”

“…….”

Arthur didn’t smile slightly as usual.

He just looked at Reina for a moment.

Then lowered his gaze with an inscrutable expression.

“…….”

After a while, Arthur sighed, running his fingers through his hair.

“……I’m sorry for grabbing your arm so tightly earlier.”

Arthur said, meeting her gaze.

“Did it hurt?”

“It’s fine.”

Reina quickly answered.

Almost urgently.

Arthur finally chuckled, then muttered while rubbing his eyes and forehead with the hand that had swept through his hair.

“……I’m more jealous than I thought.”

Reina hesitated, doubting her ears.

Arthur soon faced Reina with a fresh expression.

“I was also rude to Lord Rembrandt. I’m petty when it comes to my wife.”

“…….”

Reina somehow felt foolishly shy and her heart fluttered.

It felt too overwhelming to say that he just understood and that her explanation was successful.

“…….”

Arthur smiled slightly and extended his hand again to Reina, offering to escort her.

Reina looked at Arthur without continuing her words, then firmly grasped his offered hand.

The lace handkerchief tied in her sleeve brushed against his arm.

Reina, smiling weakly, looked down at the ground and muttered softly.

“Let’s stay here for a while. Let’s stay longer than we did with Lord Rembrandt before going back.”

Arthur let out a small laugh.

He didn’t answer, but he didn’t show any dislike either.

“Just a moment.”

He just adjusted his grip on Reina’s hand, then reached his fingers deeper into her sleeve.

And he untied the lace handkerchief tied around Reina’s wrist, then retied it neatly and tidied it up.

Reina felt somehow embarrassed, looked at Arthur, and just smiled slightly, lowering her gaze as if grateful.

[This is the timeline separator]

“Do you know the lady?”

The Crown Prince asked Rembrandt.

Rembrandt answered awkwardly, interlacing his fingers on his knee.

“No. Well……. If I had to say, I was the only one who knew the lady. We crossed paths once, but the lady didn’t know who I was. She seemed surprised when I said I was Rembrandt. I don’t want to embarrass the lady, so please don’t ask any more than that. I swear there was nothing dishonorable.”

The Crown Prince laughed briefly.

“Alright. Don’t do anything that might cause misunderstanding. It’s scary if a guy like Arthur goes crazy.”

Rembrandt laughed as if it was absurd.

“Don’t worry. I’m not bold enough to dream of a romance with a war hero’s lady.”

Rembrandt said that while looking at their retreating figures in the distance.

“…….”

Just before returning to Arthur, Reina said softly with her face flushed and head lowered.

“My lord……. Thank you for your concern. But I’m actually not very good at lying.”

And she muttered in an almost inaudible voice while pressing her nape.

“……It would be obvious anyway if I tried to lie.”

“So I’ll just…… tell you honestly.”

“I can’t say that I’m not a young lady…… but…….”

“…….”

“……Can you keep just one secret?”

“…….”

“Just that you sold me the imperial newsletter…….”

Why would she want to hide that?

What’s wrong with buying the imperial newsletter…….

There wasn’t anything significant in it anyway.

“…….”

But since it was the lady’s secret, he had no right to speak of it.

Rembrandt awkwardly touched the back of his head, looking at Reina standing with Arthur over there with a somewhat strange feeling.

[This is the timeline separator]

“I’ve been very rude in many ways today. I’ll take my leave now. I’m glad to have met you, my lady. Oh, and belated congratulations on your marriage.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

Believing that she should at least end this moment well, whatever might happen, Reina smiled and bowed politely.

Thinking about it, she realized that it might pass without incident if she handled it well.

After all, once they part now, they won’t meet again, right?

His Highness the Crown Prince to the Imperial Palace, Young Lady Christina to Julius territory.

Thankfully, if Lord Rembrandt keeps the secret.

All’s well that ends well.

Reina smiled.

“Take care. It was an honor to see the light of the Empire.”

Towards Reina, who was smiling as she bid farewell, the Crown Prince said with a smile as if reluctant to part:

“I suppose we’ll see each other again at the debutante ball after the victory celebration?”

Cracks appeared in Reina’s smiling face.

“……Pardon?”

The Crown Prince said with a smile.

“Let me know when you come to the capital. I’ll invite you two separately.”

Arthur asked.

“……A debutante ball?”

“Oh, haven’t you heard yet?”

The Crown Prince answered, looking at Reina.

“There will be a debutante ball. My lady, you haven’t had your debut, right?”

What is he talking about?

The Crown Prince’s words continued.

“When you were seventeen, social gatherings were banned due to the war, so all the ladies who should have had their debuts at seventeen or eighteen are now twenty-two or twenty-three. And for five years below that, no young ladies have been able to have their debuts.”

Reina blankly looked at the Crown Prince as he continued speaking.

His voice flowed smoothly.

“So this spring, all the ladies from seventeen to twenty-three who couldn’t debut during that time will have their debutante ball. It will be the largest debutante ball in history.”

Then the Crown Prince winked cheerfully towards her…….

“At that time, you’ll clearly be the queen.”

The original targets for debutante balls were between seventeen and eighteen.

But it’s been five years since social gatherings and noble marriages were banned.

During that time, debutante balls weren’t held, so all the high-ranking noble daughters between seventeen and twenty-three who couldn’t make their debuts and had to postpone had to participate in the debutante ball where they would greet the Emperor and Empress at the Imperial Palace.

Twenty-two-year-old Christina was a target for the debutante ball.

“B-but I’m already married……. Can I still be a target for the debutante ball?!”

Screaming internally, Reina asked stutteringly.

The Crown Prince answered with a bright smile.

“Haha. Even women who have already had their debut can receive an invitation to greet Their Majesties the Emperor and Empress again as ‘the wife of so-and-so’ after marriage, as a principle. In your case, you have both the debut as ‘Lady Julius’ and the qualification to greet as ‘Arthur’s wife’, so you’ll get two invitation cards.”

Reina stopped breathing.

Arthur tilted his head.

“Won’t the first one be omitted?”

The Crown Prince rubbed his chin.

“Is that so? But a debutante ball is once in a lifetime, it would be a shame if only the lady missed it.”

“!”

The Crown Prince looked at Reina and smiled brightly.

“We can’t let you feel left out. If by any chance they say they won’t send a separate invitation, I’ll go and talk to them.”

There’s no need for that!

Reina’s face turned deathly pale.

The Crown Prince shrugged confidently.

“But I don’t think I’ll need to say anything, they won’t forget. The wife of ‘Arthur’, who is the son of the Emperor, my brother, and the protagonist of the victory celebration. When the whole empire knows that you’re a lady who married without having her debut at seventeen because of the war, do you think they’d omit that just because you’re already a married woman?”