“Why are you doing that, Your Majesty?”

“Empress, I thought it was the Deputy Secretary who came just now.”

Lionel said, putting his hand on his heart.

“What? The Deputy Secretary?”

“Your lips.”

He said, turning his finger around his mouth, with a voice mixed with laughter.

“Ah!”
It felt like there was vanilla foam on the corner of my mouth.

Well, that’s right. He thought I was the Deputy Secretary with a lot of white beards when he saw me?

Is it cute if vanilla foam sticks to Princess Lyselia’s lips and looks like white beards when it sticks to mine?

I, too, tried to wipe off the vanilla foam on the corner of my mouth like her, lightly brushing it with my tongue, but gave up.

Why let go of your hand?

I lifted my hand to wipe my lips, but what my hand touched was not my lips but the back of Lionel’s head.

What is this?!

Suddenly, his narrowed eyes and long eyelashes came into view in front of me.

And before I could say anything, I felt a stubbornly sweet sensation on my lips.

It was Lionel’s lips.

He was skillfully stealing the vanilla foam stuck to the corner of my mouth with his own lips.

“The foam tastes good.”

After a few more playful touches on my lips, his cheerful mischief finally found its place.
“Your affection… seems deep. From the perspective of the Shatonyl royal family, it’s truly a joyful… occasion.”

Prince Tesler asked with a sly smile, looking at him. While doing so, the prince looked at me, twirling his fingers and then moved to the area around his wrist, massaging it.

Disgusting guy.

His gesture seemed like a warning, and a threat, that next time he might not just massage Veniz’s wrist but could easily break it.

“It seems deep only from my side for now.”

Lionel replied bluntly to Prince Tesler.

“What? Are you saying that only Your Majesty feels it’s deep?”

“If I don’t press on to the Empress like this, there won’t be any chances. It’s a rare opportunity, so pardon my rudeness.”

He raised his teacup slightly, chuckling.

Just now, his words seemed to save me and perhaps saved Veniz.

“Oh… Your Majesty the Empress, please treat His Majesty a bit more gently.”

Prince Tesler deliberately said, nudging me with his words.
“Please understand, Your Majesty. The Empress has never been playful since she was young.”

Although her voice, tinged with falsehood, was quite annoying, it wasn’t a lie.

“Oh, she’s such a consistent person.”

But Lionel looked at me as if he were admiring me for receiving a compliment.

?

I was curious about what expression I was making right now.

I couldn’t help but frown or smile at his words.

“Anyway, thanks to the coffee the princess brought, I got to taste the vanilla foam properly. Thank you.”

His gaze fixed on my lips as he spoke to Princess Lyselia.

Discomfort flashed across her face, and eventually, she rose from her chair even before Prince Tesler did.

“I-I’ll return to the guest room now…”

The two siblings from the Shatonyl royal family hastily left the main palace and returned to the guest palace by carriage.
“What’s so good about that beggar-like woman wiping foam with her own lips?”

The irritation from Princess Lyselia started the moment they got on the carriage.

“Lysel, watch your language!”

At Prince Tesler’s rebuke, she pursed her lips.

Right now, the prince felt like his head would explode just dealing with Norton’s issues.

‘A mercenary knight of unknown origin turns out to be a prince of the Pasha Empire? Moreover, he survived falling off a cliff?’

Upon arriving at the guest palace, the two were guided to the guest floor where they would stay.

Prince Tesler entered the guest room assigned to the princess with her.

“Why on earth did he do such a thing! I told him not to do anything and just smile!”

That’s what he warned her before coming to the Raphion Empire.

As soon as the bedroom door closed, Prince Tesler shouted.
Before bringing up the topic of Prince Norton, he first criticized her behavior in the reception room.

“Brother, how on earth did Zelda cook the emperor? This doesn’t make sense.”

Princess Lyselia expressed her anger at Lionel’s attitude, who seemed completely disinterested in her, ignoring the prince’s scolding.

“Whether it makes sense or not, damn it…”

Even Prince Tesler, annoyed, felt the same.

“Did Zelda feed him something weird? Otherwise, how can the emperor look at such a sight with such tender eyes!”

“Lower your voice. This rascal!”

Prince Tesler rubbed his forehead with his hand.

“Why did you spill coffee for no reason?”

“Oh, I don’t know! Brother, get me a magic potion to change the color of my eyes.”

“What? Why out of the blue?”

“I can’t stand having the same hair color as that girl, Zelda.”
She began to comb through her abundant pink hair, sweeping it to one side.

“If I’m going to have black eyes that no one can tell who they contain, it might be better, right?”

The princess, who was fixing her appearance, looked into the mirror and quickly said with a sly tone.

“Put away your nonsense.”

Prince Tesler liked how his own image reflected in Zelda’s clear pink eyes.

Zelda with black eyes… It didn’t suit her at all.

No matter how much she was my younger sister, sometimes when she threw tantrums like that, it was hard not to sigh.

“Did you really not know that he is the prince of the Partsha Empire?”

Prince Tesler asked, touching his forehead with his hand.

“If I knew, would I have betrayed Norton and followed the royal knights? But it’s strange. Why did he hide that he is a prince from me too?”

“Ah, that might have been when there was a lot of turbulence within the Partsha royal family.”
“Oh, the second prince killed the first prince and started a rebellion?”

“Yeah, that’s right. That’s why he came over to the North Continent, probably didn’t want to reveal his identity.”

“The bastard, even so, there was no reason for him to survive on the cliff, obsessed with the third prince.”

Prince Tesler sneered bitterly.

“I need to meet Norton.”

Princess Resilia, who was rolling her eyes and biting her nails, spoke with a determined look in her eyes.