Blowing fire enthusiastically over the sausage, Moya, who was grilling it, slightly flinched at Roji’s muttering and responded.

“Oh, what should I do? What should I do about this situation…”

Roji paced around the bedroom in confusion, vigorously tapping his chest with both hands.

Having taken a bite of the well-cooked sausage, Moya exchanged glances with Ao.

Moya signaled to Ao that Roji seemed crazy, using the hand holding the sausage to gesture around his head.

Ao, lifting a front paw, imitated Moya’s actions, catching the sausage.

“Actually, it seems like our master fell into a trap, so I confessed to the prince. Hehe.”
Moya whispered to Ao with a voice only he could hear.

“Miyaaong. (What? Didn’t he confess? Poor Roji…)”

“It’s okay. It’s okay to say and hear the word ‘love,’ right?”

Moya had memories from a hundred years ago, picking up human expressions from within the egg.

“Miyaaong?! (Did he also say ‘I love you?’)”

Ao, surprised, dropped the sausage he had been nibbling on the floor.

In response, Moya picked up the fallen sausage and offered it back to Ao.

“Don’t worry, humans have time. Time will solve everything, Miyaa.”

“Miyaaong! (Roji is the one who gives us sausages. Don’t tease him!)”

“I’m the one grilling the sausages. And who said anything about teasing?”

“Miyaaong. (Still, I want to…comfort him.)”

Ao looked pitifully at Roji.

“Since when have you fallen for me? The day we first met at the Imperial Palace, or at the lakeside picnic with Melanie Mama? Oh, maybe when I dropped this book.”

As Roji’s soliloquy continued, the sighs of Moya and Ao grew longer.

“Yeah, ever since you looked at me differently after reading the book. Moya, what do you think?”

“I think it’s absurd.”

In response to Moya’s blunt statement, the cat Ao, holding the sausage in its mouth, rolled on the floor, laughing.

“Not charmed by my intellectual appeal?”

Roji chuckled, scratching his head in thought again.

Moya just let Roji continue to misunderstand.

It was too far to go back now to tell him the truth.

Fortunately, she seemed happy for some reason.

That’s good.

Who confessed first wasn’t important to Moya, the young wyvern.

If it helped their master at the temple sponsorship and made Roji happy, that was enough.

What if Prince Norton outright said he disliked Roji?

Then, it was only a matter of twisting that bastard’s neck.

“It’s strange. What could he have fallen for…”

Roji’s agony continued as he looked in the mirror.

At that moment, Ao lifted a front paw and began mimicking Moya’s dance.

“Hey, is it possible that Prince Norton fell for Moya’s dance?”

Startled by the reflection of Ao’s dance in the mirror, Roji jumped.

“It’s quite possible.”

Moya confidently asserted to Roji, who had ignored his dance until now.

“Couldn’t take your eyes off my dance, huh?”

The expression on Roji’s face, who had been laughing at Moya’s dance just a moment ago, became a bit serious.

“…Which arm did you move first? Dance it again.”

Roji asked Moya while flapping his two arms.

Thus, until late at night, Roji learned Moya’s dance from the party at the temple. Despite being a wyvern trapped in an egg for 300 years, Moya instinctively knew that his dance was the courtship dance wyverns performed during their mating season.

Prince Norton, who arrived at the Star Palace, reached the floor where he was staying.

“Norton!”

At the sound of his name being called, he turned around.

Princess Lyselia was chasing after him, ascending the stairs.

She seemed to have been waiting for him around the floor where the prince was staying.

“What… happened?”

The siblings, turning the question back on him, asked what he wanted to know while avoiding their own inquiries.

“For someone hit by the wind, your question seems a bit strange, isn’t it, Princess?”

Prince Norton asked the princess with an expressionless face.

“W-What are you talking about?”

“Princess, how did this happen? Why didn’t you come to the promised place?”

“No, I kept waiting!”

“Waiting? While coming through the back door of the opera palace? Princess, what on earth are you talking about?”

“The back door? I clearly told you to meet at the main gate of the opera palace!”

Princess Lyselia raised her voice, looking unjust and upset.

Prince Norton didn’t question her.

After all, her unsteady pupils were telling the truth.

“Okay, I must have misheard.”

Prince Norton nodded in agreement with Princess Lyselia’s words, willingly playing along with her lie.

“Since it’s late today, it’s better to talk later. I’m a bit tired.”

Since there was no more patience left for Princess Lyselia, it was wise to avoid her at this point.

“Oh, right! We can talk tomorrow. Sleep well, my love.”

Even in her eyes, Prince Norton seemed quite tired.

“…Sleep well.”

Despite feeling nauseated by the princess’s insincere voice and fake smile, Prince Norton forced a smile.

Princess Lyselia, after exchanging greetings, stood still, sending him a coquettish gaze with a somewhat regretful expression.

But Prince Norton pretended not to see her and turned straight to go to his room.

Back in his room, the prince closed the door and stood still for a moment, lost in thought.

“Why did that thought suddenly come to mind?”

Throughout the conversation with the incredibly beautiful Princess Lyselia, another face kept overlapping in his mind.

The innocent face of Roji Adelheid, who was pouring out a clumsy confession.

The mood seemed to lighten a bit when he recalled Roji’s aggressive love confession that had just happened.

Prince Norton made a silent promise to himself.

If he met Roji again tomorrow, he would hold her hand at least once, as she wished.

“She likes me that much; I can do that much for her.”

The next day.

I had breakfast with him in Lionel’s bedroom.

After the meal, with two teacups on the table, I cautiously brought up last night’s incident at the temple sponsorship.

“What do you plan to do?”

Worries overwhelmed me ahead of the meeting with Roji and Prince Norton in the study a few hours later.
“How do you think I should handle it?”

Lionel asked quietly while taking a sip of tea.

“There’s nothing wrong with Roji. It’s all because of me…”

“Why would there be nothing wrong? I committed a big sin.”

“What?”

“It’s disgusting.”

“Your Majesty, by any chance… have you been keeping Roji in your heart?”

In response to my question, Lionel tilted his head as if he heard an absurd joke, chuckled lightly, and shook his head.

“It’s not about feelings.”

“Then…?”

“It’s about the way of seeing.”

“Seeing?”

“Take a good look.”

He pointed to his own face with his finger.

“Yes.”

I rested my chin on the table and closely examined his face as Lionel instructed.

What are you trying to say?

Then, he also leaned in the same way as me, resting his chin on his hand, and whispered like a secret.