It must have been a sound that Melanie herself blurted out unconsciously.

However, Rinel asked her coldly.

“So, ‘this.’ Is that how you just referred to the empress?”

“I, I can’t quite remember what I said… Ow, my head.”

Melanie covered her head with her hands, pretending to have a headache.

I smiled at her, who didn’t know what to do while looking at my expression, and said to him,

“Your Majesty, ‘this’ couldn’t possibly have been referring to the empress, right? You must have misheard.”

When I called Melanie ‘this’, he smirked on one side of his cheek.

“Right, it must have been.”

Rinel, believing it impossible for a concubine to have spoken to the empress in such a way, even apologized to her, thinking he had misunderstood.

Melanie, as if mesmerized by his smile, nodded her head crazily and then turned her gaze to me.

“But, why is the empress here in my quarters?”

“Ah, I…”

When I hesitated to answer, Rinel spoke for me.

“The empress was with me, and we came together because she was worried about the concubine who had fallen down the stairs. She’s truly compassionate.”

When… did that happen?

I gave him a sidelong glance and questioned him with my eyes.

I was a bit worried, indeed, but I had no intention of visiting the concubine’s quarters.

Melanie stared at me intently.

It was a look of ‘why are you interfering.’

“Melanie, how did you end up falling down the stairs? Are you really hurt?”

As Rinel drew closer to her, pulling my hand to his chest, Melanie looked at our interlocked hands with a displeased look.

But whether it was due to our proximity, her face quickly flushed.

“Yes, I rolled down terribly! It hurt! I cried! Sob.”

“Is that why you’re in such pain? I heard you were lost.”

“I was lost! I woke up just a few moments ago after wandering!”

“Thankfully, it seems the path you lost was short.”

“…Yes?”

“That means you look fine.”

He replied dryly.

It was impossible to tell if Melanie was really hurt, but in front of a person claiming to be in pain, he seemed quite bored.

“No, Your Majesty. I’m not fine! I thought my leg was broken! Please, take a look!”

After throwing her words shyly, she boldly flipped her blanket over.

“Voila! It’s swollen horribly. Sob.”

… What the hell?

Melanie’s thin ankle, which seemed fragile enough to break with a smack of my hand, showed no signs of swelling contrary to her claim.

Although she was probably trying to show him her ankle, her slip had ridden up to midthigh.

Am I invisible standing next to Rinel?

Ah, it must be the opposite.

Is she trying to suppress my aura by flaunting her slim legs?

“It looks like a foot that hasn’t walked all day.”

He glanced down at Melanie’s thin ankle, which was as delicate as her wrist, and questioned her.

“What? What do you mean, Your Majesty?”

“Melanie, when was the last time you walked on two feet?”

“Until Your Majesty came…”

“Until I came? Were you wandering while walking?”

“No, that’s not it… My ankles just look fine because they’re so thin!”

Melanie spun her eyes round, made a ‘oops’ expression, and made an excuse with her hands.

“Really? Well, anyway. Did you fall while coming out to meet me?”

“Yes, isn’t today the day when you come to my quarters? So, I was waiting in the bedroom, and I was so excited that I went out to the palace to wait and just…”

“Fell down.”

“Sob, it’s stupid, right?”

“Yes, it is.”

“……”

Oh, please. I wanted to be out of this conversation.

Saying ‘Isn’t it stupid?’ with a smile and responding with a stern ‘Yes, it is.’

I bit my lower lip hard not to laugh.

But the servants behind me who were watching this scene kept coughing to suppress their laughter, making it increasingly difficult for me to keep a straight face.

I mustn’t laugh.

Think sad thoughts, painful thoughts!

Depressing thoughts, bad thoughts!

“Sob, but you were worried about this fool and came to see me, right? That’s right, Your Majesty?”

“Chuckle.”

Eventually, all the various sad thoughts I had been summoning were defeated by that fool’s words.

Thankfully, just before I burst into laughter, I quickly muffled the sound and bowed my head.

So, depending on the listener,

“Why would the Empress cry when even a fool wouldn’t? People can’t be this tender…”

One could also have thought the opposite.

Rinel gently patted my back.

In front of me, the person who had waited for me and even rolled down the stairs ended up in a strange situation where I, who had walked perfectly on my two feet, was being comforted by him.

“Is the Empress so pitiful for Melanie?”

Rinel purposely started a conversation with me, poking at my laughter.

“When I think of Melanie’s weak ankle, and how she tumbled down the harsh stairs trying to meet you, I, too, unknowingly…”

What’s wrong with laughing?

I quickly cut off my speech because if I finished, I’d have to disguise the laughter I’d been holding back as sobbing.

“……Since the Empress is worried about me, I don’t know what to do. It’s all my fault.”

Melanie twisted her head to see if I was really choking up and continued.