I asked him with a bright smile as he looked down at me with a deeply furrowed brow.

He snorted and revealed his discomfort.

“I’m dumbfounded, that’s why.”

“…Pardon?”

“Zelda, what was that you said earlier?”

“What do you mean?”

“What? ‘Your appearance is truly splendid’? ‘You could represent all the continents, hohoho’?”

He imitated what I had said to Prince Norton earlier, looking at me with a skewed gaze.

An emotion completely unsuited to his deep, low voice was apparent.

“Your Majesty, are you jealous right now? Hohoho.”

“!”

When I spoke teasingly, Rinel’s expression turned grim.

I quickly wiped the smile off my face and spoke properly as befitting an empress.

“It was just a polite compliment. He’s an important guest, after all.”

“That… wasn’t that supposed to be for the pitiful-looking guy from the Southern Continent!”

He growled.

He was inadvertently acknowledging that Prince Norton’s appearance was handsome.

“Yes! That’s right.”

“What?”

“To my eyes, he looked pitiful, so I deliberately complimented him.”

His eyes wavered slightly at my lie.

“Compared to Your Majesty’s appearance, I felt I should be even more polite, don’t you think?”

The furrow between his brows slowly began to smooth out.

“So… to your eyes, Prince Norton’s face looks unfinished and not that great?”

Rinel asked, pointing at the audience chamber door with his finger.

An unfinished face?

He was once again evaluating Prince Norton’s appearance that way.

Oh, this feels good.

I decided to humor him a bit more.

“Not that great? You’re being too generous.”

“…Huh?”

“Compared to Your Majesty, his masculinity was completely missing, you know?”

Twitch, twitch.

There. Rinel’s cheeks moved.

Though silent, his face was already in full laughter.

“Kuhup, why do I like you so much?”

Rinel asked in a whisper, gently nudging my arm with his elbow.

“Because I keep getting prettier?”

“That’s the fifth reason. I’m talking about the first reason.”

…He has five reasons for liking me?

“Well? I don’t know. What’s the first reason?”

“Because you’re honest.”

“!”

“Because you can’t lie.”

“…Ah.”

Oh God!

Please forgive me, who lives in lies every day as a proxy empress.

Oh God!

Please look after him, who smiles so innocently, not knowing he’s living in lies.

“But… what are the other reasons you like me?”

I asked in an expectant voice.

“I’ll tell you one each month.”

“Why?”

“Because I haven’t found them all yet.”

What did you say?

“…There are gaps in the order, so why is me getting prettier the fifth reason you like me?”

“I’m sure there are bigger merits than your face.”

He said with a confident look in his eyes.

“Is that how it goes? It seems like you’re suddenly making things up, that’s probably…”

“Yeah, it’s just your imagination.”

He was the kind of man who joked seriously and spoke seriously in jest, so I couldn’t tell how much truth was in what he was saying now.

“Wait. I’ll soon find out the rest of the reasons why I like you.”

“Okay…”

I responded indifferently and laughed it off.

“You seem to have a very accurate eye.”

He said admiringly.

It seemed he was referring to my assessment that Prince Norton’s face lacked masculinity.

“My eyes have gotten a bit blurry like Your Majesty’s lately, but I do tend to see things accurately.”

“Yes, and you have high standards too.”

“…That’s right.”

I nodded contentedly, watching his cheeks rise higher and higher.

“So that’s why you… um? Do that to me?”

“Do what… um? To you?”

“This isn’t normal. Because of me.”

Rinel tapped his heart, then covered his mouth with his fist and chuckled.

“This dawn, your heart was really beating too hard. If I could buy a new heart from somewhere, no matter the cost, I’d want to buy one and put it in for you.”

“That sounds like it should be touching, but why does it sound so creepy?”

“I’m originally a creepy man, what do you expect.”

There it was again.

His habit of casually turning his low body temperature curse into a joke.

“That’s why I warm you up every night, isn’t it?”

I smiled brightly as I took his cold hand.

“…Huh?”

“I mean your body temperature.”

He smiled along with me.

“But, it’s really strange. Your hands are always warm.”

He said, looking down intently at our clasped hands.

Thanks to that, I’m feeling cool right now…

He and I were feeling opposite body temperatures and being happy at the same time.

This is how we’re becoming necessary beings for each other.

No, we’ve already become that.

How much longer can this happiness last?

As that thought suddenly occurred to me, my bright smile gradually softened.

“Shall we sit and wait? While finishing the tea we were drinking earlier.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

We sat side by side in chairs, waiting for Prince Norton.

Rinel picked up one of the documents on the table.

While he was focusing on the document, I cupped my teacup with both hands and blew warmth into it.

The cooled black tea quickly became warm enough to drink comfortably.

I quickly switched his teacup with mine.

“Here, Your Majesty.”

I naturally placed my tea in his hand.

“Hm? The tea doesn’t seem to have cooled yet?”

“Really? It feels about the same as before to me?”

I feigned innocence as I brought the tea he had been drinking to my lips.

“Is that so…?”

He shrugged once, then drank the tea I had warmed with my hands without much suspicion.

“But something feels off?”

He said again, peering closely into the teacup after taking it from his lips.

Just then, the audience chamber door opened.

“Here comes the man lacking masculinity.”

Rinel whispered in my ear as he looked at Prince Norton walking in.

“Pfft!”

The moment my eyes met Prince Norton’s, I sprayed the tea I had been holding in my mouth like a fountain.

Surprisingly, the hands of both men appeared in front of me simultaneously.

Prince Norton took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to me, while Rinel…

“Don’t worry. Fortunately, it doesn’t seem to have splashed much on your dress.”

He had placed his large hand in front of my mouth.

Goodness! What an embarrassment in front of a foreign prince.

As the Empress of the Lapion Empire, to show such an ungraceful appearance.

No, that aside, to spurt tea onto the Emperor’s hand!

But this was Rinel voluntarily putting his hand to my mouth like a mask, so he probably won’t make an issue of it later, right?

“Please use this to wipe.”

Prince Norton politely offered his handkerchief to me once more.

“Thank you. I’ll use it well.”

As I was about to raise my hand to receive Prince Norton’s handkerchief, Rinel quickly snatched it away.

Prince Norton and I looked at him with bewildered expressions.

“Since I blocked the tea from the Empress’s mouth with my hand, don’t I need the handkerchief? Why, am I wrong?”

“…Th-There’s no way that could be, Your Majesty. Please use it as you wish. Hahaha!”

Prince Norton said with a flustered expression, trying hard to laugh.

“Thank you. I’ll cherish this.”

“Pardon?”

“Ah, I misspoke. I’ll wash it and return it, of course.”

His statement, waving the handkerchief like a shy maiden, made me laugh.

I almost snatched Prince Norton’s handkerchief from Rinel’s hand, both to wipe the tea still flowing down my face and to hide my laughter.

“I’ll borrow it too. The tea is dripping.”

I opened Prince Norton’s handkerchief and dabbed around my mouth.

“Empress, there’s tea on your neck too…”

Prince Norton, sitting across from me, carefully pointed to the right side of his own neck as he spoke to me.

Come to think of it, I really did feel a stream of tea trickling down my neck towards my collarbone.

“Ah, thank you.”

I picked up Prince Norton’s handkerchief that I had placed on my lap again.

But I didn’t need to use the handkerchief.

Rinel wiped away the tea flowing down my neck with his sleeve.

I met eyes with Prince Norton sitting across from me.

Prince Norton watched Rinel’s action curiously, then carefully opened his mouth.

“When you’re going to wash and return the handkerchief anyway, why use Your Majesty’s sleeve instead of that…”

“Even with a handkerchief, there are appropriate areas to use it on.”

Rinel said solemnly, as if reciting a law.

“What do you mean by that…?”

Prince Norton asked with a dumbfounded expression.

“What I mean is, it’s a reasonable statement.”

“Pardon?”

“No, it’s because my clothes will be washed anyway. Does that answer your question?”

“Ah, yes… Your Majesty.”

Rinel casually changed the subject as Prince Norton looked bewildered.

“You’ll be participating in the hunt too, of course?”

“Yes, I will.”

“Do you enjoy hunting usually?”

“I only hunt game that needs to be hunted.”

Prince Norton’s words seemed to have some hidden meaning.

“So you’re the type to hunt with a set target.”

“I tend to be.”

“That must mean you have the skills to back it up?”

Rinel asked, looking him up and down.

“You flatter me.”

Knock knock knock−.

The conversation was interrupted by another knock.

This time it was the head servant.

“Stian, what is it?”

“Your Majesty, the carriage from the Kingdom of Shateonil has just entered the palace grounds.”

Where… the Kingdom of Shateonil?

Prince Tessler has arrived?!

“Ah right, I forgot to tell the Empress. Prince Tessler had sent word that he would visit briefly before the hunting event.”

Rinel said to me with a gentle smile.

“I see…”

I didn’t know what expression I was making right now.

I already knew from Grand Duke Martins that Prince Tessler would visit the Lapion Empire before the hunting event, but I had no idea it would be today.

Though I appeared calm on the outside, my eyes were instinctively searching for anything that could be used as a weapon.

I wanted to put a knife to that vile neck as soon as I saw Prince Tessler.

Even if I only had a fountain pen in my hand instead of a knife, I was confident I could end Prince Tessler’s life in an instant.

There was something I wanted to ask the prince when I saw him.

Why he did that to Bonis.

Where she is now.

“Stian, pay extra attention as they are guests from Shateonil, the Empress’s home country.”

“Of course, Your Majesty. And according to the report from the castle gates, someone else is accompanying Prince Tessler.”

“Oh? Who might that be?”

“They say it’s Princess Resilia.”

“!”

The princess came too?!

“Prince Tessler’s younger sister?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. Oh my goodness!”

Stian took a step back in surprise as I suddenly stood up.

To be precise… because of me and Prince Norton.

I stood up abruptly because I was surprised to hear that Princess Resilia was accompanying them, but why did the prince stand up with such an excited face?

“It seems the Empress is very pleased to hear that guests from her home country have arrived.”

Rinel said as he also rose from his chair.

Fortunately, he didn’t seem to notice my flustered expression.

“But Prince, why do you look like that? You look surprised?”

He asked Norton Prince with narrowed eyes.

I was curious about that reason too.

“I, I… When I heard that the princess of Shateonil was coming too, I just… I remember hearing rumors that she’s a great beauty…”

As Prince Norton stammered his reply, Rinel burst out laughing.

“My, you have quite an honest side to you. Hahaha.”

“That’s right. As a man, it’s, it’s only natural… isn’t it?”

Seeing Prince Norton, who had seemed composed all along, even stumble over his words, I immediately understood.

It was clear that he had fallen for Princess Resilia’s face when he stayed at the Shateonil royal palace as a mercenary knight.

Men, really.

Suddenly, I felt uneasy.

What if Rinel… falls for Princess Resilia too?

The princess’s beautiful face clearly appeared in my mind.

Haah, I felt foolish for worrying about something so obvious.

Any man would fall for Princess Resilia if they saw her.

Thump thump thump−.

My heart started beating wildly, unable to overcome the anxiety.

Rinel spoke to Prince Norton and me.

“Shall we all go out to meet the guests?”

And he held out his hand to me.

I had to go greet Princess Resilia with him.