She spoke while walking slowly to match Cas’s pace.

“But that’s not something to be sorry about.”

“Huh?”

“Physical strength is something you can build up from now on. Besides, didn’t you say you’re going to learn swordsmanship from my dad from now on? Then your stamina will increase rapidly. In half a year, you might be able to run much faster than me.”

Cas’s blue eyes, barely visible through his long bangs covering half his face, sparkled with hope.

“Will that really happen?”

“Of course!”

Riena, who had entered the shade of the towering tree with Cas before she knew it, smiled brightly.

“You can become a great knight like my dad too.”

At that, Cas carefully smiled back.

The nanny, who arrived late, spread a mat under the shade and put down the picnic basket.

Riena, who first placed a sandwich in Cas’s hand, took a big bite of her own sandwich.

Until she swallowed everything in her mouth, Cassel just stared at the sandwich.

“What are you doing not eating?”

“I’m really going to work hard from now on.”

Cas, who was always timid, spoke with a rather determined face.

“Huh? At what?”

“Swordsmanship. Actually, when the Count said he would teach me swordsmanship, I was scared to learn.”

“Why?”

“Because it hurts if you get injured. Swords are sharp and scary too.”

“You worry about everything.”

Riena brushed it off as no big deal and ate the sandwich again. Regardless of what she did, Cas didn’t care and still spoke seriously.

“Anyway, I’m going to ask the Count to teach me swordsmanship starting tomorrow. I’ll practice every day without skipping. I’ll build up basic stamina too. So that…”

“So that?”

When Riena asked, swallowing the sandwich again, Cas lowered his head deeply.

Between his black hair, his two ears that stuck out were now flushed red.

“So that I can become a knight who protects you.”

Riena laughed out loud because that serious face was unfamiliar.

“What. Who’s going to protect whom. You’ve got a long way to go before you can protect me.”

“But I’m serious…”

Riena held out her pinky finger to Cas, who was muttering gloomily.

“Okay. Then promise me.”

“Huh?”

“That you’ll become a great knight later and protect me.”

Cas carefully linked his finger.

“Okay!”

“Then hurry up and eat the sandwich. The most basic part of training is eating well.”

“Got it. I can really eat well.”

“And no picky eating. I noticed last time you didn’t eat the peas.”

“T-That… I’ll try.”

From the next day, Cas faithfully engaged in swordsmanship training as if to keep that promise.

He was so lacking in stamina that he fell over several times even during training that simply involved running around the training ground, but he got up without crying and ran again.

While the nanny treated Cas’s injured knees, Riena blew on them from the side.

“Next time, I won’t fall.”

“That’s right. Don’t fall. You injured an already injured spot. It’ll leave a scar.”

“I don’t care if it leaves a scar. All cool knights have scars anyway.”

“Hmm, seeing that my dad has a few big scars, I guess that’s not wrong, but try not to get hurt.”

“Why?”

Riena grinned mischievously.

“Because it would be sad if a scar is left on such a pretty face and body.”

Cas’s face flushed red again.

“Who’s pretty? You shouldn’t say a man is pretty.”

“If a man is pretty, then he’s pretty. Is there anything that can’t be?”

“If you say so.”

“Anyway, don’t get hurt.”

“Okay.”

Riena couldn’t help but burst into laughter at Cas, who answered diligently while being shy.

“Say hello, this is Cas. Cas, this is Raoul, my childhood friend.”

Raoul Berna came to play. Riena was thrilled to have her two favorite friends gathered in one place.

The two people who met for the first time today didn’t seem very happy to see each other.

“Hi. I heard about you through letters. Nice to meet you. I’m Raoul Berna.”

“Hi. Nice to meet you too.”

Riena was a little surprised by their lukewarm response, having thought they would be happy to be introduced to each other.

Cas’s reaction was understandable.

Although he had become much closer with Riena during the three months he stayed at the Dyke mansion, he was still shy around other people.

It was natural for him to find Raoul, whom he was meeting for the first time, unfamiliar.

The surprise was Raoul. He had many friends besides Riena and was adored wherever he went for his affable personality.

Riena thought that Raoul would approach and try to befriend the timid Cas first.

But even Raoul, whom she trusted, had this reaction!

He even said to Riena with a slightly troubled face,

“Ria, I thought it would be just the two of us playing today.”

“That’s right, it’s the three of us playing!”

“No, that’s not it…”

He lowered his voice and whispered in her ear.

“I mean you and me, just the two of us.”

“What? I told you I have a friend staying at the mansion with me. I even said I’d introduce you next time you came.”

To make matters worse, Cas also grabbed Riena’s sleeve tightly and mumbled.

“I want to play with you too. I don’t need a new friend.”

Riena put her hand on her forehead.

“Why are you both being like this? Isn’t it nice for the three of us to play together? I thought you two would become good friends.”

“Is that so?”

“…”

She put her hands on her waist and laughed.

“I think it would be really great if you two got along well.”

When she laughed sweetly with her eyes closed, Raoul and Cas exchanged wordless messages with each other.

After a while, as if they had finished discussing, Raoul said with a bright smile,

“Okay, fine. Let’s play together.”

“I don’t mind either.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Okay.”

Although Raoul and Cas’s answers were a bit ambiguous, the excited Riena didn’t notice.

It seemed like she had spent about half a year with Cas like that. Cas’s swordsmanship skills improved so rapidly that it surprised Count Dyke.

He had also grown taller, and his eye level, which had been even with Riena’s, was now definitely higher.

And that wasn’t all.

His once powerless body began to develop muscles and become firm.

Above all else.

“Hurry up and come! Why are you so slow?”

Cas ran up the hill without taking a break. Riena also ran without a moment to rest, but she couldn’t keep up with his speed at all.

Cas, who arrived at the tree first, leaned against the trunk and looked triumphant.

“I won!”

Riena, who arrived a little later, smiled beside him.

“That’s right, you won. Wow, you’ve grown a lot, haven’t you?”

At that, Cas was proud but also embarrassed at the same time.

“I’ll work even harder from now on.”

“Yeah, that’s great. I’ll be watching from the side to make sure you don’t slack off.”

The two children ate the snacks brought by the nanny and rolled around on the mat.

The field was full of spring flowers, so they also made flower bracelets and rings out of clover.

“What is that?”

Riena burst into laughter at the clumsy flower bracelet Cas made.

Cas didn’t know what to do and tried to fix the bracelet, but the more he touched it, the more misshapen it became.

“Let me see.”

Riena put the bracelet she made on Cas’s wrist. As if that wasn’t enough, she also put a flower ring on his ring finger.

Then she held out her hand to Cas.

“Huh?”

“Do it for me too.”

“But mine is such a mess compared to yours.”

“It’s okay. I like that too.”

After hesitating, Cas carefully put the bracelet on her wrist only after Riena urged him, saying, “Hurry up!”

“It really is bad.”

“No, it’s pretty. Give me the ring too.”

Riena, who practically snatched the ring, flopped down on the mat. Cas carefully lay down beside her.

As Riena stretched out her hand toward the sky and examined the ring and bracelet, Cas quietly mumbled.

“Next time, I’ll give you an even prettier ring than that. One with a jewel on it. We have a lot of those at home.”

Riena smiled somewhat mischievously.

“Are you proposing to me right now?”

A year had passed, and Riena was now 11 years old. She was slowly beginning to take an interest in sweet love stories.

And a few days ago, Joanna, who was a couple of years older than her, had gone into town and brought back a romance novel.

The two girls read the novel without sleeping, their heads close together.

The love story of the beautiful princess and the prince who defeated the monster ignited a fire in the hearts of the young girls.

Riena and Joanna blushed and their hearts pounded whenever the two main characters whispered words of love.

At the end, when there was an illustration of the two sharing a vow and a kiss at their wedding, they even squealed, “Kyaaah!”

Upon hearing the sound, the nanny came to scold them for not sleeping, and they returned to their respective rooms. But Riena still vividly remembered the contents of the novel she had read then.