“……?”

“I understand what you mean, Miss. You wanted to say that all people are equal, right?”

Lilia’s face brightened again. Indeed, Kain knew her heart well.

“I agree with your opinion, Miss. No one is contemptible because they want to be contemptible.”

Kain’s simple and unadorned agreement became a strong driving force for Lilia to continue speaking.

“Yes, that’s right. Social status is unreasonable, right? There are no people destined to be kings or nobles. We are all equal.”

“…….”

“Then why should someone be a king and someone be a servant? After all, we are all the same people. What’s so great about the royalty? Really, though. How many of them do their jobs properly? Most have never worked hard, have they? I think you are much nobler for earning money by working honestly than those who just brag about their lineage.”

Kain didn’t say anything, just listened.

Lilia regretted that she had said more than she had planned, but she felt that she needed to do this much to highlight her mental superiority over other women.

She wanted to direct Kain’s heart towards her.

Physical attraction alone wouldn’t suffice.

Liz, who was praised for her beauty, had attempted to sway him with her physical charms, but had failed nicely.

To win him over, she needed something on a higher level. Such as a noble temperament.

Lilia wanted to show that she was different from the aristocratic women who felt comfortable within the fence of the caste system, and those who neither knew nor cared about the lives of the lower classes.

She also wanted to make him realize how advanced her thoughts were, and how noble a spirit she possessed.

Of course, she had no intention of criticizing the royalty for that…

So what? There are no royals in this house.

“Miss, you really are different from ordinary noble young ladies.”

Kain finally spoke.

Lilia’s tense face brightened. She had been worried about what she would do if she didn’t hear that from Kain.

“But,”

However, her expression dimmed slightly at the words that followed.

“Not all royals are like that.”

“……?”

“Of course, I also feel skeptical when I look back on the misdeeds and mistakes committed by the royalty in our history. Things that should never be repeated. In that respect, I deeply agree with your words. But…….”

Kain paused for a moment to catch his breath and continued speaking.
“I cannot agree with the saying that the royal family plays with privilege due to their lineage. Education in both literature and martial arts must begin even before weaning, or rather, it’s more accurate to say immediately after birth. And by the age of five, you must attend the council of elders and compete in dialogue with the nobles. There’s no leniency for being young. Rather, they tear into you even more. It’s a kind of suppression.”

“Ah, no, I didn’t mean that……”

“Especially the crown prince, while other noble children study comfortably at home, must travel throughout the empire for inspection, and he must always be on guard for this. Because he intentionally employs hunters to target himself. It’s training against assassination. Before the succession is secured, he absolutely must not die. After all, the life of the crown prince is not his alone.”

Lilia felt a chill run through her body as she listened intently.

Kain’s expression seemed no different than usual, but the energy he emanated felt utterly cold.

As Lilia looked at him with a stiff face, Kain let out a small laugh and said,

“I just saw it briefly in a book. I wanted to tell you because I thought you might have prejudices about the royal family.”

“……Th, thank, thank you.”

But Lilia, already eroded by that chill, remained tense for a long time.

While she was flustered and didn’t know where to look, Kain politely bowed and brushed past her.

Even after he disappeared, Lilia was unable to snap out of her daze for a while.

She didn’t quite understand what she had heard, but one thing seemed certain.

My charm didn’t work!

That realization made Lilia’s doelike eyes narrow and sharp.

(This is a time delimiter.)

“I wonder if love is sprouting right now?”

Liz leaned her head quietly against the backrest of the bathtub, lost in thought.

Living in the same house as the main characters of a novel I saw in my previous life. It feels like I’m on a movie set, doesn’t it?

I regret not following the role, but they’ll make a good couple anyway. After all, I’m not the only obstacle in their love.