“Huh? Colleague…?”

“Actually, I consider Amy more as a close friend than a colleague. How about you, Amy?”

Noah carefully looked up at Amy. His small, handsome face was full of concern.

‘Friend……’

The thorns that had been raised due to the bitter experiences of her past life gradually subsided. Amy answered honestly, with a somewhat relaxed face and joy.

“If you allow it, I would like to think so too.”

In a way, Noah was the first step she had pioneered for herself. Although entering the imperial palace at a young age was also her choice, it was a decision entirely for herself. Not for altruistic reasons like in Noah’s case.

After meeting Noah, many things changed for Amy. One of them was the joy and satisfaction she felt when acting for others. For Amy, who originally wasn’t very interested in others, it was a strange and memorable experience.

Knowing that what Amy and he were saying was misaligned, Noah weakly raised the corners of his mouth.

“…I see. This is probably for the best right now.”

“Pardon?”

“I said it might be better to rest a bit more.”

“Ah, yes. Then rest well, I’ll be going now.”

Amy tended to Noah’s bedding with affectionate hands before withdrawing. Noah, buried in the blanket pulled up tightly to his neck, blankly stared at Amy’s retreating figure.

As Amy was about to open the door and leave, she turned back.

“Your Highness.”

“Yes?”

“…There’s no mouse in the world as big as Your Highness. Please use a different example in the future.”

Then, with a stern expression, she bowed her head and left the inner chamber.

Noah blinked blankly before burying his face in the blanket and letting out a laugh.

As the door closed, Rita, the maid standing in a corner, let out a small sigh. She approached the bed, put her hands on her hips, and made an exasperated expression.

“Your Highness, are you making any effort?”

“…Do I look like I’m just playing around?”

Noah replied grumpily without even looking at her. Rita silently shook her head.

She and Noah were a kind of business partners. Noah wanted Amy as his companion, and Rita wanted Amy as the mistress of the Grand Duchy. The two people with aligned interests were in the midst of carrying out a secret plan.

It started when Noah demanded to know how to deal with women as a reward for his victory in a martial arts match with Dwayne.

‘To think you’d ask such a thing from Dwayne.’

Jack shook his head. Noah furrowed his brow and asked curiously.

‘Wasn’t Dwayne popular? When we came to the North, I saw him changing partners in every village. Isn’t that possible because he has some secret to captivating others?’

‘Uh, well….’

Jack and Bradley looked at each other with troubled expressions. Noah cut in.

‘I don’t need two. Just one person is enough.’

‘Hmm, you see, Your Highness. The truth is, Dwayne doesn’t have a technique for seducing many people….’

How should I explain this, Jack thought, scratching the back of his head vigorously. Unable to bear it any longer, Bradley chimed in.

‘He gets dumped that many times. That’s why he keeps meeting new women. As you can see, his exterior is quite fine.’

‘The moment they learn his true nature, the fantasy ends and…’

‘So does the romance.’

Jack and Bradley took turns denouncing Dwayne. Seeing Dwayne grin sheepishly, Noah’s face showed that he had realized something.

‘Ah….’

So Dwayne just had a high turnover rate moving on to the next one.

‘Yep. So he’s probably the least suitable advisor for Your Highness’s concerns. Unless you want to get dumped quickly.’

‘…Then Jack and Bradley, you think about it.’

‘Huh? Us?’

Jack and Bradley, who had been excited to tease Dwayne, widened their eyes at the sudden thunderbolt. It seems this is what the Grand Duke meant when he said they would automatically come along if he chose Dwayne.

Dwayne snorted and waved his hand.

‘This side is even more hopeless than me, Your Highness. They’ve never even dated anyone.’

‘I just dated quietly, you know? In fact, you’re the weird one for blabbing about such private matters to everyone.’

‘…Says Bradley, who has never even held a girl’s hand.’

‘That’s not true!’

Ignoring Bradley and Dwayne who had started bickering again, Jack crossed his arms and furrowed his brow.

‘I think… it might be about manners?’

Noah nodded.

‘You’d have to be polite before there’s some level of mutual understanding.’

‘That way you won’t get rejected right at the start.’

‘Manners….’

As Noah was mulling over the word, Rita, who had been eavesdropping in secret, came forward with a snort.

‘It’s going to work out so well with people who don’t know a thing about women’s hearts gathered here. Yes.’

‘….’

Since it was true that they couldn’t trust each other, the men just rolled their eyes without making excuses. But Dwayne bravely raised an objection.

‘Use something other than boogers.’

Jack made an “ugh” sound. So that was his complaint.

Rita thought for a moment, then raised her index finger.

‘Then, eye gunk?’

‘That’s good.’

As Dwayne retreated with satisfaction, Jack silently looked up at the sky. Rita looked at Noah and emphasized.

‘Anyway, remember this. The first thing to do is to lower their guard.’

Noah listened attentively to Rita’s words. He thought she must have some special secret, as Rita was like the queen bee of the Grand Duchy.

Noah asked as if he was going to write down every word.

‘Lower their guard? You mean become familiar?’

‘Exactly that. No, how can someone with such excellent comprehension come to this mud pit for advice.’

‘….’

Jack and Bradley closed their mouths and looked off into the distance. Dwayne tilted his head beside them.

‘Your Highness, did you go to a mud pit too?’

Ignoring him, Rita said:

‘So, you need to build enough intimacy to be comfortable with physical contact.’

Noah muttered, lost in thought.

‘Physical contact… I’m already doing that though.’

‘You mean serving her? That is an advantage.’

Rita nodded.

‘That’s fortunate. If you didn’t even have that, it would have been impossible from the start.’

Noah shuddered slightly as he recalled Amy’s personality. He couldn’t imagine having to approach her when they weren’t in a master-servant relationship.

Rita looked at Noah with pity and said:

‘Anyway… I hope it goes well. Let me know if there’s anything I can help with.’

Then she bowed politely and turned away, walking off with light steps. Noah blankly watched her retreating figure, then turned to ask the three men:

‘Did I mention who the person was?’

‘….’

Jack and Bradley stared at Noah with the same look they gave Dwayne. It was more surprising that he thought they wouldn’t know. Only Dwayne answered brightly:

‘No, you didn’t. Wow, I’m really curious who it is.’

Since then, Noah had been relying entirely on Rita. Knowing this, Rita crossed her arms and looked at Noah impertinently.

“So what were you two talking about just now?”

The inner chamber was so spacious, and Rita was standing by the door, so she couldn’t hear the whispered conversation between the two. When Noah calmly revealed it while hiding his dejection, Rita frowned.

“You held her hand and she stiffened? Hmm, that’s not a good sign.”

Noah’s heart sank, and he quickly added:

“So I quickly drew the line, saying we’re friends.”

“Oh, before the Head Maid could reject you? Your Highness, you’re quite something. How did she react? Did the Head Maid relax?”

Rita’s eyes sparkled as she urged him to continue. As they say, watching fires and hearing about others’ romances are the most entertaining things in the world.

“She did.”

When Noah replied bitterly, Rita shook her head and said triumphantly:

“Don’t worry too much. You know what they say in the Eastern Continent. One step back to take two steps forward!”

“…You think so?”

It was an appealing idea. Rita nodded and clasped her hands together, grinning.

“Yes. In fact, it’s a good thing!”

“What is?”

“Under the name of friendship, you can confidently engage in intimate actions. Of course, nothing too extreme, but things like holding hands, supporting each other, feeding each other… that sort of thing?”

“…That sounds good?”

The mere thought made his heart flutter. Even now, Amy would touch Noah’s body without hesitation when serving him. But it felt so strictly professional that he would be disappointed before he could even feel excited.

‘Right, time is on my side.’

Though impatient, he decided to take it slow. Sometimes when he talked about the future, she would subtly change the subject, but it didn’t matter. He had no intention of letting go easily, and if worst came to worst, he could just follow her.

Noah’s world consists of 99% Amy and 1% everything else. Even his desire to become a good ruler is all because Amy is here. So if Amy were to disappear? Nothing else could be meaningful to Noah.

Completely unaware that her lord could easily abandon this place, Rita was talking about something else.

“You know James, right? The son of Head Maid Weaver. He says he wants to see Your Highness as soon as possible.”

“James Weaver?”

Wasn’t he the young man who was unwell? Noah was curious about why he would make such an urgent request at a time like this. As she removed Noah’s robe from the screen and draped it over her arm, Rita said:

“The Head Maid is probably meeting with him first right now.”

“……”

Curiosity quickly turned to displeasure. He remembered that James’s face was smooth enough to be attractive to women.

“Rita.”

“Yes, Your Highness.”

Rita, who had been looking around the inner chamber for laundry, walked over to the bed at Noah’s call. Noah looked at her with a serious expression.

“I hold you in high regard usually.”

“…Usually, nothing good follows words like these.”

Rita’s expression soured. Regardless, Noah continued:

“So I hope you’ll answer honestly.”

“I’m confident in that, so ask anything, Your Highness. Of course, I won’t have to worry about consequences, right?”

“Is James Weaver handsome, or am I handsome?”

“……”

Rita’s face crumpled completely.