“Lady-in-waiting!”

The maids jumped up with bright faces. Amy gestured for them to keep eating and not to come. Rita glanced around before standing up and approaching Amy. The kitchen maid brought food to Amy’s place. Amy was about to pick up her fork when she looked up at Rita who had come close.

“Lady-in-waiting.”

“What is it?”

Amy put down her utensils again, looking regretfully at the food. Rita whispered in a voice that others couldn’t hear.

“Is His Grace the Duke busy today or tomorrow?”

Amy raised an eyebrow, wondering why she was asking, but answered politely.

“There’s nothing major for a while since the festival ended. Classes are also on break for a week.”

“I see. Understood.”

Rita clenched her fists with a look of great determination. Then she told Amy to eat well and hurried out of the hall. Amy tilted her head wondering why she was acting that way, then focused on eating.

“Your Highness, you need to go to the village.”

“…Didn’t the festival end?”

Noah looked irritably at Rita, who had barged in early in the morning to nag him. Rita opened the windows wide to clear out the gloomy air that had settled overnight and scolded him.

“Don’t you have any sense of urgency? It’s fortunate that guest left quickly…”

“…”

Realizing what Rita meant, Noah closed his mouth. Rita glanced at him furtively, wondering if she had gone too far, but was relieved to see no particular reaction.

“To elaborate, there’s an after-festival celebration until this week. It’s for the villagers and acquaintances to enjoy. And you can ride flower carriages along with flower tea sets.”

“Will Amy go?”

When Noah muttered indifferently, Rita wagged her index finger left and right.

“I heard His Grace the Duke’s schedule is clear this week.”

“Was it?”

Noah finally showed some interest. Rita, sensing his deep distress despite his pretense, spoke playfully on purpose.

“You didn’t even dance at the festival? What was all that practice for? You just got in the mood.”

“Amy said she didn’t want to.”

“She probably worried your identity would be revealed.”

“Is that so.”

The Duke still seemed uninterested, not very tempted. Rita whispered a bit more.

“So you can enjoy comfortably now when there are hardly any outsiders. Have flower tea with the lady-in-waiting alone… Oh, if you decorate that place nicely, it’ll be so cute and pretty. The lady-in-waiting’s heart will completely melt, I guarantee! And if you two ride the flower carriage intimately, the atmosphere will be… This simply can’t fail, you see.”

“…You think so?”

Noah finally seemed interested and listened carefully. Come to think of it, following Rita’s advice had rarely failed.

‘I was planning to take it slow until she comes of age, matching the cautious and timid Amy’s pace…’

He felt anxious that this was not the time to be so leisurely. Who knows if another Illay might appear in the future.

After pondering, Noah raised his head as if he had made up his mind.

“So what should I do?”

Rita grinned.

“Where are we going?”

Amy asked in confusion as she was dragged towards the castle gate by Rita. Rita answered cheerfully.

“To the village!”

“The festival is over, why go there?”

“You know about flower tea? It’s almost fully developed. They say it would be good if many people try it.”

Amy thought to herself as she walked reluctantly.

‘I’ve already tried it, but Rita doesn’t know.’

Then she remembered something she hadn’t managed to take care of when Illay Tezernet arrived. Amy stopped abruptly.

“I’ll go on my own, you go about your business.”

“Pardon?”

Rita was flustered. She called out to Amy’s back as she turned around and walked away somewhere.

“But His Grace the Duke is waiting in the village right now!”

At those words, Amy glanced back with an expression that said, ‘So that’s it.’

“So that’s why you were in such a hurry. Then relay this message. Tell him I’ll go to the village right after finishing some urgent matters.”

“Oh my, you need to go now… You’ll go soon, right?”

“That’s what I said. But why did he suddenly go out himself?”

As Amy tilted her head, Rita quickly made excuses.

“I heard he had no schedule these days, he must have been bored. It was the first festival since coming to the north, after all.”

Then she continued in an insinuating tone.

“He might want to commemorate it with the lady-in-waiting? Hehe.”

“That might be so.”

Amy replied half-heartedly and strode away.

“You’ll really go to the village, right? For real?”

Rita stamped her feet as she watched Amy’s retreating figure. She had made thorough preparations, and it would all be for nothing if Amy didn’t go. Unaware of Rita’s anxious feelings, Amy waved her hand silently and disappeared.

Mary and Cecil gazed contentedly at the shop they had prettily decorated. Upon hearing Rita’s plea, they had immediately volunteered to come down to the village and painstakingly decorated the interior of the shop before its demolition.

“If someone confesses here, you’d really want to accept.”

“Who says it’s just anyone? We decorated it so there’s no way she could say no.”

Mary and Cecil high-fived and chuckled. Just then, Noah opened the door and entered, and they greeted him with exaggerated enthusiasm.

“Your Highness, how is it? Do you like it?”

“We really put our hearts into decorating. The lady-in-waiting will love it too.”

Noah swept his gaze around the interior with an impassive look. Then he walked over to the window, looked outside, and muttered.

“What does it matter if I like it? Amy needs to be satisfied.”

“…”

What a jerk… but on the other hand, it was good. Yes, someone who thinks of our lady-in-waiting first like this is worthy of taking her away. Mary and Cecil untangled their twisted feelings and bowed politely. Then they backed out of the shop and closed the door.

“Whew, His Highness seems to be getting more intimidating.”

“Did he grow taller again? I heard Lady Weaver took his measurements again. The sewing room girls say he grows every three days.”

“Now that you mention it, his eye level has shot up. He might be as tall as Sir Dwayne now.”

“He’s really growing fast, it’s only been a little over half a year since he came.”

They chattered as they went out to the main street. There were guide arrows they had attached to the ground. Befitting a place serving flower tea, they had flower petals on them, making them easily recognizable. Thinking it was decorated better than expected and chattering about decorating the actual tea house like this, they turned onto the main street and froze.

“L-Lady-in-waiting…?”

“Hoo…”

Though he didn’t show it to Mary and Cecil, Noah was quite tense right now.

‘It’s the first time expressing it directly in words, right?’

He had no choice but to restrain himself because Amy had shown signs of reluctance so far. He knew that her attitude was largely due to his half-brother, which made him hate him even more.

‘I need to address this once.’

He was now 18 years old. In the imperial family, it was the age to have a fiancée. He couldn’t think of anyone but Amy as his partner. He knew Amy liked him, but her feelings weren’t as mature as his. No, had they even borne fruit?

‘What if she avoids me more after I confess?’

She had a goal of making him happy. She didn’t hide her willingness to do anything for that, and Noah intended to rely on that in the end.

‘If I say I’m only happy when Amy is by my side… she won’t ignore that, right?’

He didn’t intend to confess so hastily, but this was all because of his uncle Illay. Amy looked at him with eyes different from others. No matter what unforgettable past they had, how could she give such a melted gaze to that extent? No way, Amy wasn’t such a soft person.

‘She must have feelings.’

So he couldn’t bear it any longer. He didn’t care if others called him a coward. He simply couldn’t live without her.

As he was checking his appearance while holding the bouquet he had personally prepared for Amy, the shop door opened with a jingle. Noah flinched and slowly turned around, taking a deep breath. He had put on what he thought was his most splendid smile.

The next moment, his face hardened.

“Your Highness, you were here.”

Amy approached with a bright smile. That much was exactly as expected. But…

“Assistant Joseph, why aren’t you coming in? His Highness is waiting.”

Joseph was awkwardly walking in behind Amy. The moment his eyes met Noah’s, who was holding the bouquet, he seemed to realize everything. He started trembling, his lower lip shaking, all color draining from his face in an instant.

“Ha…”

Noah let out a hollow breath. He was so dumbfounded he felt dizzy. Amy, oblivious to the two men’s state of shock, looked around the interior and poured out exclamations.

“My goodness, Mary and Cecil did a proper job. We could open a branch decorated just like this. It has uniformity too. What do you think, Joseph?”

Amy gestured to Joseph behind her as she approached the table and examined the pre-set tea foods. Joseph gulped dryly and took a step back, turning around at the door. He was trying to sneak away while she was distracted by other things. But the moment he grasped the doorknob…

“…Where are you going?”

Noah’s ominous voice caught his ankle. Joseph squeezed his eyes shut, then opened them and slowly turned around. Noah glared at him with darkly sunken eyes and silently jerked his chin. It was towards where Amy was. Amy, who had already taken a seat at the table, beamed a smile at him.

“Joseph must be dawdling because the interior decoration is so splendid.”

“…If Amy says so, it must be.”

Noah sighed quietly out of Amy’s sight, then changed his expression and smiled. He approached Amy and sat down beside her, and Amy showed him the flower-decorated menu while making a fuss.

“This must be the flower tea we drank last time. The variety has increased a lot. Your Highness, which one would you like to try?”

“…Anything. Whichever Amy likes.”

The corner of Noah’s mouth twitched as he answered affectionately. Amy smiled brightly as if she had expected that and placed various orders.

Until the tea and snacks arrived, Amy urged Joseph to briefly explain to Noah that the festival had been much more successful than expected.

With a darkened, lifeless face, Joseph stammered through his and James’ analysis of the festival’s results. The flower tea shop, which had looked like love was about to bloom, instantly turned into a stiff office full of numbers and discussions of pros and cons.