‘Judging by his outward behavior, he didn’t lack as a man in love.’

Even though he thought the instruction to know and report every detail of Olivia’s schedule might be a bit dangerous, Alois never showed it to Olivia or used it to control her behavior. So Elliot deliberately ignored his pricking conscience and faithfully followed his boss’s orders, reporting all of Olivia’s schedules and happenings to Alois without her knowledge.

Of course, his conscience, which had succumbed to money, would occasionally prick him when Olivia was kind to him or firmly praised Alois as a good person.

“We also have new cookies, would you like to have some?”

Whenever his conscience hurt, Elliot treated Olivia kindly and prayed that the two would continue to be happy lovers without any problems.

* * *

Not wanting to take up more of Elliot’s time, who seemed to have other work remaining, Olivia spent time in the garden behind the government office. Designed naturally, wild animals often visited, making it no different from a café for Olivia where she met new people.

Today too, after spending time listening to many human society events from the animals’ perspective, she quickly ran to the building entrance upon hearing from a bird that Alois had come outside.

“Ah, the guest is still here?”

As the guest’s send-off wasn’t over yet, Olivia stopped walking to avoid disturbing them. Though Alois wouldn’t mind at all if she ran to him right now, she wasn’t tactless enough to intrude anywhere.

Though at some distance, she could clearly see Alois and his mentor exchanging greetings. She could also faintly hear their conversation, and while wondering if she should continue standing here, Olivia unconsciously found herself smiling.

‘Alois said he was scolded a lot when he was young, and it’s really true.’

The white-haired old man went on and on with lengthy advice, while Alois barely hid his annoyed expression and tried to redirect the conversation to send him away. Since it was the first time Olivia had seen him being “scolded” by someone, she couldn’t help but keep looking.

Though she thought, ‘If I keep listening like this, it feels like eavesdropping,’ her curiosity prevented her from walking away.

“It’s not a matter to consider but something you must do. That is, if you’re not going to hide away like before.”

“I understand what you mean, but……”

“If you don’t want to make the same mistakes as before, you need to pay more attention. You know now that keeping your own things quietly without being swayed by anyone is more difficult than making noise in the front, don’t you?”

“……”

“Remember that neutrality, the right to remain silent, comes from a powerful strength that no one can easily touch.”

Though his manner of speech didn’t violate etiquette, the white-haired old man spoke with a firm tone. As soon as he finally boarded the carriage, Alois secretly sighed.

That sight was somehow cute and slightly pitiful. After the carriage’s shadow completely disappeared in the distance, Olivia stealthily approached Alois.

“Waa, ah?”

She tried to surprise him with a loud “Boo!” but before she could finish her shout, Alois suddenly turned around and pulled her into his arms. Ending up being the one who screamed instead, Olivia stomped her feet in his embrace.

“Since when did you know I was here?”

“Since you turned the corner of the building. That’s why I tried to send him away as quickly as possible, but he was quite talkative.”

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop, I’m sorry.”

“I don’t mind if you eavesdrop, but next time, I’d prefer if you boldly came to my side and listened. Then that old man would leave faster too.”

Perhaps having been suffering since before coming out to see off his guest, Alois grumbled with a tired expression. When she gently stroked his hair as if praising a good child, Alois promptly leaned his head against her hand.

“It’s been a while since you met him, hasn’t it?”

“That’s right. We’ve exchanged letters a few times, but it’s been a long time since I saw him in person. He didn’t seem like this in the past, but I guess the count has aged too.”

Meeting the count in person gave him a strange feeling. Though there was an age difference between them, it wasn’t enough to make them look like grandfather and grandson…… He realized again that while Alois’s time had stopped due to the curse, the world had been diligently flowing without him.

“He says he’s handed over both territorial management and border security to his son, yet he came all the way here. That guy always……”

“So you’re grateful, right?”

“……Yes.”

Despite some annoying and bothersome nagging, he felt deeply grateful to his former mentor who had come all this way. He was also someone who had consistently contacted him until Alois cut off communication first and shut himself in the forest. Since deciding to return to the world, he had been feeling every day that more connections than expected had been waiting for him.

Today’s important work was already done, and the guest had left, so all that remained was a happy return home. After hearing the final report from Elliot who had been waiting, Alois remained alone with Olivia in his office. Whether at the government office or the mansion, having Olivia by his side was what mattered, so Alois quietly let her explore his office instead of rushing home.

“I heard you left work earlier than usual today. Did something happen?”

“No. I left early because nothing special was happening. The clinic was extremely quiet today, which was nice? No sick animals and so……”

Olivia shared with Alois the conversations she had at the clinic. How much people liked the changes in the territory, how positively they viewed him. Alois found the excited, chattering Olivia’s expression more interesting than the stories she was telling, and watched her one-person speech with interest.

“People are strange. They feared my curse so much based on rumors, and now they change so quickly as if the curse never existed.”

“Are you perhaps upset about that?”

“Not really. It’s just fascinating how people’s emotions can change so easily, and also……”

Alois silently stared at Olivia for a long time. Her eyes, filled with shallow concern and unfathomably deep affection, embraced his gaze without looking away. Alois let out a light chuckle.

“Anyway, what others think or feel doesn’t really matter much to me now, as long as it’s not you.”

“I want you to become a good duke and be loved by everyone.”

Alois now understood what Olivia wanted. She probably wished for him to be a happy person loved by everyone. She was naturally that kind of warm person. That’s why he was making efforts to meet her expectations in his own way.

“Then perhaps I really should do as that old man said.”

“By old man, do you mean that count from earlier?”

“Yes. I’ve started taking care of the territory directly, but I haven’t officially appeared in public yet, so there seem to be various rumors circulating in the Empire. I can’t invite everyone to come to this territory to verify things for themselves……”

Olivia nodded slowly. Indeed, she thought that people living in other regions might not easily shake off past rumors even if they heard positive news about Alois, since they hadn’t seen it with their own eyes.

“Won’t things change gradually over time? Look at the Schraien territory. Even though many people haven’t seen the duke directly, as the territory changes positively, people are changing too.”

“That’s true too. But that really takes a long time. The count seems to want me to appear at official events attended by all the prominent nobles of the Empire. Once you secure the reaction of those in power, the time needed for the changes you mentioned will naturally be shortened.”

“By official events, you mean……”

“Sigh, he’s telling me to do something troublesome. He means I should frequently appear at social parties to show off that there’s no problem despite my curse.”

Alois’s brow furrowed slightly. He clearly didn’t like the idea.

Alois standing in a ballroom crowded with nobles in fancy dresses….

After briefly imagining the scene in her mind, Olivia looked at him with sympathy, understanding why he disliked it so much. When she gently rubbed his furrowed brow with her finger, he swiftly caught her waist and sat her on his thigh.

“Didn’t you attend many such parties when you were at the imperial palace?”

“They’re just meaningless wastes of time, perfect for getting sick of human spectacles.”

A tedious psychological battle where everyone wears masks, exchanging meaningless compliments while trying to figure out if there’s any hidden meaning behind the words. Alois couldn’t understand why such irrational and inefficient cultural exchanges were necessary.

Until now, he had never changed this opinion and was planning to simply ignore the count’s advice. But Alois’s stubborn resolve crumbled helplessly at Olivia’s single remark.

“I would like to see it though.”

“The ball?”

“Well, I’m curious about the ball too. Since I’m someone who has nothing to do with such parties, you know?”

It was a completely different world to her. For Olivia, who would have been an ordinary healer  in a forest village if she hadn’t met Alois, the word “ball” was like an imaginary animal that existed in name but not in reality.

“But rather than being curious about the ball itself, I’m more curious about what Alois would look like at a ballroom. I’ve never seen that side of you. Would you look like a prince from a storybook?”