Her purpose was to first understand Royan’s true feelings, make Duke Vicheravali apologize if he had done something wrong, and clear up any misunderstandings between them.

For this reason, Reibella had her ear pressed against the door since early morning.

“Miss, what are you doing right now?”

As Reibella stood with her ear practically glued to the door, Charlotte, who had been tidying the bedding inside, carefully asked. Judging by the worry on her face, she seemed to be thinking, ‘Could there be something wrong with her body?’

To Charlotte, Reibella put a finger to her lips, went “Shh,” and smiled. Then she leaned against the door again, straining her ears.

And finally, when she heard the sound she had been waiting for, Reibella burst through the door.

“Hello!”

Though she greeted him with a bright smile, the person who should have received her greeting was already far away.

She had expected this.

But if she had been willing to give up this easily, she wouldn’t have attempted it in the first place.

With a deep breath, Reibella decided to be more lively and oblivious as she ran toward him.

“Good morning, Royan!”

“Get lost.”

“Your voice sounds lovely today too. Have you eaten?”

“I said get lost.”

“If you haven’t eaten, shall we eat together?”

“Won’t you get lost?”

Royan stopped in his tracks and pointed the sword he was holding in one hand at Reibella.

Having no time to dodge, all the startled Reibella could do was tightly shut her eyes.

But……

No matter how long she waited, there was no pain. Cautiously opening her eyes, she saw a menacing blade in front of her. And she saw two fingers holding that threatening blade as if it were a biscuit.

Reibella’s gaze followed the fingers to their owner. Surprisingly, the person who had blocked the future sword genius’s blade was none other than Charlotte.

Charlotte, who had blocked the sword as if it were nothing, asked Reibella with a worried expression.

“Miss, are you alright?”

“Y-yes……”

“I was worried you might have melted like cotton candy.”

No, what we should be worried about right now are your fingers, Charlotte.

But Charlotte seemed to have no interest in her own fingers. She examined Reibella’s body with an unconcerned expression and then showed a worried face again.

Then she said to Royan, fussing about:

“Young master. Miss is like cotton candy. She’ll fly away with a gust of wind.”

“Let go.”

“I’m sorry, young master. Please wait a moment. I’ll let go after Miss moves to the side. The sword is too sharp to touch Miss.”

Royan grunted as he tried to pull out the sword, but it didn’t seem to be working. Meanwhile, Charlotte maintained an expression as if she were just holding a fork, looking restless.

When the angry Royan glared at Reibella, she finally took a step back. And as soon as she retreated, Charlotte released the sword as if she had been waiting for it.

Charlotte then said:

“Young master’s swordsmanship seems to be improving day by day!”

Though it was a genuine compliment, it seemed to sound like mockery to Royan. The boy glared at Charlotte as if he wanted to kill her, then stormed off with an irritated huff.

Even at this sight, Charlotte’s face remained filled with admiration, saying how amazing our young master was.

Watching her with a dumbfounded expression, Reibella asked. Her tone had become extremely polite.

“Charlotte. Are you perhaps a knight?”

“Oh no, how could I be a knight? My specialty is assassination, so I just quietly take people’s necks…… Ah. I was told to keep the assassin part a secret.”

Charlotte acknowledged her mistake, placed one hand on her cheek, and let out a small sigh.

Looking at her like this, it was impossible to tell whether she was acting slyly or genuinely concerned.

Drip. As Reibella awkwardly smiled while sweating, Charlotte, who had been staring at her, was startled.

“Miss! Are you perhaps catching a cold? There’s sweat on your forehead!”

Charlotte stomped her feet anxiously and placed her hand on Reibella’s forehead. Her gesture was so careful that even after learning she was an assassin, Reibella didn’t even think about avoiding it.

Belatedly, a chill ran down her spine.

The method of instantly putting someone at ease and taking their life in that moment was truly that of an assassin.

……But why exactly is this person by my side?

* * *

It wasn’t until the next day that she could understand why Charlotte was by her side.

Perhaps Charlotte had confessed about revealing her identity to higher-ups, as Henan came personally to explain the reason.

“Charlotte is indeed a knight. The Duke said it would be better to assign a female knight to Miss rather than a male knight.”

“But she herself says she isn’t.”

“Well, unlike other knights, her initiation process was a bit special. Born into an assassin family, when she was about thirteen, so around seven years ago, she came to take the Duke’s neck and from that day on became a knight.”

……To take the Duke’s neck?

‘I thought she was just a maid who made a fuss……’

Charlotte. You really are a terrifying maid.

Reibella recalled Duke Vicheravali’s appearance as he sparred with Royan.

Even from a distance, his aura was fierce. If she had faced that sight up close, her legs would have gone weak and she would have frozen.

To think someone would try to kill such a person. And at the age of thirteen!

“The Duke found her interesting, took her in, and taught her swordsmanship. However, rather than a knight’s sword, an assassin’s still suits her better…… Ahem. Anyway, she’s been a knight in the Silver Wolf for about ten years.”

Despite trying hard to clean it up, in the end, the essence of an assassin couldn’t be removed from her.

It also meant that Charlotte had a natural talent as an assassin.

Reibella recalled Charlotte’s behavior that had instantly broken down her guard.

Shivering from the goosebumps, she looked out the window and happened to see Charlotte going out to the garden.

Charlotte was gazing somewhere while walking gracefully. Her steps were light and lively, making her look as if she had something good happen to her.

“Since Charlotte joined Vicheravali and immediately participated in the war, she doesn’t know many people. You could make good use of her, Miss.”

As Reibella continued to watch Charlotte while listening to Henan’s words, she noticed a bee flying quickly toward her.

It seemed like something was bothering Charlotte, and the bee’s attempt to stick to her looked like it was trying to sting her…… Thud. When Charlotte struck it with the edge of her hand, the attempt came to nothing.

It was an incredibly fast and precise movement.

Watching this, Reibella made a promise to herself.

Never, ever to provoke her.

* * *

Putting aside the unexpected trouble caused by Charlotte, Reibella once again put effort into winning over Royan.

Of course, she changed her approach. She didn’t want to face a sword again.

First, she needed to figure out how to give him a sense of closeness. So Reibella began secretly observing ‘Royan’s day.’

Royan’s day began before the morning sun rose.

“He’s practicing swordsmanship even at this hour. It seems he does it at night too.”

As she muttered while watching Royan from a distance with sleepy eyes, Charlotte answered.

“The young master started holding a sword a bit late. That’s why he’s working extremely hard to fill that gap.”

“He seems incredibly talented, couldn’t he take it easy?”

“No, that’s not true. It’s precisely because he has talent that he should work hard. Geniuses find it easy to see the ‘wall.’ Even if they reach it earlier than others, crossing that ‘wall’ is another matter.”

It meant that while geniuses could advance ahead of others, not all ‘geniuses’ could cross certain thresholds.

For Royan, who had started holding a sword late, he might feel anxious in front of the first wall he encountered.

“But who is that?”

Reibella pointed at the boy holding a towel behind Royan. Charlotte went “Ah,” and answered.

“He’s the young master’s attendant. I heard he was brought in directly by the young master.”

“Isn’t it inappropriate to just bring someone in when he’s the young duke of Vicheravali?”

“The chief chamberlain personally investigated the child. Judging there was no problem, he’s looking after the young master in place of the chief chamberlain.”

It seemed that because Royan was uncomfortable around adults, they had brought in a small child.

‘Come to think of it, Royan had an aide.’

Even Royan, who trusted no one, had his own companions.

Especially his aide, who was described as someone Royan had picked up himself and had grown up with since childhood.

‘So that person is the aide. I think he appeared occasionally, but there wasn’t much explanation, so I didn’t know.’

Although he was also a male protagonist, the main protagonist was the princess, so Royan’s story wasn’t detailed.

So……

‘Wait a minute.’

No, one noteworthy story suddenly flashed through her mind.