Rudina felt strange when a prettier and younger woman than herself showed interest in James. She felt petty and annoyed at James for readily accepting food from others.

“Was it good?”

Rudina asked as nonchalantly as possible, hiding her true feelings.

“The cookies? Yeah.”

A broad smile spread across James’s face as he answered, clearly having enjoyed them.

“Then I guess I don’t need to bake cookies for you anymore. You can just ask her to keep baking them.”

Though Rudina couldn’t shake off the feeling that she was being petty, the words came out of her mouth against her better judgment. Seeing James smile at another woman made her heart twist strangely.

“No, that won’t do. I like what Rudina makes the best.”

James, looking awkward despite his large frame, circled around Rudina trying to meet her eyes.

But no matter how quickly he moved, it was hard to keep up with Rudina’s gaze as it darted away.

“Forget it. You said they were delicious. Just get them from her. I’m busy.”

“I’m sorry!”

“Why are you sorry?”

“I-I don’t know. Because the cookies were delicious?”

When James saw Rudina was upset, he immediately assumed it was his fault. When Rudina still wouldn’t look at him, James didn’t know what to do and suddenly lifted her up in his arms.

“Eek! James! What are you doing?”

Though Rudina called out urgently as she was suddenly lifted off the ground, James pretended not to hear and strode over to where the maid had been standing while carrying Rudina. Though he wasn’t running, they arrived quickly.

James spoke to the maid who was staring at them with a dumbfounded expression.

“From now on, I’ll only eat cookies that Rudina gives me.”

“What?”

“So please don’t give me any cookies.”

At James’s harsh words, the maid’s eyes turned red before she hurriedly ran away from the two with an even redder face than before.

Rudina squeezed her eyes shut, feeling both embarrassed and sorry for the maid. She couldn’t feel more pathetic about herself.

“James.”

“Yes, Rudina.”

“Could you put me down?”

“Why?”

“Other people are watching.”

“So?”

“It’s embarrassing. Put me down.”

“Why is it embarrassing? Because you’re being held by a child?”

James asked with a playful smile while holding Rudina. Rudina was quite annoyed at James for remembering and cleverly using her words from before.

“Just put me down first.”

“If you take back calling me a child.”

Though everyone around was watching them, James only looked at Rudina as he asked. It seemed like no one else existed to James except Rudina.

James’s eyes that gazed only at Rudina were infinitely tender and intense.

“I’ll take it back.”

“What? I can’t hear you.”

When Rudina spoke in a tiny voice barely audible, pretending to give in, James asked again mischievously.

“I said I take back calling you a child.”

Only then did James’s lips curve softly at Rudina’s repeated answer.

“Now put me down.”

Though James wanted to hold her longer, he had no choice but to put her down, worried that Rudina would get angrier if he didn’t. Though he had only held her briefly, somehow his breathing was heavy and his body felt hot.

Even after exercising for an hour straight, he had never been this out of breath.

Finally freed from James’s arms, Rudina’s face was bright red. Finding that sight so beautiful, Fooka’s heart ached as he watched the two from afar.

After hurriedly fixing her clothes, Rudina gave James an annoyed glare before rushing over to Fooka.

“I’m sorry. James can be quite mischievous. I’ll escort you to the front.”

“It’s… alright.”

But Fooka, who had been staring blankly at the two, declined with a somewhat dazed expression. Kukus, who had been standing nearby, sighed deeply while looking at his friend with concern before putting an arm around his shoulder.

Though his arm had to reach quite high due to their height difference, it didn’t matter. Right now, it seemed important to get his friend out of there as quickly as possible.

* * *

Near the window where sunlight poured in was a rocking chair that Kai had specially commissioned from Credion’s finest furniture craftsman for Stella.

This rocking chair made exclusively for Stella had her name engraved in gold leaf in Kai’s handwriting.

As it was furniture that contained Kai’s special love, Stella cherished and loved this rocking chair the most among the items in the room. It was also where Stella spent much of her time lately as she had been taking more naps.

Even now, Stella was sitting in the rocking chair reading a book. Spring breeze carrying the scent of flowers gently wafted in through the wide-open window.

Unknown birds somewhere chirped beautifully.

After being absorbed in reading for a while, Stella started nodding off at some point. Though the book wasn’t boring, the overwhelming sleepiness heavily pulled down Stella’s eyelids regardless of her will.

“Stella, Stella! Look what I brought!”

Stella startled awake, not realizing she had been dozing off.

“Oh my, I must have dozed off.”

There was a blanket she didn’t remember on her lap.

“Your Majesty, are you awake?”

Rudina’s voice was heard beside her. Judging by her voice that seemed to be holding back a yawn, she too must have been nodding off next to Stella.

The book she had been holding had fallen to the floor. When Stella reached out to pick up the book, earth fairies who came scurrying from somewhere worked together to move the book in front of Stella.

“I’ll do it.”

“No, we’ll do it. Stay still, Stella. We should move heavy things like this.”

When Rudina reached out because the fairies looked like they were struggling, Esta firmly shook his head. Though it took three fairies struggling to move what Rudina could lift with one hand, their voices remained spirited.

“Stella, look here.”

Stella, whose attention had been briefly caught by the fairies moving the book, turned back to the window. Though she didn’t know what the urgent matter was, Oton was excitedly jumping up and down in place.

Seeing Oton, who usually didn’t get excited easily compared to other fairies, looking so thrilled made Stella curious about what was going on.

“What did you find?”

“Well…, actually Bella dropped it for me rather than me finding it.”

“Bella did?”

Stella asked while looking out the window. She looked outside to see if Bella was still there, but she wasn’t visible.

“She just dropped this and flew away again.”

After growing bigger, Bella went hunting more frequently. Though Stella worried about her possibly getting hurt by hunters, the possibility was low since Bella’s existence was already quite famous in the empire.

Not only because of her size that was ten times bigger than a normal eagle, but because of her snow-white feathers and her title as the empress’s guardian, there were no crazy hunters who would see Bella as prey.

As Stella became more loved by the empire’s people, the beings around her also became famous and loved together. In toy stores, dolls modeled after the earth fairies and Bella sold like hot cakes.

There were also finely crafted ones made with jewels for adults, but those sold out even before making it to display cases, so you had to make a reservation to buy one.

Even if you succeeded in making a reservation, you had to wait anywhere from two months to nearly a year.

“What did Bella give you?”

When Stella, who had been staring out the window for a moment, asked, Oton grinned before taking something out of her pocket and placing it on Stella’s palm.

“What is this?”

The seed that Bella had supposedly given was red and transparent like a pomegranate seed. At first glance, it looked like a ruby.

“This is a seed?”

It didn’t look like a seed to anyone.

“Yes, Bella definitely said so.”

“Bella said that? How?”

“Peeeep! Peeeep! Like this.”

“…That’s what it means?”

Stella asked while trying to hold back her laughter at Oton suddenly imitating Bella. But Oton was very serious, so Stella tried hard not to laugh out loud.

“Of course. What else would it mean? That’s not what’s important, Stella. What’s important is this seed.”

Oton said while pointing at the seed on Stella’s palm with her finger, seemingly frustrated. The seed sparkled beautifully like a ruby in the sunlight.

“No matter how I look at it, it doesn’t look like a seed but just like a jewel.”

“Right. It’s a jewel fruit seed.”

“What? Does it grow jewels?”

“No, that’s just the name of the fruit. It’s not a real jewel. It’s so delicious!”

Oton said while swallowing her saliva, the thought alone making her mouth water.

“But it only bears one fruit per month. Different colored fruits grow each time, and the transparent ones are the most delicious, and only the red ones can be planted to grow. The others won’t sprout even if you plant them. You have to eat them all. Each color has slightly different effects.”

“Wow, that’s amazing.”

“I think it’s Bella’s gift for your baby.”

“Oh my…”

Stella had never received so much love in her life. Starting from her husband to the numerous people in the imperial palace, Rudina and Milla, Melissa, and others – just recalling them made countless faces flash by quickly.

“How should we plant this?”

When Stella asked, Oton began explaining with an excited expression.

* * *

Three carriages loaded with gifts busily entered the imperial palace. They were carriages carrying baby items that Melissa had personally purchased for Stella.

After personally confirming that the gifts were safely loaded, Melissa mounted her horse White. She had originally planned to ride in the carriage, but there were so many gifts that they took up even the space where Melissa was supposed to sit.

“Alright, let’s go.”

Melissa’s voice heading to the imperial palace was more energetic than ever.

“Your Majesty, Marchioness Melissa Frentium has arrived.”

“Show her in.”

Since Melissa had contacted her the day before, Stella was waiting at the appointed time.

A moment later, as the doors swung wide open, Melissa strode in through the middle.

“Your Majesty the Empress! Have you been well?”

Melissa came over with a bright smile and hugged Stella who was standing to welcome her.

“Oh my, you’re still so thin! What should we do!”

The smile that had spread across Melissa’s face instantly disappeared and wrinkles formed between her brows.

After Stella became empress, Melissa consistently used honorifics, but Stella, who needed a friend more than anyone, asked her to speak comfortably when they were alone.

Melissa’s violet eyes were filled with worry as she looked at Stella. Stella was the first female friend Melissa had made in her life.

No one had captured Melissa’s heart like Stella. It was significant enough that she even gave up on Kai who she had followed her whole life.

When comparing Kai, whom she had considered her lifelong love, with Stella, whom she had just met, Melissa chose Stella without much hesitation. Though everyone found it surprising, it felt natural to Melissa.

The moment she let go of her competitiveness toward Kai, her obsession with him disappeared completely, and even the love-hate relationship she had believed was love faded. So of course she preferred Stella who only did pretty things.

“I brought gifts for our princess.”

“What if it’s not a girl?”

“That’s why I brought gifts for our prince too!”

Melissa answered with a mischievous grin. At this typical response from Melissa, Stella shook her head resignedly.

“But where are the gifts?”

Stella asked curiously, as she was empty-handed despite saying she brought gifts.

“Ah, there were too many so I thought they might inconvenience Your Majesty the Empress if we put them here, so I had them placed in another room for now. Open them one by one when you’re bored.”

Though Stella was curious how many gifts there were for her to say this, she was afraid to ask.

Though Kai and Melissa bickered and fought whenever they met these days, to Stella, the two had so many similarities that she wondered if they might have been twins in a past life.

Just once, Stella had mentioned that they seemed similar. Both were so offended that she never mentioned their similarities again after that.

“Ah, I have a gift for you too.”

At Stella’s words spoken with a bright smile, Melissa’s eyes sparkled. The nobles who visited trying to get on Melissa’s good side always came with heavy hands. Sometimes they even brought treasures that weren’t even in the imperial palace.

Melissa, who never refused incoming gifts, would collect them and promptly bring them to Stella whenever she thought something would suit her.

But to Melissa, the small and modest things that Stella gave her were far more precious and valuable.

One day it was a handkerchief embroidered with Melissa’s name, and another day she gave her what she called the most delicious carrot pie in the world that she had baked herself.

Melissa’s expression as she anticipated what she would receive today was like a child waiting for a birthday present. What would people say if they knew that Melissa Frentium, the Marchioness praised as the God of War, had such a cute side?

She always maintained a cold and stern demeanor in front of subordinates and strangers. Quite a few of her long-time subordinates had never seen her smile.

“What’s my gift?”

Melissa urged impatiently, dying of curiosity as Stella just smiled brightly while looking at her after only saying she had a gift.