He arrived at a wealthy household’s stable in a dazed state, unable to overcome his shock. Finally, unable to contain his confusion, he asked directly.

“Is it true that I like it?”

In response to his still-dazed question, Aila rolled up her sleeves confidently.

“Of course, of course!”

“It’s true?!”

“It’s true!”

Just as Tael was about to shake his head in denial, Aila continued.

“You love cleaning more than anything in the world!”

“…?”

“Oh, of course, you also enjoy getting hit by me when you do something wrong, but that’s beside the point. Oh, and you absolutely love spoiled food and backbreaking work too!”

“…What?”

Aila pointed to the stable. It was a place left in shambles by Emperor Targaniel’s invasion.

“I’ll handle the repairs. You…”

Aila’s finger pointed to large, foul-smelling piles scattered everywhere.

“Shovel the manure.”

Aila immediately rolled up her pant legs and began repairing the stable, but Tael, who was assigned to clean, stood frozen in front of the massive piles of horse manure.

‘Shovel the manure.’

Aila’s dreadful voice still echoed in his ears.

“You want me to shovel this manure?”

He slowly closed his eyes in shock.

“I can’t believe this.”

When he stood motionless with his hand on his forehead, Aila, who had finished hammering, came stomping over.

“You haven’t done anything?”

“That’s not true.”

“Then what have you been doing?”

“Fighting with the part of myself that refuses.”

“…?”

“What a grueling time this has been.”

Tael exhaled painfully.

“Who on earth left this place in such a state?”

Aila unconsciously pressed her lips together and stared intently at Tael.

“Not considering the hardship of the person who has to clean it up.”

Tael clenched his fist.

“What a wretched fellow.”

Aila nodded.

“A truly wretched fellow. A useless man who only makes messes and can’t do anything properly.”

“I thought he must be that kind of person.”

“A man with nothing but good looks.”

“Do you know him?”

Tael picked up a shovel that had fallen to the ground. He looked ready to chase after that ‘known fellow’ immediately.

“Tell me who it is. I’ll hand him this shovel and make him clean it himself.”

Aila smiled with satisfaction and pointed to the ground.

“Yes. So now you clean it.”

“I’m going to…”

“Just do it.”

At Aila’s forceful tone, Tael stiffly held his head high, pretending not to be intimidated, but he held the shovel neatly with both hands.

It was a posture ready to start cleaning. Aila exhaled sharply through her nose and turned around.

‘It’s just shoveling manure into one place, so it shouldn’t be difficult.’

Thinking this, she had barely taken two steps when she heard a horse neighing behind her. When she whipped her head around, she saw the horse that had been tied in the stable galloping far away.

Tael watched the scene and then turned his head toward Aila. Then, with a shameless face as if he had done nothing wrong, he said:

“There was manure under that horse.”

He flipped both palms upward and shrugged.

“Horses naturally run.”

Aila turned pale. If she couldn’t catch the horse, she would have to pay for it.

“You, you, you piece of horse manure!”

Aila immediately ran to catch the horse.

She chased the horse until her legs were worn out but couldn’t catch it. The horse was so fast that it quickly escaped deep into the mountains.

When the haggard Aila returned, Tael frowned.

“Why are you suddenly so dejected? Cheer up. These things happen in life.”

“Aila!”

Turning toward the sudden voice, she saw a handsome man standing there. He urgently approached and examined Aila from all angles.

“Why do you look like this? Did something happen?”

Aila whimpered.

“I’m sorry. You gave me work, but I… I lost the horse… *sob*.”

Jeffrey looked around his stable.

“You lost a horse?”

“I’m sorry.”

Seeing Aila’s gloomy appearance, he comforted her.

“It’s not like it’s the only one. Don’t worry too much.”

“No. I’ll definitely earn money and pay you back.”

“I’m telling you it’s really okay.”

Tael observed the seemingly affectionate pair intently. His eyebrows rose slightly like mountains in apparent displeasure, but he said nothing.

Only after Jeffrey had left did he sidle up to Aila and ask:

“You two seem close.”

Aila glared at him.

“It’s only this mild because it’s Jeffrey. If it were anyone else, I can’t imagine how much trouble I’d be in.”

“It’s natural for horses to run. What did you expect me to do?”

At Tael’s confident attitude, Aila unconsciously jumped up and hit his forehead, then immediately regretted it. This man might appear simple, but he was an emperor.

But since it had already happened, she raised her voice even more assertively.

“Well, I want to hit you too, so what should I do?! I don’t need someone as useless as horse manure like you!”

Aila returned home alone, breathing heavily and leaving Tael behind.

At that moment, she wasn’t concerned about Tael at all and didn’t even notice that he wasn’t following her.

Back home, Aila buried her face in her pillow, upset.

“I tried to make money but ended up in debt.”

Aila suddenly got up and pounded her pillow with her fists.

“This won’t do! You have to work and pay it back yourself!”

When she turned to glare at Tael in her frustration, he wasn’t in the place where he should have been.

“What! He didn’t follow me?!”

While she was troubled about repaying the debt, was he leisurely wandering around? Aila searched for Tael, breathing heavily.

“Just wait until I catch you!”

After searching far and wide, she finally found him in front of a lake.

She was about to confront him with “How can you be so carefree when I’m in such distress!” but hesitated. Unlike his usual self, Tael’s back seemed slumped.

“Could it be he’s feeling down?”

Uncertain, she approached Tael. He was crouched down, writing something with his finger. When Aila carefully looked down from above, she could see the words “horse manure.”

Aila scratched her head for a moment.

‘Was being called “horse manure” that shocking? Well, as an emperor, he probably never heard the word “manure” before.’

After pondering a bit more, she tapped Tael. He turned his head.

“Let’s go. I’ll make dinner for you.”

“No thanks.”

“What does feeling down solve? Since there are two of us now, if we work together to pay it back…”

“Your food doesn’t taste good.”

“!”

“I don’t eat things that don’t taste good.”

Aila’s fist clenched involuntarily.

“You piece of horse manure. Fine, have it your way. Go ahead and starve.”

As Aila turned and walked away, Tael quietly followed her.

“Why are you following me?”

“I’ll eat to survive because I’ll die if I starve.”

“…”

“Your food is so humble that I doubt eating it will improve my mood, but I’ll eat it out of consideration for your effort.”

Annoyed by Tael’s words, Aila glared at him and then sighed deeply.

“Fine. This is better than seeing you dejected.”

“Dejected? Me?”

Tael shook his head as if it were a ridiculous notion.

“I was merely recalibrating my sense of smell after it was polluted by manure. Reflect on your actions. By now you should have realized that I am not suited for such dirty work. So from now on, don’t assign me such trivial tasks and do them yourself… Ow!”

Aila couldn’t hold back and kicked him in the shin.

She had hoped one hit would bring him to his senses, but the Emperor of Arniel was by no means an easy opponent.

Aila realized that thinking he had been dejected was truly a big misunderstanding.

–

When evening came, everyone gathered in the yard.

As Aila was stirring the potato soup in a large pot, Tael, who had been running away all day since being kicked in the shin, cautiously approached.

Despite having run away, his eyes were arrogant. If someone didn’t know better, they might think he had come to collect a debt.

“It looks strange.”

Tael clasped his hands behind his back as he looked at the potato soup Aila had made.

“Since it looks like pig slop that no one would eat, I’ll do you a favor and eat it.”

“Ha!”

Aila was dumbfounded and angrily stirred the pot with her ladle when she noticed a potato in questionable condition.

Aila quietly scooped an extra ladleful into Tael’s bowl. Tael snorted as if this were only natural.

“Yes. This is how it should be for me.”

After taking a large spoonful into his mouth, Tael frowned.

“Why is this spoiled?”

Aila pretended not to know, looking into the distance.

“I’m asking why there’s something spoiled in my bowl.”

“…”

As Tael stood up abruptly, about to get angry, Aila tried to take the bowl away. Tael instinctively gripped the bowl tightly.

“How dare you do this?!”

“Don’t eat it.”

Tael’s pupils shook violently. He spoke rapidly with his still-arrogant voice and anxious eyes.

“I asked why there’s something spoiled in it, not that I wouldn’t eat it.”