Unaware of the peacefully resolved situation at home, Roan sighed as he processed the mountain of documents one by one.

Thanks to the office where only the sound of turning papers could be heard, his sigh sounded particularly loud.

“What’s the matter?”

Like a drop of ink contaminating clean water, the highly contagious sigh filled the office and reached Yvaine.

Yvaine, who had unconsciously sighed, stopped processing documents and raised his head to ask Roan.

His golden-yellow eyes showed no emotion, making it hard to believe he had created a mess at the Grand Duke’s residence.

Moreover, seeing Yvaine who didn’t have even a speck of apologetic feeling, Roan realized that the crown prince had not done it intentionally.

Roan answered weakly.

“You don’t need to worry about it.”

“But you’ve been looking like you’re about to die since earlier.”

There was a sound of fingers colliding, and a mirror that was on one side of the office hovered in the air, reflecting Roan’s face.

Roan’s complexion was pale as he sighed for the tenth time in the short period since arriving at the office.

His clenched his fist at his unnecessary kindness of bringing the mirror in front of a person.

“Your face has become uglier.”

Yvaine, who had enough consideration to worry about the well-being of the person working with him, added an unnecessary comment.

Roan couldn’t tell if his words were concern or rubbing salt in the wound. He narrowed his eyes and looked at Yvaine.

“Your Highness, really……”

‘I can’t tell if you’re shameless or innocent.’

Roan sighed deeply at Yvaine’s expression of knowing nothing, even though he held a large share in this incident.

It was a truly exemplary workplace where the perpetrator knew nothing while only the victim suffered. Feeling his anger rising, Roan stopped writing the document.

“May I ask you something?”

Unable to use violence against his superior, especially the crown prince, Roan, who couldn’t overcome his anger, grabbed his head and collapsed on the desk.

“What kind of grudge do you have against me that you torment me like this?”

Roan raised only his head while lying on the desk and asked Yvaine. Yvaine gently averted his gaze, feeling Roan’s resentful look.

“What grudge would I have? You are my aide who becomes my hands and feet.”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know. You’re a perceptive person.”

At Roan’s resentment, Yvaine finally drew an arc on his lips. Having already figured out why Roan was struggling, he twirled a pen in his hand.

That sight marked the peak of Roan’s annoyance.

“It seems you couldn’t quietly let it go this time.”

“Let it go? Is that what you should be saying? I’m becoming the worst person in the world because of you!”

It was partly his fault, but Yvaine wasn’t blameless either.

It wasn’t like they were experimenting on ‘how far does his sister’s patience go?’ Roan banged his head on the desk with a thud.

Yvaine spoke without emotion as he watched the suffering Roan.

“Oh dear. That’s unfortunate.”

He couldn’t say anything since the person in front of him was the crown prince. Roan, who gathered his flailing hands in the air, cursed fiercely with his eyes.

After looking at the ceiling to calm himself down, Roan looked forward again and asked.

“Didn’t you say that there was nothing today, not to worry?”

“I did say that. Because there was nothing on the schedule.”

Yvaine agreed without hesitation to Roan’s gloomy voice. He couldn’t lie.

Roan’s job was to assist by his side.

The moment he lied, Roan’s fist might fly at him. Yvaine understood his limit well.

“Then why did you suddenly call for me? Your. High. ness?”

Yvaine shrugged at Roan’s question, which particularly emphasized “Your Highness.”

Even Yvaine, who was overflowing with talent in everything, couldn’t know about the future.

Honestly, even he hadn’t imagined that they would be working today. Yvaine decided to be brazen.

“No matter how great one is, it seems impossible to predict the future.”

Even though he was only speaking the truth, his appearance was so annoying. Roan was at a loss for words.

“I’m sorry. There was a deficiency.”

Roan was convinced that Yvaine was mocking him right now.

While he had no idea how to comfort his sister, Yvaine was the epitome of calmness.

Hearing Roan’s sigh, Yvaine spoke calmly while signing documents.

“Do you need someone to blame?”

“If I need someone to blame, can I blame Your Highness?”

Roan said, making eye contact with Yvaine. Yvaine smiled brightly at his absurd statement.

“No.”

“Then why did you ask?”

Roan laughed wryly, finding Yvaine’s overly confident attitude ridiculous.

“I was going to tell you to blame Baron Roben. Wasn’t it him who caused trouble as if he had been waiting for today?”

Baron Roben was a foolish man who thought he could commit crimes by avoiding the eyes of the imperial palace. His main business was the slave market.

The imperial family had strict regulations against buying and selling people, but he might have been rebelling against the imperial family.

No matter how he had hidden it, Baron Roben, who had committed many criminal acts, was caught and arrested as of today.

“If you’re going to do it, don’t get caught.”

Roan spoke without hiding his anger towards Baron Roben. Yvaine burst into laughter at his muttering.

To Roan, the fact that Baron Roben had committed a crime seemed less important than the fact that he had been caught today of all days.

“It sounds like you would have deliberately turned a blind eye if you were on the crackdown team.”

“How can you say that? I just meant it would have been fine if it wasn’t today.”

Roan, whose heart ached from his sister’s hatred, leaned back in his chair with all strength drained from his body and muttered.

“Because of someone who calls me even on my days off, I can’t possibly have a good relationship with my sister.”

Yvaine smiled meaningfully at Roan’s resentful words. From his words, one could tell that Roan and his younger sister Roa had gone through a battle.

Their fights were like monthly events. Of course, the crown prince pretended not to know while being aware that he was part of the cause of their fights.

“I couldn’t keep my promise last month too, so I promised that no matter what happened, I would go with her this time……”

Roan kept getting smaller whenever he stood in front of Roa. He was gradually losing her trust.

Now whenever he suggested doing something together, she would glare at him with those lovely eyes turned into daggers.

Feeling quite wronged, Roan ran his hand over his face.

“This is already the 30th time. I think I’m about to set a new record, Your Highness.”

Roan, who had failed to regain trust once again, despaired. Yvaine looked at him and tapped the desk with the tip of his pen.

Yvaine, who had been listening without much thought, paused at the number 30. He hadn’t expected it to be that many. He felt a little sorry.

He clearly remembered her pointing at him with her finger at the ball.

Her black hair and blue eyes, the same as his, had met his gaze.

Yvaine recalled Roa who had hidden behind Roan and peeked at him, and stopped tapping the desk with his pen.

“Is that all it’s been so far?”

Despite feeling sorry, Yvaine responded nastily.

Roan reacted fiercely to the incorrect answer, as if he would grab Yvaine by the collar if he weren’t the crown prince.

“So far? Are you really saying ‘so far’ right now? Do you know how much my sister cried today!”

“Still a crybaby, I see.”

The first time Roa and Yvaine met wasn’t at the ball. Yvaine had encountered young Roa before Lee Seo-ha entered her body.

That day too, Roa was crying. When Roan was first appointed as Yvaine’s aide, she grabbed his legs and wailed, begging him not to go.

It was behavior a princess would never have shown. Yvel would have been fortunate just to say goodbye properly.

‘Princess…. Come to think of it, wasn’t Yvel the same age?’

Suddenly recalling his sister, who was different from the tearful Roa, Yvaine wondered what it would be like if she and his sister became friends.

‘If only Yvel didn’t have the same personality as me, they could get along well.’

Yvaine pictured the Roa he knew in his mind. Meanwhile, Roan, unaware that Yvaine was lost in thought, muttered.

“If I were Roa, I would have been upset enough.”

Roan, who had a relatively close sibling relationship, spoke as if understanding Roa while thinking of his sister.

“Of course she would be upset. It’s all my fault.”

Yvaine looked at Roan, who was muttering in a daze, and asked.

“She still can’t go out alone?”

At Yvaine’s slightly reproachful question, Roan’s lips turned downward.

“You may think I’m being too oppressive for someone her age, but I can’t help it.”

There had been an incident where Roa fainted when she went out with knight escorts.

Recalling the chaos at home that day, Roan answered firmly.

“I think it’s a better choice than going out and fainting from illness.”

His sister, who couldn’t leave her bed before, could now walk and run around. Everyone had been relieved that she was healthy then.

So for the first time, they helped her go out alone to prepare for her independence. That was their wrong choice.

Roan shuddered as he recalled Roa, who had been carried back unconscious on the knights’ backs after just a few hours outside.

“I don’t want to lose my sister.”

That incident had been a warning to the family. Fear made their thinking narrow, and as a result, it constricted Roa. Roan smiled bitterly.

‘Even if she collapses, she should collapse in front of me so I have a chance to help.’

This might be an excuse to alleviate some guilt if Roa were to face death.

But above all, Roan wanted to protect his only sister.

“You must worry a lot.”

“Please consider our circumstances this time, and please stop creating work on my days off.”

Roan pleaded desperately to Yvaine. Roan didn’t want to be hated by Roa.

Yvaine, realizing the unfavorable situation, kept his mouth shut.

He couldn’t say ‘Alright, trust me,’ nor could he say ‘That’s not possible.’

Seeing Yvaine keeping silent at the impossible choice, Roan said.

“Going outside means a lot to my sister.”

“Let her go tomorrow. There really is nothing tomorrow.”

Yvaine continued by saying to submit paperwork for the vacation he couldn’t take today.

Roan quickly filled out the paperwork but grumbled.

“Do you think she would believe those words if she were in your position?”

‘Just tell me without making me apply for leave.’

Yvaine looked down at the vacation application form in front of him and was dumbfounded. Roan brazenly ignored Yvaine’s gaze and sat in his chair.

“If Your Highness keeps arranging fights between me and my sister, I might have to consider resigning.”

At Roan’s firm words, Yvaine stopped signing the vacation application and raised his head. Mischief appeared on Yvaine’s face.

His acting skills, which naturally manifested at times like this, put possessiveness on Yvaine’s face. Resting his chin on his hand, Yvaine spoke mischievously.

“Do you think you can dare escape from me?”

At the suddenly suggestive atmosphere and the crown prince’s strange gaze, Roan shouted and jumped up from his seat.

Goosebumps rose all over his body from head to toe.

“Aaargh! Why are you really doing this to me!”

“Hmm, you’re the one who did wrong first by saying you’d run away from me.”

Roan immediately realized that Yvaine was enjoying this situation. The evidence was his trembling lips.

‘Devil spawn.’

Roan grabbed a handful of salt that Roa had given him as a gift to sprinkle on the crown prince. Yvaine saw the salt and immediately continued.

“Huh? Are you going to throw it?”

“I’ll throw it and gloriously go to prison.”

With firm resolve, Roan extended his hand holding the salt toward the sky and turned it toward Yvaine.

Yvaine narrowed his eyes and continued with a strange smile.

“If you want to hear that a crown prince mad with love imprisoned his aide in a fit of insanity after hearing his lover was running away, then go ahead and throw it.”

Yvaine spoke as if he’s doing him a favor.

“Well, with my great magnanimity, I should grant my subordinate’s wish to go to prison, shouldn’t I?”

Yvaine’s lips twitched. He knew for certain that Roan could never throw salt at him.

At Yvaine’s words, Roan put the salt back in the bottle. He could go to prison for assaulting the crown prince.

But he couldn’t enter prison for such a shameful reason. Roan painfully suppressed his desire for rebellion.

“Your Highness is truly more wicked than a demon.”

“A demon. I like that. Isn’t it charming?”

Thanks to Yvaine who took the insult positively even while knowing it was meant as an insult, Roan felt his blood boiling.

He regretted his past self who had been happy about becoming an aide without knowing the crown prince had such a personality.

If only he could go back to the past, he would never have become an aide. Roan clicked his tongue and sat in his chair.

“This is why there are strange rumors circulating in the imperial palace.”

“Ah, you mean that rumor about you and me sharing a forbidden love.”

The bizarre rumor that the aide and the crown prince were sharing a secret love was spreading widely in the imperial palace.

The rumor spread from the mouths of servants, merchants supplying goods to the palace, nobles visiting the palace, and reached the ears of the common people.

The two protagonists of this famous story were so oblivious to the rumor that they only noticed when the emperor himself asked if it was true.

‘Whoever is spreading this rumor, I’ll make them die young.’

Roan, who had dug up the rumor he wanted to ignore from his memory, acted fiercely as if ready to catch and punish the person responsible.

“I should have controlled the rumor earlier.”

But it was too late.

The rumor about the romance between the crown prince and his aide had already grown uncontrollably to the point where one would wonder why they hadn’t heard it before.

“Did Your Highness the Crown Prince really not know about the rumor that even His Majesty knows?”

At Roan’s questioning, Yvaine made an aggrieved expression. Who was saying what to whom?

“That’s not for you to say. Conversely, shouldn’t you be paying attention to rumors about me and handling them?”

“When would I have time to leisurely listen to such rumors when I’m so busy working?”

“You make it sound like I, who work with you, am idle. Whose aide are you? Your way of speaking is quite pretty.”

Yvaine sarcastically rebuked Roan. Roan snorted at his words.

“Fine. It’s too late to assign blame now anyway.”

Even Roa, who had difficulty encountering circulating rumors due to her lack of social connections, knew about it, so it was safe to say that no one was unaware.

“Your Highness will never understand how it feels to hear from Roa’s mouth that Your Highness the Crown Prince is my lover.”

Terror flickered on Roan’s face, who didn’t know that Roa was deliberately acting as if she believed it.

Hearing about the romance with the crown prince from Roa’s mouth ranked as Roan’s number one most terrifying moment.

Roan, who had felt the ultimate terror since morning, frowned at the horror.

He had been worried that his sister might have heard the rumor when she looked at him with strange eyes, and that worry had become reality.

However, there was one piece of news Roan didn’t know. That the source of the rumor was deeply connected to Roa.

Roan, who only knew the innocent image of Roa, clutched his head.

“Roa shouting for me to get along well with Your Highness, biting and sucking each other, really……”

Roa’s mouth had firmly established the crown prince as his proud lover. Seeing Roan in despair, Yvaine couldn’t hold back his laughter and collapsed on the desk.

He had thought it was just a sibling quarrel. Yvaine chuckled at the love fight contained within it.

The situation where he had somehow become Roa’s rival was amusing.

Ah- Yvaine wiped away the tears that had formed in his eyes from laughing too hard. It was too funny to see a smart person becoming a fool in front of his sister.

Of course, hearing Roa’s stories that tormented Roan with strange tales was also one of Yvaine’s amusements.

“That’s truly unfortunate news.”

The news that Roan, who was rumored to have a sister-complex, was being strangely misunderstood by his sister, came as a small pleasure in a boring daily life.

Roan glared at the crown prince, who was clearly mocking him with a face that didn’t look sorry at all.

“Your face is shouting with joy.”

“Was it? It’s not.”

Yvaine pulled down his eyes. However, unlike his eyes, the corners of his mouth were smiling.

“Manage your expression before saying such things.”

From the beginning, Yvaine didn’t seem to have any intention of hiding his expression. The word sincerity didn’t exist in his heart, so there was only soulless comfort.

“Still, I do feel sorry. Sincerely.”

It was fun to tease Roan because his reactions were different and fresh, but he was genuinely sorry that his actions, which lacked guilt, were hurting Roa.

He couldn’t help but feel sorry for unintentionally stealing Roa’s outings that she had so desperately wanted, as long as he had a conscience.

Above all, he was sorry to Roa, but he couldn’t let go of Roan now that he had the work processing ability that satisfied him.

‘This is all Roan’s fault.’

Yvaine inwardly muttered something that would have made Roan indignant if he had heard it.

Based on his experience working together, Roan seemed to know what Yvaine was thinking.

‘I should have been a little less competent.’

Roan, who knew his own work processing ability well, sighed.

“Don’t just think it, please show it through action.”

“How can I predict that an accident will happen on a day off?”

Yvaine also wished he had the ability to predict the future.

“I’ll try to predict it next time.”

Although it was annoying, Roan couldn’t refute Yvaine’s words since they weren’t wrong, so he kept his mouth shut.

Roan knew too well that no matter how much he demanded from Yvaine, it wouldn’t be fulfilled.

Easily giving up, Roan increased his document writing speed to go home quickly.

Yvaine, watching Roan who showed perfect paperwork even while grumbling, pondered something.

‘What he could give to Roa who was suffering because of him.’

After being lost in thought for a moment, Yvaine spoke calmly.

“As an apology, I’ll invite your sister to the imperial palace.”

‘What kind of apology gift is that……”

At Yvaine’s sudden mention of apology, one of Roan’s eyebrows twitched.

“How does an apology translate to that?”

Roan, too dumbfounded, unconsciously questioned Yvaine strongly.

Roan’s current state was bewilderment itself. He couldn’t understand why the idea of inviting his sister to the imperial palace was coming up in the current situation.

What connection was there between an apology and an invitation to the imperial palace? Did Yvaine truly think that coming to the imperial palace was a gift?

While Roan’s head was complicated with questions leading to more questions, unlike him, Yvaine looked proud, so it seemed he did think it was a gift.

“An aide who comes in and out of the imperial palace doesn’t seem to know how precious an invitation to the palace is.”

“Such precious treatment seems unnecessary. I don’t know what negative influence it might have on my sister.”

Roan firmly refused and turned his attention to the documents.

Yvaine threw the fountain pen he was holding at the impertinent aide who referred to him as dangerous.

Roan easily caught the fountain pen and placed it on the desk. Even in this situation, Roan criticized Yvaine’s behavior of throwing objects.

“Throwing things is a bad habit, Your Highness.”

“You need to understand how meaningful an invitation to the imperial palace is.”