Duncan, or rather, Demian and I talked until dawn.

He confessed to me all the little things he couldn’t reveal while hiding his identity.

As I listened to his story, I scolded and resented Demian, but truthfully, I was happy to know him completely.

I felt confident that no one knew Demian as well as I did.

As time passed, I unknowingly fell asleep while Demian was talking about his brothers.

“My older brother is truly a good person. If it weren’t for my mother, I would have wanted to stay by his side and assist him. No one is more suited for the emperor’s position than my brother. And my younger brother, perhaps because of our age difference, is very cute. Such an adorable kid. You might meet him soon, but…”

I must have fallen fast asleep right after hearing that much.

When I opened my heavy eyelids again, Demian, with whom I had been talking for hours, was nowhere to be seen.

Instead, I only saw Bless dozing off on the sofa and an unfamiliar boy sitting at the corner of my bed.

“Sister, are you awake?”

The boy, who looked about Marco’s age, seemed like a younger version of Demian.

His brilliant golden hair and golden eyes resembled him perfectly.

If I were to have Demian’s child, wouldn’t they look something like this?

‘…W-what am I thinking right now?’

I felt my face burning hot early in the morning.

I was embarrassed at myself for thinking about having his child just a day after hearing his confession of love.

“Sister, are you perhaps sick? Your face is red.”

This isn’t red because I’m sick.

I cleared my throat and opened my lips.

“Who are you to enter a lady’s bedroom so freely?”

“I’m sorry… I was just so curious about my sister-in-law that I came in. And I also asked permission from your guard over there who’s sleeping.”

The guard he mentioned seemed to be Bless. But there was something that surprised me.

“S-sister-in-law?”

“Yes, they say you’re going to be my brother’s fiancée!”

“Are you perhaps Duncan’s, I mean, Demian’s younger brother?”

The younger brother Demian, had been praising endlessly?

“Yes! I’m Abel. Please call me Abel comfortably, sister-in-law.”

“Sister-in-law…”

“Isn’t that right? Did my brother get rejected?”

At that moment, someone who entered through the partially open door answered instead.

“Abel. You’re speaking as if you want me to be rejected.”

It was Demian.

As soon as Abel spotted Demian, he ran to him and clung to him.

“Brotherrr. I just want you to get married safely. Then you won’t disappear again, right? I want to be with you.”

“Don’t worry. I won’t disappear for long periods anymore.”

Demian stroked Abel’s hair with an affectionate hand.

“Because I have someone I need to protect now. I won’t run away from reality anymore.”

As he said that, he winked slightly at me. It seemed like he wanted me to know that I was the person he needed to protect.

Demian seemed determined to make my heart flutter from early morning.

His charm was consistent.

“Brotherrr. But will you only protect sister-in-law and not me?”

“Of course, I have to protect our Abel, too. Was there anyone who bothered you while I was gone?”

“…Brother. I don’t want to be the Crown Prince.”

In other words, during Demian’s absence, Empress Patricia had been troubling him by pushing him to become the Crown Prince.

“Alright, don’t worry now. I’ll talk to mother about it.”

“Brother, you’re the best.”

Abel’s words, which I thought would end with just praise, continued.

“But I think brother needs to try harder to seduce sister-in-law…”

How could such a young child be so perceptive?

Demian frowned slightly and made a troubled expression.

***

I had breakfast with Demian, Abel, and Bless.

Bless kept dozing off throughout breakfast, probably because he had been meeting with the monsters since dawn regarding the transformation.

And he did so with his cheeks puffed up, full of food.

He looked exactly like when he was a monster, which made me chuckle.

While enjoying the delicious food, I suddenly remembered my employees I had left in the Philia Islands.

Although it was nice being with Demian at the imperial palace, I felt I needed to go down to the Philia Islands soon.

I had to meet Marco, Bonnie, and Nero, too.

But before that.

“…Could I meet your mother today?”

It seemed necessary to meet Empress Patricia, the biggest obstacle.

There’s a saying that you should strike while the iron is hot. I wanted to meet her as soon as possible.

“Yes, I’ll arrange it.”

“Thank you. I’ll make sure my mother doesn’t harm you.”

“I’ll stay sharp, too. After all, I’ve decided to be your support.”

“You still haven’t forgiven me, yet being my support remains valid?”

“Yes, it’s valid for life.”

Demian made an “Ah…” sound and lowered his gaze sheepishly.

Touched by my words, a blush quickly spread across his cheeks.

Just as Demian had lovingly gazed at my blush, I, too, found the blush on his cheeks nothing but endearing.

“I want to earn your forgiveness quickly.”

“Why?”

“Then I think other things might become valid too.”

Other things.

I suddenly looked at Abel. The child who I thought would resemble what Demian’s child might look like.

“….”

Could it be that I had thought too far into the future?

I couldn’t bring myself to ask Demian about these “other things.”

The moment he would say he was thinking the same thing as me, I was certain I’d turn into a radish again.

Instead, I asked him something that suddenly came to mind.

“By the way, what does your mother like?”

***

The Empress’s Palace, which I visited for the first time, was incomparable to the Second Prince’s Palace.

I had thought Demian’s residence was sufficiently luxurious, but the Empress’s Palace was so splendid it could make one’s eyes pop out.

No, perhaps “extravagant” would be a more fitting description.

Looking at the space decorated with everything so splendidly, I inferred Empress Patricia’s character.

‘Someone greedy enough to covet the throne for a long time, extravagant, and flamboyant.’

To not incur the dislike of such a person, one would have to become just like them.

Of course, I didn’t wish for Demian to succeed the throne like Empress Patricia did.

I only wished for his happiness.

But I had a desire to spend a long time with Demian.

To be with him without major difficulties, it would be better to have Empress Patricia on my side, or at least to get along well with her.

At that moment, Demian, who was walking about a step ahead of me, stopped.

“My mother will be waiting for us here.”

I also stopped and nodded.

“Are you mentally prepared?”

“Are you asking me that? I think I should be asking you that question.”

“Actually, Demian is trembling more than I am. Do you think I don’t know that?”

“….”

I wasn’t sure what was making him so anxious.

It could be because he hadn’t fully expressed his ambition to not succeed the throne, despite receiving help from his mother.

I firmly grabbed Demian’s hand.

“Y-Yerena.”

“Don’t worry. Two is much better than one.”

When I was alone, suffering at the hands of three bullies, Demian readily helped me.

He even went so far as to save me from Benjamin.

I hoped that Demian would feel what I had felt every time I was saved by him.

I wanted Demian to find salvation in me. After all, we had promised to be each other’s support.

When I smiled reassuringly, the frozen Demian finally smiled too.

Soon after, he opened the closed door.