“First, I’d go somewhere beyond the reach of the Duke of Ivanstein.”

“That won’t be easy. Why?”

“Because you’re scary.”

At her honest answer, a faint breath escaped between Genoa’s lips.

“Surely you don’t think I’m going to eat you up.”

“It might come to that.”

“Don’t you think it’s too much to treat me as such a cruel person?”

“Take a look at yourself. Is this really too much?”

Mel’s resolute voice was like a well-sharpened knife. It was the most straightforward and confident face he had ever seen from her.

Genoa leaned his head against the carriage wall with a gentle smile curving his eyes. He smiled as if all his previous smiles had been fake.

“I think I made the right decision proposing to you, Princess.”

Where in this conversation did he get that idea? Even knowing she shouldn’t, Mel’s heart beat contrary to her will.

As if his offer of the position of lady of the Ivanstein ducal family was truly sincere, Genoa showed a much softer side in front of her. His peculiarly unveiled appearance made Mel’s heart flutter inappropriately. As if she were someone special to him.

“You said you wanted to discuss, discuss something……”

Mel turned her head abruptly and stumbled over her words. Listening to his voice feigning affection, she could also hear the voice of the boy from long ago. She had the illusion that the Genoa from back then, who had been endlessly gentle only to her, was still standing before her eyes.

That shouldn’t be. All these aspects of Genoa that he was showing now belonged to Amelia Reibritton.

“Ah.”

Genoa, as if finally remembering his purpose, reached into his inner pocket. Mel stiffened slightly, not knowing what would emerge from his hand.

“This is what I wanted to discuss.”

Mel’s lips parted slightly with a deflating sound when she saw what Genoa had taken out of his pocket.

“What is this?”

“A hair tie.”

“No, I mean, what is this about?”

“I told you, it’s a hair tie, Princess.”

Genoa pretended not to understand what she was asking, though he clearly knew. How irritating his behavior was, and how much it made her heart skip—Genoa probably had no idea.

“Is this really important enough for the Duke of Ivanstein to delay entering the imperial palace and come find me?”

“Of course.”

Genoa nodded and spoke in a casual voice.

“I was thinking of braiding my hair, and I wanted you to choose which color I should use.”

“You said it was important.”

Mel pointed out Genoa’s absurd request with a coldly frozen face, but he didn’t seem to care at all.

“I heard the Reibritton Kingdom is known as the country of gold. How about this yellow tie? It has silver dust sprinkled on it, almost as if celebrating the union between you and me, Princess.”

“The blue one.”

“I think yellow would be better.”

“You asked me to choose. This is important enough to delay your entry to the palace, so use the blue one. It suits you better, Duke.”

“As a symbol of Reibritton and Ivanstein……”

“I don’t want to create such a thing, so blue.”

The conversation went back and forth like a clash between spear and shield. It was far too serious for a discussion about a mere hair tie, and Mel sincerely hoped that Lin wasn’t eavesdropping on this conversation.

“Thank you. Actually, that’s what I wanted too.”

Genoa was the one who backed down. He held out the blue tie to Mel as if it were only natural. When she just stared at it blankly, Genoa waved the tie in front of her eyes as if telling her to take it quickly.

“Braid my hair and tie it.”

“What?”

Mel asked again as if she had misheard, but Genoa paid no attention and changed his position. He turned and sat beside her so naturally that Mel almost unconsciously reached out toward his hair.

“Did I leave it to you?”

“I don’t know how to do it.”

“You think I know how?”

“You must have had it done to you, so you’re better than me.”

“……”

Having it done wasn’t all. Mel was usually the one doing it. Although Amelia had a separate maid in charge of her hair, Mel’s skills were so good that Amelia often entrusted her hair to her. Because of this, Mel had unintentionally earned the hatred of Amelia’s hair maid.

“Did you bring a comb?”

“Is that necessary for braiding hair?”

“……Never mind.”

Mel sighed and began to stroke Genoa’s hair. She felt the soft, silk-like texture of his hair filling her palm. After a moment of indignation at his outrageous request, Mel found herself comfortably braiding his hair, enjoying the sensation.

“Hmm.”

Though somewhat disappointed that Mel had complied so readily when he expected more grumbling, Genoa quite happily enjoyed her touch.

This was an excuse he had impulsively created when the butler informed him that she had fled to the southern garden. He never actually had anything to discuss with her. He simply wanted to see her face, which would surely show her discomfort as her eyes darted around just like this.

If he said this, the princess would certainly demonstrate her talent for cursing with her eyes without uttering a word. Although he very much wanted to see that face, he decided to hold back, knowing it would only add to her burden regarding his proposal.

“Did you see this morning’s paper?”

“Not yet.”

Mel answered Genoa’s question with a slight hint of resentment. Thanks to the dagger-like proposal he had thrown at her, her confused mind had no room to check the papers.

“The nobles are now reading papers with news about the first prince on the front page.”

“The first prince?”

Since Mel’s debut in society, rumors about her and the first prince had quieted down. The first prince had intentionally shown distance from Mel, and it was publicly known that Mel had returned straight to the duke’s mansion after conversing with the second prince.

Rather than linking the princess of Reibritton with the first prince, papers now tended to focus more on the elegant princess whose dress seemed to match the Duke of Ivanstein’s, drawing admiration from the nobles. Therefore, news about the first prince on the front page was quite unexpected.

“Since you don’t seem to know, I’ll tell you as a reward for braiding my hair.”

Mel’s hands paused at Genoa’s words as she began braiding his hair. He continued with a small smile.

“The first prince visited the Ivanstein mansion early this morning, but the gates never opened, so he left. They say he left because he couldn’t wake the duke from his deep sleep. Is that really why?”

“……The first prince came to the mansion?”

“Isn’t the paper’s information remarkably fast?”

Mel narrowed her eyes and glared at the back of Genoa’s head. For this morning’s events to already be in the papers, it must have been prepared in advance. It was certainly an article Genoa had prepared beforehand, knowing the first prince would visit.

At a time when tension like the calm before a storm surrounded the question of who would be the heir to the imperial throne, being refused a meeting by the Duke of Ivanstein meant quite a lot. The Duke of Ivanstein was the emperor’s hunting dog, and as such, he did whatever the emperor wanted.

‘He must know this could be interpreted as the emperor’s hunting dog refusing to choose the first prince as the next emperor.’

Mel already knew from Genoa that he was considering the second prince as the next emperor, but the nobles of the Raon Empire wouldn’t know his intentions. This paper article would help the nobles who couldn’t figure out who the next emperor would be. Genoa, Mel, and the first prince all knew this fact.

Mel handed over Genoa’s hair, which she had finally braided and tied with the string, flipping it to the front, and asked:

“So you’re putting in all this effort before entering the palace to meet the first prince today?”

“No. I’m meeting the second prince today.”

“Not the first prince?”

“No. The second prince is looking for me, so I must go.”

“……”

Mel let out a deep sigh at Genoa’s blatant answer.

She could feel that a storm would now truly descend upon the empire. Reibritton would likely be in the middle of that storm, and she would probably be placed right at the center.

Mel sighed as she watched Genoa’s back as he gently stroked the hair she had braided for him.

“After such an article appears in the papers, I don’t know how the first prince will react when he hears that the duke entered the palace to see the second prince.”

“It will be interesting.”

“It will be a headache.”

Mel corrected Genoa’s words with a firm voice. Then he turned his body toward her.

“Does it suit me?”

“……!”

The sight of Genoa with his hair braided by her own hands and swept to one side filled her eyes. Without a comb, she had used her fingers, resulting in a slightly disheveled braid that actually softened Genoa’s usually sharp appearance.

She tried hard to convince herself that it only seemed that way because of his unusually casual attitude toward her today, attempting to calm her wildly beating heart.

“It suits you well.”

Mel prayed that Genoa wouldn’t notice the slight tremor in her voice. Fortunately, Genoa stood up without saying anything further and told her:

“The first prince will be quite troublesome, but because of that, your words at the tea party will carry more weight. Let’s endure this much for the future Ivanstein duchess.”

“You seem to have forgotten, Duke, but I haven’t accepted yet.”

In response to Mel’s rather cold answer, Genoa smiled a picture-perfect smile.

“I’ll respect your choice, Princess.”

“……”

Genoa shrugged at Mel, who kept her lips tightly sealed, then opened the carriage door and left. Left alone, Mel remained frozen, unable to say anything until Lin called for her after seeing Genoa off.

“It’s not difficult to make someone choose what I want them to choose.”

She remembered what Genoa had told her when she was a slave as a child.

“Just erase the other options.”

She felt as if she had just encountered the same smile that Genoa had shown to young Mel when he said those words.