After thoroughly examining the piece of bread in his mouth, the image of a fox with a gently swaying tail overlapped with Elena’s figure as she asked with her eyes how it tasted.

“Delicious.”

“Then this time……”

Elena moved a round plating dish. Inside the concave dish, noodles were rolled up.

“It’s pasta made by mixing bacon and cream.”

She personally lifted the noodles with a fork, placed them against a spoon, and rolled them. Then she held it to Rudfelix’s lips and even made an “ah” sound as if to feed him. Rudfelix, who ate directly from the spoon Elena offered, gradually became accustomed to the current situation. Though curious about Elena’s intentions, he didn’t mind eating while receiving her gaze.

“What’s next?”

He had regained enough composure to ask first now.

“Next is tenderloin steak.”

Elena cut the meat herself with a knife and then picked up a piece with her fork. The atmosphere suggested she intended to feed him directly this time as well.

“Are you going to keep feeding me?”

“Yes.”

Rudfelix smiled and opened his mouth. There was no cuteness like a baby bird opening its beak to be fed, but it had its own charm to watch.

The maid who peeked her head out from behind missed her chance to leave because she was so surprised.

She should have left when Aide Elena said she would push the tray herself.

The Grand Duke eating food given by his lover….

But why did she keep wanting to watch?

Thinking about spreading what she had seen, the maid observed more carefully.

By the time dessert came out, Elena sat next to the Grand Duke. She handed him a spoon directly, telling him to taste it, and rested her face on her palm. The small spoon used for scooping ice cream looked even smaller in Rudfelix’s large hand. However, his long fingers didn’t make it seem awkward.

“After you finish eating this, we’ll go work.”

Elena’s gaze followed until Rudfelix scooped the ice cream and brought it to his lips.

Her round pupils rolled without blinking, just like a squirrel.

Her gaze, which seemed to say ‘I like acorns, don’t you?’, never left the ice cream. When Rudfelix slightly parted his lips, Elena’s lips parted along with his.

‘Cute.’

Rudfelix smiled slightly and put the ice cream in Elena’s mouth.

“Hmm?”

Elena was slightly surprised by the cold yet sweet taste of the ice cream in her mouth. She started to speak but closed her mouth again, the ice cream still lingering on her tongue. Her lips moved as if she were trying to melt it. After a moment, she swallowed with a gulp and finally said what she had meant to earlier.

“This is your dessert, why are you putting it in my mouth?”

“You looked like you wanted to eat it.”

“No. I just wanted to watch you eat.”

“Is it delicious?”

Rudfelix asked a different question in response to Elena’s protest.

“Yes.”

“Do you like ice cream?”

Originally, Rudfelix’s meal dessert was mostly tea that refreshed the mouth. Even that was often skipped as Rudfelix rarely waited until the end of the course.

Elena nodded with a shy smile. Of course, her preferences had been incorporated into this menu. She wanted to ask “How did you know?” but it seemed awkward to ask such a thing to someone staring at her intently, so she just decided to enjoy it.

Rudfelix, delighted by Elena’s enjoyment, scooped more ice cream and fed it to her. Elena opened her mouth wide to receive it, and Rudfelix laughed with his shoulders shaking.

‘This isn’t what I intended.’

She wanted him to discover the joy of eating and incidentally ask what dishes or ingredients he hated. With that intention, she had actively gone to the kitchen from early morning, but the situation changed when the ice cream came out.

Elena smiled with a completely deflated feeling. And she tasted the sweet affection that Rudfelix diligently scooped for her.

‘What does it matter if I don’t know now? I can find out slowly.’

There’s plenty of time anyway, so she can discover it while dining with him every day.

“How was breakfast?”

“It was so good I wish it could be like this every day.”

“Should I feed you every day?”

Rudfelix then held the spoon upright and shook it left and right.

“I enjoyed this time of conversing together and eating delicious food.”

“I taught you the joy of eating, right?”

“That’s right.”

After readily acknowledging it, Rudfelix turned his eyes to the wall clock.

There was still time left after starting work.

Having devoted more time to the meal than expected, all of today’s work had been pushed back significantly from the plan.

“Alix.”

Elena cupped Rudfelix’s face with both hands to make him look at her.

“Did you really enjoy it?”

“From now on, I’ll have to extend mealtime to this length.”

That was exactly why Rudfelix had looked at the wall clock. He wanted to make sure to keep mealtimes even if all future work would be delayed.

***

Quiet’s lips protruded.

“Since when did you spend so much time eating?”

Afraid of arriving later than his superior, he had hastily eaten his meal and came without even drinking water properly.

As soon as he entered the office, he took a breather and moistened his throat, but his superior entered only an hour later.

“I didn’t come late.”

Rudfelix tapped his wristwatch in front of Quiet’s eyes.

“You arrived exactly at working hours.”

“Are you dissatisfied?”

Rudfelix crossed his arms and looked down at Quiet.

“I’m just saying you usually worked earlier. If that’s the case, you should have told me! I rushed my meal so much without knowing, and my stomach still feels completely blocked.”

Quiet protested with an aggrieved feeling. Though he worked as Rudfelix’s aide out of loyalty, he was also a nobleman of noble birth.

“I understand, so stop now.”

It seems not establishing a strict hierarchical relationship was a mistake. Rudfelix looked at Quiet with a face that suggested he wanted to personally close those chattering lips. Meanwhile, Elena, who had changed into her uniform, noticed the situation and hit her forehead.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you in advance.”

Elena approached Quiet’s side and whispered.

“It’s because of you, right?”

When Quiet asked why they had eaten so late, Elena nodded.

“It can’t be helped. Everything the ‘Heavenly Merchant’ wants to do has a reason.”

He had complained to Rudfelix but melted away at Elena’s single word. Rudfelix narrowed his eyes, displeased with Quiet’s contradictory attitude.

“Heavenly Merchant?”

Rudfelix asked as he was just sitting down.

“It means genius merchant.”

Quiet kindly explained what ‘Heavenly Merchant’ meant. Elena frantically waved her hands in embarrassment.

“That’s something Wei made up.”

Though she claimed it wasn’t a term representing her, Rudfelix was mulling over Quiet’s explanation.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

She tried to protest that it absolutely wasn’t true, but Rudfelix had already told Quiet to begin reporting today’s schedule. By pretending not to hear Elena’s words, he showed his determination to remember ‘Heavenly Merchant.’

“It’s really not……”

Quiet asked in passing.

“Since I’m curious about this Heavenly Merchant thing, have you ever thought about what might be needed while looking around the Grand Duchy?”

Elena looked at Quiet with round eyes. If he was asking what the Grand Duchy needed.

“How would I know?”

“No, I mean with a merchant’s intuition.”

“You would know better than me, senior. I haven’t been here long. And I can’t possibly know that just by looking at documents all day. I’m not that competent.”

“Ah, no.”

Quiet, who had asked the question, became more flustered. He had expected another impressive answer since she always showed unexpected abilities. But when she cleanly cut him off saying she didn’t know, he had nothing to say.

“You’ll soon know better than anyone.”

Rudfelix gently covered the back of Elena’s hand. Why was his lover so good at speaking decisively with every word…

“I did well to love you, Elena.”

“I’m happy to receive your love too.”

“Shall we have lunch?”

“It hasn’t even been thirty minutes since we had breakfast.”

Quiet tightly closed his eyes as they exchanged sweet words of love. ‘She is his lover before being the Grand Duke’s aide,’ he mouthed the mantra to himself.

“I’ll begin. First, the most important thing is the movement in the imperial palace. Viscount Tozille has called a meeting on behalf of the Crown Prince.”

Quiet, who was explaining the situation in detail about what agenda had been discussed, raised his voice at the most important part.

“Someone will come to ask for Your Highness’s opinion. Probably Viscount Tozille himself. He will immediately snatch up even the slightest agreement if you say anything resembling approval for His Highness the Crown Prince ascending to the throne.”

Rudfelix frowned as he looked down at the paper. The Crown Prince becoming Emperor?

That would be the natural course, but he felt no inclination toward it at all.

“Can we stall for time?”

“We might be able to do it subtly, but we can’t openly avoid it, so I’ll look into other methods.”

“How annoying.”

Rudfelix’s eyebrows came together. Just the thought of him coming to bother him naturally evoked resistance.

“Ah?”

Elena involuntarily made a sound as a thought suddenly occurred to her.

“I’ve thought of a way to do it subtly.”

Rudfelix looked at Elena with eyes expecting what method she would come up with. Meanwhile, Quiet grumbled as he opened his notebook.

“How can you immediately think of something when you just said you don’t know because you haven’t lived in the Grand Duchy long?”