Elena raised her chin and met his gaze head-on.

His deflated laugh shook his hair, as if he found it amusing that they had created a situation where they were just staring at each other.

“Just looking at each other like this is fine too.”

“It’s not fine for me at all.”

Elena shook her head first, finding it awkward to just stare at each other when they weren’t even lovers.

“If you want to look into someone’s eyes freely, you should have a conversation.”

Elena propped her chin on both hands and stared intently at Rudfelix’s face.

His red hair gently floated in the air with the wind before settling down, like hundreds of pieces of the red sunset just before the sun goes down.

His white face contrasted with his red hair, and though his facial lines were narrow and soft, he didn’t look weak at all. Rather, an elegant and noble atmosphere was strongly evident.

As she actually looked at his beautiful face, she kept appreciating it. She had no idea what to say and felt at a loss.

‘Don’t forget you’re going with him in your capacity as an aide.’

Elena, who had been repeating this mantra to herself, forcibly brought up a topic using her position as aide.

“For instance, besides Senior Quiet, you haven’t had any other aides who met your standards, have you?”

At that moment, the strength left his hand that had been pressing down on the papers, scratching them.

He still maintained his expressionless face as he removed his hand from the papers, but Elena’s sharp eyes didn’t miss seeing it all.

‘What? Why is he acting like someone who’s flustered?’

It was a casual question since Quiet was the only remaining aide, but it received an unexpected response.

It was a very small sound of paper being scratched, but it was all the more surprising coming from him.

Seeing that he had become even more subdued than before, it seemed the question she had just asked hadn’t so much flustered him as made him uncomfortable.

If he found it an uncomfortable question, she should change the subject somehow, but nothing came to mind.

‘I brought up the aide topic to cover up, but…’

“There was Aide Sekyan.”

Elena listened carefully to the unfamiliar name.

“He did his job quite well.”

When Rudfelix said with his own mouth that someone did their job well, she understood without needing to ask more.

‘An aide’s ability comes from their superior’s recognition and trust.’

The superior knows best whether an aide does their job well. There was no doubt about Aide Sekyan’s work skills.

‘But why did he quit?’

She became curious about what circumstances led him to quit.

“And then?”

Elena prompted him as the silence stretched while looking at him.

“Is that all?”

“I think I answered the question you asked.”

Since the conversation had ended awkwardly, Elena lightly bit her dry lips.

It wasn’t a question she’d asked out of curiosity, but it ended making her curious.

‘If he’s not going to say more, there’s no need to press the issue.’

They weren’t close enough to dig deeper. There was no reason for her to ask about all the circumstances of his previous aide who quit, nor was there any reason for him to answer everything.

The air grew even more awkward, and as her lips dried out, Elena looked for the water bottle she had placed nearby.

As she reached for the travel water bottle, the object floated in the air.

Not by magic, but by a person’s hand.

With him constantly taking care of her, she felt strangely like she was being served, even though she was supposed to serve the Grand Duke as her superior.

“I can do it myself.”

“I’m giving it to you because I can give it to you.”

Since he didn’t yield an inch, Elena obediently took the water bottle.

‘He’s changed.’

Elena hid her dejected face behind the water bottle.

As an aide, there are limits to what she could ask. Yet she was receiving more than that, creating a strange relationship.

‘That’s why it’s uncomfortable.’

It was uncomfortable, but also not uncomfortable.

She was just completely focused on how their relationship had changed from before.

“Your Highness is being so nice that I don’t know what to do.”

“And so?”

Rudfelix took Elena’s water bottle, preventing her from hiding her face.

“Do you dislike nice men?”

“Calling yourself a nice man just because you do everything for me? Those are clearly separate things, so don’t slip that in subtly.”

Elena fanned her face in disbelief.

How dare he slip that in.

A nice man! Since when did a man like Rudfelix get described as nice?

“Or should I hide my feelings, pretend otherwise, torment my aide, and trip you up on a perfectly fine path? That would be fine too. I could catch your falling body and demand thanks……”

“Your Highness.”

She covered his mouth with both hands as he muttered that it wouldn’t be bad.

His eyes curved above her hands, making Elena feel her cheeks burning.

* * *

The Inn Where Wind Stays. True to its name, the sign swayed back and forth in the wind.

Sir Brahms, who was commanding from the front of the Imperial Knight Order, raised his hand and made a fist, and the carriages slowed down in response to his signal.

The man with a sturdy appearance, whose dark eyebrows matched his thick brown curly hair, looked around with a sharp gaze. As he firmly closed his lips, the muscles of his angular jaw twitched.

The emperor had ordered the Imperial Knight Order to escort the journey to the Grand Duchy as a way to honor Rudfelix’s achievements.

That mission was assigned to a temporary unit with Sir Brahms in charge. After dismounting and looking around, once he was convinced there were no dangerous elements, he knocked on the carriage door.

“We’ll rest here before continuing.”

As the carriage door opened, Sir Brahms stepped aside and raised his head, then pulled back his chin slightly in surprise.

“Your Highness.”

Aide Elena’s voice came from inside the carriage.

After Rudfelix got out, Elena followed, but she seemed displeased about something.

“I should have gotten out first.”

She looked quite dissatisfied, as if he had prevented her from doing so. Sir Brahms had also expected Aide Elena to get out first.

“Why?”

Rudfelix turned around and extended his hand. It was Sir Brahms’s oversight not to have prepared a footstool for the somewhat tall carriage.

It was beyond his capacity as a knight to take care of duties that should have been prepared by maids or servants.

As Sir Brahms was about to open his mouth to say it was his mistake, Elena took Rudfelix’s hand. At that moment, he closed his mouth again.

“Because as an aide, I should do my best for Your Highness’s affairs and respond to dangers.”

Even without that, aides usually got out first and superiors followed at a leisurely pace, so she questioned the reversed order.

Elena thanked him as she slightly jumped out of the carriage with his support.

“Next time, I’ll get out first.”

“Sir Brahms will take care of any dangers, so there’s no reason for the aide to get out first.”

Sir Brahms’s large double-lidded eyes moved busily between Rudfelix and Elena.

Neither of them mentioned the absence of a footstool.

“But this isn’t right.”

“What isn’t right?”

“This is like……”

“Like what?”

When Elena couldn’t continue, Rudfelix urged her on.

It’s like escorting a noble lady.

Suppressing what she wanted to say, Elena just moved her lips without saying anything.

Since they were just standing in front of the carriage when they should be entering the inn, everything else was naturally being delayed.

The end of the argument came when Grand Duke Rudfelix raised his hand.

As his hand stretched toward Elena’s shoulder, Sir Brahms’s eyes widened like saucers. He thought Rudfelix would cup her face and say, “You’re my woman.”

The knights who had gotten out one by one were approaching, wondering what was happening in this sudden situation.

“Just go inside.”

Rudfelix’s hand pressed on Elena’s shoulder and forcefully turned her body around.

He pushed her back, causing Elena to say “Huh?” as she was shoved forward.

Sir Brahms, who had trained his senses differently from others by taking on various missions, sensed that the relationship between the two was not simply that of a superior and subordinate.

Even Aide Quiet had been intimidated when his superior frowned. But this new female aide showed no such signs.

“Those two……”

No one heard Sir Brahms’s small mutter to himself.

While he was lost in thought with his chin propped up, a familiar voice called out to him.

“The squad leader can handle the rest, right?”

The four knights assigned to this mission approached, swaggering. One of them tapped Brahms’s shoulder and nodded toward the carriage.

His name was Philai, the son of a count family that had produced Imperial Knight Order commanders for generations. Known for his excellent skills, he had been full of complaints since being assigned to this mission.