Chapter 41

I sat across from Crown Prince Diestran in the Dibs trading house reception room.

Learning my true identity, he looked thoroughly bewildered.

“To think that you were the Dibs trading house master……”

I was just as surprised. And my feelings were complicated.

‘Of all people, why did it have to be him.’

Having a member of the royal family, a crown prince no less, as an investor was an unparalleled opportunity for our Dibs trading house.

But the image of him being dismissive toward Hid at the party wouldn’t leave my mind.

Even so, the answer was already decided.

I was the CEO of the Dibs trading house. I couldn’t let my personal feelings cause harm to our staff.

And Hid would hardly be pleased if I told him I had turned down the crown prince’s offer because of what happened.

I set my emotions aside as much as possible and received him. But Crown Prince Diestran didn’t look well today.

His face was flushed red as he looked at me, and it was fairly obvious that……

“Your Highness, forgive my impertinence, but are you perhaps feeling unwell?”

Crown Prince Diestran immediately broke into a cough. Ah, so I was right.

‘Coming all the way to our trading house while feeling this ill. DibsTalk must have made quite an impression.’

That made my feelings even more complicated. Liking our product this much, it was hard to dislike him entirely. A strange, ambivalent sort of feeling.

Meanwhile, Crown Prince Diestran flatly denied what I had just said.

“As you can see, I am perfectly fine.”

“I am glad to hear it.”

That was the only answer he could give. A member of the royal family couldn’t freely disclose their health to outsiders. I quietly called Miel over and made a small request.

“Bring something warm for a cold.”

“Understood, Master.”

A knock came a little while later. But the one carrying the tray was not Miel.

“R, refreshments have been pr, prepared.”

It was Asid.

Why had our boy come instead? He must have been swamped fixing the DibsTalk errors. Something urgent must have come up for Miel.

But given the circumstances, this was actually convenient. It was a good chance to make an impression on the crown prince on Asid’s behalf.

I introduced Asid naturally.

“This is Asid, our trading house’s magitech engineer.”

“I, it is an honor to meet Your H, Highness……”

Diestran looked up in surprise.

“Then you are the one who developed DibsTalk?”

“Th, that is correct.”

“Remarkable. I never imagined someone so young could have created such an extraordinary invention. You have quite the talent here.”

“Thank you, Your Highness.”

I glanced over at Asid. This was the first time he had been praised by someone other than me.

But Asid, as always, had his head bowed low.

Oh, our sweet boy. He must be embarrassed. Once the crown prince leaves, I’ll give him another round of praise myself.

Then Diestran said something odd to Asid.

“By the way, have we met before? You look strangely familiar.”

I was taken aback. That couldn’t be right. Our boy kept his face hidden from the world.

Asid’s response confirmed he had no idea either.

“I, I beg your pardon, but I believe this is the f, first time I have met Your Highness.”

“……I see. Very well.”

Asid gave a respectful bow and left the reception room.

Now it was finally time to talk business about DibsTalk. Diestran opened with a serious expression.

“In truth, I have had my eye on the Dibs magitech device since it first appeared. However, I found it rather unsatisfying that such fine technology was being limited solely to courtship between men and women.”

Hmm, was this a compliment or a criticism. I kept my smile in place and listened to the rest.

“But DibsTalk was developed faster than I expected. I have long wanted to meet the Dibs trading house master with such sharp market instincts and capable hands.”

Oh, hearing it through to the end, it was a compliment after all. The crown prince had a rather unpleasant way of speaking, but he didn’t seem like a bad person.

And when he named the investment figure, I was genuinely stunned.

‘How many zeros is that?’

Of course, I didn’t let it show. But the surprises didn’t end there.

The crown prince said he wanted to use DibsTalk as the official communication tool for his knight order.

Which meant.

‘Our Dibs trading house would be working with the royal family?!’

Keeping the corners of my mouth from shooting upward took every ounce of effort I had.

I take it back. Crown Prince Diestran was a wonderful person. The saying that you had to know someone before judging them was absolutely right.

“There is, however, one thing that concerns me about you.”

“Please speak freely, Your Highness.”

“You are good at your work, yet your taste in men leaves something to be desired.”

……I take it back again. This man had a terrifying mouth.

❀❀❀

Diestran lectured me at length before finally leaving.

“Men can read other men. The Crown Prince of Shtandes has dangerous eyes.”

“……Ha ha. I appreciate your concern, but he is a very warm person to me.”

“I’ve seen that look in more than a few men in my knight order. They always end up fixating on their woman like madmen.”

“A man mad with love. How romantic.”

“Could it be that his face has clouded your judgment? You can’t live on a man’s looks alone. That’s how things go wrong.”

What reason did this crown prince have to meddle in someone else’s love life. The thought of refusing his investment rose all the way to the tip of my tongue, but I swallowed it back.

Instead I wanted to end the conversation quickly. So I made a deliberate fuss.

“My, then I should be most wary of Your Highness. Is there anyone more strikingly handsome than yourself?”

“Wh, what……!”

Crown Prince Diestran’s face went scarlet in an instant. He cleared his throat repeatedly.

“Ahem, ahem! Regardless, I have given my warning. Don’t come to regret it later.”

“I shall be forever grateful for Your Highness’s concern for one as lacking as myself.”

Of course, whatever he said went in one ear and out the other. Honestly, I had no idea what had gotten into him.

Regardless, after Diestran left, I gathered my staff and shared the news.

He had agreed to invest a substantial sum in DibsTalk, and our product had even been selected as the official communication magitech device for the royal knight order.

Everyone was overjoyed, as expected. Good thing I held my temper back earlier. Well done, me.

After that, I quietly pulled Asid aside. I wanted to celebrate the praise he had received from the crown prince together.

“See, didn’t I tell you? Someday the world would recognize your abilities.”

“It, it’s all th, thanks to you, Miss.”

But Asid’s reaction was strangely flat.

“Hmm, Asid. Aren’t you happy?”

“Th, that’s not it……”

Only then did Asid scratch his head with an embarrassed expression.

“I, I just like being pr, praised by you more than by anyone else……”

Goodness, even the way our boy speaks is adorable! I nearly clutched my chest and collapsed on the spot.

Ugh, if I could just ruffle Asid’s hair one more time, I’d have no other wishes. I was going through withdrawal.

But I held back and settled for patting him on the shoulder a couple of times. With the words that he just needed to keep doing what he was doing.

“B, but. M, Miss……”

“Yes, what is it?”

“I, I’ve been wondering lately why you st, stopped patting my head……”

“!”

Asid’s face turned bright red as he dropped his gaze to the floor. Aaah, aaaaaah. Too adorable! Asking me to hold back any further was t*rture!

But I barely managed to keep my composure. And I said.

“Asid, you said it yourself, didn’t you? That you were a man too.”

“I, I did……”

“I’ve thought about it a lot since that day. I realized I had been treating you too much like a younger sibling.”

“Oh, ah.”

“So from now on, I won’t be patting your head anymore. But I’ll find other ways to show my appreciation!”

I added with wide eyes. More bonuses, or whatever counted as adult-appropriate praise.

But then Asid did something he had never done before.

“Th, then. Could you m, maybe do it just one last time……?”

“……!”

“In ex, exchange, I’ll act more like an adult from now on. All right?”

And with that, Asid tilted his head and swayed it gently in front of me. Please, Miss.

For a moment, a strange sense of familiarity washed over me. I felt certain I had been in a similar situation before.

‘No, our boy has never done anything like this.’

He must have been that hurt by it. In the end, I reached out and placed my hand on Asid’s head.

Partly because he wanted it this much and I couldn’t refuse. And more than anything……

‘……Aah, my heart feels so at peace.’

I always felt this way, but it wasn’t so much that I was praising Asid as that I was the one being healed.