【Name: Dain Diart

Gender: Male

Age: 22

Height: 185cm

Occupation: Knight / Heir to the Duke of Diart

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※Special Note: Extremely fond of swords (spends most of his day in the training grounds)】

“Oh, he likes swords.”

Should I try to approach him with this?

There’s no better way to get closer than by forming a common interest.

Although I don’t know much about swords, I was more than willing to learn about them for Dain’s sake.

‘Yes, right now.’

I asked a maid to get me training clothes and headed straight for the training grounds, which were said to be east of the annex.

Wait for me, Dain Diart.

I’m coming.

* * *

Meanwhile, at the same time.

Dain, who was training in the training grounds as usual, headed to the main building after being called by his father.

“You called for me, Father?”

“Yes, Dain. I have something important to tell you.”

“What is it?”

Benjamin, who had been reading documents, closed them and looked up at his son.

“It’s about your cousin.”

“Oh, that, Sa, Sa…… Sara?”

Dain, who could never remember things he wasn’t interested in, tilted his head.

Benjamin nodded vaguely and continued with what he had to say.

“I’m quite worried. The Sharofe count family has had financial issues for a long time. That child probably has a lot of unfulfilled desires in that aspect.”

Since Shailyn entered the Duke’s residence, she had been quiet, but he couldn’t let his guard down.

Problems tend to arise when you’re not paying attention.

“So keep a close watch, Dain. Make sure she doesn’t do anything foolish.”

It would be much better to entrust this role to his good-natured son rather than his constantly rebellious daughter.

“Got it, Father. Don’t worry, leave it to me.”

Dain accepted his father’s request with a reassuring smile.

Honestly, he had no interest in a cousin whose name he didn’t even know, but it would be troublesome if she caused any issues that affected the family.

‘I guess I should get closer to her.’

That way, he could keep an eye on this person of interest.

* * *

This is probably the east side of the annex, and I am lost.

I boldly set out alone to find the training grounds, but I didn’t realize the Duke’s residence would be this vast.

Is this a house or a maze?

I barely made it to the annex, but heading straight east, I ended up trapped in a garden close to a forest.

I should have asked one of the staff for directions.

I got carried away wanting to meet Dain one-on-one and ended up in trouble.

‘Should I try calling out his name?’

I was seriously considering it because I couldn’t find a way out of this forest-like garden.

Tap, tap.

I heard a faint sound of something hitting regularly.

What is it, a gardener?

If so, maybe I could find a way out of here and get to the training grounds.

With renewed hope, I walked briskly toward the direction of the sound.

Then, I saw a man swinging a sword among the dense trees.

His presence was so extraordinary that I instinctively hid behind a tree and observed him closely.

Who is that? Who’s doing such things here?

The face beneath the red hair was both chiseled and sharp like a statue.

Even the wrinkles formed on his frowning brow seemed intricately drawn.

His eyes, focused straight ahead, shone as if they were made of pure gold.

To summarize all of this in one line, ‘He’s incredibly handsome.’

I found myself admiring him without realizing it, and the sunlight filtering through the leaves made his red hair shine like gold.

‘Wait a minute…… isn’t that blond hair?’

At first, I thought it was just bright and light red hair, but it wasn’t.

It was blonde with a hint of red.

Just as I was wide-eyed at the sight of a genuine blond beauty, unlike any fake ones…

Whoosh―!

The man suddenly threw a wooden sword in my direction.

Startled, I shrieked and stepped back.

When I opened my eyes after closing them tightly, the man was already standing in front of me.

“Who are you?”

“Ah, I am…….”

The man exuded a menacing aura as if he had discovered an assassin, making it hard for me to speak.

Swallowing dryly and calming my trembling breath, I spoke.

“I am Shailyn Sharofe.”

“Why is someone from another family in the Duke of Diart’s residence?”

The man asked sharply, furrowing one eye as if displeased.

“I’m here because I have a reason to be. Who are you to be here?”

Though he was a handsome blond, I didn’t like how he was pushing me around, so I retorted sharply.

“Ha, are you seriously asking?”

The man swept his reddish-gold hair back and looked down at me with an incredulous expression.

What, are you some famous statue that escaped from a museum?

His golden eyes glared at me disapprovingly.

So I glared back with equal intensity.

My eyes were almost wide open, with a ratio of twenty to eighty between the pupils and whites.

As I engaged in a fierce staring contest with the man.

“Ah, Linus. You were here……. Oh? You were here too?”

Dain suddenly appeared, parting the bushes.

I couldn’t have been more relieved to see his friendly, smiling face.

“Dain!”

“What are you two doing here?”

“Ah, it’s just…….”

I was about to explain what the man had done to me.

But the man was quicker.

“This woman was unpleasantly hiding behind a tree, spying on me.”

……Well, that is true, but saying it like that makes me sound like a creepy stalker, doesn’t it?

We just met today, right?

Momentarily flustered, Dain spoke to me, looking troubled.

“You shouldn’t do that to my friend. Linus especially hates that kind of behavior.”

“It’s a misunderstanding! Actually, I was on my way to meet you at the training grounds. But I got lost and wandered around, then saw him by chance and thought I’d ask for directions.”

Raising both hands, I actively explained, and Dain’s expression turned puzzled.

“Why me?”

“Because I’m interested in swords and wanted to learn from you, Dain…….”

“Ha.”

Before I could finish, the man’s blatant ridicule interrupted.

“Hey, Dain. Who is this woman who’s been scheming since earlier? Why is she in the Duke’s residence?”

The man arrogantly jerked his chin. I snapped back, irritated.

“What do you mean, scheming? Excuse me, aren’t you being too harsh?”

“Why? Are you flustered because I hit the mark? Do you think I’ve only met a few people who are as transparent as you?”

“Whether you’ve met a few or a hundred, what does that have to do with me? I wasn’t scheming against you!”

“Ha! Who’s lying about pretending not to recognize me?”

The man scowled irritably and looked down at me with a domineering gaze.

No matter how handsome a blond he was, I couldn’t tolerate such a personality.

“Hey, both of you, calm down.”

Dain stepped between us as we resumed our staring contest.

He placed a hand on the man’s shoulder.

“Linus, you asked who she is, right? She’s my cousin.”

“Cousin? You have a cousin?”

“Yes, she’s the daughter of my late aunt.”

The man’s lips twitched. He looked me up and down and muttered, “So that’s why her hair color is the same.”

Hmph, you just realized?

This time, Dain placed a hand on my shoulder and spoke.

“And this is my friend, Crown Prince Linus.”

……What? Crown what?

The shock hit me like discovering that the lazy new employee was actually the boss’s son.

In this world, isn’t the Crown Prince even more powerful than the boss’s son……?

And in romance fantasy, the Crown Prince is always a top male lead candidate…….

‘Oh, I’m screwed.’

Seeing me turn pale in an instant, Dain laughed and patted my shoulder.

“If you don’t know, you can make mistakes. You’ve been living in the countryside and just came up recently.”

“……I apologize, Your Highness. Shailyn Sharofe greets the Crown Prince.”

I belatedly showed my manners and bowed my head, but the Crown Prince, with both hands in his pants pockets, didn’t move an inch.

Damn, if he’s the male lead, I might never meet my 5 billion lottery…….

I swallowed tears inside, but fortunately, Dain attempted to mediate once more.

“Linus, let it go this time for my sake. She didn’t know you were the Crown Prince, and she says it was a misunderstanding.”

The Crown Prince silently stared at me and then tilted his head slightly.

I couldn’t tell if he was letting it go or not.

But since he didn’t say anything, it seemed he was letting it go. Relieved, Dain spoke to me.

“But you were interested in swords too?”

“What? Oh, yes.”

“Since when? Did you learn swordsmanship? Is being a knight your dream? Do you read Knight of the Month magazine? Who’s your most respected knight? Mine is Sir Orland Belsk, do you know him? I even have a sword he used during his lifetime in my room! I bought it at an auction last year. Want to see it?”

Please, take a breath when you talk…….

Dain’s pink eyes shone more vibrantly than ever.

It was similar to when I casually mentioned to a colleague that I liked a certain idol’s song, and then got an A to Z explanation about that idol.

“Uh……. I’ve been interested for a little while, I guess?”

“Really? How long?”

“Well, about two or three years……? But I’m not very good with swords.”

As I was trying hard to make things up.

“This is ridiculous.”

The Crown Prince sneered and intruded on the friendly conversation between cousins.