Perhaps he had a duty as commander to pull his vice commander out of the world of fantasy. Additionally…

‘If I can’t see her fantasies anymore, I won’t have to face embarrassment in front of the knights.’

Allen enumerated excuses for his decision. He firmly believed this wasn’t simply because he wanted to sleep with Lea again. He was in the middle of whispering these justifications to himself.

Knock knock.

The sound of someone knocking on the door startled Allen, who quickly covered Lea with the blanket.

A few minutes before Allen and Lea woke up…

The mansion employees were eyeing each other nervously in front of the firmly closed door.

The chef, who arrived at dawn, had reported hearing moaning sounds from the Grand Duke’s room. Butler William sank into deep thought. His master, who had shown no interest in the opposite s*x like a monk, focusing solely on his sword, had brought a woman to the mansion for the first time.

‘Should I be happy about this or not?’

Of course, if the Grand Duke were dating someone, it would be cause for celebration. One of the butler’s wishes was for his handsome and capable master to have a sweet romance, get married, and have beautiful children.

But the fact that he suddenly brought a woman and spent the night with her in one room troubled him.

The Grand Duke had never wanted anyone but his own people in his room. William couldn’t understand what had gotten into him.

He worried that perhaps the Grand Duke had been influenced by the Northern culture.

So William couldn’t bring himself to knock on the door and kept pacing in front of it. The other employees seemed to feel the same, hovering nearby restlessly.

“It’s almost time for work… what should we do.”

“The breakfast we prepared is getting cold.”

The chef also sighed. He had diligently prepared the abundant eels in the mansion, but the door remained closed even as the sun climbed high in the sky.

“What is everyone doing here?”

The Emperor approached and addressed them.

“Hasn’t the Grand Duke woken up yet?”

The employees all bowed at once.

“……Yes, that’s correct.”

“Then why are you all standing here without waking your master?”

“W-well……”

The employees hesitated at Edner’s question, none daring to speak. Even before the Emperor, they couldn’t freely discuss their master’s private life. Edner stroked his chin, looking alternately at the firmly closed door and the employees’ troubled expressions. The situation seemed highly suspicious.

“Did the Grand Duke order you not to enter?”

“N-no, he didn’t.”

“Then why are you just lingering here?”

“W-we were just about to knock on the door.”

“Oh? So you can knock on doors without moving your hands?”

“Ugh. That’s not what I meant.”

William wiped his sweat-soaked hands on his pants. Dealing with the Emperor was no easy task. He couldn’t keep denying, but he also couldn’t make up any excuse for fear of being dragged to prison for lying to the Emperor. Then Edner nodded toward the bedroom and said,

“It seems there’s something in there that makes you all hesitant.”

“Th-there couldn’t be.”

“What could it be?”

Edner was persistent. He stared at the employees, pressuring them with his gaze and refusing to let the matter drop. William wondered if perhaps the Emperor already knew the truth.

“What are you hiding that’s in the bedroom?”

“……”

“Is it an object or… a person?”

William visibly flinched at his probing question. Edner clapped his hands with exaggerated gestures as if he finally understood.

“It’s a person, a person! Like Grand Duke, like butler. With such an honest reaction, how could I not know?”

William inwardly apologized to the Grand Duke. He felt guilty for failing to protect his master’s private life as a butler. Edner waved his hand dismissively at him.

“You may withdraw now. I’ll take care of the Grand Duke.”

“Yes, understood……”

The employees hesitated before following William away. With their secret already exposed, there was nothing more to explain.

Edner stood alone in front of the door. If it was a person, it probably wasn’t a man. If it had been a man, the employees wouldn’t have been so flustered. So it must be a woman, and the only woman Allen met was the vice commander.

He couldn’t help but laugh. He had jokingly told Allen to have some passionate reconciliation time with the vice commander, but he never expected them to actually sleep together. He wondered what had gotten into that blockhead. He only intended to tease his brother. Seeing Allen tormented by his body’s reaction to pheromones in front of his lover, he planned to tease him thoroughly.

‘The effect of pheromones must have been that strong.’

So Allen was also a man who couldn’t resist his desires.

Imagining Allen inside that room, embarrassed while reminiscing about the night’s activities, made him want to chuckle. He suppressed his laughter and placed his hand on the door.

* * *

And now…

“Why don’t you stop tormenting the vice commander and come out?”

“What are you talking about.”

Allen sighed at the voice coming through the door. He had to arrive during such an important conversation. Allen pressed his finger to his lips, signaling Lea to be quiet, then straightened his clothes.

“Getting hot and heavy in the morning is nice, but…”

“Don’t say such strange things!”

“I heard all the groaning yesterday. No use denying it.”

「Actually, I didn’t hear anything. But from what the employees know, it’s obvious.」

Allen broke into a sweat. He wondered how to explain this situation. He had tried to hide Lea, but the employees already knew. Embarrassment washed over him. Edner continued without sparing Allen’s dignity.

“The employees are in an uproar. They prepared breakfast and don’t know what to do because the Grand Duke is in his bedroom with a woman for the first time.”

“Commander, have you never brought a woman into your room before?”

Lea, who had been quietly listening to their conversation, peeked her eyes out from under the blanket and spoke.

Allen looked back and forth between Lea and the door, covering his face with his hands. Last night, he had brought Lea when the mansion employees were gone and had been speaking in low voices until just now. He wondered if the room’s soundproofing was worse than the Colosseum’s, and his face turned red at the thought of even the employees overhearing them.

Lea stared at Allen’s face and adopted a serious expression.

“Were you perhaps a virgin?”

“……Does that matter?”

“It matters. That means two first-timers did it from behind, doesn’t it?”

“From behind?”

It was a term he had never heard before.

“What’s that?”

“Doing it from behind.”

“From behind……”

Allen recalled pressing his body against Lea’s back at the training ground. Since he had lost his senses then, thinking back to that position, it certainly wasn’t conventional. Though having never done it before, he didn’t know what constituted a normal or unusual position.

Recalling the mating rabbits he had accidentally seen as a child… he had taken a position no different from animals.

He suddenly clutched his head.

“Please forget about that.”

“How can I forget that?”

It ranked second in Lea’s life’s painful experiences. Though her mind was clear now and difficult to recall anything, for the usual Lea, it remained so vividly in her bodily memory that she could recreate it in her mind.

“I’m sorry.”

Allen bowed his head deeply in self-loathing, looking ready to bang his head on the bed. Before Lea could tell him it was okay, Edner tactlessly knocked on the door several more times.

“If you don’t come out, I’ll break down the door.”

“Commander, you must be close with His Majesty.”

“Don’t say that even as a joke.”

Allen grimaced. The thought of being friends with Edner, who was desperate to tease his brother every day, made his skin crawl.

Lea watched with fascination as His Majesty the Emperor and the Commander exchanged casual conversation. They must naturally be comfortable with each other as brothers.

“So the Commander is also part of the imperial family.”

“What else would I be?”

“You, Commander.”

The fact that Allen was a prince finally sank in. Allen shook his head at Lea’s incomprehensible words, then suddenly had a thought and lifted her body with both arms.

“Wh-what, Commander?”

Lea’s presence here was already exposed. However, he had no intention of revealing what kind of time they had spent in this room. Groaning sounds could also come from training. Just because erotic moaning was heard didn’t necessarily mean they had mated.

Allen moved Lea to the table near the bed, trying to minimize his footsteps. He thought they should pretend they had been having a very important discussion all night.

Not understanding his reason, Lea blinked her innocent eyes and boldly said,

“His Majesty is right across from us. Are we doing it right now?”

“What are you saying!”

Allen screamed internally in shock. He almost shouted out loud. Avoiding Lea’s gaze, he shyly whispered,

“That’s not it… never mind. Vice Commander, just nod your head.”

He considered explaining but decided against it. Lea would probably ask ‘why bother hiding it?’ He couldn’t answer that he was embarrassed, and he had no other reason to give.

Allen instructed Lea to just answer ‘yes’ to whatever he said, then seated her in the chair. Feeling like a child, Lea quietly waited while Allen properly dressed her. After finally fixing her disheveled hair, he composed his expression and nonchalantly went to open the door.