It was as if he was confessing that he had relayed that story.

Giselle laughed softly at this and was about to wave her hand to the butler to indicate it was fine when something happened.

Eddie, who was in Lucas’s arms, was reaching out to catch a butterfly flying nearby when he noticed something and opened his eyes wide.

“Oh? Look, look over there!”

In the direction the child pointed, a large chair had been placed. In front of it was a red carpet, and behind the chair, a large banner hung from a tree.

“Wow, it looks like the palace from the picture book.”

Eddie’s eyes sparkled. The palace he had seen in books was right before his eyes.

The palace where the princess lived.

Where the knight who went to save the princess received a magnificent sword from the king…….

“……A-ahem.”

As Eddie was recalling the fairy tale, an awkward cough was heard from somewhere.

“……Mom?”

There, in that palace, on the large chair, sat Giselle, clearing her throat with an embarrassed expression. The child could clearly see that not only her face but also her neck had turned red.

“Mom’s face turned into a strawberry!”

Eddie clapped his hands and laughed merrily, finding Giselle’s transformation amusing. Not just the child, but others had similar reactions.

‘Everyone’s laughing because it’s not happening to them, right?’

Giselle tightly clenched her hands, wanting to hit herself for planning all of this.

⟨Ah! How about this, Lucas?⟩

She shouldn’t have said those words back then.

“It’s the Strawberry Princess!”

Just as Eddie clapped his hands again and shouted, Lucas controlled his breathing to suppress his laughter and then spoke.

“She’s not a princess right now.”

“Huh? Why isn’t she a princess? Mom is a princess.”

The child tilted his head in confusion at Lucas’s words. Lucas glanced at Giselle and continued with a hint of laughter in his voice.

“Right now…… she’s His Majesty the King. Here to perform the knighting ceremony for our Eddie.”

“K-knight?”

The small lips of Eddie, who had been listening attentively to his father’s words, opened like a bird’s beak. Seeing this, Giselle slightly raised her chin and spoke in a deliberately solemn voice.

“Sir Eddie, come forth.”

“……!”

‘Sir Eddie.’ The child’s eyes widened at the title he had only heard in fairy tales. Giselle spoke once more to her son, who was looking at her with surprised eyes.

“Sir Eddie?”

“Y-yes, sir!”

The child forgot his usual casual way of speaking to his mother and responded respectfully before running quickly to her.

As the child stood on the red carpet, Giselle rose from her seat and slowly approached him. Eddie’s eyes trembled as he watched her.

‘It’s definitely Mom…… but she looks so cool!’

Usually, his mother was pretty like a princess, but now she seemed like a real king.

“Sir Eddie.”

“Yes!”

Even in the midst of this, the child promptly responded to Giselle’s call and stood at attention. She suppressed the smile that was trying to form on her lips and looked to the side.

Lucas, who had a similar expression to hers, handed her what had been prepared in advance.

“Gasp! Th-the Hero’s Sword!”

Eddie, who had been standing with his hands pressed against his legs, involuntarily exclaimed in surprise when he saw it.

The Hero’s Sword.

It was the toy sword that Eddie had been wanting the most lately.

“Wow, that……”

“Sir Eddie, kneel.”

As the child was about to reach out for the Hero’s Sword, completely captivated by it, Giselle issued another command.

“We shall conduct the knighting ceremony.”

“……!”

Knighting ceremony!

Eddie looked at the Hero’s Sword in his mother’s hand and quickly knelt down. While he was eager to play with the Hero’s Sword, his desire to participate in the ‘knighting ceremony’ was even greater.

“Edwin Taylor.”

“Yes, sir!”

“For protecting your mother and sibling.”

“Yes, sir!”

“By facing fearsome monsters……”

“Yes, sir!”

The child stared up at his mother, who was holding the Hero’s Sword and speaking magnificent words, and kept raising one hand and shouting. Giselle continued with a smile at the child’s behavior.

“You have shown noble courage and dedication.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Therefore, I, Giselle the First……”

Pfft. Just as Giselle referred to herself as “Giselle the First” in an even more solemn tone, laughter was heard from somewhere. It wasn’t just one person laughing, but several.

Not only Lucas and Stella, but also the butler, head maid, and other employees were probably laughing.

She felt her face burning but tried to maintain a composed expression as she finished her speech.

“I hereby appoint you, Edwin Taylor, as a knight.”

Giselle lightly tapped the child’s shoulders with the toy sword she was holding and then extended the sword to the child. Then, with a playful wink, she added.

“Please continue to protect me well with this sword, Sir Eddie.”

“……Yes! I will!”

Eddie received the sword from her and nodded vigorously. Then, holding the sword tightly with both hands, he looked around.

Everyone, including his father, was congratulating him on becoming a knight.

“I’m now Sir Eddie! I’ve become a real knight!”

The child shouted loudly, extending the Hero’s Sword toward the sky.

* * *

“Puhah! Why are you in such a state……”

Giselle looked up at the sound of the bedroom door opening and burst into laughter.

Lucas, who had opened the door and entered, looked exactly like a ‘drowned rat.’

“The weather is cool, did you go swimming somewhere?”

She closed the book she had been reading and got up. Then she took a towel from the closet and gestured for Lucas to sit down as she returned.

Despite teasing him, she wanted to dry him off to prevent him from catching a cold.

“……I fought a fierce battle with an underwater monster.”

And it was quite an intense battle at that.

Lucas sat on the edge of the bed with a chuckle. Giselle, who had just figured out the situation, giggled softly and began drying his hair with the towel.

“Did you come from Eddie’s room?”

“Yes. He was in the middle of taking a bath.”

He added with a lamenting tone that he had sent the maid away and bathed the child himself, which had resulted in this state. Of course, he wasn’t really lamenting.

Giselle paused while drying Lucas’s wet hair and brought her lips to the corner of his mouth.

Peck.

Their lips touched lightly and then parted. Then, cupping his cheek, she playfully said.

“This is a reward for doing well today.”

Although she was the one who suggested having a ‘knighting ceremony’ for the child, it was Lucas who prepared everything. She hadn’t expected him to personally buy and bring the Hero’s Sword that the child had been singing about wanting.

In any case, thanks to that, it was clearly foreseeable that the child, who had been well-behaved for the past few days, would cause trouble again by trying to catch monsters…….

“Eddie really liked it, didn’t he?”

“……Well, it seems so. Even during his bath, he was holding that Hero’s Sword or whatever it is, saying he would catch underwater monsters.”

Lucas responded to Giselle’s words and then shook his head. He had clearly been given a hard time by ‘Sir Eddie’s’ bravery.

Just as Giselle giggled again at his expression, Lucas turned and pushed her onto the bed.

“Huh?”

“I want a different reward.”

Lucas’s voice deepened. At the same time, his long fingers stealthily invaded beneath Giselle’s thin clothes.

Just as they were about to explore the tender flesh of her inner thighs and beyond, Giselle inhaled sharply and grabbed his wrist.

“Wait a moment. This is…… a bit, no, can’t I give you a different reward?”

“A different reward, like what?”

Lucas paused his movements precariously and asked with a relaxed smile. Giselle, feeling dizzy from the sensation of his fingers that seemed about to touch her intimate area at any moment, stammered.

“Let’s see. What…… what would be good. A kiss……”

Before the words could fully leave her mouth, his lips descended on hers. Despite having one hand restrained, Lucas held the back of her head firmly with his other hand and kissed her deeply.

“Besides a kiss. What other reward?”

“Th…… where would such a thing exist?”

Having already received a kiss and still asking for another reward, what a greedy man.

Giselle tried to glare at him in protest, but it had no effect in a situation where she was about to melt from just one of his fingers.

“Shouldn’t the person receiving the reward decide what it is? That’s what makes it a ‘reward’ in the true sense. Just like Eddie received his ‘knighting.'”

“……What are you comparing Eddie’s pure heart to right now?”

You lewd man. As if he had heard her unspoken words, Lucas burst into laughter and once again pressed his body against Giselle’s.

“Wait a moment, mmph. Lucas, at least turn off the light……”

Since it was still before bedtime, the bedroom was brightly lit. She expressed her wish that at least the lamp by the bedside be turned off.

However, her words were cut short. It was because of the greedy man who completely swallowed all the words Giselle was about to utter.

“Mmph, Lu…… Lucas.”

He kissed her deeply, as if to devour even the aroused moans escaping from Giselle’s lips as she called his name, and held her hand.

Fingers intertwined with fingers, firmly clasped hands would never be separated.

Throughout the night that was about to begin, and throughout all the days they would spend together in the future.

Because she was Lucas Taylor’s best investment.

⟨End of Side Stories⟩