If Lilias had seen this scene, she probably would have beaten her chest in frustration and scribbled on paper how to speak in such situations.

「I want to hold hands with you and look around the port area for a sweet date.」

…… like that.

⁕⁕⁕

“Until last night, I was sweating bullets because there was no communication. Thank you so much for coming on time like this.”

Young Baron Courtney, the general manager of Burnett Port, wiped the sweat flowing down his plump face while repeatedly bowing his head to Elia.

“I’m sorry for being so late. You must have been very anxious.”

“I heard from my father that the imperial palace is also short-staffed. Thanks to your efforts despite that, there shouldn’t be any disruption to today’s schedule.”

Count Cedric Courtney, who held an important position in the imperial palace, was usually favorable toward Elia.

She had worried about getting complaints for coming too late, but fortunately the count seemed to have spoken well of her.

“Thank you for saying that. Now that I’ve delivered the documents, I’ll take my leave.”

“Y-you’re leaving? Then please take care.”

Usually, Elia would finish confirming that all contents listed in the documents were implemented without omission before leaving.

For her, who had always done that, to just hand over documents and turn to leave—one might ask if she was busy, but for the young baron to tell her to hurry and leave without a trace of doubt was……

“Please be careful, Financial Administrator Weiss. And……”

The young baron looked at the tall man leaning against the entrance, gauging the situation and choosing his words, before finally replacing his greeting by bowing his waist 90 degrees.

He bowed so deeply that despite his young age, his thinning, shiny crown was fully visible.

“Ha, haha. Yes, Lord Courtney. Then I’ll see you next time.”

Elia fully understood the young baron’s restless heart.

Since his desire for them to leave quickly was as clear as his crown, Elia gestured toward the man guarding the entrance.

At her look saying they should leave now, Casiel, who had been covering his face with a dark-colored hood pulled deep like a grim reaper, nodded and opened the door.

Elia emerged through the door that the emperor had graciously opened for her and immediately looked at him with rolling eyes.

“You boasted that no one would recognize you…… but everyone recognized you.”

“Even if they recognize me, they should pretend not to know, and they shouldn’t show it, but it’s natural they shouldn’t fail to recognize me.”

It was sophistry. But it made sense.

A great noble like Young Baron Courtney should recognize the emperor no matter what attire he wore. Even if his entire body was covered to the point where not a single hair was visible.

However, on the other hand, not asking about the reason the emperor appeared in such attire and quietly pretending not to know was also a way to live wisely in the world.

“Those who know me will recognize me, but people passing by on the street won’t even give me a glance, so what’s there to worry about?”

Elia’s lips trembled at his nonchalant words. It was because his words didn’t sound like words.

Won’t give you a glance?

Did this person have no sense of reality because everyone in the world couldn’t refute his words? Or did he have not even a speck of awareness about his own appearance?

First of all, his height, which was at least a head taller than the average adult male, was so eye-catching!

And what about his body?

Those broad shoulders that couldn’t help but draw attention weren’t hidden even when he wore a loose hood.

Didn’t he notice how many people stared just while coming from the carriage to here?

His face could be covered, but he wasn’t going to go all day without a sip of water, and if he happened to pull back his hood even once, what about all the gazes that would be fixed on him……

Being handsome was fine, but there should be limits. Wasn’t his a face that made women—no, even men—turn their heads to look?

Reading the exasperated emotion on Elia’s face, Casiel stared back as if meeting her gaze.

“Your face is full of complaints. Was my suggestion to look around the area so unreasonable?”

“But that, also, there’s the matter of escorts. If a dangerous situation arises for Your Majesty……”

“Danger?”

The voice mixed with light laughter overflowed with unapproachable confidence.

Since it wasn’t arrogance but the leisure that only someone with truly strong power could possess, Elia closed her lips that had been making unreasonable sounds.

That’s right. Who would dare threaten the safety of the 「Grim Reaper of the Battlefield」?

“You seem worried about safety?”

“……”

While she hesitated about how to answer, Casiel casually reached out his hand.

Her body, which had suffered much at Casiel’s hands, automatically stiffened at the approaching body heat. However, Casiel only gently took Elia’s hand.

“Don’t worry. Today I’m your escort knight.”

Casiel’s slightly raised lips made the hair on the back of Elia’s neck stand up.

That’s a statement that becomes an even bigger worry in a different sense!

⁕⁕⁕

If Lilias had known the character called Casiel just a little more deeply, she would have given him more specific behavioral guidelines instead of vague advice.

The biggest problem Lilias overlooked was that Casiel was someone who had gone through a different upbringing from common noble family sons.

Casiel had spent his boyhood on battlefields, led by the previous emperor’s hand from childhood.

From major battles like the war with Rosellern to minor uprisings of small ethnic groups and local bandits, he was literally someone who had become emperor after going through a blood-soaked upbringing.

While others learned social conversation and subtle psychological warfare techniques, Casiel lived a life of cutting down those who couldn’t be reasoned with and advancing by stepping on corpses.

So while Casiel had the intelligence to understand that 「hold hands and walk」 meant to have ordinary, everyday dates like others, he was completely lacking in the sense to handle each moment with wit.

The difficulty came at the first place they went to eat.

Lilias had hinted that Elia hadn’t had a proper meal not just for breakfast, but all day yesterday.

Thinking they should feed her first before moving, the famous restaurant they visited at Burnett Port was unfortunately packed because of several ships that had docked today.

“…… Let’s try somewhere else.”

Casiel, who didn’t want to seat Elia in a boisterous place full of loud-voiced sailors, closed the door he had opened and turned around.

But the fact that the most famous restaurant was packed meant other nearby restaurants wouldn’t be much different.

When they struck out at the third place, Casiel began to feel slightly anxious.

When they struck out at the fourth restaurant and he saw Elia’s clear face, he even had the petty thought of wielding power using his status as a shield.

“Are you very hungry?”

The oblivious Elia instead asked Casiel that.

It was obvious she thought his diligent search for restaurants was because he was peckish, which made Casiel feel somehow defeated.

The journey that hadn’t been smooth from the start continued to be rocky even after giving up on restaurants and wandering around street stalls.

The sky that had been brightly sunny became cloudy with gathering clouds.

At the ominous sounds from the sky and the dark weather, street vendors who had come out to set up their stalls turned back, and those who had already set up began packing up one by one.

“Aren’t you doing business?”

“I’m sorry. But it looks like heavy rain is coming.”

At Elia’s question, the street vendor shook his hands.

These were words from someone who had lived long near the port by the sea. If someone who made a living from business was hurriedly closing shop, it probably wasn’t going to be light rain.

“Hmm…… eating something is a bit difficult in this situation. Then instead of a meal, shall we find somewhere to stay until the rain stops?”

Since he had said it was an inspection, the suggestion to look at prices of goods at jewelry stores or general stores was appropriate.

The problem was that rain began pouring down like bombs in that short distance from the fountain square where street vendors gathered to the shopping district.

The amount of rain that suddenly fell near the seaside was bewildering.

Clicking his tongue at the rain fierce enough to make the phrase “beating the skin” not awkward, Casiel grabbed Elia’s arm and pulled her.

Under the awning of a tavern that hadn’t opened yet since it was still morning, there was enough space to shelter two people, but the sideways rain soaked their entire bodies, making their shelter meaningless.

At everything going wrong from one to ten, Casiel roughly pushed back his soaked hood and ground his teeth.

‘Hold hands and walk?’

If they held hands and walked in this weather, they’d be swept away by the current without a trace to be found.

Thinking that nothing worked when trying to do something he hadn’t intended to do, Casiel, who was about to throw off his hood, restrained his rough behavior remembering Elia’s presence beside him.

Thinking he had wanted to do something she’d like but only made her suffer, he looked at Elia’s expression, which was unexpectedly bright-eyed, different from his expectations.

“There’s no need to be angry about the weather.”

“I’m not angry because……!”

Casiel wasn’t angry because of the weather.