‘Does he want to get closer to me?’

Shiloh’s lips parted on their own.

No.

She gave a barely perceptible shake of her head.

‘After that night, he said it was clean and good that way.’

But really.

Had that been his true feeling?

Or had he just said it to match what she had said first?

An unsettling possibility surfaced and her mind grew rapidly complicated.

She had a feeling that if she didn’t find out, her heart would be too restless to sleep tonight.

In the end, she had carried everything back from the market with Kyle and was nearly at the confectionery when her patience ran out.

“There’s something I’m curious about, Your Majesty.”

Shiloh’s voice trembled faintly.

“What is it?”

“When you said you’d come with me to the night market…… there wasn’t any other reason, was there?”

“……”

Shiloh had thought it might be rude to ask outright whether he had personal feelings for her, so she had phrased it as indirectly as she could.

A moment later, Kyle’s low voice pressed into her ears.

Shiloh swallowed and waited for his answer.

“Other reason like what?”

“Something like gauging public sentiment, or just enjoying the night market……”

Shiloh rolled her eyes and flushed, avoiding Kyle’s gaze.

Kyle stared at her.

“The night roads are dangerous, and I happened to have time. No other reason.”

“I didn’t have any other thoughts either.”

Shiloh laughed awkwardly with a flushed face and shrugged.

The smile in her eyes vanished quickly.

‘I should be relieved, so why does it feel off?’

Shiloh, who had been biting her lip, composed her expression again and bowed with careful, measured courtesy.

“Thank you so much for today.”

“Are you going to work now?”

“I’m going to stare at the fire tonight.”

Shiloh curved the corners of her eyes.

She had been planning to enjoy her free time once he left.

“Stare at the fire? What’s that?”

At his question, she realized belatedly that she had used a term she had often used in her previous life without thinking.

“If you light a fire in the oven and just gaze at it blankly, it brings a sense of peace.”

“Ah.”

Kyle nodded slowly, lost in thought for a moment, then opened his mouth.

“Do it together.”

“Pardon?”

Shiloh looked up at him with startled eyes.

She had been about to ask why he wasn’t leaving now that the shopping was done, but instead she felt an inexplicable pressure and answered automatically.

“It would be an honor, Your Majesty.”

Her forced smile trembled.

*

Crackle crackle.

With a fire lit in the kitchen oven, Shiloh sat beside Kyle on a pile of straw with their knees drawn up.

His breathing reached her at intervals.

“What are you thinking so hard about?”

Kyle glanced at Shiloh, who was staring at the fire in deep thought.

“I received an order for refreshments to serve guests at a ducal family banquet next week. I’m thinking about what to make.”

That afternoon, Shiloh had received a large order for refreshments from someone representing Duke Ethan’s household.

She didn’t know much about Ethan, but she knew it was a prominent family being a ducal house.

On top of that, it was an important gathering where significant figures connected to the duke’s business ventures would be invited, which made it all the more daunting.

“Don’t use ingredients like potatoes or oats.”

“Potatoes and oats?”

Shiloh’s eyes went wide.

“Not long ago, a cook at an important banquet served octopus salad with roasted oats and a potato dish and was dismissed. They said he had served food fit for horse fodder.”

“……”

Shiloh blinked her wide eyes.

“I understand oats having a rough texture, but why would anyone dislike potatoes?”

“People call potatoes the devil’s food. They say it stirs up lewd thoughts and causes leprosy. All baseless claims, of course.”

“……”

She bit her lip and nodded slowly.

The nobles here seemed to treat potatoes as taboo.

“In any case, nobles are likely to favor appearances, so it would be best to bring something that looks suitably impressive.”

Kyle offered the warm advice.

“Thank you.”

A worry suddenly came over her.

‘A ducal household might have high standards……’

Shiloh dropped her gaze and fidgeted with her fingertips.

Something that looked luxurious and that they had never encountered before……

At that moment, Shiloh turned her head and Kyle’s profile came into view.

A nose as sharp and clean as a blade.

Eyes that were piercing yet deep.

A defined mouth.

“Canelé!”

Shiloh cried out suddenly and Kyle flinched.

“What?”

“I just thought of it looking at you, Your Majesty. A fine pastry that’s hard and crisp on the outside but sweet and moist on the inside.”

“……”

“A truly well-made canelé has a mysterious texture where the outside and inside are completely different, and it’s luxurious yet keeps drawing you back.”

He stared at Shiloh intently.

Shiloh’s face flushed belatedly and she bowed her head.

“I’m sorry. That was rude of me. How dare I compare Your Majesty to a pastry……”

“Canelé, is it……”

Kyle let out a quiet laugh.

“Don’t you need to be back at the palace?”

“I don’t want to go back, so I thought I’d stay a little longer.”

He leaned his head lazily against the wall and said it without feeling, but his voice carried a sadness somewhere.

“Did something happen?”

“Tomorrow is the day of Lucas’s execution.”

“Ah.”

“I’m tired of seeing blood.”

Kyle stared at the flames and drew in a slow breath.

Count Lucas, who would be publicly beheaded tomorrow, was the older brother of his stepmother.

When rebels were executed, it was customary to carry it out publicly in the square.

The intent was to make a clear impression on the citizens of the Empire about what became of those who dreamed of rebellion.

Shiloh looked quietly at Kyle.

He seemed to have complicated feelings.

Perhaps a sense of responsibility or guilt for something that wasn’t his fault.

On top of that, Kyle himself had to be present.

How devastating it must be to watch.

“Sometimes I think…… am I a good ruler? Do I have the right to be?”

“Why do you think that?”

“It feels like everyone is waiting for me to step down from the throne as soon as possible.”

“……”

“Because I’m not enough.”

Kyle smiled bitterly.

“No matter how hard you try, Your Majesty, not everyone can like you.”

“……”

He sat quietly and listened to Shiloh’s words with his eyes downcast.

“Because they can’t all know your true heart and your true self. And you can’t go around finding every prejudice and breaking it one by one.”

“……”

Their eyes met briefly and then fell away.

“I know you’re doing your best, Your Majesty. One day, more people will come to know and believe in you than there are now. I’ll be cheering for you too.”

“……”

“You only remember the ones who aren’t. There are far more citizens of the Empire who are grateful.”

Kyle’s eyes shimmered quietly in the firelight.

Shiloh meant every word.

Kyle may have been hated by the noble faction, but by providing the Potencia magic stones produced in the Amondi Empire to the mages of the magic tower, he had made everyday artifact items available at low prices.

Thanks to that, the citizens of the Amondi Empire, which had four distinct seasons, could spend winters relatively warm and summers relatively cool regardless of their social standing or wealth.

Kyle poured his heart into the welfare of his people in this way.

It was no small thing.

He was different from leaders who were steeped in a sense of superiority and concerned only with their own comfort.

“Are you struggling a lot because of your mother?”

When Kyle changed the subject, Shiloh tried to smile.

“I think about her sometimes, but I’m all right…… I was hoping that once the confectionery was doing well, we could live happily together without worrying about money……”

“……”

The tears brimming in her eyes caught the firelight and glimmered clearly.

He quietly held out a handkerchief.

“She was a good person.”

Kyle, who had been listening quietly to Shiloh’s words, finally spoke.

“I lived with my mother until I was nine and then we were separated. It’s sad that even the few memories I have are slowly fading. Sometimes I think it would be nice to have someone to lean on.”

“Me too……”

For someone so unaccustomed to expressing emotion, he had said the word ‘sad’ aloud……

Shiloh momentarily forgot that Kyle was a dangerous man and felt a wave of sympathy.

Their hands were almost touching.

But in the end, they didn’t.

That night, the two of them talked for a long time deep into the night.

It was mostly Kyle who spoke.

He opened up to Shiloh about his eventful life, including the time he had nearly been killed by a scorpion demonic beast while serving in the guard unit that dealt with demonic beasts.

“I find myself talking too much around you.”

Kyle said with a quiet laugh.

“……”

“Shiloh?”

Kyle turned toward the silent Shiloh and found her head drooping downward.