Peter urgently whispered in Diego’s ear.

“Your Highness. You absolutely must not do it for free. This is precisely when you need to show how remarkable you are. Don’t let yourself appear too accessible.”

But Diego ignored Peter’s words. Unlike with others, he wanted to grant whatever Siara asked.

“Alright. Just trust me.”

“Thank you.”

Since Diego ended up acting essentially like he was doing it for free, Peter pounded his chest with his fist in frustration.

This time the carriage traveled for a long while, and Siara fell asleep. Diego brushed her hair away from her face and covered her with a blanket.

Peter spoke in a disgruntled voice.

“Are you trying to become a complete pushover now, beyond just being a walking wallet? If you display your emotions so openly, everyone will notice. Duke Light will soon be using his daughter to manipulate you.”

“…You’re right. I’ve been thinking all wrong.”

“Yes, yes. Exactly.”

“She should have nowhere else to go.”

“…Pardon?”

Diego touched Siara’s cheek.

The cool sensation of her cheek resembled Siara’s personality. He was like a blazing fire, while Siara was like ice.

Why did she seem to distance herself whenever he thought they were getting closer? Unlike other women, Siara seemed to draw an invisible line between them.

She clearly knew he liked her, yet still said she would get engaged to Marquis Marcel. The thought made his blood boil.

“I hate being apart from Annie.”

“And so?”

“Investigate how much tax Duke Light is collecting from his territory’s people. Then we’ll know how much he’s evading in taxes owed to the royal palace.”

“I’ll investigate immediately.”

“As quickly as possible.”

“Yes…”

Indeed, a predator remained a predator. Even while acting like a pushover, he was always ready to pounce.

Diego leisurely stroked Siara’s hair. She looked extremely peaceful while sleeping.

Siara stretched as soon as she woke up.

“…Yawn. I slept well.”

In front of her, Diego and Peter were sleeping with their eyes closed. Diego was sleeping with his arms crossed while sitting, and unlike his usual intimidating face, he looked gentle while asleep.

Siara reached out and stroked Diego’s red hair. The more she looked at it, the more beautiful it seemed. Blonde hair was too common and boring, but this blood-red hair was rare.

“Should I make a wig for Sophie?”

Just as she was muttering to herself, imagining a bald Sophie, Diego stirred.

“Sophie…?”

“Are you awake?”

Diego had been awake since Siara started touching his hair, but he had stayed still because he was happy that she showed interest in him. If not for the unpleasant name, he would have pretended to sleep longer to feel Siara’s touch.

“Why would you make a wig for Sophie with my hair?”

“Do you know who Sophie is?”

“I do. She’s your younger sister whose hair I burned.”

“…I just feel sorry that she has to wear a wig at such a young age.”

“You feel sorry?”

Diego’s eyebrows raised slightly. He grabbed a handful of Siara’s hair and pulled her close. Siara’s nose almost touched Diego’s.

“Why don’t you give her your hair?”

“I’d like to, but she says brown hair lacks character. Too ordinary, she says.”

“…Annie.”

Diego’s nose brushed against Siara’s. As Diego’s dark eyes softened slightly and he moved closer to her lips, Siara quickly blocked his lips.

“Wait, Diego.”

“…Why?”

“Um… we’re only 17.”

“That’s right. Does being 17 mean we can’t kiss?”

“Yes.”

What kind of kids would kiss at 17? Siara had grown up with strict separation between men and women. ‘Kids these days move too fast!’

They rushed into relationships without even being married. A kiss leads to an embrace, an embrace leads to bed. You say you’ll just hold hands, and next thing you know, there’s a baby.

“Hah…”

“Shouldn’t we be at least 20?”

Diego released Siara’s hair. Her hair fluttered and settled quietly on her shoulders. The long, loose hair made her look more feminine.

“Then promise me.”

“Huh?”

“When we turn 20, you’ll have your first kiss with me. Not with anyone else.”

“…Diego. Of course I’d like that too, but you never know what might happen in life.”

Diego spoke seriously.

“Promise me.”

“Okay.”

His eyes were so serious that Siara found herself nodding before she realized it. In the end, Siara made a strange promise with Diego. Peter, who had been watching from the corner, whispered in a weak voice.

“You two… please don’t forget that I’m here…”

After traveling by carriage for several days, they finally arrived at the imperial palace. Siara’s mouth fell open at its magnificent size.

“Wow… This is amazing.”

It seemed three times larger than the Kingdom of Estain. Not just in width, but the height was also enormous, making her wonder who had built it.

‘Is this really that much further in the future than the Kingdom of Estain? For technology to have advanced this much…’

Siara marveled as she passed by, stroking the walls and admiring the intricately crafted patterns.

“Wow! Look at these patterns! What are they made of? They’re so sturdy!”

“Country bumpkin…”

Peter muttered while watching her, but quickly closed his mouth when Diego glared at him.

Though she was illegitimate, she belonged to the empire’s only ducal family and must have received many invitations to palace parties and annual events, yet she seemed to be seeing the palace for the first time. Or perhaps the Duke and Duchess hadn’t brought her along because she was illegitimate? That would be understandable.

Siara chattered excitedly.

“I should take a blueprint when I leave. Then we could build a castle this big in Estain too!”

“…Where is Estain?”

Hearing the deep voice, Siara quickly looked up. Diego, watching her from behind, smiled and said:

“Where is Estain? A territory name? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Oh, yes. …Well, my dream is to build a castle called Estain!”

“…You want a new territory?”

“Y-yes.”

Diego looked Siara up and down and raised the corner of his mouth.

“Then you should stay on my good side. …So I can grant you a new territory, right?”

“Right.”

Fortunately, it seemed to have gone well.

‘Wait, I mentioned Estain but he didn’t say much, so I guess there’s no such country here?’

Diego’s hand caressed Siara’s cheek.

“Become my lover, and I’ll give you anything.”

“…What? Lover?”

Diego cleared his throat with a bright red face.

“Forget it if you don’t want to.”

Siara couldn’t help but smile at his uncharacteristic shyness.

‘Right. I’ll be leaving this country anyway, so you can love Annie to your heart’s content later.’

If she became the Crown Prince’s lover, she wouldn’t be sold off to an old man. But she was still young and powerless. And the Crown Prince wouldn’t formally marry an illegitimate daughter of a ducal family.

‘They would hate nothing more than commoner blood mixing with the royal family.’

Even if they liked each other, their different statuses made it impossible. She would have to be content just being his lover.

Thinking about that made Siara feel a little lonely.

[When you use dimensional transfer, you can meet someone who isn’t of your bloodline. Would you marry then?]

Since she had already used dimensional transfer, it would be nice if she could meet a good person, as Jensen had said.

Before entering the Crown Prince’s palace, an elderly lady-in-waiting blocked Siara’s path.

“…?”

“By order of Her Majesty the Empress. She said that even if you are in the same class, you cannot stay in the same building. Would you like to go to another palace?”

‘Ah. I guess they’re trying to prevent problems because I’m illegitimate.’

The lady-in-waiting looked down at Siara like she was looking at an insect. She seemed to have already heard from the Crown Prince’s knights that Siara was the Duke’s illegitimate daughter.

“We can’t risk any unfortunate incidents.”

“…I understand. Diego, I’ll go to another building then.”

Diego gripped Siara’s shoulder firmly and said to the elderly lady-in-waiting:

“This is the first I’ve heard of this. I personally invited Annie to my palace.”

“…But she is a woman and also…”

“It seems my mother doesn’t trust me.”

“That’s not it, but…”

The elderly lady-in-waiting fidgeted uncomfortably. Just then, Diego pulled Siara close. Siara could only stare wide-eyed in his arms.

“Get lost.”

Diego growled at the elderly lady-in-waiting and brought Siara into the Crown Prince’s palace.

The elderly lady-in-waiting, feeling defeated, hurried off somewhere. She seemed to be heading to the Empress’s palace.

‘The Empress will be coming soon…’

This wasn’t a good development. It takes two hands to clap—she had really misjudged the situation.

Despite living for a thousand years, she had never dated or married, being too focused on magical research. She had never kissed either. So there was no chance of what the Empress feared happening.

‘But…’

Siara felt somewhat awkward being held in Diego’s arms. Every palace attendant they encountered backed away in surprise at the sight of Diego holding her tightly.

‘He’s warm.’

Diego’s embrace was warm and smelled nice.

‘Ah, this won’t do. What am I thinking…!’

Siara quickly escaped from Diego’s arms. She blushed again as Diego looked at her strangely.

“Men and women should be separate… I mean, let’s walk separately. Someone might misunderstand and think we’re dating!”

Siara walked far apart from Diego. When Diego frowned, only Peter, walking behind them, tensed up.

Siara, walking ahead, stopped in front of a pair of double doors. The doors adorned with elaborate gold decorations were different from any place she had seen before.