Grand Duke's Beloved Granddaughter

“What should I do? Should I kick him out? Or inside…”

 

Dayrick asked me with a perplexed look. I was so busy that I forgot to politely ask Jeoffrey to come inside when he came to visit. I got up from the sofa, blaming myself for forgetting about Jeffrey.

 

“I’ll go there myself.”

 

Adrian also reflexively stood up and looked at me.

 

“Who is that?”

 

“He’s my friend.”

 

In response to Adrian’s question, he shrugged his shoulders. Then a thought occurred to him and he looked straight at Adrian.

 

“You don’t mind if my friend joins us at our break, right?”

 

“Me? Well, I’m okay. Instead, increase the couplet I mentioned earlier to ten.”

 

Seeing Adrian holding out his hands with wide open arms, I had no choice but to raise the white flag.

 

“All right. Ten times.”

 

“Good! Then let’s go quickly!”

 

Adrian stood up happily.

 

“Is His Royal Highness going too? I’ll go alone. I’ll be back soon, so you can sit down.”

 

“But I don’t want to be here alone…”

 

Looking at Adrian, who quickly became depressed, made me feel sad again. He nodded his head countless times.

 

“All right. Let’s go together.”

 

Adrian approached me with a big smile on his face. I went straight through the hallway and out the front door. After running through the garden for a while, I saw the gate. The tightly closed gate began to open wide as I approached. As the door slowly opened, a familiar silver-haired person appeared in front of the remaining guard who was waiting.

 

“Mirabel!”

 

Jeffrey checked me out and smiled brightly.

 

“Jeffrey!”

 

I also welcomed Jeffrey with a smile.

 

“Let me inside. You are my guest.”

 

“Yes, I understand.”

 

The guard responded to my instructions by turning his body to the side, which was blocking Jeffrey. Forget it, I opened my mouth, looking back at the guard guarding the door and at Dayric who had come to visit me.

 

“And from now on, if Jeffrey comes to visit, don’t stop him but let him inside right away. I also pass this on to other security guards. got it?”

 

“Yes, little lady.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

I politely bowed my head to confirm their response and immediately expressed my gratitude to them.

 

“Mirabel! You run really fast!”

 

Adrian, who had followed me a while later, stood next to me and was breathing heavily.

 

“Are you okay? So he just stayed there. I was going to go back there anyway.”

 

“But I don’t like being alone.”

 

Adrian, who belatedly caught his breath, grunted. I laughed for a moment out of embarrassment and then looked back at Jeffrey.

 

“Long time no see. how have you been doing?”

 

“What am I? “I’ve been doing well, so I came to see you like this.”

 

Jeffrey opened his arms and confirmed his condition to me. There were some scratches and scrapes here and there, but fortunately there didn’t seem to be any major injuries. Instead, it’s only been a little over a month, but it seems like he’s grown a bit taller. His hair was also longer than before. Children were said to grow quickly, and it seemed like they were growing up really quickly.

 

“Let’s go in first.”

 

He was a long-awaited guest and didn’t want to just talk outside, so he extended his hand toward him. Jeffrey looked at my outstretched hand for a moment. Then he smiled and took my hand.

 

“Okay.”

 

It was nice to hear his voice answering with a smile.

 

“Your Highness the Crown Prince, please return to the drawing room.”

 

“Me too!”

 

When I suggested to Adrian that we should go back to where we came from, he suddenly said to me: As I looked at him, not understanding, Adrian hesitantly opened his mouth.

 

“Me too… Can I catch you?”

 

It was a voice without any strength. Why are you talking so effortlessly about how holding hands is such a big deal?

 

“Is it so. Hold it.”

 

I willingly nodded and extended my hand towards Adrian. Adrian held my hand with a bright smile on his face, despite his gloomy appearance. I entered the mansion again, accompanied by Adrian and Jeffrey on both sides. I was able to quickly get to the reception room through the hallway. When I arrived at the reception room, I let go of my hand, but both Jeoffrey and Adrian held my hand and did not let go.

 

“What are you doing, Jeffrey? What is your Royal Highness doing?”

 

As I spoke, looking at the two people who refused to let go of their hands, they hesitated and then slowly let go. I then checked my free hand and pointed to the sofa.

 

“Your Royal Highness, please sit where you used to sit. Jeffrey, you too, sit comfortably there.”

 

Adrian and Jeffrey looked at each other and sat down in the seats I had assigned.

 

“Jeffrey, is apple juice okay to drink? “If you don’t like it, there are other options.”

 

“I’m fine.”

 

“Okay. Wait a minute.”

 

After finishing speaking, I immediately rang the bell. Then the drawing room door opened and Kalina came in.

 

“Did you call me, little lady?”

 

“Huh. Can you give me another apple juice?”

 

“Yes, I will be ready soon.”

 

Kalina politely bowed her head and walked out. After making sure the door was closed, I looked at Jeffrey and Adrian who were quiet. Jeffrey was looking at me with a soft smile, and Adrian kept stealing glances at Jeffrey. It couldn’t have been a truly ironic sight. Adrian, the highest person in the empire, appeared timid, while Jeffrey, a commoner, appeared relaxed and comfortable. Originally, it would have been natural for them to show opposite sides to each other, but somehow this image felt familiar to me.

 

“By the way, we didn’t introduce ourselves, right? His Royal Highness, this is my friend Jeffrey Coleman. And Jeffrey, this is the Crown Prince, the Little Sun of the Empire.”

 

I belatedly introduced Jeffrey to Adrian. Jeffrey just nodded his head towards Adrian, as if he was just responding to my words. I looked at Adrian with a slightly nervous face. Even if Adrian was young and didn’t know anything, it was clear that something would happen if he treated him casually like this, so he warned him with his eyes. Jeffrey turned to me and asked several times what was wrong. I frowned and shook my head, and Jeffrey nodded disapprovingly. Then he stood up and greeted Adrian politely.

 

“Hello, Your Majesty the Crown Prince?”

 

Even though it would be very different from the greetings given to him by the nobles, he gave the order because he thought it would be better than not doing it at all.

 

“Oh, yes.”

 

Adrian received Jeffrey’s greeting with an awkward expression.

 

“I am Adrian Castro.”

 

“Yes, Your Highness.”

 

He said hello, but Jeffrey had a very indifferent attitude. Still, I was glad to see that Adrian didn’t seem displeased. In fact, Jeffrey has always been like that. No, should we say that it was like that in the future as well? Even when he was famous as a mercenary king, he never bowed down to nobles. At the time, I thought it was because he had enough reputation to be called the mercenary king, but now that I look at it, it seems like he was this kind of person from the beginning. He’s smart. It didn’t take long before there was a knock on the door.

 

“Come in.”

 

The door opened and Kalina came in and placed a drink in front of Jeffrey.

 

“Thank you, Kalina.”

 

“No, little lady.”

 

Kalina retreated from her living room again with a grin on her face. Jeffrey picked up the juice glass in front of me.

 

“Drink. It’s a bit hard for me to say it, but the juice at our mansion is pretty delicious.”

 

“Thank you, I’ll drink it well.”

 

Jeffrey answered with a smile and took a sip of juice. Then he opened his eyes and looked at the juice.

 

“It’s delicious.”

 

“Right?”

 

“Huh.”

 

Jeffrey began sipping his juice again.

 

“How have you been?”

 

“I just wandered around here and there. I rode around on a wagon and went to port cities. They said they needed some help there, so I worked carrying fish for a while.”

 

“It must have been difficult. Was it okay to eat?”

 

“You know that. Sometimes they starve and sometimes steal.”

 

Jeffrey looked a little sad as he answered by shrugging his shoulders. Although he was still at an age where he wanted to eat a lot, it was sad to see him moving around from place to place without being able to eat properly.

 

“Your hair has gotten a little longer.”

 

“Huh… Strange?”

 

Jeffrey asked me with some hesitation. I burst into laughter at the sight of him strangely looking at me.

 

“No, it suits you well. It will be pretty even if you grow it like this.”

 

“…okay? Then should I raise it?”

 

“Huh. If you don’t like it.”

 

Jeffrey nodded his head. It seemed like he didn’t hate it.

 

“Let’s spend the night at the mansion today.”

 

“Is that okay?”

 

“Of course.”

 

He willingly nodded his head as permission. Jeffrey thought for a moment, then shook his head and rejected my offer.

 

“No. I don’t think I’m going to sleep. Besides, I have a lot of places to go.”

 

“What are you so busy about?”

 

When I asked as if I was complaining, Jeffrey burst out laughing.

 

“I owe you a lot. You have to move diligently.”

 

I started to wonder what Jeffrey was doing out there because he was still young and couldn’t work as a mercenary.

 

“Hey.”

 

I was talking with Jeffrey for a while when Adrian interrupted. Jeffrey and I reflexively turned to Adrian. Adrian blinked his rabbit-like round eyes and looked at me and Jeffrey.

 

“What’s the relationship between you two?”

 

“I told you. Friend.”

 

I listened seriously, wanting to ask another question, but then burst into laughter. Nevertheless, Adrian tilted his head as if he did not understand.

 

“But Mirabelle, you are my friend too, but you don’t act like you did to her.”

 

As the words came out as if I was complaining, I looked at Adrian and Jeffrey alternately. Then he shook his head as if he understood.

 

“Well, His Royal Highness is a higher person than me. How could I treat you the way I treat Jeffrey? It’s hard to treat them comfortably.”

 

Anyway, Adrian was the crown prince. He was the second highest-ranking person in the empire after His Majesty the Emperor and the Empress. Maybe that’s why he became a friend, but he felt like I was dealing with a high-ranking person I happened to know rather than a friend. It meant that the distance in my heart was different from Jeffrey, whom I perceived as a commoner. Then Adrian made an aggrieved expression.

 

“Where is that? Treat me the same way. I’m your friend too. If I’m a friend and he’s a friend too, isn’t it right to treat everyone the same?”

 

“Yes? That said…”

 

“Speak informally to me just as you would to this child. It’s an order.”

 

Adrian ordered in a panic.

 

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Translator Note:

Maybe you already know but for some health issues this novel schedule will be reduced. Sorry!