Binka was surprised to see Winfred with his top half off and turned around, and the chamberlain was angry, pressing his temples as if his head was pounding.
“Don’t be angry, Joseph. “It’s because I wake up late, but it’s usually a time when no one is around, so that could be the case.”
Winfred tried to relieve the chamberlain’s anger by smiling charmingly, but that only made him angry.
“… … majesty!”
After finding the handkerchief, Winfred has been extra generous to Binka. Today’s incident was Binka’s fault, but he didn’t stop her from scolding her like this.
Chamberlain Joseph shook his head, saying that if things continue like this, the maid’s habits will get worse.
Meanwhile, Winfred, who quickly got dressed, grabbed his arm.
“Let’s go quickly. I have to get out of the way so Binka can make the bed!”
It wasn’t ‘I overslept and my schedule has been pushed back, so let’s go quickly’, but let’s get out of the way so Bingka can do her job. He couldn’t tell who was the crown prince and who was the maid.
And that afternoon.
Joseph, who was still concerned about what happened in the morning, eventually had no choice but to ask the crown prince this.
“… … “Your Highness. Do you like Binka?”
“uh?”
“Binka, do you like her?”
Winfred, who was burying his face in the documents he had to process today, asked back with a puzzled expression. It was such an unexpected question.
“huh! “I like binka.”
However, Winfred’s confusion was short-lived and he nodded brightly.
And that answer made the chamberlain’s head, which had already been pounding all day, hurt even more.
“… … “Your Highness, what is that!”
The crown prince of a country has a maid in his heart. And Binka is now twenty years old, five years older than Winfred.
Of course, he was a little older than his age, but that wasn’t an important issue now.
“This is not possible, Your Majesty!”
“Yes? why?”
Winfred tilted his head and made an incomprehensible expression. What the hell is the reason why he shouldn’t like Binka?
And Joseph pounded his frustrated chest. Still, he thought he was a smart person, but he couldn’t believe that he couldn’t even understand such an obvious story.
“… … Your Majesty is the Crown Prince of the Great Pheles Empire! You have your heart set on a maid… … ! “If this becomes known, only Binka will be seriously injured.”
“W-what do you mean? I’m in love with Binka! Nonsense!”
And at Joseph’s words, Winfred opened his mouth so much that his jaw dropped and protested, saying it was nonsense. He couldn’t figure out what the chamberlain was talking about earlier.
“… … “I heard you like her!?”
“huh! I like you! “It feels like I have a new sister. Binka is so kind and dependable!”
Joseph, who finally realized that they were talking about different things in response to Winfred’s answer, collapsed on his chair in despair.
“Well, if that’s the case, you said that from the beginning… … ! “Didn’t I make a misunderstanding?”
“No, isn’t it obvious? There’s no way I would see Binka as a woman, I…” … !”
There’s already someone in my heart.
However, Winfred couldn’t tell this to the chamberlain who didn’t know about Ayla’s existence, so Winfred swallowed his words. If he had known about his deep affection for Ayla in the first place, there would be no way such a misunderstanding would have occurred.
Even the reason he became friends with Binka was because of the handkerchief that contained his precious memories with that child, and there was no way that Winfred would lose his heart to another woman.
“I feel like I have a sister… … .”
Joseph repeated with a vain expression as if he were an athlete who had just completed a bout of martial arts.
“Yes, she’s just like my older sister. Binka is also an only child, and her mother is sick. So she has a lot in common with me.”
Winfred answered with an innocent smile, saying that he looked similar to her.
Looking at him so happy, it seems that Binka was a great comfort to him as he was lonely as he grew up as an only child without any siblings.
‘… … Now that I think about it, I think it resembles your highness.’
If he looks closely at their facial features, they seem to be quite similar, with long eyelashes and slightly droopy eyes.
‘No, that’s not important right now.’
Although it was truly fortunate that he cared for and followed Binka like an older sister, it did not change the fact that Winfred’s attitude was easily misunderstood.
This meant that it was necessary to crack down on rumors such as ‘the crown prince is said to have had a lowly maid’ before they spread.
“Anyway, if Your Highness cares about Binka too much, people will misunderstand. And you may be criticized for bewitching Your Highness and showing favoritism.”
“That… … That could be possible. Okay, I’ll be careful from now on.”
In response to Joseph’s continued explanation, Winfred nodded that he understood.
He didn’t care about other people’s misunderstandings, but he was worried that one day when Ayla returned to her parents’ arms, they would hear rumors that ‘the crown prince enjoys a promiscuous private life.’
He is already feeling confused because his dreams are disturbed, but it’s better not to cause unnecessary misunderstandings.
At Winfred’s refreshing answer, Joseph seemed relieved and shook off his shocked heart. It felt like ten years had passed since the number of people died.
* * *
‘It smells good.’
Ayla inhaled the scent of an unknown flower.
The training ended early, and she was enjoying a leisurely walk as she was permitted to roam freely as long as she didn’t leave the outbuildings.
The flower had a sweet, chocolate-like scent, and had a strange shape with small purple flowers hanging in clusters that looked like bunches of grapes.
The scent seemed to soothe her troubled heart a little.
‘… … Does it taste like chocolate?’
Ayla once again stuck her nose into the chocolate-scented flower.
Of course, since she learned toxicology, she didn’t do something foolish like putting an unknown plant in her mouth.
But then, she heard someone shouting from behind.
“Hello, pretty. “What are you doing there?”
There was no way she knew who it was. Because there was only one person in her world who called her ‘Pretty’ by her cringe-inducing nickname, Gerald Senospon.
Ayla continued to press her face into the flower without answering. She already hated him, but the charge of interfering with her free time alone was added.
She couldn’t understand why he came here every day, even though it was a long day.
“You’re not planning on eating that, are you? They said the flower was poisonous.”
“… … “It’s poisonous?”
She thought she had learned about most poisonous plants. When she heard that this sweet-smelling flower was poisonous, Ayla opened her mouth without realizing it.
“Huh. They said it wasn’t deadly poison, but they said it had a small amount of poison. Its name is Duranta. This is probably the first time you’ve seen it. It’s weak to cold, so it only grows in Korea.”
Gerald spouted out a lot of unsolicited information with a condescending expression. It was only natural that he took the opportunity to show off what he knew in front of her.
The person he wanted to show off his knowledge to was not thinking about it.
‘Ah, is it a native plant of the Inselkop Kingdom? Then I guess I have no choice but to know. Especially if it isn’t deadly poison.’
Well, she was just thinking about this.
“… … “Let’s eat something delicious, not something that just smells like chocolate. I brought it for you.”
And Gerald, who became impatient at Ayla’s grumpy reaction, took out his secret weapon. It was a chocolate pound cake that he obtained by scolding the chef.
The cake he offered to Ayla, who was hungry after just finishing training, looked very appetizing, but she bluntly cut it and rejected it.
“Thank you, but that’s enough for me. Just eat as much as you can.”
It was almost time for dinner, but if she filled her stomach with something like a cake, it was obvious that Byron would criticize her for eating it in small pieces.
Well, even if it wasn’t for that reason, she wasn’t attracted to it. It wasn’t that she didn’t like cake, but she guessed she could say that she didn’t like people who wanted to eat it with her.
Aren’t they close enough to share the cake?
However, Gerald didn’t seem to think so and seemed quite shocked by her rejection.
“Oh, no, why?”
“… … There has to be a reason? “I don’t want to eat it.”
Since she couldn’t say to her face, ‘I don’t want to eat with you!’, Ayla just made up her mind and tried to go back to the annex. The longer she stayed outside, the more she felt like she would have to deal with Gerald who continued to bother her.
And Gerald had no intention of letting her go that easily.
“Don’t do that, come with me…” … .”
He stretched out his hand and tried to snatch Ayla’s wrist.
However, she did not allow him to touch her body. The first time she let her guard down and allowed him to stroke her head, but this time it was out of the question.
Ayla instantly turned around to avoid his hand, and Gerald could only watch her quick movements with a dumbfounded look on his face.
“… … “Do you have eyes in the back of your head? And why am I avoiding people so shamelessly?”
He scratched his cheek with an embarrassed expression. It was as if he couldn’t figure out what kind of girl could be so nimble.
And Ayla narrowed her eyes and looked at that figure.
If it had been her usual personality, she wouldn’t have just avoided it but would have counterattacked and bent Gerald’s arm back. She didn’t even know she was holding back because it was clear that if she did that, the situation would escalate and become more of a bother.
At that moment, someone appeared who could help Ayla escape from this situation…
