He led her to the estate’s large kitchen.

It was empty now because everyone’s working hours were long over.

“Noel?”

“Ssh.”

“Ssh..?”

She seemed to be asking why they should be quiet.

To explain this, Noel tried to communicate through a charade.

If I am caught, I’ll die.

It was natural.

The princess and prince were not allowed to rob the kitchen.

Next, he lightly traced Rieta’s neck.

You’ll also die.

Was she nervous about his harsh explanation?

Rieta looked at him with wide open eyes.

Did he scare her too much?

He stopped trying to add more to the explanation.

Rieta’s stomach was once again gurgling.

Noel began searching the dark kitchen.

He opened a large pot and looked into the food storage box.

In the end, they found some dirty vegetables and potatoes.

There was nothing to eat right away. He thought there was always something like bread.

After a long search for food, he realized that Rieta, who had been following him right behind him, had disappeared.

He looked around in surprise and saw her squatting in a dark corner.

“What are you doing?”

She showed him the bottle of sugar she was holding, facing him directly.

“That’s not a meal, stupid.”

“I like this one.”

“Sugar?”

Rieta turned the big lid around and opened it as if to prove it.

The sweet smell came to her. It was the smell that she missed.

“Yes, I like it.”

She dipped the tip of her finger in sugar and licked it.

It reminded her of the old days.

Still reminiscing, she hurried to dip her finger in sugar again.

“Is it delicious?”

Noel frowned and asked, so she held out a bottle of sugar.

As if she wanted him to try it.

“E-enough!”

He tried to refuse, but Rieta eating it like it was delicious made him poke his fingers into the sugar.

It was sweet. It wasn’t good because it was too sweet.

Besides, he hated sweets immensely.

Rieta said, ‘Isn’t it good?’ and dipped her finger in again, so he couldn’t help but taste more.

They were busy dipping sugar in their mouths when their eyes met.

Rieta’s mouth, as well as the sparkling sugar in her hair, made him laugh.

Why did she relish it so much?

“You just had to eat well at mealtime in the first place.”

He scolded her.

Even though he knew she wouldn’t understand.

Rieta didn’t ask about what he said.

Instead, she began to talk about other things in the language of the kingdom.

Without her knowing, it naturally came out so.

“There is… You know, sometimes when I made my father angry, I couldn’t get any dinner.”

Noel, of course, could not understand at all what she was saying.

Usually, he would have grumbled, saying, ‘Stupid princess, speak Imperial language in the Empire.’

But now, nothing has been said.

She just fiddled with the sticky sugar.

“If I can’t eat, then the maid can’t eat, right?”

Rieta once again dipped in sugar.

“But the maid would sneak sugar from the kitchen and put it in my mouth. She was afraid I would be hungry.”

The maid who spoke like that must have been hungry all day because of all the hard work.

“She’s a really nice person, isn’t she?”

She smiled, leaning her face slightly on her knees.

Her gold hair fell along her cheek.

“….”

Noel quietly thought over her story.

The intonation and facial expressions.

He thought he could understand why, and what she was saying.

Rieta must have told him something precious to her.

Probably something of someone important in the Kingdom of Liz.

“Do you want to go back?”

He asked without her knowing. Frustrated, he quickly changed the question to an easy one.

“Princess.”

First, he pointed his finger at her face.

“Kingdom Liz.”

He pronounced her country slowly.

“Do you want to go?”

He used ‘go’ since she knew those words.

“…Yes.”

Fortunately, his words seem to have reached her.

She was worried about her answer.

“Uh-huh..”

Her troubles grew a little more

In fact, she had no choice but to say so.

No matter how hard it was for her growing up, it was her home.

Her father gave Rieta a hard time but there were still many friendly people.

But when she returned, she would lose the benefits of learning again.