“Then I’ll go. Take care, little brat.”

He turned away without hesitation.

It was as though he didn’t want to be in the mansion for a second longer.

Rieta quickly jumped up from her place.

“Tha, thank you.”

He didn’t really look back.

Instead, he said, “Of course you should be thankful. Taking away an old man’s snacks? Not very polite of you,” he grumbled bluntly.

Rieta tried to answer ‘I’m sorry’, but stopped

That probably wasn’t what he wanted to hear.

So Rieta decided to say something very different.

“You know?”

Sincere and close to the truth.

“I thought it was very . . . beautiful.”

“. . .”

“Grandfather’s most precious treasure.”

Perhaps he had wondered if she liked his story? His steps paused for a moment.

“Maybe even now, it is the most precious, amazing, beautiful and wonderful treasure in the Empire. In all the world.”

“I know already. You’re a smart girl.”

His tone was oddly slurred.

He still hadn’t looked back

Did he feel a little relieved?

She thought it would be nice if that was the case, but she heard his voice again.

“. . . Don’t get sick. You baby.”

It was a sad voice.

While Rieta was looking for something to say, he quietly opened the door and disappeared.

“Oh right.”

Rieta suddenly remembered the scarf, hanging from the nape of her neck.

She hurriedly tumbled out of bed and looked out the hallway, but he was already nowhere to be seen.

“Prin . . . cess?”

Instead, the dozing maid woke up from her sleep.

“Are you awake? Some snacks . . . God, you have a fever again. I’ll bring you some food and medicine, so please wait in your room. Alright?”

In the end, Rieta had no choice but to quietly return to her bed again.

* * *

Rieta cherished the meeting that had happened last dawn.

That meeting left Rieta with two souvenirs.

One was a warm scarf, and the other was . . .

“Huuu . . .”

It was symptoms of a more serious cold.

She had to sleep for more than half the day, drunk on medicine.

The Duke had declared war on this bitter cold.

And, for the victory of this war, he gave Noel an order.

“Noel, meeting the ill Princess is now entirely forbidden.”

It was a means to prevent the spreading of the cold, but there was one psychological effect that the Duke had overlooked.

These were the terrible side effects of the words entirely forbidden.

* * *

Noel was a good child who respected his father’s will, initially trying to obey the Duke’s orders.

He read a book without Rieta for a long time and took a walk in the garden.

Well . . . the quiet is nice.

When he was with Rieta, something noisy always happened.

I have returned to the life of an elegant Lord.

Of course, those thoughts didn’t last for very long.

He soon became bored.

But that had nothing to do with Rieta.

It was just that not one of his books was interesting.

Studying was boring, and his wooden sword seemed so heavy today that he didn’t want to bother wielding it.

How could he have such a bad day?

Noel paced around his room as though he were anxious.

He had been playing so much. He thought that it should have been dinner time by then.

He was surprised that it wasn’t even lunch time yet.

By this point, he had determined that someone must have been holding back the clock and preventing it from going.

There was no way that the day would stop like this just because he couldn’t play with Rieta.

What could he do to make his day enjoyable?

Then, suddenly, he remembered a conversation he had with Rieta a while ago.

“Noel, why don’t you listen to what the other person has to say, and occasionally do what that person wants you to do?”

“Why would I have to do such a troublesome thing?”

“Because the other person will be pleased.”

“Everyone will be happy just talking to me. Because I am Lord Mayer.”

“Ugh, we still have a really long way to go . . .”

At that time, Rieta had sighed heavily, shaking her head slowly.

At the time, he thought Rieta was saying something weird . . .

“Ah.”

Noel had a great realization and stood tall on the spot.

“What, that’s what you asked me to do?”

He wanted to compliment his genius brain.

Rieta was really shy, but there was no need to beat around the bush like that.

Anyway, it was cute to do the little things.

Noel thought about what Rieta wanted.

Of course, he could recall it this time without difficulty.

“Even a small snowman can be very cute if you decorate it well!”

He immediately came up with a good plan.

I’m going to make a little snowman and give it to Rieta!

If he puts it on the outside of the window sill, it won’t melt for quite a few days. A few days where Rieta would be able to be happy in the meantime.

Noel quickly grabbed his coat and gloves and went outside.