Chapter 9
“Hmm…… I really can’t figure it out.”
I muttered while lying on the bed and looking at the paper where I had scribbled an unknown drawing.
Aside from the existing characters, there were two new characters.
Duke Lisian and High Priest Julios.
The favorability level did not seem to be displayed with numbers, but only with colors. If that was the case, what did the color purple represent?
“Purple…… What in the world does purple mean…….”
“What are you looking at so seriously?”
“Ah!”
Emma had approached without me noticing and was looking at the paper I was holding.
“Is this an ancient code?”
She carefully examined the paper before turning to ask me.
“No.”
Ancient code?
Although it might look messy, I had actually arranged the drawings and words in a very orderly way.
“Emma, what kind of feeling do you get when you see purple?”
Maybe I had been thinking about it too complicatedly. If I thought about it simply and one-dimensionally, maybe I could find the answer.
“Purple?”
“Yes.”
“Hmm…… An elegant feeling?”
“And?”
“And…… um…… I’m sorry.”
She closed her eyes and kept thinking, but when she couldn’t come up with anything, she shook her head and apologized to me.
“Then what comes to mind when you see purple?”
“Hmm…… grapes, blueberries, lilacs, lavender…… amethyst?”
Even if I thought about it simply, I still didn’t know.
For now, I felt like I would have to observe it a little longer.
“But Emma, why did you suddenly come?”
“A guest has arrived.”
“A guest? Who?”
“They said they are from Hir Shop.”
“Hir Shop?”
“I’ll go soon, so guide them to the reception room.”
“Yes, understood.”
It seemed the magic tool I had ordered was finally completed.
Still wondering about the favorability level, I hurried toward the reception room.
When I opened the door to the reception room, I saw a child-sized version of Heron sitting there.
“Hello!”
He stood up from his seat and greeted me with a bright smile.
I looked down at Heron once, then sat down without returning his greeting.
After sitting on the sofa, I silently stared at him as he looked at me.
Above Heron’s head, there was still a sparkling purple circle.
“Lady?”
Since I only stared at him without saying anything, Heron seemed troubled.
“He is cute like this too, but……”
I muttered and stood up from the sofa before walking toward him.
Heron flinched when I approached him and soon became restless.
“Lady……? Why……”
I sat close beside Heron and gently lifted his chin with my hand.
I turned his face left and right while carefully observing him.
Heron blinked his eyes in surprise as he looked at me.
“Hmm…… As expected…… I prefer your adult appearance.”
I brought my lips close to his ear and whispered.
Heron was startled and covered his ears with both hands.
“W-what do you mean?”
His face was completely red from his neck to the tips of his ears as he looked at me.
His reaction was amusing, so I looked at him and laughed.
I had only done the same things he used to do to me, saying that he liked my beautiful face.
Seeing him react like this gave me a strange feeling, and I could only laugh.
“When I look at your eyes, I think of your master.”
“My?”
“Tell your master this. I want to see those pretty eyes, so next time, come personally.”
“……”
“I’ll give you the remaining payment when your master comes himself.”
After I finished speaking, Heron seemed to fall into thought for a moment.
“What are you doing? Leave the item behind and go.”
He smiled in a way I couldn’t understand and brushed his hair back.
“Then, I’ll see you again soon.”
Had he decided to stop pretending to be a child?
After saying only that, he left the reception room.
“Lady, hello?”
“I didn’t know ‘soon’ meant the very next day.”
“Kukuk, I said we would meet soon.”
Heron laughed playfully while looking at me.
After he left the reception room yesterday and I returned to my room, there was a letter waiting for me on the table.
It said that he would come to receive the remaining payment the next day and asked me to meet him at the café in front of the plaza at 10 a.m.
And so, I was currently looking at Heron smiling brightly in front of me early in the morning.
“Still, you came personally today?”
“Someone likes my face too much.”
“Your hair is blonde today?”
“Yes. How is it? I look more handsome, right?”
Last time, he had brown hair. Today, blonde hair.
But his true hair color was different.
“Hmm…… Why don’t you show me your original hair color?”
“……”
After my first regression, during my second playthrough when I pursued Heron, I learned his secret.
He was the Emperor’s illegitimate child.
To hide that fact, he always changed his hair color with magic.
“When our relationship becomes a little closer, I’ll think about it.”
Heron stared at me silently before smiling slyly.
“But blonde suits me very well.”
That was true.
I could feel that everyone in the café was looking at him.
Still, my preference was more toward Lisian……
Ding.
At that moment, someone opened the café door, and the murmurs of the people became louder.
“Oh my, oh my! Today is a day for my eyes to be blessed!”
“That’s right. To see two people with such perfect faces in the morning.”
“It’s my first time seeing Duke Somernet come to a place like this.”
“He is usually someone difficult to see in high society.”
“That’s right.”
“I’m curious about that blonde man.”
“Right? Who is the man sitting with Lady?”
Among the murmurs, I clearly heard the words Duke Somernet.
Thinking it couldn’t be, I turned my head to look at the person who had just entered the café.
There stood Lisian with a young lady beside him.
Perhaps he heard the whispers too, because he turned his head and looked toward where I was sitting.
“I’ve never seen Duke Somernet with a woman before.”
“Haha, me neither.”
At Heron’s words, I felt something irritating rise inside me.
When I asked him to meet me, he never came because he was busy with work.
And after returning from the duchy, couldn’t he have contacted me?
This was definitely because of Lisian’s lack of manners.
That was why I was annoyed.
“Lady, where are you going?”
“Wait here.”
I stood up and walked toward Lisian.
The closer I got to him, the louder the whispers around us became.
“Duke, it’s been a while.”
“Has it?”
Has it?
Was that all he had to say?
“Well……”
“Oh my, Lisian, who is this person?”
Just as I was about to speak again, the young lady beside him linked her arm with Lisian’s and looked at me.
She had ordinary brown hair, a round face, a cute image, and a charming way of speaking.
“Who are you?”
“I’m Agnes Berkshire from the Berkshire Count family.”
“I see.”
After hearing her introduction, I looked back at Lisian.
“So, did you have a good trip to the duchy?”
“Yes.”
“You could have at least contacted me.”
“……”
“Oh my, you didn’t know? He returned yesterday!”
Berkshire family, was it?
I didn’t understand why she had been interfering since earlier.
“Lady, I……”
“You are a lady of the duchy! I didn’t recognize you because you are so different from the rumors!”
That strangely mocking tone.
Was I just being too sensitive right now?
“Lady, there aren’t any seats available. Could we sit together?”
I hadn’t even answered yet, but she pulled Lisian and headed toward the table where Heron was sitting.
“You brought a guest, Lady?”
I didn’t bring him because I wanted to.
With Heron and Lisian sitting together, I could feel even more attention from the people around us.
Among all the whispers directed toward us, our table was the only place where the sound of drinking tea could be heard.
Except for one person.
“Lisian, this place is delicious, right?”
“……”
“This place is really, really famous.”
“……”
“I was saving it because I wanted to come here with you, but I came with Lisian instead.”
“……”
“I’m nice, right? I did well, right?”
“Yes, you did well.”
“Hehe, then pat my head.”
Agnes, who had been sitting close beside Lisian and talking endlessly, suddenly asked him to pat her head and lowered her head toward him.
Then Lisian gave a faint smile and gently patted her head.
Heron and I stared at them blankly, feeling ridiculous.
“But what kind of relationship are you two?”
Good job, Heron.
I had been curious too.
What kind of relationship did they have for her to act so casually with him?
“My grandfather and Lisian’s grandfather were close, so our families have been close for generations!”
“So that’s why you two are so comfortable with each other?”
“Yes! We grew up like family!”
Agnes smiled sweetly at me and rested her head on Lisian’s shoulder.
“And what kind of relationship do you have with Lady?”
I had been looking out the window so I wouldn’t have to look at Agnes.
But at Lisian’s question, I turned my head toward him.
Agnes also looked surprised by his question and turned to look at him.
“Us? We are in a very…… secret relationship.”
Heron smiled at Lisian while wrapping his arm around my shoulder.
At his answer, Lisian’s brows furrowed.
“That’s right. We are in a very secret relationship.”
At my answer, I felt Lisian’s eyes tremble.
“Then what does this person do?”
“Me? I……”
Heron smiled.
“I just run a shop.”
“Oh my, you run a business. Then which family are you from?”
“I’m not a noble.”
“Oh my! Then this is a love that crosses social status……”
“Shh. Lady, we have something to do alone, so let’s leave.”
Heron grabbed my shoulder and stood up, taking me with him.
“What……”
“Shh. I just helped you, Lady.”
Until we left, Agnes continued chattering beside Lisian.
Lisian only silently watched us leave the café.
“What was that?”
After entering an alley a little away from the café, I shook off Heron’s hand and looked at him.
“Why? I helped you.”
“What do you mean……”
“Lady, don’t you have feelings for that man?”
“……”
Since he was someone who could save my life, it might be true that I was interested in him.
“Hmm…… Well, if not, then forget it.”
I handed Heron the pouch filled with money and spoke.
“Take it. Our contract is over now.”
“……”
“Let’s never meet again.”
I left the alley while leaving him silently staring at the money pouch.
“Lady, let’s meet often from now on.”
I didn’t hear his final words.
