“Seoho-nim, you’re already awake? It’s only 7 o’clock.”
When Seoho didn’t give any answer and only looked at Puti, he approached Seoho closely.
“Seoho-nim? You’re not awake…, goodness! Seoho-nim, do you have a fever?”
Puti said his face had turned red and placed a hand on his forehead. Only then did Seoho realize that his entire face had flushed red.
‘What on earth was that just now?’
Puti’s voice, making a fuss asking if he was sick, scattered from far away. He felt really sorry, but because of what had happened moments ago, Puti’s voice didn’t enter his ears at all.
He knew that Rosetta was already quite physically affectionate, but still, this was the first time they had kissed like this.
‘What was that really?’
The more confused he became, the more he felt the heat rising.
“Your face is getting redder…”
At Puti’s words, Seoho unknowingly pulled the blanket and hid his face in it. Really, really, it was too embarrassing.
***
When all the lessons were over, Aris looked around then asked playfully.
“Seoho-nim, did you really tell His Majesty?”
The moment the word referring to His Majesty, Rosetta, came out, Seoho was startled and asked back.
“Pardon?”
When the desk shook from Seoho’s large movement, Aris grabbed the wobbling cup.
“Seoho-nim, are you alright?”
Seoho shook his head while lightly rubbing his knee that hurt from bumping into the desk. Because the sensation that had touched near his eyes came to mind, Seoho quickly opened his mouth.
“Ah, I was thinking about something else for a moment…, what did you say?”
Aris looked at Seoho’s leg worriedly, then asked.
“Did you tell His Majesty that he was interfering with the lessons?”
Come to think of it, he did seem to have made such a joke.
“Ah, not that. He said he’d be busy today.”
As the approaching lips came to mind once more, Aris narrowed his eyes and said.
“I see. Was it tomorrow? That the Saintess is coming.”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Are you worried? Your expression doesn’t look good.”
Certainly, he had been worried until yesterday. Rosetta had accepted Angel’s sudden request to visit. He had even said it was better to take some risks to understand the enemy’s intentions.
Of course, at the end of that, he had guaranteed that he would absolutely not be in danger.
It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Rosetta’s words, but still, it was true that he was bothered in various ways.
‘Since Angel is coming back, that dream is bothering me again…’
He studied letters and prepared to accept this world. In addition to that, he worked hard to handle holy power.
That way, naturally yet also on the other hand consciously, he tried to erase the memories of that day. Telling himself that Angel would let him know something, so he could pretend not to know until she contacted him.
But the escape was really brief. Along with the news of Angel, he had the illusion that the chilling cold sensation from that day was hovering around his ankles.
But perhaps because of Rosetta’s sudden action, honestly, today he couldn’t think about that at all.
Seoho was only smiling awkwardly when Puti interrupted.
“You really don’t seem well today. You seemed to have a fever this morning too.”
“Is that so?”
At the two people’s eyes full of worry, Seoho waved his hands.
“I wasn’t sick…, maybe the temperature in the room was a bit high.”
Before the same situation replayed in his head once more, Seoho threw out a new topic.
“So Aris, what are you going to teach me today?”
For the past few days, Aris had been continuously telling him about the Iakos Kingdom. It was because Rosetta had received reports that Angel had been having private meetings with the Iakos prince at the temple occasionally even after that day.
But Aris only shook his head with a troubled face.
“I’ve told you everything I know. I don’t think there’s any need to look into it further… Puti, do you know anything about the kingdom?”
“Not particularly, the kingdom doesn’t have any unique customs. Their culture isn’t very different from ours either.”
At the word culture, Seoho’s eyes sparkled as he looked back at Puti. Right, culture. This place was, strictly speaking, overseas.
Wasn’t a kiss something people did casually if they were close?
‘It wasn’t even the lips.’
There were countries on Earth that greeted by kissing cheeks.
‘But that’s the cheek, so is kissing near the eyes also a greeting?’
Cheeks and eyes seemed somewhat different.
‘Or not?’
Seoho glanced at Aris and Puti. The two were talking about what would be good to tell Seoho.
‘Should I not ask?’
But if it really didn’t mean anything special and he alone misunderstood and made things awkward with Rosetta, he might be hurt.
‘Right, not knowing isn’t strange.’
Seoho hesitated then opened his mouth.
“Um, Aris.”
“Yes?”
“I have a question.”
“Please go ahead.”
Seoho raised the corners of his mouth following Aris who was smiling kindly and asked as if it was nothing.
“This is not really related to what we were talking about before, but do people here kiss eyes as a greeting?”
“…Pardon?”
At that expression that was still smiling but somehow looked frozen, Seoho asked back anxiously.
“…They don’t?”
Seoho was staring intently at Aris when a loud laugh burst out from Puti beside him.
“Ahaha, Seoho-nim!”
Seoho, startled by the loud laughter, looked back at Puti, and Puti, his face full of laughter, answered as if telling him not to worry.
“Of course. There are such cases.”
Seoho’s eyes brightened.
“Ah, really?”
Puti nodded his head greatly.
“Yes, of course. If you’re close, something like a kiss is nothing.”
At the pure face that seemed to have no lies, Seoho felt relieved.
“…I see.”
So it was probably relief. The feeling of one corner of his heart that seemed blocked being cleared out.
And at the same time, it was also a bit strange…
‘Strange? What is?’
He was pondering what this strange feeling he didn’t even understand himself was when Aris called Puti with a dumbfounded face.
“Puti?”
Then Puti pulled up the corners of his mouth as if they would touch his ears and kindly suggested.
“Shall I pour you more tea, Aris?”
Aris, who had been looking back and forth between Seoho and Puti, held out his teacup as if he had no choice.
“Thanks.”
Puti filled Aris’s cup with tea and looked back at Seoho’s empty teacup.
“Hahaha, please have more, Seoho-nim.”
Seoho, who had been trying to define his emotions, emptied his mind and lifted his cup.
He didn’t know what emotion it was, but it didn’t matter if he didn’t define it right now. It wasn’t polite to think about other things in front of Aris and Puti either.
“…Thank you.”
Puti poured tea steadily and reminded him once more.
“Just think nothing of it. It’s all a sign of closeness.”
“I almost misunderstood. Thank you, Puti.”
Then Aris muttered quietly from the side.
“I wonder if this was the right thing to do or not.”
“Pardon?”
When Seoho looked back at him, Aris took out new paper as if it was nothing.
“It’s nothing. Since there’s nothing special to learn today, let’s just review.”
“Yes, let’s do that.”
“A test is a bit much, so just answer my questions.”
Seoho burst into laughter.
“Mm, is it different?”
At Seoho’s point, Aris shrugged his shoulders cheekily.
“The feeling is different.”
Well, it wasn’t like he was giving scores. When the questions began in earnest, Puti stepped back holding an empty teapot.
“Ahem, I’ll go out for a moment.”
When Seoho, who had been answering Aris’s questions, nodded his head, Puti quickly turned around and left the room.
A sigh that Seoho couldn’t hear burst from Puti’s mouth as he left the room. Puti, who roughly guessed why Seoho’s face had turned red this morning, stuck out his lips.
“What on earth did you do?”
After cursing the impatient Rosetta inwardly for a moment, Puti recalled Seoho’s anxiously wavering eyes and admired his own quick thinking.
“Thank goodness I covered it up well.”
As expected, even if Rosetta blamed Puti for being incompetent, Puti was truly an excellent chamberlain.
Puti proudly puffed out his chest forward and praised himself.
“Excellent!”
***
Before leaving the temple, Angel met with the prince once more.
She knew the higher-ups were carefully watching her continued meetings with the prince, but since it was often the case that those with sick family members kept seeking out Angel, the Saintess, with anxious hearts, it wasn’t like there were no excuses.
Angel narrowed her brow at the prince’s continued stubbornness. Her eyes were too dry because she had been repeatedly thinking while cutting down on sleep recently.
Angel squeezed her eyes shut then opened them and asked.
“Are you really going to hide your identity?”
“I’ll reveal my identity to the Emperor or the stranger, but I’ll hide my identity from others. If it’s revealed that the kingdom has a mirror, the temple will get quite noisy.”
As the prince said, if it was revealed that the mirror called a divine legacy was in the kingdom, the temple would try to retrieve the object.
So it wasn’t that she didn’t understand the prince trying to hide his identity. However, there was one problem.
“If you go around with attendants like this, everyone will quickly notice Your Highness’s identity.”
Even now, the prince’s attendants were swarming outside the room. But even at Angel’s point, the prince was unwavering.
