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People from both lands were able to cross the border with relative freedom.

“Can I . . . can I go . . .?”

When he realized something that he had never imagined, he was so startled that he immediately grabbed Elisha’s shoulders.

“Can I go?!”

“It’s not me you should ask, but the one who will soon rule over the land.”

Who would become the owner of the land? Of course, Rieta Liz!

Her father was a mess, while her younger brothers weren’t nearly as smart as she was.

“Okay, just wait. I’ll go and ask.”

Noel draped a robe over his pajamas and hurriedly ran out of his room.

Somehow, his steps were lighter. Was it because he had realized something new?

As a child, he had to stay in the mansion, but no longer.

Noel had become a ‘bad guy’, so he believed that he would do anything he wished to.

He arrived at Rieta’s door. A jarring knock sounded.

An answer came immediately. He opened the door wid, running straight to where Rieta sat.

“. . . Noel?!”

Rieta jumped up from her seat, startled.

She was surprised by his appearance, and even more so by his numerous scratches and his red- rimmed eyes.

“Listen well, Princess.”

“. . . ?”

“You must not return to the kingdom. Because you are a member of our Duchy.”

He said what he wanted to say first.

It felt better this time around.

“Ah . . . well . . . You know, Noel.”

But Rieta looked pretty troubled.

Bad girl. She was really thinking about going back.

However, as someone ‘worse than her’, Noel had also prepared an answer for that scenario.

“If you go to the kingdom, I will go too.”

“What?”

“So, choose between the two. Would you like to live here with me? Or would you like to live in the kingdom with me?”

Rieta doubted her ears for a moment.

She wondered why the content of the question was so absurd.

“Is there no option for us not to live together?”

“You are part of the Duchy. Of course we have to live together. If you are to be far away, I’ll be anx . . .”

Noel came close to telling the truth of his mind.

He snapped his mouth shut.

“Anxious? What?”

However, because her listening of the Imperial language was good, Rieta understood his cut off words.

“. . . You don’t have to know.”

He murmured his reply and took Rieta’s hand.

As if begging.

“So, answer me.”

Rieta looked at Noel, and sighed slightly.

Stupid Noel.

When he grew up a little more, the original story would start. By then, his only love would be passionate to the point where he could see nothing else.

What if Rieta teased him then? She would do so with today’s promise, asking something along the lines of ‘Would you like to go to the kingdom, just as you had said?’

At that time, would he hate it? Would he insist that he did not wish to be separated from his beloved?

When Rieta thought of the grown-up Noel, she smiled slightly.

Teasing him seemed like a lot of fun.

Shall she use the pretext of his not keeping his promise in order to ask him to buy her a present?

Then Noel would end up doing so, no matter how reluctant he might act.

Noel Mayer was a person who valued

promises.

“Alright, Noel.”

Rieta replied cheerfully at the end of her pleasantly imagined scenario.

“After you reach sixteen years of age, come to the kingdom with me.”

Noel was very happy with the permission to return, but he tried to fake calmness.

“Well, if you ask for that. I’ll go with you. Hmm.”

“You don’t have to force yourself to go.”

“I’m going!”

“. . . Really?”

“Yes. Why do you keep making a face that says that you don’t believe me?”

“It’s . . .”

Rieta recalled the unspeakable circumstances.

“It’s a secret.”

“Whose secret?”

“My own secret.”

“Even Elisha doesn’t know, does he?”

She had no idea why he would mention Elisha here, but Rieta nodded her head anyway.

“Oh, and it’s also a secret that I’m going to the kingdom.”

“We are going to the kingdom. I think it’s a shame to mess up such a simple subject.”

“Yes, yes. It’s a secret that we are going.”

If the King of Liz ever found out about this, he would be incredibly weary.

. . . Even if he were to find out, there was a good chance that he would forget it anyway.

“Okay.”

Noel gladly nodded his head, fixing his gaze on Rieta’s hand and grabbed it again.

He fully clasped her palm, intertwining their fingers one by one.

“I promise, Rieta Liz.”

It was close to an oath.

“Then I promise you, Noel Mayer.”

The two clasped their hands together and smiled.