房客(糙汉)何璐程曜坤

"My prince, I'm so terribly sorry for causing you trouble...!"

The heroine stood up and bowed down apologetically to the blue-haired second prince.

"You don't need to apologize, it was all an accident - in the end, nothing happened – thanks to sir Zoemi."

The second prince smiled at her and even turned and smiled at the scarred attendant.

|Oh no – no way...! They look like they want to stay and talk with me – NO! I need to take Miriette and Horeo away from here before some other random event triggers...!|

Seeing that Zoemi barely held himself back and wanted to immediately grab his master and the first prince and dash away, but out loud he only said:

"Thank you, my prince, miss."

And bowed back at them almost as deep as the heroine.

Then – before the pair could have initiated another topic - Zoemi turned towards Horeo and Miriette without getting up from his knees.

"My lady, my prince. Forgive me for allowing this mishap to occur. My prince, if I may be so bold, I'd like to advise changing the location. If, for example, you and my lady will go to the tearoom, Teo and I could use the kitchen and prepare a fine meal for the two of you while Veo would clean this place so the prince Surou and his companion could enjoy their time here."

He declared hurriedly implementing his backup plan for the date of the two.

"I approve of that idea. Let's go with that."

Horeo took a few deep breaths and nodded.

"Thank you, my prince!"

Zoemi perked up and stood up, then he beckoned the twin in a butler's uniform and grabbed her hand before leading towards the building.

"...uuuu..."

Miriette didn't look in the attendant's direction, she turned towards Horeo, rested her forehead on his shoulder, and started sniffling as soon as Zoemi and one of the first prince's attendants were far enough so they wouldn't hear her.

"Now, now... you reckless idiot."

Horeo gently took her hand and started leading her away while his other attendant started cleaning the remains of the picnic food.

"...sh-shut uuuup... you-u clown...!"

Miriette cried back at him, letting him lead her like a lost child.

They continued to walk in silence, but before they entered the academy, Horeo stopped and turned around.

"Are you proud of yourself? For losing control like an angry toddler?"

He shook his head, glaring at the dark-haired girl with disapproval, knowing that he is out of sight for any prying eyes and ears.

"...no... but Zoemi made this food for us... and she just destroyed it all...!"

Miriette sobbed, wiping her eyes with both hands.

"She tripped! Seriously – you need to learn to control yourself more – that girl is just a commoner, but other nobles will see how you act towards someone of lower status and will judge you upon it! If your opinion will be bad - so will Zoemi's – do you want to make his life even harder?"

"N-no..!"

Horeo asked and Miriette shook her head so vigorously that her short hair flapped around.

---

Meanwhile, already inside the building, Zoemi was leading Teo to the kitchen.

"Veo didn't lie to me, right? Out of the two of you, you actually can cook, right?"

He asked anxiously.

"Indeed."

She confirmed with an emotionless voice.

Teo hasn't stopped wondering how exactly Zoemi was able to distinguish between her and her sister but she didn't allow herself to show it.

While in the kitchen Zoemi was picking the ingredients without a shred of hesitation even though he was making completely different things than what he planned for and prepared that morning.

"Wash and cut these into tiny pieces, but not too small, then take this, this, and this, and mix it together thoroughly. We're going to make pancakes with fruits and whipped cream so let's get started!"

The black-haired attendant gave short precise instruction and started working on his part of the task.

"..."

After a minute or two Zoemi glanced at Teo to see how's she doing but she hasn't even started.

"Don't tell me you can't prepare food after all!"

He exclaimed feeling betrayed.

"I can."

Teo pouted.

"Then why aren't you doing anything?"

The scarred attendant exclaimed in agitation.

"Veo told me. You've patted her head because she did a good job ."

The short brown-haired girl glared at Zoemi with accusation, causing him to tilt his head in confusion.

"You haven't given me head-pats after I did a good job yesterday!"

"...oh, for the love of..."

Teo was sulking and Zoemi rolled his eyes.

They didn't have time for this! Nearly half of the break was already over!

"Listen, if you'll do good now I'll pat your head for as long as you want, deal?"

He declared without putting much weight into his words, as he was feeling rather nauseous because his mana reservoir was filling up very slow.

"Indeed!"

The girl's eyes shone with a vigorous light and she started working even faster than Zoemi!

They stopped working once for a few seconds only for Zoemi to feed a piece of the pancake to Teo to check the taste.

Thanks to that everything was done in no time and soon both attendants were carrying the plates full of mouth-watering pancakes and a whole tea-set.

"My lady, my prince."

"Master, mistress."

"Ah! Zoemi, Teo! Great, come, come."

"..."

When they arrived they were welcomed enthusiastically by Horeo, but Miriette was clearly in a bad mood.

The delicious food lifted her mood momentarily but she spent the rest of that day's lessons looking dispirited.

Zoemi worked extra hard to fix the exquisite evening meal for her but she took only a few bites out of it, thanked him, and went to take a bath.

Zoemi waited for his master to come out.

After dozens of minutes, Miriette came out wearing a fluffy bathrobe and took a seat by her desk. Zoemi walked with a towel and started to dry her hair even though she had already done that herself.

...in Miriette's case, it was better to be safe than sorry after all...

When Zoemi decided that Miriette's hair had enough he took a brush and started brushing them with a smile.

"Did you start to hate me already...?"

Miriette asked in a weak voice and she sniffled.

"?!?!?!?!?!??!?!??"

Zoemi was stunned!

"M-my lady, how did you come up with such an outrageous idea – me hating you...!?"

He gasped so shaken that he almost dropped the brush.

"Because you looked so horrified when you stood between me and that girl...! I'm such an awful person...!"

Miriette turned her head around and looked up at Zoemi with tearful eyes.

"Aww, my silly lady...! No, you are not!"

Zoemi fell on his knees and grabbed Miriette's hand with a gentle expression.

"I wasn't terrified of you! I was scared that if you hurt the second prince you will get in trouble! I couldn't bear seeing you suffer in any way!"

The black-haired attendant covered Miriette's hand with his other hand and looked her in the eyes with a soft smile.

"There's absolutely no chance that I could ever hate you."

He said.

"R-really...?"

Miriette sniffled and her lips trembled.

"I swear."

Miriette needed a few minutes to calm down but after that, she finally returned to her normal self.

Zoemi finished brushing her hair and she finished her meal.

After that Zoemi took the empty dishes and left the room after wishing Miriette a goodnight.

If she wanted something else, she would call him using the message spell.

"Now then, time to train~ Those stone missiles have quite a lot of mana in them – I clearly fell them in the shadow storage... Before they disintegrate I can practice that spell on them... hope it will work...!|

He thought to himself while on the way to the kitchen.

"..."

Zoemi carefully looked around, making sure that no one else is around, and opened his mouth, closing his eyes and concentrating...

"Mana conversion."

He whispered.