The moment the door clicked closed, the two men left inside the office sighed loudly in relief, their shoulders drooping.

“I almost had a heart attack when she was attempting to leave.”

Lucious put his hands on his hip as he endeavored to let out his fear.

“Yeah, that was a close call. It would have been too difficult for you if she had exited the room.”

The crisis was only averted when Eleden insisted for Estelia to stay. Otherwise, if she left without anything else happening, Lucious might find it harder to speak with her. Likely she would even start avoiding him completely.

He couldn’t be more relieved that Estelia spoke to him right before she left and was in a better mood.

“Still, I never thought she would be affected with only that. I thought it would take way more than that…” Lucious said as he reflected on his actions.

He tried complimenting, or rather, flirting with the princess, but that took more effect than he had expected.

“Hmm, I agree. Even I was surprised… But it could also be because she may be becoming aware.”

“What? Aware of what?”

“Well, you.”

“Y-Yeah, no way. No way she would be aware.”

“Well, she should be aware now.”

“That’s…”

Lucious wasn’t sure if that was the case. But if she was aware, would that be a good or bad thing for him? Was her piecing together the puzzle better or worse? And it would have been better that Lucious himself should have expressed his feelings personally?

Seeing how she was, he had to take a more careful step in the future.

That aside, seeing her, captivated him more than he could remember. She was naturally very vibrant already, but it was even more when she was smiling. Her soft and smooth pale skin, he wanted to touch her even for just a moment, he had often made physical contact with her during childhood, but, as they got older, it was becoming more difficult to act like when they were kids.

And her eyes, those astonishing crimson eyes, they were deep and mystifying, he wanted to be lost in those vast depths. Her voice was so sweet that he wanted to hear it every day. Her platinum hair was more beautiful and radiant than any jewels. She was a treasure in his eyes, she was perfect in every way. His heartbeat intensified just remembering her.

“If that is the case, I hope it goes well.”

He never thought courting a girl would get this difficult. True he could be open with it here and then, but that would result in driving her away for good. He utterly didn’t want that. The deeper one’s feeling was, the more they wanted to be careful — and that was the case with Lucious.

“That aside, it was great to see her smile as always after what we learned.”

“Yeah, it felt bizarre… but I’m thankful to the gods that they have yet to take her from this world.”

Recently, they have learned that Estelia happened to have a fatal fall down the stairs that should have taken her life away. When Lucious heard about it, he was so horrified that his soul almost left his body. He couldn’t have imagined someone as delicate as Estelia would fall down the stairs that dangerously.

That close to death situation he heard flashed back to his mind when Estelia entered the room earlier. That was why he could not help but gaze closely at her, trying to look at every detail of her face. Every tiny detail.

She was lovely as always, how he loved gazing at her.

“To think my family would fail to tell me that…” Eleden quietly said.

“Still, I can’t think of the reason why someone would come after her. She shouldn’t be involved in something like this.”

Lucious pursed his lips in bitterness. It was a terrible notion that someone was after her life when she was never threatening at all. She was always the delicate and pure Princess Estelia, he cannot even imagine her able to step on a bug.

“No use mulling our heads without any information. For now, let’s focus on where we can.”

“Right… Ah, are you familiar with Estelia’s new knight?”

“Rogan, was it? Not really. But I know a few.”

“I only saw him a few times, but never really got to know him. What do you know about him?”

“You should ask Estevan about that. But what I do know is that he’s a carefree person, playful and that gives the impression he doesn’t take things seriously. He’s still one of the elites despite that. There’s also the part where he’s quite friendly with the commoner guards.”

“I see…” Lucious pondered one thing. “Him and Estelia, they were quite friendly to each other…”

There was a weird feeling in his chest that was unpleasant.

“What do you mean?”

“They spoke like they were already open with each other, it gives off that kind of feeling. Estelia n-never did that with me...”

He was feeling a bit threatened.

“Are you, perhaps by any chance, worried? No, rather, feeling jealous?” Eleden asked with furrowed brows.

“...” Lucious remained silent.

Was he jealous? Was that the case? He and Estelia had been friends since childhood, but that knight that she was supposed to have met only recently now interacted closely with each other more than Lucious and Estelia ever did. He was completely bothered about it.

“Ah, you are jealous.”

“... It’s just that, why him? I don’t understand. Judging on the description you had just said, and the way he acted earlier, he’s not the ideal knight at all. And him to be assigned as the princess’s knight? It’s unbelievable.”

“... Perhaps.” Eleden lowered his head as he pondered what this could imply. “Father was the one who assigned him, but he never talked about it with me. It’s hard to imagine Father was the one to personally select him when there are other suitable candidates.”

Lucious’s heart sank when he came to realize something.

“... Then the likely chance of him is because the princess recommended him?”

“Maybe, or there are other factors at play.”

“But…”

“This is bad, Lucious. This might mean that he caught Estelia’s eye.” He said with an amused smile.

Lucious drooped his shoulders.

“I’m joking. It doesn’t feel that way. And remember what I told you? Estelia is not an easy girl. Believe me, I’m her brother. There may just be other reasons that Father couldn’t tell me. There was a time when he and Estelia spoke privately, that may have something to do with it.”

But what could it be? Lucious had no idea.

“But there is something for certain… Hehe, you have another rival.”

Lucious walked towards one of the chairs and collapsed.

“I’m not gonna let that stop me.”

“Good determination. Without that, I would have not been in favor of you.”

“Lucky you, El. You already have a love life.”

“I was extremely lucky it seems.”

“Please give me a little free time.”

“Hmmm, let’s just see.”