Noel's eyes fluttered open. He felt like there was something missing and realized that Frederic wasn't inside. The spot next to him was cold and the curtains were still tightly closed.

"…"

He didn't know when they have arrived back at the castle seeing that he was sleeping in Frederic's room. What was strange, was that Frederic didn't wake him up as usual.

He probably woke up because Frederic's lingering warmth has diminished. He really has gotten too used to sleeping with Frederic. But Frederic said he wasn't going to get married soon, so it should be fine.

Noel sensed that Frederic's energy was thick inside the room. The window and doors were cast with several protection spells by him. Noel wondered if Frederic forgot that he was a devil ancestor, but Frederic's worry for him made him happy.

The curtains slid open. The day outside was bright. The clock inside Frederic's room showed it was around mid-day. Usually, Frederic would wake him up around this time to make him eat lunch.

He floated up and peeked out the window. He sensed Frederic was in that direction and indeed saw him in the garden. There was an area there with tables and chairs to have afternoon tea at. Frederic was there with someone.

Noel remembered she was the yellow-dressed lady from the party. Frederic said her name was Elvestine.

They were chatting harmoniously with tea and snacks on the table. Elvestine laughed elegantly at something that Frederic said. Frederic also has a constant smile on his lips.

Noel felt his eyes sting, unknown from the bright sun or something else. His chest felt tight, and he aggressively shut the curtain back.

Frederic said he wasn't good at dancing, but he actually was very skillful at it and danced with the girl. He said he wasn't going to marry, but he forgot about him to have tea with his soon-to-be wife.

"Liar." He muttered.

Noel looked at Benny on the floor. For some reason, it didn't look as soft as usual. His smoke emerged and angrily ripped off one of its flippers.

He took out his necklace and called Kahel. Kahel promptly answered.

"Noel? You found the stone?!" he asked excitedly.

"I want to go home. Transfer me back."

Kahel calmed down, "Why? You quarreled with that human?"

"No, he's going to get married."

"…" Kahel didn't know how to respond since this wasn't his forte, "Fine. Don't cut off the call."

Noel looked at Benny one more time. He hesitated but eventually decided to take it with him when the spell activated.

Once he vanished from the room, his body crashed down to a table full of messy items. Some liquid spilled, some items broke, and many things fell to the floor. Noel looked at the frozen Kahel standing on another side of the room with enough empty space.

Kahel, "…"

Noel, "…"

"Alrgava's coordination is too complex." Kahel defended himself.

In the palace's garden, Frederic noticed some movement from the curtains in his room. When he looked up, it was still closed like before. Noel hasn't woken up for another 3 days, so he chose to have lunch here so that he could see once Noel woke up.

A while later, he and Cecille saw a faint light glowed shortly from his room before returning back to normal. Frederic instantly felt that light was something bad and anxiously stood up from his chair.

He wanted to head there but was blocked by Kaius, "Frederic, what do you think you're doing, leaving Lady Cecille in the middle of lunch like that?"

"Brother, something happened in my room." Frederic solemnly said.

"Just from his energy alone, Noel is stronger than you. He can take care of himself. I will send someone there to check. Are you going to break our deal? It's not even half a week yet."

"Nobody can enter my room except for me and him."

Kaius frowned, "Then there's nothing you can do except to inactivate that spell."

Frederic gritted his teeth and walked back to the garden. He sat down and posed a smile, "I apologize for my behavior, Lady Cecille."

"It's alright, Prince Frederic." Cecille blushed from his smile.

At dinner, Cecille joined the royal family for the meal. The Queen was very pleased by Frederic and Cecille's constant interaction lately and spoke endearingly to her. Frederic's smile was impeccable. Although it didn't reach his eyes, because he often smiled politely at people, nobody in the room noticed it.

"Frederic, why haven't you touched your food?" the King asked.

"I am still full from earlier lunch, dear father."

"That is too bad. Tonight's dessert is your favorite fruit tart." The Queen spoke.

"That really is a pity, dear mother."

After dinner, they returned back to their room. Frederic went to his temporary bedroom and sat on his bed. He hasn't been sleeping these past few days. He couldn't sleep at all and even became agitated once his body lied on the bed.

He wanted to check his room very badly, but his brother kept someone to watch his room. If their parents knew about his feelings towards Noel, they would definitely separate him from Noel permanently in any way possible. For example, forced him to marry Cecille.

That would be the worst outcome, so he needed to be patient.

He stood up and changed to his training clothes and left his room with his sword.

Even after training rigorously for several hours, his eyes refused to shut. He lied down on the grass and watched the stars absentmindedly before continuing his training after catching up his breath.

This continued until morning came. He took a quick wash and went for breakfast. Seeing the food on the table reminded him that Noel hasn't eaten anything yet. Fortunately, he didn't need to eat to live, but it still made him feel terribly guilty and worried. He couldn't even bring himself to touch the utensils.

Should he really undo the spells? But even if he did, Noel wouldn't wake up unless it was him who woke him up. It would just disturb his sleep if some random person entered his room. He also didn't trust that his brother wouldn't do anything to Noel.

"Good morning, Prince Frederic."

Cecille entered and smiled brightly at Frederic. Frederic returned her smile, "Good morning, Lady Cecille."

He continued fulfilling his end of the deal. Cecille said she wanted to go to the town, so he brought her there. When she said she liked something, he would buy it for her. When she said she wanted to eat this and that food, he would bring her to the best restaurant. When she talked about something and wanted his response, he would give it accordingly.

Once evening came, they returned back to the castle and had dinner with the family. Frederic didn't touch his food just like the past few days and went to train after that.

Several guards who were on night duty didn't dare to come close to Frederic's training area. They heard that their pitiful colleagues who were unluckily patrolling there were forced to spare with the prince and got beaten mercilessly.

The story spread among the guards and now they couldn't help but tense up whenever they saw Frederic, taking extra care not to get noticed by him. His smile, which was usually pleasant to look at, became the source of the shivers that ran down their spine.

Every time they saw Cecille courting death, they really wanted to drag her away before she snapped Frederic's last remaining string.

When the last day of the week finally arrived, Frederic greeted the day as usual. He felt his vision was blurry and somehow his body was a bit cold, but he didn't think too much about it. He couldn't really remember what happened the day before, but the important thing was it would be over today.

He could go to Noel tonight and get a good night's sleep.

He was heading for breakfast when he met Phillip and Diaz who was also going the same way.

Diaz noticed Frederic seemed off. His eyes were dangerously red with deep black circles, his cheeks were sunken, his lips were chapped, his skin was pale, and his body was a lot thinner than a few days ago.

"Prince Frederic…are you feeling alright?"

"I am perfectly fine, Lady Diaz."

Phillip looked at him more, "You don't look fine."

Frederic realized he probably forgot to renew the illusory spell.

He raised his palm and cast the spell on his face. When his hand lowered, his figure looked as healthy as usual, "Thank you for your reminder, Brother Phillip, Lady Diaz."

They watched in disbelief as Frederic entered the dining hall.

"But that wasn't even a reminder…" Phillip muttered.

Not long after, Cecille arrived and greeted them all before sitting next to Frederic. Diaz watched concernedly as Frederic talked to Cecille with his usual smile.

"Phil, there's definitely something wrong with Prince Frederic."