Chapter 12

Dorothy.

A maid who has worked for the Valencia Duchy for a long time.

Since childhood, she has served as the personal maid of Princess Rebecca, the only daughter of the Valencia Duchy.

Always grumbling but caring for her own people, Princess Rebecca, and the Valencia family, who are unusually sincere about the welfare of their servants, made this the best job for her.

“As expected, our young lady is the best.”

Perhaps because of this, she was more loyal to her young lady, Rebecca, and the Valencia Duchy than anyone else.

However.

“Duchess!!”

Today, it seemed she had to set aside her loyalty to her young lady for a moment.

At first, she had no thoughts.

“Young lady? May I come in to clean?”

She had simply gone to her young lady’s room to clean, following her usual routine.

*Knock knock*

“Lady Rebecca?”

But no matter how much she knocked and called her young lady’s name.

No response came from inside the room.

“Is she asleep?”

Knowing that her young lady, Rebecca, sometimes enjoyed an afternoon nap, she thought she must be sleeping and quietly opened the door slightly.

And this decision could be said to be the most correct one in her life.

Inside the young lady’s room, there was someone else besides her young lady.

‘…Prince Albert?’

That person was none other than Prince Albert Zernias, her young lady’s fiancé.

Dorothy also knew that the prince occasionally visited the duchy to meet her young lady.

So, until then, she had no particular thoughts.

Until her young lady, with a slightly reddened face, boldly approached her fiancé.

It was a scene that could have come straight out of the romance novel she read yesterday.

‘Kyaaaaaaah!’

Dorothy completely covered her mouth with her hand and screamed internally.

‘I knew the two of you were close, but for the young lady to take the initiative!’

Among the servants of the Valencia Duchy, Rebecca and Albert’s relationship was quite famous.

– Welcome! Prince Albert!

– Dorothy, was it? Nice to see you.

Prince Albert had visited the Valencia Duchy Mansion so often that he even knew the name of a mere maid like her.

And every time he visited, he always spent time alone with her young lady.

Even the most oblivious person couldn’t fail to notice this.

Unlike the typical arranged marriages of nobles, it was clear that Princess Rebecca and Prince Albert were engaged out of love.

– …Me? With him? You’re joking, right?

Of course, when she teasingly asked about their relationship, her young lady would vehemently deny it.

But everyone in the Valencia Duchy knew that her reaction was out of embarrassment.

From Dorothy to the other servants of the duchy, even Duke Valencia and the Duchess.

That’s why Dorothy was even more moved by the current situation.

‘My young lady, who always denied it… is taking the initiative to approach the prince…’

If she had any talent for drawing, she would have wanted to capture that moment in a painting to cherish forever.

Up to that point, she was satisfied with her young lady’s grown-up behavior.

But her young lady, with a determined expression, continued to approach Prince Albert.

‘No way…’

Dorothy thought ‘no way.’

She thought her young lady, who was so shy, wouldn’t be able to express affection to that extent yet.

But Dorothy’s expectations were completely off.

*Mwah*

What Dorothy witnessed was the scene of her blushing young lady kissing Prince Albert.

‘Kyaaaaaaaah!’

She screamed something that wasn’t even a scream internally.

The scene was that shocking.

Her young lady, who always hid her feelings out of shyness, was openly expressing her love like that.

She was so moved and proud of her young lady’s growth.

– Dorothy…?

She didn’t even notice that her young lady was looking at her with trembling eyes.

– How much… did you see…?

Dorothy, panicking at the thought of being caught spying on her young lady’s affection, blurted out anything.

– I… I didn’t see anything! I didn’t see you kissing Prince Albert!!

After blurting that out.

“Sorry!!!”

She quickly chose to leave the scene.

“Duchess!! Where are you!!”

To quickly tell her mistress, the Duchess, about what she had seen.

Another maid who saw Dorothy running around that day testified that it was the first time she realized Dorothy could run that fast.

***

Silence.

Could there be a colder silence than this?

Just a moment ago, Rebecca’s room had an oddly tense atmosphere.

But now, only a cold wind was blowing.

“…”

In contrast to the chilly atmosphere, Rebecca’s face was as red as her hair, looking like it was about to explode.

Her hands tried to cover her face, but her small hands couldn’t completely hide her flushed cheeks.

‘…Why was Dorothy there…’

I also couldn’t easily speak while looking at Rebecca like that.

I hadn’t expected at all that someone would see us like that.

Dorothy, Rebecca’s loyal maid, wouldn’t have burst into the room without knocking.

Perhaps we were so focused on the moment that we didn’t hear her.

“…Princess?”

“…”

Even when I called her softly to check on her, only endless silence responded.

And then the awkward atmosphere continued.

I felt like even moving a finger would be wrong.

Of course, strictly speaking, it was my fault for suggesting the kiss.

But staying in this awkward atmosphere wasn’t something a person should do.

“Princess Rebecca.”

I decided to take a slightly firmer approach.

When I called her by her full name.

“…Why are you calling me like that?”

Only then did Rebecca remove her hands from her red face and look at me.

Her face was still as red as a ripe apple.

But it seemed much better than before.

“Are you okay?”

“Do I look okay to you?”

Rebecca pointed at her face as if asking if I was serious.

It was pitiful but also cute to see her so embarrassed.

“Don’t be too embarrassed.”

“How can I not be embarrassed…?”

Rebecca immediately snapped back at my suggestion not to be too embarrassed.

Her expression looked truly wronged.

So, I decided to kindly explain why she shouldn’t be embarrassed.

“As I mentioned earlier, other engaged couples don’t think much of this.”

“…”

“In fact, if we tell others, they’ll think it’s strange that we’ve been engaged for three years and haven’t done anything.”

I didn’t really know if other engaged couples thought like that.

It was natural since I hadn’t properly entered social circles yet.

But one thing was certain.

It wasn’t normal for Rebecca and me to have been engaged for three years and done nothing but fight.

What kind of engaged couple in the Empire only thinks about how to outdo each other every time they meet?

‘…Thinking like this, I really seem like a madman.’

I decided not to deny the sudden self-reflection.

Even I couldn’t call myself normal.

“…Still.”

Rebecca still seemed unconvinced.

Her slightly hesitant expression still seemed embarrassed about being seen by Dorothy.

“So… did you like it?”

“Huh?”

“I asked if you felt good when you kissed me.”

“Did I… Did I go crazy to feel good in that situation!”

Rebecca immediately denied, her face turning red.

She even shook her head vigorously.

Seeing Rebecca strongly deny, I nodded.

“Then it’s fine.”

“What’s fine since earlier…”

“If you didn’t feel anything, then it doesn’t matter if Dorothy saw us, right?”

“…”

Rebecca seemed at a loss for words.

She was probably thinking something like this internally.

‘Is that so? Why am I embarrassed if I didn’t feel anything?’, ‘If I don’t care, then it doesn’t matter if Dorothy saw, right?’, ‘No. But as a princess, showing such an embarrassing side…’

After pondering for a while, the princess finally looked straight at me and spoke.

“Then what about you?”

“Huh?”

When I reacted as if I didn’t understand the question.

“…Did you like it? When I… did that… to you.”

The gaze that had been looking straight into my eyes was now averted.

Rebecca was speaking with her head slightly turned.

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