‘Luce also knows that the house suddenly appeared, so it’s over. It’s all over now. I must order Radanum to erase Luce’s memory—the memory of me.’
“But with all due respect, Your Majesty, I have a few questions. I understand that we should send His Highness to Xenon alone. Servants of the exiled royal family and the escort is a luxury, and the more people move, the more lies—His Highness will tell.”
He remembered the words that Radanum, who glanced at himself, added.
“But what if, despite all this effort, someone finds out a little about His Highness, or if His Highness is exposed because of an accident?”
The Emperor spoke briefly.
“You’re going to have to erase their memory to the fullest so that they can forget even the fact that they forgot. Isn’t that your specialty?”
‘As expected, this was a luxury for someone like me.’
The only thing an imprisoned Prince can anticipate is an order, not a person.
The answer is fixed. He knows better than anyone else.
But Rev wasn’t willing to substitute Luce for the answer.
It was the time when Rev, who had just swallowed a heavy breath in his gloomy feeling, was the first to open his mouth.
“What’s wrong with your clothes?”
Clothes?
As if surprised, Luce, with round eyes, strode up the stairs and grabbed his hand.
Rev, who was being called, blocked the stairs to the second floor without even realizing it.
However, Luce didn’t seem to be curious about the second floor.
“Ah, you surprised me.”
Luce, who looked at Rev’s sleeve, sighed in relief.
“I thought you were hurt because your sleeves were red! I was so surprised.”
It was Rev who was rather surprised by Luce’s reaction.
His gaze fell. As she said, red blood had seeped at the ends of his sleeves, even though the wounds from Radanum had disappeared.
Rev, who was trying to hide his hand in a hurry, stopped at Luce’s words.
“That’s why I thought you were cut somewhere. Are you drawing something? You have to roll up your sleeves like this when you use paint, Rev.”
Many of Luce’s words as she folds his sleeves were wrong.
The red marks were blood, not paint, and they were really cut.
But Rev wanted one of her mistakes to be sincere.
“Luce.”
“Ung?”
The green eyes looking up at him from under the two steps were sweet.
“If it wasn’t paint, would you have been more surprised if it was blood?”
Contrary to Rev’s slow question, Luce’s answer was very quick.
“Would I be surprised? How much does it have to hurt to bleed like this?”
Luce, who hated it and shook his red sleeves, shook her head.
“Don’t say that, Rev. I’m scared just thinking about it.”
“You don’t want me to get hurt?”
“Ah, really. Of course I am. So don’t get hurt.”
“Even if I get better soon?”
“What do you do when you get better? It hurts until you get better.”
As if asking such a question, Luce lightly moved on. He didn’t know that those words would weigh heavily on the listener.
“Hurry up and come down. My mom cooked something delicious for us today.”
Rev, who had been standing stunned, went down the stairs one step at a time at Luce’s urging.
It was just going down the stairs, but he felt like he was breathing.
After talking to Radanum, Rev’s breath, which had been unstable on its own, became steady, as if he had found his way.
“I wanted to give it to you when it was warm, but it got cold.”
“It’s okay to be cold.”
“Ah, right. You don’t like hot food.”
Is that so?
Luce knows himself well.
Luce praised him for being smart and wise, but Rev felt her meticulousness was even greater and more special.
It’s like figuring out that he can’t eat hot foods and noticing his sleeves are stained red.
Because no one knew.
‘I’m glad you recognized me—but.’
I hope you don’t know some part of me, for a very long time.
Rev asked, knowing the meaning of that words.
“Luce.”
“Ung?”
“…Other places are fine, but please don’t come to the second floor.”
Somehow, he wondered if Luce would listen to this ridiculous request.
“Yes!”
Where is the spoon? Luce, who was overturning the cupboard, didn’t betray his tender faith.
“You don’t ask why?”
“When did you ever say no to me?”
Found it!
Luce found the large tablespoon and turned around with a smile.
“That’s the first rule you made, so I can listen to it.”
‘I guess it’s a place where you live your hobbies, right? I don’t know, but there must be something expensive.’
The blue light that flashed in a strange way must have been a craft or some kind of lighting.
“But don’t ignore my knock for too long. I’ll knock on the second-floor door if you don’t come out after knocking for a while.”
“I didn’t ignore it… I’ve been waiting. sorry. How many times do you knock for a long time?”
“Well, since I knocked 8 times today, it’s exactly twice as many as 16 times.”
“16 times. Okay. I will keep it.”
Luce thought as she saw Rev, who made a serious promise to a trivial joke today.
He’s a friend she can make fun of.
Rev was a friend to tease and a friend to feed.
She doesn’t know if it tastes good to him or if it’s because Luce is looking at it, but he ate Chelsea’s food well, unlike when he ate a cookie the size of a span.
It was a bit slow, though.
Luce smiled warmly as she saw her polite friend, who always politely thanked her and returned a cookie in return for the bowl he ate.
‘That’s why you say that wherever you go, you’ll be able to say hello in between. I feel proud just watching you eat.’
Rev’s eyes, which were drinking green medicine after the meal, remained in Luce’s hands for quite a long time.
“Oh, right! I’m here to talk about this.”
Luche, holding the flyer, coughed.
“Rev, the time has come.”
Rev tilted his head at her serious tone.
“What do you mean the time has come?”
“It means the time has come to show off your coolest side to this Rodante estate.”
“My coolest side—?”
Rev, who had an expression that he didn’t understand the situation, was cute.
Luce smiled and unfolded the paper.
“The Rodante Festival held once every three years! Let’s go to the competition together.”
Rev took the flyer and started to read it carefully after Luce grabbed it and opened it halfway.
Rodante Festival is held on the side of town for two days.
Anyone can enjoy the festival, but the main event is from 13 to 17 years old.
Reading the flyers, Rev’s eyes stopped at the competition’s theme.
“…Luce, it’s a great competition for you, but I don’t think it’s for me.”
At this point, being humble seemed to come out of him like an instinct instead of a habit.
Luce waved her hand. Who would go out if such a smart kid didn’t participate in a quiz contest?.
“You’re not under 12 or over 18 years old, are you?”
“Of course no.”
“Then that’s enough! I can assure you, there’s no one better than you in this estate.”
Rev seemed to think for a long time at the firm answer.
As Rev’s silence grew longer, Luce fell into thoughts at the same time.
Is it because he’s afraid of losing? For smart kids, exams can be burdensome. But my goal is not to be number one.
The prize money is also a prize, but she thought it would be fun to watch the festival together.
She thinks that if she says she’s going with Rev, Chelsea will let her stay out a little longer.
Luce leaned slightly and whispered.
“I actually want to watch the festival with you, Rev.”
She took the flyer that Rev was staring at and saw his expression.
Rev’s ears were red as he blinked when she said she wanted to go with him.
“I think it’s going to be fun. We’ll buy delicious food, and we’ll see the Rodante estate.”
“….”
“Well, it would be nice to participate in the contest and win the prize!”
Rev, who was looking at Luce with a smile, lowered his gaze.
“It won’t be difficult for you to win the prize, Luce. But I.”
“Ey, what do you mean?”
Rev, who was fiddling with the back of his neck, looked up at Luce’s words.
“If you don’t like it, you can say no, I can go with Dominic.”
Dominic, the boy with the scar on his face.
He could tell that Luce was speaking with consideration for him.
She said it was okay, but her face was full of disappointment.
But somehow, he felt sick when he imagined Luce eating something delicious with the boy and smiling happily while looking around the village.
Rev opened his mouth.
“No.”
“Ung?”
“Let’s go together, Luce.”
Luce, who was folding the flyer, was delighted.
“Really? Will you come with me?”
“Ung…I’ll work hard to prepare.”
“What are you getting prepared for? You just need to show up!”
She waved her hand and threw the flyer in the trash, happy that Rev had let her.
Luce didn’t know.
The letters left on the leaflet, which had been folded and unfolded repeatedly, were {Rodante Lordship – Z Contest} and {Mr & Miss Rodante Contest}.
Needless to say, what Rev saw was the latter.
‘…Luce said I was the coolest person. Luce knows me well, but do I have such a thing?’
Rev’s mind was suddenly complicated by the {Mr. & Miss Rodante Contest} but he laughed a little as soon as Luce waved her hand excitedly.