“….”

At this point, when he was preparing for the divorce, what was all this flirting lesson for? Jade asked, knowing that it couldn’t be true but still holding out hope.

“Your Excellency. You’re not… in love, are you?”

“No.”

Well then, that was that.

Just as Jade was about to feel relieved, all of a sudden—

“Do you think I’m doing this because I want to?”

“…What are you saying? You’re in love, Your Excellency? Who are you courting, the cheater?”

“That’s not it.”

“What do you mean, that’s not it?! Be honest with me. Even though it was a marriage of convenience, you were attracted to the Grand Duchess, weren’t you?”

“Yes.”

Jade was a little surprised. Even though he had asked the question, he hadn’t expected him to answer so honestly, so it came as a surprise.

“You’ve never been interested in women before, not even a little bit, and the first person you’re attracted to turns out to be a cheater. How heartbroken must you be? Even I would think about courting a cheater.”

“That’s not it either.”

Although he seemed to be honest, he lied again. It seemed that he didn’t want to admit it with his own mouth. He mentioned that he hated cheaters so much, so it must be embarrassing for him to change his mind suddenly.

Seeing that her master still couldn’t be honest about his desires, Jade decided to help him out.

“Yes, yes. Of course.”

“I’m serious.”

“I completely agree with Your Excellency’s plan. I’ll do everything I can to support you, so just trust me.”

“…You don’t believe me, do you? Well, it doesn’t matter whether you believe me or not, so just try to support me. How do you flirt?”

He didn’t know that either. After all, he had to have been in love to know, so that would be the kind of answer that would come from an incompetent secretary! Jade, however, who had been learning how to serve his master since he was a child at his father’s side, was different.

“Just give me a moment. I’ll ransack the library in the mansion and learn everything I can!”

* * *

“Just changing your hair color isn’t enough. Do you know about the second awakening? It’s not in any books, so of course you don’t.”

After hearing those words from Irovel, Amil went into seclusion once again. He didn’t know when or where the second awakening would begin, and he didn’t even know what symptoms it would cause.

That fear was what drove him to do this.

“Please let me see Irovel.”

He begged the door incessantly, but all he heard was that his father, the Marquis of Leopold* had ordered him to return to his estate. He didn’t hear Irovel’s voice, which he had been waiting for.
[ T/N: Amil is the young marquis, the young lord, so he hadn’t inherited the title. I forgot how I tld it before, but just in case I tld it wrong, I put the note here. ]

‘I should have been honest with her then.’

That teasing around, clashing with her, and relying on her wasn’t so bad. If no one could protect her from the Emperor any longer, then maybe he could take Reinhardt’s place. He spent his time filled with regrets like that.

After some time had passed, when it was almost completely dark, the door to Amil’s bedroom, which he had ordered no one to enter, opened.

…And the person who opened the door and walked in wasn’t Irovel.

“How long are you going to stay at someone else’s mansion?”

It was Reinhardt. The Grand Duke and Duchess were the only ones who could barge into the bedroom, ignoring his wishes.

Amil had expected something like this to happen someday. Even so, he couldn’t hide his fear. He was terrified that the second awakening might happen in front of Reinhardt. Until now, he had thought of Reinhardt as beneath him, but now he felt this way about him.

“I heard everything from Irovel. What you asked my wife to do, and why you approached her.”

“…You heard everything?”

He knew he was half-demon, too?

He couldn’t bring himself to say the rest, and his lips trembled.

“I’m never going to divorce Irovel, not even after the contract is over, because I have no intention of letting her go.”

“…I was going to ask you anyway. Irovel said that she married you because she had to marry someone else to avoid marrying the Emperor, but what did you expect to gain from marrying her?”

“That’s none of your business.”

Reinhardt sneered at Amil and responded coldly.

“Even though it’s unpleasant to live under the same roof, if you want to stay here, do so. We’re fine as long as you don’t go to Mother with your nonsense. Well, it doesn’t matter if you do nag. Our contractual marriage will be annulled soon anyway.”

“What? Then, His Majesty will aim for Irovell!”

“I meant that I’ll make us a couple that won’t leave each other, even without a contract.”

Only then did Amil realize.

Reinhardt just wanted Irovel by his side.

Irovel’s words that she married him out of necessity might not be entirely wrong, but Reinhardt didn’t think so.

“So, I trust you understand what action I will take if you utter that nonsense about meeting my wife just one more time.”

* * *

“How was the Young Marquis Leopold’s condition?”

“He seemed to be trembling in great fear.”

Reinhardt was displeased that I was even curious about Amil’s condition, but he obediently accepted my request to go and check up on him. As I served him tea that I brewed myself out of gratitude, the sharp look in his eyes that had been there ever since he met Amil noticeably softened.

“Is the second awakening really that fearsome?”

“No, not at all.”

I smiled and shook my head, then corrected myself.

“Oh, I shouldn’t say it’s not scary at all. Even though there’s no risk of your identity being revealed, you can still create a dark history.”

“…A dark history?”

“When the second awakening happens… your self-control will be greatly reduced for a while. In my case, I couldn’t control my urge to play pranks, so I created a dark history in front of my family for half a day.”

“Even if the second awakening doesn’t happen, don’t you already do that on a regular basis?”

I glared at Reinhardt, intending to tell him to shut his mouth, and he flinched and stiffened.

“I misspoke. Please don’t take this tea away from me…”

“Oh, who’s taking it away?”

“If you don’t take it away, I’ll be relieved.”

‘…How did he notice that I was thinking about taking it away?!’

“You seem to like the tea quite a bit.”

“N-no, I don’t like it that much. It doesn’t suit my taste at all.”

As he said that, Reinhardt gripped the teacup as if it were very precious. It seemed he was still worried that I would take the teacup away.

‘Was there a new trend in speech that I didn’t know about?’

Perhaps it was a way of speaking where you say the opposite of what you mean? In that case, I, as an idol, couldn’t afford to fall behind the trend!

“I didn’t brew it for Reinhardt in particular, so why do I care if it doesn’t suit your taste? Well, I guess it’ll suit Young Marquis Leopold’s taste, so I’ll give it to him.”

Clang!

Reinhardt dropped the teacup he was carefully holding. He stood there for a while, his hand frozen in the air, without saying anything. His face was filled with shock.

‘…Is this how you do it?’

* * *

“Senior, are you free tomorrow?”

“I am, why?”

“I’ll use it sparingly.”

“…That’s not how you ask someone out!”

Oh, this idiotic way of speaking… I was having a strange dream again. But ‘senior’? Was the man in my past life my junior?

“That’s strange. I’m sure the book said to do this…”

“Honey, you can’t learn about love from books.”

“Honey?’ We’re calling each other by our nickname this quickly?”

It was strange, but even though it was my dream, I was interested in watching someone else’s romance. If I had some popcorn, I’d be munching on it right now!

“Then, where should I learn from?”

“You have to learn from experience.”

“I’ve never had any experience with anyone other than Senior.”

“That’s why you should learn through me.”

“No, I don’t want to. There’s bound to be trial and error while learning, and what if I lose points with Senior because of that?”

Then, the me in the dream sighed.

“I’ve already experienced all kinds of errors…”

“So, you got tired of me because of that?”

“No. Actually, I find it kind of cute when you act like a fool.”

“I don’t really want to be cute in front of Senior, though.”

And then I woke up from my dream.

I had a dream about that man again. Was it because Reinhardt had been using strange speech like that man that my subconscious kept showing me such dreams?

…It wasn’t very pleasant.

The more I recalled the memories of that man, the more I realized my death that separated us. The memories of my past life were enough to help me survive, like the memories of reading the original story and my experience as an idol.

However, despite such thoughts, an undeniable thrill surged through me as I recalled the low voice of that man, which used to be faint.

‘…He’s someone I can’t see again. What’s the point of thinking about him?’

I desperately shook off the sound of him calling me ‘senior’ and my heart pounding at it.

‘Let’s go for a walk.’

With that thought, I opened my eyes abruptly. However, Reinhardt was in my line of sight.

“Reinhardt?”

“Oh. No. I was just…”

He was sitting by the bedside, looking down at me. As I called him, he got up in a fluster as if he were embarrassed before he explained.

“You were smiling and muttering in your sleep, so I was just looking at you because it was noisy!”

Oh. So, I have to listen to this idiotic speech even after waking up from a dream.

My mood quickly sank.

‘That man did such a silly speech to capture my heart, but why on earth does Reinhardt act like that?’

Was he perhaps doing his own silly speech because he liked me like that man did?

‘…Ugh. No way.’

My disease was acting up again. Something like that could never happen…

Reinhardt had Lucia.

Nevertheless, if he didn’t like me, there was no way to explain that strange way of speaking. It didn’t seem like a trend because I’ve never seen anyone else use that kind of speech.

“Reinhardt.”

I called his name softly and threw a direct question at him.

“Do you happen to like me?”

—