It's almost time for the medicine to take effect, so she needs to take it quickly, but she almost missed the time to take it because of that stupid maid.
Binka pinched her nose and drank the liquid in the bottle. It was a taste that made her frown every time she drank it.
At that moment, someone's voice was heard from nearby.
She quickly put the vial away and hid behind the wall to see who the voice belonged to. It was a maid working in another palace.
“Hey, did you guys hear the news?”
“What’s the news?”
"Why, that's what I mean! The Duke of Weishaffen has finally found the Princess!"
The story of the Duke of Weishaffen's daughter, who grew up as a commoner in a remote cabin deep in the mountains and then found her biological parents, was a topic of interest to everyone, noble and commoner alike.
It was a story that commoners who dreamed of rising in social status would especially enjoy.
"Ah, I'm so jealous. Perhaps I, too, have a secret birth like that?"
“Hahaha, what are we talking about? Wake up!”
The maids, who had been chatting about dream-like stories for a while, dispersed, saying that if they didn't go back quickly, they would be scolded by their superiors.
Anyway, all the maids were just stupid women. It was just incredibly unpleasant to have to associate with such people to survive.
'It's annoying.'
And what irritated her most was the Princess's dreamlike story of finding her biological parents and having her fortune revealed.
'Someone is washing dirty rags here...'
She grumbled and shook her head. Lamenting her fate wouldn't make a difference.
It was fortunate that the Crown Prince was so stupid. He had the kind of personality that was perfect for savagery and manipulation to suit one's own tastes.
As Binka was returning to the Crown Prince's palace after criticizing Winfred so harshly, she happened to spot the person in question sitting alone on a garden bench, completely out of it.
She didn't know what happened to make him so flustered, but it seemed like the perfect opportunity to approach him and build up his favor by offering comfort. It meant he was like prey, lost in the face of a beast.
"Your Highness!"
When Binka approached him with a cheerful voice and spoke to him, Winfred, who was lost in his own thoughts and didn't even realize she was approaching, let out a comical scream of 'Huh!'
“Oh, Binka! When did you get here?”
"Just now. What are you doing here? Is something bothering you?"
When Binka asked with a big smile, he sighed softly and fell into thought.
“Well, actually... the father of the friend I like used to really like me, right? But when I met him today, well...”
Winfred was so upset that he started talking with his lips pouting.
He ran into Roderick, who had entered the palace to meet the Emperor, but he seemed to be less than usual and less pleased with him.
Roderick had always been calm and gentle in front of Winfred, so it was the first time he had seen such a sharp gaze in his eyes.
“Why on earth is this happening? What did I do wrong?”
He was the father of Aila, whom he loved so much, so it would have been a big problem if something had suddenly happened that made him look bad.
Looking at the fidgeting Winfred, Binka thought that she truly couldn't understand.
Of course, if Winfred had been an ordinary boy, it would have been a huge problem if the father of the girl he liked hated him.
But he wasn't just any ordinary boy, was he? She couldn't understand why he, a Crown Prince, would worry about such things.
It would have been enough to point out his disrespectful behavior to the Crown Prince and demand an apology. She doesn't know how great a person the Duke is, but it was impossible to disobey the Crown Prince.
But Binka smiled brightly and hid her dark feelings.
This was because she couldn't forget the way Winfred had looked at her with a strange expression when she had revealed her true feelings before.
"Isn't it just... that the young lady and Your Highness seem close, and he's jealous? It feels like his daughter is being stolen from him."
At Binka's advice, Winfred's eyes widened. Jealousy seemed completely out of the question.
“He, he’s not that kind of person...”
"A father who loves his daughter would certainly do that. He wants her to be by his side for a long time."
Of course, Binka, who grew up without a father, couldn't understand such feelings, but when she looked at the fathers with daughters around her, she often saw that they showed such tendencies.
She's talking about the race that is commonly called a daughter fool.
"...I see."
Winfred nodded, as if he finally understood.
It was only after ten years that he finally saw his daughter again, so he felt even more affectionate towards her. That might be why Roderick felt so negative towards him.
"Now, wait. So the Duke already knows I like Aila! How on earth did he know? Even when we were young, he was so against giving Aila to me... Am I really that unattractive?"
Winfred grabbed his head hard, saying that he had confessed his feelings to Roderick first, even though he hadn't confessed them to the person involved.
And as she watched him clutch his head, Binka had to suppress her pity for him. If that thought even showed on her face, wouldn't all the trust she'd worked so hard to build go down the drain?
“Is that all you’re worried about?”
“...No, there’s more.”
At Binka's question, Winfred's face turned tearful, and he recalled his conversation with Roderick.
It was Aila's fourteenth birthday soon, so of course, he was going to ask her to invite him to the banquet.
Roderick asked him to pretend not to know Aila for the time being. He couldn't reveal the details, but he also said we should continue to be wary of Byron's spies.
He was thrilled at the thought of going out with her confidently. But when he was told not only that he couldn't go out, but that he had to act as if they weren't even friends, his heart sank.
However, Winfred, unable to explain all the circumstances to Binka, spoke vaguely.
"The kid I like... is asking me to keep my distance for a while. I was just looking forward to the day we could go out and play together..."
Winfred wore a sullen expression, ready to burst into tears if prodded.
‘...Who would see this as a Crown Prince?’
How can the Crown Prince look so undignified?
Binka briefly revealed a look of disgust, but Winfred, who had his head bowed, did not see it.
'Anyway, I don't know who she is, but she seems to be quite a smart woman.'
Binka, who had her expression had softened as if nothing had happened, snorted and thought, "Young Lady is a woman who masters the basics of love—the push and pull."
And Binka explained to Winfred in detail the so-called 'push and pull' theory.
“So, Your Highness, please don’t be too disappointed and try to deal with it calmly.”
“...”
But despite her passionate lecture, Winfred looked quite unimpressed.
“Why are you like that?”
"...That kid isn't trying to distance herself from me by flirting with me. That's for sure. She said she had her reasons."
Roderick said he couldn't go into detail about the circumstances, but he guessed it was probably because of Byron.
So, although it was a bit disappointing that he couldn't play with Aila, it was understandable.
"Yeah, I guess that's what I'll do. But, like I said, you have to push when it's time to push and pull when it's time to pull to take the initiative. Otherwise, you'll end up being dragged around."
In response to Binka's continued advice, Winfred responded as if he couldn't quite relate to her words.
“Why... should I take the initiative?”
"... Yes?"
"I like that kid. I can't say it enough times. I just don't understand why we have to engage in a war of nerves."
Binka couldn't hide her bewilderment. She never dreamed the Crown Prince, who always chuckled, would retort like this.
To begin with, the two people's values were very different.
“That’s because Your Highness is still young... and doesn’t know much about love...”
“No. I don’t think this will change even as I get older.”
Even if things were going well for Aila and him, it was unlikely she would drag him along, but even if she really did, he wouldn't care.
Because he likes her. He wants to give her all the beautiful things in the world and make her achieve everything she wants.
"Um, Binka. Thank you for your advice. Thanks to you, I now understand why that kid's father was so cold to me. I need to do better."
Winfred thanked Binka with his usual bright smile, then got up, saying he should go back now.
And he got up from his seat and walked away with a very serious expression on his face.
He vowed to himself that he would become a much more trustworthy man than he was now, someone who could be trusted and entrusted with his precious daughter.
And... I didn’t think he'd feel like talking about Binka and Aila anymore.
'Somehow, she seems different from the Binka I knew.'
He thought she was a kind, attentive friend, and someone he could connect with easily. But after talking to her today, he felt a strange sense of unease.
And Binka, who was left alone in the place where the Crown Prince had hurriedly left, had to chew over whether she had said something wrong.
She greeted him with a smile as usual, but she felt that his attitude was different from before.
But no matter how much she thought about it, she didn't make a mistake.
It was only natural. Winfred and she had different values, like oil and water, and it wasn't a matter of right or wrong.
Unlike Winfred, who realized this fact early on, Binka couldn't figure it out, no matter how much she thought about it. She simply believed she was right.
Binka pinched her nose and drank the liquid in the bottle. It was a taste that made her frown every time she drank it.
At that moment, someone's voice was heard from nearby.
She quickly put the vial away and hid behind the wall to see who the voice belonged to. It was a maid working in another palace.
“Hey, did you guys hear the news?”
“What’s the news?”
"Why, that's what I mean! The Duke of Weishaffen has finally found the Princess!"
The story of the Duke of Weishaffen's daughter, who grew up as a commoner in a remote cabin deep in the mountains and then found her biological parents, was a topic of interest to everyone, noble and commoner alike.
It was a story that commoners who dreamed of rising in social status would especially enjoy.
"Ah, I'm so jealous. Perhaps I, too, have a secret birth like that?"
“Hahaha, what are we talking about? Wake up!”
The maids, who had been chatting about dream-like stories for a while, dispersed, saying that if they didn't go back quickly, they would be scolded by their superiors.
Anyway, all the maids were just stupid women. It was just incredibly unpleasant to have to associate with such people to survive.
'It's annoying.'
And what irritated her most was the Princess's dreamlike story of finding her biological parents and having her fortune revealed.
'Someone is washing dirty rags here...'
She grumbled and shook her head. Lamenting her fate wouldn't make a difference.
It was fortunate that the Crown Prince was so stupid. He had the kind of personality that was perfect for savagery and manipulation to suit one's own tastes.
As Binka was returning to the Crown Prince's palace after criticizing Winfred so harshly, she happened to spot the person in question sitting alone on a garden bench, completely out of it.
She didn't know what happened to make him so flustered, but it seemed like the perfect opportunity to approach him and build up his favor by offering comfort. It meant he was like prey, lost in the face of a beast.
"Your Highness!"
When Binka approached him with a cheerful voice and spoke to him, Winfred, who was lost in his own thoughts and didn't even realize she was approaching, let out a comical scream of 'Huh!'
“Oh, Binka! When did you get here?”
"Just now. What are you doing here? Is something bothering you?"
When Binka asked with a big smile, he sighed softly and fell into thought.
“Well, actually... the father of the friend I like used to really like me, right? But when I met him today, well...”
Winfred was so upset that he started talking with his lips pouting.
He ran into Roderick, who had entered the palace to meet the Emperor, but he seemed to be less than usual and less pleased with him.
Roderick had always been calm and gentle in front of Winfred, so it was the first time he had seen such a sharp gaze in his eyes.
“Why on earth is this happening? What did I do wrong?”
He was the father of Aila, whom he loved so much, so it would have been a big problem if something had suddenly happened that made him look bad.
Looking at the fidgeting Winfred, Binka thought that she truly couldn't understand.
Of course, if Winfred had been an ordinary boy, it would have been a huge problem if the father of the girl he liked hated him.
But he wasn't just any ordinary boy, was he? She couldn't understand why he, a Crown Prince, would worry about such things.
It would have been enough to point out his disrespectful behavior to the Crown Prince and demand an apology. She doesn't know how great a person the Duke is, but it was impossible to disobey the Crown Prince.
But Binka smiled brightly and hid her dark feelings.
This was because she couldn't forget the way Winfred had looked at her with a strange expression when she had revealed her true feelings before.
"Isn't it just... that the young lady and Your Highness seem close, and he's jealous? It feels like his daughter is being stolen from him."
At Binka's advice, Winfred's eyes widened. Jealousy seemed completely out of the question.
“He, he’s not that kind of person...”
"A father who loves his daughter would certainly do that. He wants her to be by his side for a long time."
Of course, Binka, who grew up without a father, couldn't understand such feelings, but when she looked at the fathers with daughters around her, she often saw that they showed such tendencies.
She's talking about the race that is commonly called a daughter fool.
"...I see."
Winfred nodded, as if he finally understood.
It was only after ten years that he finally saw his daughter again, so he felt even more affectionate towards her. That might be why Roderick felt so negative towards him.
"Now, wait. So the Duke already knows I like Aila! How on earth did he know? Even when we were young, he was so against giving Aila to me... Am I really that unattractive?"
Winfred grabbed his head hard, saying that he had confessed his feelings to Roderick first, even though he hadn't confessed them to the person involved.
And as she watched him clutch his head, Binka had to suppress her pity for him. If that thought even showed on her face, wouldn't all the trust she'd worked so hard to build go down the drain?
“Is that all you’re worried about?”
“...No, there’s more.”
At Binka's question, Winfred's face turned tearful, and he recalled his conversation with Roderick.
It was Aila's fourteenth birthday soon, so of course, he was going to ask her to invite him to the banquet.
Roderick asked him to pretend not to know Aila for the time being. He couldn't reveal the details, but he also said we should continue to be wary of Byron's spies.
He was thrilled at the thought of going out with her confidently. But when he was told not only that he couldn't go out, but that he had to act as if they weren't even friends, his heart sank.
However, Winfred, unable to explain all the circumstances to Binka, spoke vaguely.
"The kid I like... is asking me to keep my distance for a while. I was just looking forward to the day we could go out and play together..."
Winfred wore a sullen expression, ready to burst into tears if prodded.
‘...Who would see this as a Crown Prince?’
How can the Crown Prince look so undignified?
Binka briefly revealed a look of disgust, but Winfred, who had his head bowed, did not see it.
'Anyway, I don't know who she is, but she seems to be quite a smart woman.'
Binka, who had her expression had softened as if nothing had happened, snorted and thought, "Young Lady is a woman who masters the basics of love—the push and pull."
And Binka explained to Winfred in detail the so-called 'push and pull' theory.
“So, Your Highness, please don’t be too disappointed and try to deal with it calmly.”
“...”
But despite her passionate lecture, Winfred looked quite unimpressed.
“Why are you like that?”
"...That kid isn't trying to distance herself from me by flirting with me. That's for sure. She said she had her reasons."
Roderick said he couldn't go into detail about the circumstances, but he guessed it was probably because of Byron.
So, although it was a bit disappointing that he couldn't play with Aila, it was understandable.
"Yeah, I guess that's what I'll do. But, like I said, you have to push when it's time to push and pull when it's time to pull to take the initiative. Otherwise, you'll end up being dragged around."
In response to Binka's continued advice, Winfred responded as if he couldn't quite relate to her words.
“Why... should I take the initiative?”
"... Yes?"
"I like that kid. I can't say it enough times. I just don't understand why we have to engage in a war of nerves."
Binka couldn't hide her bewilderment. She never dreamed the Crown Prince, who always chuckled, would retort like this.
To begin with, the two people's values were very different.
“That’s because Your Highness is still young... and doesn’t know much about love...”
“No. I don’t think this will change even as I get older.”
Even if things were going well for Aila and him, it was unlikely she would drag him along, but even if she really did, he wouldn't care.
Because he likes her. He wants to give her all the beautiful things in the world and make her achieve everything she wants.
"Um, Binka. Thank you for your advice. Thanks to you, I now understand why that kid's father was so cold to me. I need to do better."
Winfred thanked Binka with his usual bright smile, then got up, saying he should go back now.
And he got up from his seat and walked away with a very serious expression on his face.
He vowed to himself that he would become a much more trustworthy man than he was now, someone who could be trusted and entrusted with his precious daughter.
And... I didn’t think he'd feel like talking about Binka and Aila anymore.
'Somehow, she seems different from the Binka I knew.'
He thought she was a kind, attentive friend, and someone he could connect with easily. But after talking to her today, he felt a strange sense of unease.
And Binka, who was left alone in the place where the Crown Prince had hurriedly left, had to chew over whether she had said something wrong.
She greeted him with a smile as usual, but she felt that his attitude was different from before.
But no matter how much she thought about it, she didn't make a mistake.
It was only natural. Winfred and she had different values, like oil and water, and it wasn't a matter of right or wrong.
Unlike Winfred, who realized this fact early on, Binka couldn't figure it out, no matter how much she thought about it. She simply believed she was right.
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