“Is that what you mean?” 

“Yes.”

Amien’s eyes lit up as she stroked the bicorn’s mane. The bicorn grimaced and tried to shy away. Johan grabbed the the bicorn’s hair.  

━𝐍𝐞𝐢𝐠𝐡!

The bicorn glared at them indignantly but endured it. Excited, Amien stroked the bicorn’s mane.  

“I heard you’ve been studying hard. Here.”

Johan gave Amien a present. Amien was surprised by the luxurious gifts she had never received in her life. She looked around.  

“What are you looking for?”

“Her Excellency. . . I mean, now it’s. . . Bluea. . .”

“You can call her mother comfortably.”  

“But she’ll scold me.”

Iselia wanted Amien to behave properly like a noble in front of Johan. A proper noble should know how to speak formally.

Of course, Johan didn’t think it was necessary to go that far. Having to be attended by servants and maids to get dressed up just to bow to someone and then go back in seemed. . .inefficient.  

“I told her not to scold you for things like that. There’s no way she’d get angry over something so trivial. And I already said I’d give you the treasures in advance, so don’t worry.”

Amien’s face brightened as she hugged Johan. With not much difference in age, they looked almost like siblings.  

“I’ll treasure these!”

“No. Let me give you some homework. Try to guess which of these is expensive and which is cheap.”

“. . .???”

Amien was confused by the unexpected assignment.  

“If I can’t guess right. . .will you take them back. . .?”

“No. These are your things now. But to keep treasures, you need to know what kind of treasures they are, don’t you? If you guess exactly right, I’ll give you this ring.”

Amien nodded hurriedly. There was no reason to refuse the offer.  

“Yes, Count. I, I practiced archery hard. Would you take a look?”

“Oh?”

Apparently the archery demonstrated by Johan’s subordinates had aroused Amien’s interest. It seemed she had practiced quite a bit while he was away, as evidenced by the calluses on her fingers.  

“I was going to get you some decent bows anyway since you might need them. If your skills improve enough, you can use them.”

“!”

“Ah, wait.”  

On their way to the castle’s archery range, Johan stopped. Come to think of it, he had promised Iselia to patrol the fiefdom together.  

‘𝘞𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 𝘐𝘴𝘦𝘭𝘪𝘢 𝘦𝘯𝘫𝘰𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩 𝘈𝘮𝘪𝘦𝘯 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘮𝘦?’

To hunt mutated insects as well, Johan called a maid and said,  

“Tell Iselia we’ll postpone our appointment to tomorrow. Amien wants to learn archery.”

“Understood.”

Beside him, Amien asked worriedly,

“She won’t feel bad, will she?”

“Iselia’s not that kind of person. Here, hold the bow. Let’s see how familiar you’ve become with it.”

🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸🔸

𝙖ẇ̇ė̇𝕓𝐬𝘵ᴏʀɪ𝙚s.𝔠𝘰𝚖

“My dear. This coast is my favorite coast. You can see the waves of the Edene Sea crashing next to it. The people around here often described it as the hair of a goddess.”

“I see. Beautiful. Though not as much as you.”

“. . . . . .”

“?”

Johan was puzzled. Usually, Iselia would blush and be embarrassed when he said something like that. But Iselia was looking down and didn’t say anything.

“Iselia. Are you not listening?”

“Oh, my dear. What did you say?”

“It’s nothing. . . Forget it.”

“No, it’s not. I’m sorry. I was wrong. Don’t be angry.”

“I’m not angry.”

Iselia fidgeted for a moment before finally speaking.

“I. . . I was just thinking that you don’t seem to enjoy these patrols very much.”

“No? I was listening with pleasure, thinking there are places like this in the fiefdom. . .”

“You made excuses for Amien yesterday to postpone too. . .”

“That’s because Amien wanted to show off.”

A count wouldn’t normally teach archery himself even to his own children. Usually they would have a professional knight or another mentor teach them.  

So naturally Iselia couldn’t help but misunderstand that Johan didn’t like going with her and was making excuses.  

To be honest, whether going around outside the fiefdom together would be more enjoyable for Iselia or Johan was hard to tell.  

And come to think of it, it did feel a bit boring and tedious. . .

“Come here, Iselia.”

“?!”

Johan grabbed Iselia with one hand and lifted her onto his lap. The bicorn thrashed wildly. It seemed to greatly detest Iselia.  

“Stay still or I’ll kill you.”  

There was murderous intent in Johan’s voice. The bicorn shivered violently before quieting down.

“. . .M-My dear. I was staying still.”  

“I wasn’t talking to you but to the horse.”

Johan hugged the shivering Iselia. As he gently nibbled her long ears, her rigid body instantly softened. He could feel it despite the solid armor she wore.  

“Th. . .this is a bit embarrassing. . .”

“Do you still think I don’t like patrols?”

“No! You must like them! Please, not here. . .”

Whatever misunderstanding Iselia had, Johan was just holding her. As Johan stayed still, Iselia also seemed to calm down.   

“Shall we walk a bit more like this?”

“. . . . . .”

“Not answering means you like it. Fine.”

“Count! The family envoy has arrived with the ransom. . .”

Ahir’s third son rode excitedly on horseback but stopped abruptly. Iselia’s face was crimson with embarrassment.  

“I. . .I saw nothing, Count.”