Chapter 176

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“Sir Mullern!”

“Yes, it’s Isaiah Mullern.”

“Why are you here?”

“Why, you ask.”

He deeply furrowed his brow as if very disappointed.

“From my side, I’d like to ask what you think the knight of the ducal family is here for.”

Of course, an ordinary ducal family knight usually protected Loretta’s safety.

But Isaiah Mullern was different.

He was also a friend of Melody and Ronny, and to Loretta…

“You came to act as my subordinate, right?”

At the question filled with a playful tone, Isaiah willingly nodded.

“Yes, Captain.”

Loretta got down from the  chair and clung tightly to Isaiah’s large back.

As he stood up from his spot, Loretta raised one arm high. Out of curiosity if she could reach the ceiling with her hand.

But no matter how tall Isaiah was, he was no match for the high ceiling of the imperial palace, so Loretta’s hand only swept through the air.

“It would be nice if Sir Mullern were taller.”

“The captain should think about growing taller herself.”

“But even then, I probably won’t play on Sir Mullern’s back, right?”

“What?!”

Isaiah looked back at Loretta on his back in surprise.

“Captain, are you abandoning me?”

“Why? Are you lonely?”

“I am lonely. Because I like it when the captain smiles.”@@novelbin@@

Loretta asked while tightening her hands hugging his neck, and Isaiah nodded.

“Yes, because when the captain smiles, Melody smiles.”

“That’s right, because Melody likes me.”

“Please refrain from making me jealous. Please remember that I have the captain’s snack.”

At the mention of a snack, Loretta’s eyes widened and she quickly checked outside the window.

As it was transitioning to late summer, the weather was very clear.

“I want to eat outside.”

Loretta brightly ordered while pointing outside the window, then nimbly jumped off his back.

“What’s the snack?”

“Oh, I don’t know either. Mrs. Higgins just told me to take it.”

“Then it must be something delicious. I’ll show you my secret place.”

Loretta neatly smoothed out her slightly crumpled dress and firmly tugged the ribbon tying her hair.

“How is it?”

When she finally asked Isaiah as if to confirm, he gave a thumbs up.

“The captain’s dignity is felt.”

“Good, follow me.”

Loretta walked briskly through the imperial palace corridor with a prim expression.

Occasionally exchanging elegant greetings with attendants or nobles she encountered.

Isaiah followed closely behind the little lady, proudly holding the snack basket.

After passing through corridors and a hall filled with sunlight, they arrived at a garden with a small lake in the temple.

At that moment, Loretta, who was about to say ‘Let’s eat the snack there,’ hesitated for a moment.

“Miss, what’s wrong? Did you lose your way?”

When Isaiah asked, Loretta quickly shook her head.

“Th-That can’t be. I… I’m just.”

She fidgeted with her fingers as if very anxious, then clapped her hands as if she had thought of something.

“We should play hide-and-seek!”

“What? So suddenly? What about the snack?!”

Isaiah asked while holding out the snack basket, and Loretta swallowed while looking at it.

But she soon made up her mind.

“I-It’s okay to eat the snack after playing.”

Isaiah, sensing something suspicious, bent his waist and started staring intently at Loretta’s face.

Worried about what mischief this naughty young lady was planning.

Loretta, who had been flinching for a moment, glanced sideways and kept looking over Isaiah’s shoulder.

“…Ugh.”

She clenched both fists as if she couldn’t stand it.

“I really have to play hide-and-seek. Isaiah Mullern, close your eyes right now and count to two hundred!”

“What?!”

“Don’t tell me you won’t obey my order?”

“No, even if that’s the case, two hundred is too much. At least…”

“If you keep arguing, I’ll change it to three hundred.”

“Miss.”

Even when Isaiah made a sad face, she never changed her command.

“If you open your eyes even a little during the two hundred seconds, I’ll make sure you can’t come near me for the rest of your life.”

“Such a terrible thing to say!”

Not being able to go near Loretta for life was practically the same as not being able to go near Melody.

“You mustn’t go to dangerous places. Of course, places where entry is not allowed.”

“I’m the prideful Miss Loretta. Do you think I’d do such a thing?”

Isaiah was about to answer, ‘A prideful young lady doesn’t play hide-and-seek during snack time,’ but he just crouched down on the spot and closed his eyes.

Honestly, Loretta had no talent for hiding her presence, so even if she had a grace period of five hundred seconds instead of two hundred, Isaiah could easily find her.

“Well, I understand.”

He started counting numbers while holding the snack basket with one hand and covering his eyes with the other.

“One, two.”

Loretta first gently waved her hands, double-checking if he really couldn’t see in front of him.

After that, she looked around and lightly hopped over the low hall boundary towards the garden.

At first, she proceeded slowly, not wanting Isaiah to hear her footsteps, but after a few steps, all her patience ran out.

Loretta stretched her feet a little more vigorously.

As her feet gained speed, a pleasant wind blew from behind and pushed her back.

As her breathing became labored, she wanted to shout loudly.

With joy that felt like it would burst.

But she held it in tightly, worried that Isaiah would hear everything.

Loretta raised her gaze again.

There was a beautiful lake garden. It was a place Loretta liked, but it wasn’t where she was looking now.

By the lake was a little boy blankly looking down at the ripples.

Although she couldn’t see his face properly from the hall where she had been with Isaiah, Loretta knew at a glance that he was Evan.

Soon the boy, hearing Loretta’s footsteps, turned to look where she was running from.

“…!”

The boy, upon discovering Loretta, was so surprised that he couldn’t move from the spot with his eyes wide open.

“Evan!”

Loretta, who finally arrived, called out to him and hugged him tightly with both arms.

She hugged him so strongly that Evan ended up plopping down on the grass.

“M-Miss?”

When he called out in a fluster, Loretta loosened her arms hugging him a little and smiled brightly.

She had intended to say, ‘I knew it was you as soon as I saw you from afar!’

But as she had run all the way to the lake in one breath, she was too busy just taking heavy breaths through her opened mouth.

“You need to breathe. Slowly.”

Evan took deep breaths as if demonstrating, and Loretta tried to follow him as much as possible.

Fortunately, before long, Loretta’s breathing calmed down quite a bit.

“Evan, Evan.”

She called his name again and hugged him tightly once more.

“I’m so happy to see you again. Have you been well?”

“…Yes… Uh.”

Evan’s answer came back a little slowly, but Loretta was so happy even with that slowness.

However, they couldn’t just share their joy here like this.

They were in the middle of hide-and-seek, and if they were caught by Isaiah, their long-awaited reunion would come to an end.

Loretta quickly got up from her spot and held out her hand to him.

“Take it.”

When Evan only looked up at her in surprise, Loretta asked with a worried face.

“Could it be… you don’t want to?”

The boy shook his head vigorously and quickly got up from his spot, rubbing his hands on his pants several times.

After that, with a very determined face, he barely grasped the tips of Loretta’s fingers.

“Dummy.”

Loretta quickly corrected his grip so that their palms were fully touching.

“We have to hurry. Isaiah will come to catch us when he’s done counting. Got it?”

“Huh?”

“If you understand, let’s run away!”

Loretta started running first, and Evan quickly followed her.

Honestly, he didn’t understand at all why Loretta suddenly appeared or what they were running away from.

But it was very enjoyable to follow the golden hair swaying in front of him.

Forgetting even his mentor’s words not to go far.

He ended up completely leaving the lake garden following Loretta.

After running for a while, Loretta arrived at a temple connected to the garden.

Priests in white robes occasionally passed by them, but fortunately they paid no attention to the two.

Judging by their hurried steps, they seemed to be doing something urgent.

Loretta nodded, realizing once again that everyone with her father and the emperor was busy.

But when she heard Isaiah’s voice calling out ‘Miss! Miss Loretta!’ from afar, her face turned pale.

She grabbed Evan’s hand again and entered the temple.

At first, their footsteps echoed loudly against the high, domed ceiling.

They naturally tiptoed and carefully moved forward.

Passing by  chairs lined up on both sides and sacred paintings, all the way to the front where only priests could stand.

There, Loretta looked around and discovered a huge statue of the goddess.

“Come here.”

The statue of the goddess was several times larger than them, so if they hid behind it, no one would find them.

“Isn’t it perfect?”

In the narrow, dark space between the marble statue and the wall, Loretta smiled at Evan.

“W-Won’t we… get scolded?”

When Evan asked with concern, Loretta shook her head.

“Hiding during hide-and-seek is a perfectly natural thing. Scolding for that is unfair.”

“B-But the goddess…”

“If there’s a goddess who scolds children playing hide-and-seek, no one would want to believe in such a goddess.”

That was a very persuasive argument, so Evan ended up nodding.

“Right?”

Loretta, very satisfied with the new secret place she found herself, quickly stretched out her legs and sat down.

Evan cautiously crouched down a little distance from her.

“Evan.”

“Y-Yes?”

“Didn’t you miss me? Why are you sitting so far away?”

“That’s…”

Evan hesitated, but eventually approached Loretta a little closer, fidgeting.

“Good boy, well done.”

Loretta patted his hair.

“By the way, you really cut it. Your hair.”

“Yes, my mentor…”

Loretta looked at his face from various angles. Perhaps embarrassed by her gaze, Evan slightly lowered his head.

“It’s a bit of a waste. Now everyone will know that Evan’s eyes are very pretty.”

“W-What?!”

“I wanted to be the only one who knew.”

He hurriedly shook his head, and Loretta glared at him with sharp eyes.

“Don’t tell me Evan wanted to show off his pretty face to everyone?!”