“Pfft.”
Lloyd, who had been peering at my handkerchief from beside Theor, couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
Pere turned to Lloyd and shot him a sharp glare. “That is rude, Your Highness.”
“Hm, hmm.”
At that, Lloyd let out a small cough and looked away, pretending he hadn’t said anything.
“It’s a black leopard.”
I emphasized to Theor, who was staring fixedly at the black blob, that it was, in fact, a black leopard crest.
“I drew a very handsome sketch. That’s why I thought the Grand Duke might have a favorable image of it in his eyes. Our Ellie doesn’t have a knack for embroidery yet, so it didn’t come out looking very pretty, but as you can see from her fingers, she tried quite hard. So please, do not criticize it.”
Pere spoke to Theor with such intensity that it felt like she would kill him if he dared to criticize my lumpy black embroidery in front of her.
For some reason, I felt a sting in my nose, as if I had just gained the strength of an entire army.
However.
“It looks enough like a black leopard. I am delighted, Young Lady.”
Theor was looking at me with a gaze that felt strangely tender.
What is this…?
“May I see your hand? It weighs on my heart to see how much you’ve hurt yourself.”
And then, he asked to see my hand.
He, who knows full well that a single cast of black magic healing would cure all of this.
Since he asked, I felt I had to show him, so I extended both hands toward him.
Theor’s brow twitched slightly as he stared intently at my palms.
“Oh, they’re a mess.”
Since this was the first time I had properly looked at my own hands, the words slipped out before I could stop them.
It was no wonder, considering how many times I had been pricked by the needle while trying to embroider that black lump.
I couldn’t tell if the needle had a consciousness of its own—I would clearly aim for one spot, and it would seem to pop out on the other side just to attack me.
Regardless, I had never done embroidery in my previous life and had no intention of doing it, so I doubted I would ever produce a decent shape even if I learned from now on.
“You should probably treat them properly when you go back…”
“Yes, of course! Don’t worry, this is nothing! Unnie, I want to order some cheesecake and more, is that alright?”
I intentionally exaggerated and changed the subject in response to Theor’s words.
To my question, Pere told me to do as I pleased, asking why I was even asking such a thing.
*Ting—*
I quickly picked up the bell placed on one side of the table and rang it to call a staff member.
As a way to steer the conversation elsewhere, I rattled off a list of cakes, including cheesecake and other types that Pere liked. When I asked them to bring those over, my sister’s eyes sparkled.
Perhaps one of the cakes I ordered was something she had been particularly craving today.
I wish there were a way to know what Pere wanted to eat on any given day. I was earnestly pondering how I could figure that out when suddenly—
“I will treasure this. Thank you.”
At that moment, Theor tucked the handkerchief I had given him into his pocket and smiled contentedly.
I looked at Theor, flustered.
No, was there any need to go out of his way to treasure it?
Lloyd looked at Theor and said in a voice mixed with laughter.
“You’re going to treasure that? It’s even messier than the first piece of embroidery Princess Razieri ever did.”
Princess Razieri was currently nine years old, and she had certainly been six when she first tried her hand at embroidery.
There had been a short episode about the Princess, who was born late in the imperial family and was spoiled by everyone; she had clumsily embroidered the sun, the symbol of her father the Emperor, and the moon, the symbol of her mother the Empress, with her small, sprout-like hands.
Wait, does that mean my embroidery is messier than what a six-year-old made?
Of course, it was a point I had to concede, so I didn’t feel any urge to snap back, but it did leave me feeling a little disgruntled.
“That is rude, Your Highness. If you knew how hard our Ellie worked on that embroidery for the Grand Duke, you wouldn’t say such things.”
Still, I felt happy to have Pere on my side.
“Working hard is one thing, but the result is important, too.”
My happiness faded quickly, however, because of that Crown Prince whose way of speaking was on par with Pere’s.
“It’s enough that the Grand Duke likes it.”
“If one intends to give a gift, one should at least have the basics down…”
“Are you saying our Ellie lacks the basics? Are you looking down on my dear friend in front of me right now?”
As the two of them went back and forth, bickering over my embroidery, I couldn’t identify the strange, uncomfortable feeling that was growing the more I listened.
Seeing them like this, I couldn’t help but think that while their brand of malice differed slightly in trajectory, Lloyd and Pere were essentially the same.
“Both of you, please stop paying attention to my handkerchief.”
At that moment, Theor spoke up, then took a sip of his iced latte.
*‘Hmm?’*
I gazed at Theor with a hint of envy; he had claimed my messy handkerchief as his own and even told the Crown Prince and the Duchess to stop fussing over it.
It must be nice to be a Grand Duke, possessing the rank to talk back to a Crown Prince and a Duchess without batting an eye.