「Krea. What happened?」
「……Huh?」
「Your cheek.」
The moment Krea entered the office carrying documents, I noticed it.
I hurried over, ignoring how flustered she looked, and checked her cheek.
Looks like she scraped it. A bit of skin had peeled off, and blood was seeping out.
「……I fell over.」
「Idiot. Don’t dive face-first. The only one who can crash face-first without getting hurt is the Tiny Princess.」
「Yes…… I’ll be more careful.」
Maybe because she was a girl, she seemed especially bothered about the injury on her face. Krea looked like she was about to cry.
For now, I pulled out a handkerchief and lightly dabbed the wound to clean out the dirt.
「Someone. Bring some ointment.」
「Right away.」
I asked one of the maids waiting outside the room, took the documents Krea was holding, and made her sit on the sofa.
「I’m fine. It’s only this much.」
「Nope. A girl can’t have scars on her face…… Especially not Leaky Krea. Nobody’s going to marry you otherwise.」
「……I’ll hit you, you know?」
The face that looked ready to cry immediately turned angry.
Honestly, this was mentally easier to deal with than seeing a girl cry.
「What are you talking about? If you don’t work harder, you’ll end up like Mische, a woman destined to love loneliness for the rest of her life.」
「H-Hey! I only show up once in a while and you’re already trash-talking me behind my back!? Damn it! I’m gonna grope the captain’s chest～!」
A tiny, flat creature appeared at the doorway, slammed a pile of documents onto the floor, and disappeared again. The maid calmly gathered the scattered papers and placed them on my desk like nothing had happened.
「……If you don’t want to end up like that, then face scars are a no-go, okay? As for your chest…… as long as you lure the other person somewhere dark, it won’t matter.」
「What kind of advice is that!?」
Apparently, it was battlefield strategy for flat-chested women taught to me by the head maid.
According to her…… 『If it’s dark, you win. If they can’t see, you win. Once things get started, no man cares about breast size anymore.』
While teasing the indignant Krea, I applied the ointment the maid brought over and finished treating her injury.
Krea, unusually obedient through the whole treatment, bowed repeatedly before returning to the desk.
Honestly, what was with her lately? Krea seemed strangely lacking in energy these days.
「……Want some cake?」
「…………Yes.」
Krea looked at me with an unreadable expression before turning away and nodding. She still had an appetite, yet somehow she seemed down.
「So basically, you’re lonely because Inel-kun isn’t here.」
「Th-That has nothing to do with it!」
Her face turned bright red as she snapped back in anger. Yep, so that was it.
Inel-kun had been working nonstop lately, so he was taking a three-day break. Krea at least got periodic days off because she was a girl and had to deal with “that”, but for men, if they wanted to, they could work every day.
Thinking about it that way, Noie’s blessing really was ridiculously brutal.
「If you’re lonely, why not go visit Inel-kun at his dorm? Hmm? If you want, I can even give you the next day off too.」
「A day off? ……What are you even implying!?」
「I didn’t imply anything～ Krea’s the one imagining things～」
「Knnnnngh!」
Ahh, Krea really was fun to tease. But if Krea and Inel-kun actually ended up in that kind of relationship, what sort of problems would it cause? I should probably ask the head maid about those noble-related matters later when I see her.
Ever since the Tiny Princess started frequently coming to the castle to play, the head maid’s appearance rate had gone way up. The maids apparently felt like they were constantly on the verge of death, but personally, having someone surprisingly knowledgeable around to answer my questions was pretty helpful.
Though by default, she always accompanied it with behavior that bordered on blackmail.
Anyway, back to work.
I asked a maid to bring cake for Krea and quickly returned to my paperwork.
After a while of actually working seriously, an idiot showed up together with the cake.
「Is your room a cake shop or something?」
「I won’t deny being the owner of one.」
With the financial power of House Draguknight, one of the kingdom’s wealthiest families, I had bought out Blostash, the kingdom’s most famous cake shop, so it technically wasn’t wrong.
That shop had plenty of talented craftsmen, so I wanted them to keep up the good work. And when this kindhearted owner bought the place, I told them this:
『I know making good things costs money. But don’t hold back. I just want to see Noie happily eating delicious cake!』
As a result, I ended up creating yet another legend as 『the devoted husband who spent an absurd amount of money just for his wife’s snacks.』
「So, what is it?」
「Ah. Gather in the king’s office.」
My idiot aniki said that while snatching some of the extra cake the maid had brought.
「By the way, Krea, what happened to your cheek?」
「……I fell over.」
「Be more careful. The only one who can crash face-first without getting hurt is the Tiny Princess.」
My idiot aniki said the exact same thing I had.
It was true that the Tiny Princess almost never got hurt even when falling flat on her face. To the point where I wondered if she had some kind of special ability.
「Come on, let’s go.」
「……Tch. I was trying to avoid going.」
「Give it up, idiot. And bring some snacks for tea too.」
「I told you, this isn’t a shop. It’s just an office.」
Reluctantly, I pulled out a box filled with baked sweets from the decorative shelf.
Our married couple tended to cause trouble for everyone around us without even meaning to, so various long-lasting sweets were always stocked there just in case.
By now, it was common knowledge throughout the castle that if there weren’t any sweets around, they could always find some in my office. And the Tiny Princess was frequently caught biting into the boxes on the shelf before being dragged away by the head maid while getting her butt smacked.
……Maybe I really should open an actual shop inside the castle at this point.
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