"Robert... The prince?

Ian felt unfamiliar, asking back with a cracking voice.

"Yes, Prince Robert made a reservation at our restaurant's headquarters and asked her to join him for lunch."

Aaron said with a shrug.

"Even if you have a title, it doesn't make any difference because you have to do it if someone higher demands you. So there's no regrets about winning the swordsmanship competition."

Annabelle had a title from winning a past swordsmanship competition.

However, the title did not mean much when the status was fluctuating like this.

He heard that there were quite a few people who paid for their titles even if they were a little outside the capital.

Annabelle was also given the title as a gift and received it, and was not using it anywhere.

The next day after that, she came to work casually to the Knights of the Wade.

"I guess he wanted to thank her for the last escort. Anyway, the imperial family is coming, and someone has to say hello... At the same time, my sister decided to eat and say hello."

A few days ago, the Knights of the Wade escorted the High Priest.

This was because of the atheist terrorism had been happening considerably these days.

At that time, there was also a terrorist attack on the street, and Annabelle quickly saved a young man wearing a robe because she thought he was an ordinary person who was caught up in a disturbance.

The identity of the young man was Robert, who was in hiding.

Annabelle was faster, although the escort of the Imperial Knights was secretly attached next to him.

Annabelle sighed and murmured calmly upon learning of the fact.

"You were escorted anyway... I wasted only my amazing quickness and dynamic vision."

Annabelle only regretted that it was a useless move, but Robert seemed to think the opposite.

Since then, he has told Ian, 'I want to thank the lieutenant, so prepare a meal.'

Ian had refused for now, saying she was a little busy these days, so he couldn't let her off.

There was work in the Knights.

He couldn't think of anything right away, but he thought so.

But then Robert went to the Rainfield restaurant himself.

"I don't think it'll be too hard for me, so it'll be okay."

Aaron continued, rummaging through the papers.

"But how could she do this in an hour? I think it'll take me all morning."

"..."

"In that sense, I'm afraid I won't be able to attend the morning training."

"What?"

"It's not my fault, Ian. It's because my sister took a vacation because of Prince Robert. So my absence from training is due to the imperial family."

"...Yes, of course."

Aaron, who was preparing to reveal the providence of the universe if he could not expand his scope to the imperial family, opened his mouth slightly at the permission that fell so easily.

~*~

Time didn't go well all morning. Ian kept glancing at the entrance during the morning training.

Annabelle was on vacation and had a lunch appointment.

However, looking at the state of the Knights, it seemed that he was not the only one who was conscious of Annabelle's absence.

"But isn't training boring without Annabelle?"

"Yeah, it was fun to be cursed at."

"What was Dave criticized for yesterday? Did she say he'd jump higher than that?"

"No, that's the curse for Rienie... Dave was accused of being slow. If he ran at that speed, mushrooms would grow on his foot."

Come to think of it, Annabelle was popular because she was friendly with other knights and exchanged pleasant jokes.

"Isn't it addictive to get hit by Annabelle?"

"I got hit on my right mitral muscle a week ago and she almost put out my left side."

Ian was the only one she didn't swear or hit in the Knights.

Ian was not only her lord, but since their ability was on par, she had no reason to do so.

He had no idea, but he suddenly felt a subtle sense of alienation as the people of the Knights buzzed.

'She has been hitting and cursing and joking with others, but she has been so hard on me...'

While Ian was feeling a strange sense of regret, the knights were speaking differently in silence.

"Wow, I feel suffocated because it's not fun to be with Ian alone."

"You're saying all the right things, but it's really boring."

"Let's just curse at times like this. Annabelle said if you can't avoid it, enjoy it and just curse."

"Doesn't Annabelle deserve to resign? Ian was lucky to have such an interesting lieutenant."

"If I were Annabelle, I'd have fun living a life once... Is that what she's doing now? This morning's absence confirmed it."

While all the members felt Annabelle's vacancy and felt empty, time slowly passed, and it was time for lunch.

A tray full of sandwiches arrived from the kitchen.

Aaron, who had been going through paperwork all morning, slowly crawled out, saying he would check the inventory instead of Annabelle.

"Now, shall we have lunch?"

There was a wooden sword in his hands.

"Aaron? What's that? Did you bring it to throw it away?"

When one of the knights asked, Aaron picked up a sandwich from the tray and answered with a grin.

"No, it's my sister's."

"Hers?"

"Yes. It was behind the trash can. I discovered it after searching thoroughly."

Aaron continued, flicking and swinging the little wooden sword.

"This was my sister's wooden sword when she was nine years old and had her first match with Ian. I once said that I wanted to look for it. It's good that I found it before she left."

Everyone exchanged solemn glances at the words. Then they looked at Aaron and asked in one voice.

"Really... Is she really quitting?"

"She really cared about the Knights of the Wade. But why? Is there any other place like this except for the Imperial Knights?"

Aaron shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know. She just suddenly said she needed to quit. I don't really know why."

"You live in the same house and you don't know that? You're younger than her."

"I overheard her say something to our mother, but... Order... Something... Marriage... Something.."

Aaron tilted his head as he groped his memory and opened his eyes in surprise.

"Wait. The only people who can order her are the Wades and the Imperial family. Why did she talk about marriage there? Does that have anything to do with Prince Robert having lunch with her today?"

Aaron could not carry on any longer.

Because there was a huge shadow in front of him.

"Give it to me."

The man who reached out to him was Ian, with a stiff look on his face.

"...What?"

Aaron tilted his head and carefully held out the sandwich in one hand.

"If 20 steps to the tray is a waste for you... I'd be happy to..."

"Not that."

Ian pointed exactly to a child's wooden sword in Aaron's other hand.

"I'll give it to Annabelle."

"...What? What's wrong?"

Aaron tilted his head and presented a reasonable question.

"I'm the one who lives in the same house as her?"

"I've been looking for it for a long time, but I can't keep waiting until this evening."

"I didn't find it a long time ago... And according to my sister, she might go to work in the afternoon."

"But it's an item with great memories, so wouldn't she want to see it right away?"

Ian's expression was very serious.

"I'm going out now to see Prince Robert, and I'll tell her then."

Aaron rolled his eyes once and handed the child's wooden sword suspiciously. Anyway, it was true that Robert and Ian were friends.

"Huh... What..."

Other knights' eyes also played a role in Aaron's silence without further questioning.

Today's training wasn't so much fun, so they meant to let him go somehow.

"Until I get back, the afternoon training will be autonomous."

The knights who were eating the sandwich cheered internally and replied that they understood.

Ian got on the black horse while holding the wooden sword for children that had been wallowing in the dust of the warehouse.

~*~

Annabelle and Robert sat across from each other at the restaurant, finished eating, and were about to finish the dessert.

She ate a lot of delicious things at home anyway, so the meal itself was not impressive. But it was just a waste of time to her.

'It's more productive to train during this time...'

Whether he knew the idea or not, Robert said with his good-looking green eyes.

"I was thinking about how to say thank you... I thought that coming in person would help promote the restaurant. An official visit by the imperial family like this is a big issue."

To that, Annabelle immediately responded with a twinkle in her eyes.

"This is an appropriate reward, Prince."

She had no intention of succeeding in the family business as business was not her aptitude, but it was a good thing that her parents were wealthy.

Her mood improved immediately, and she said thank you right away.

"On your way back, I hope you'll remember the music that you might have forgotten a long time ago, but that I loved back then."

"Ah."

Robert smiled and nodded slowly.

"Then it feels really good. It felt like I was suddenly gaining a certain happiness that I had long forgotten. If you ask the Imperial Palace Music Troupe, you can listen to it right away."

While they were having a friendly conversation, a black horse running at full speed in front of the main entrance of Rainfield Restaurant came to a sudden stop.