Conceivably, because I took good medicine and had a good rest, I was able to move smoothly the next day.

"The medicine the Emperor takes... it's nice."

Of course, Raniero would never suffer from muscle aches like this, so it might be a bit presumptuous to call it the 'medicine for the Emperor.'

Perhaps, because of the medicine, I fell asleep yesterday without Raniero's permission. It was not until I woke up in the morning that I was startled by my own frivolity. Then, the next moment I was like, 'Huh? How can I not be surprised? I slept without permission yesterday, but it looks like my neck is still intact.'

When I woke up in the morning and asked Cisen, she said that Raniero stayed until after midnight and left only at dawn.

"When I sleep... Do I sleep strangely—?"

At that, Cisen asked with a curious expression.

"Sleeping strangely, you say...?

"Did I make a strange expression or weird pose?"

Why would Raniero look at my sleeping face...?

I was not sure why he would not leave before. Still, it seemed that Cisen did not quite understand what I was saying, so I just waved my hand and asked another question instead.

"When did His Majesty tell me to go out to the gym?"

I was going to have dynamic hunting training with him today. However, upon hearing my words, Cisen's expression suddenly darkened.

"He didn't say anything..."

"If he didn't, you should have asked!"

I pulled my hair out before she could finish speaking. I could not bear to say anything bad to her—I could not, so instead, my hair was sacrificed.

Being loyal is everything...! Why is she doing this to me?

Cisen repeatedly kept saying that she was really sorry and stopped me.

But, that was just for a while since I had to get to the gym before Raniero, no matter what. Although the Empress's grooming process was long and meticulous, today, I passed everything quickly with that in mind. Let's not forget, life is more important than dignity.

I then sprinted to the gym, pretending to be ignorant of the members of the Imperial Palace who were gazing at me.

When I reached the gym, I was already out of breath and thought I would die if I kept going like this. As I placed my hands both on my knees and breathed in, it seemed that there were only knights training all around, and Raniero was nowhere to be seen.

Thank god...

"Whoo— That's a relief..."

"Did you just wake up now?"

"Euaakk...!"

Raniero appeared from behind me again this time. It was really the same pattern, though every time, I would be continually surprised by it. I screamed so loudly that I hurriedly covered my mouth with both hands, rolled my eyes, and could barely glance at Raniero.

"You're lazy. It's past ten."

"Sorry, I'm sorry."

"I've been waiting for two hours."

"Heup—"

...Two hours?

Covering my mouth, I blinked my eyes wide. Did I make this crazy man wait for two hours...?

Tuk.

I immediately knelt down.

...Any excuse would not work, only an unconditional apology.

While kneeling down and choosing a sentence that would touch Raniero's heart, a slightly blunt voice was heard above my head.

"It's okay. I don't want to delay any longer to receive an apology for nothing. Get up."

At that, I got up immediately. Meanwhile, Raniero lightly kicked the bow that I dropped in surprise as I was darting my eyes sideways.

"What is this kid's toy?"

...What does he mean? It is my bow.

I quickly picked up my bow and replied.

"I still lack a lot of muscle strength to pull the bowstring because I'm not strong enough..."

"Ho."

The word 'again and again' could be read from Raniero's expression.

Oh, is this how he reads my face?

As I was lost in my thoughts, something was put in my hand.

"Huh?"

Looking down, it was a smooth bow. It was smaller than the first one I used on the first day, and larger than that of Duchess Nerma's son that she had brought.

Puzzled, I glanced up at Raniero. He lifted my chin, tilted his head before gazing down at me.

"Did you not have any intention of using a weapon that fits your body size?"

Well, at first, I asked for something that would shoot out unconditionally far away. After all, no matter how far the bow would be held, it would be useless if the shooter could not even pull the string. What Duchess Nerma gave me was a bit disappointing to achieve its original purpose of threatening fire because the range was too short.

I tried pulling the bowstring. It was adequate for pulling a string because the body of the bow was suitable. The arrow propulsion might be a little off, but...

I was really thankful for this.

As I lowered my head, I could feel my ears heating up.

"Thank you."

The person on the other side was silent for a moment. A few seconds later, a cold fingertip grazed my ear. While rubbing softly on my earlobe, a whispered fell.

"You still have a fever. The medicine I gave you yesterday must have not helped."

It is not like that...!

Looking up at Raniero, who was getting closer in surprise, he was smiling pleasantly. Only then did I realize that he made fun of me again.

Ha, really...

Even if he does not want to go over every detail, you will have a huge reaction to even the smallest things in front of Raniero because you would never know when you would die.

He then lightly pulled my hair that was tied up. I could now accept this level of aegyo.

[ T/N: I'm sure everyone knows what 'aegyo' means, but just in case ૮ ◞ ﻌ ◟ ა. Korean refers to it as a cute display of affection often expressed through a cute voice, changes to speech, facial expressions, or gestures. ]

It was fortunate that he did not seem to be offended by me being two hours late.

"Let's start."

Raniero took the lead by stretching like a flexible cat. I followed him in stride.