Estorea waited patiently for the next few months, having so often encountered Kari and one of the male leads because Yula kept repeatedly sending her to the castle in order to check in on the crown prince and often give gifts and presents to him, along with heart written letters. Yula kept up with all the latest gossip and news. So, when she heard about how the girl who she had seen was accompanied by the dear crown prince. She proceeded to keep a close eye on her.

And with sending Estorea to the palace all the god-damn time. She naturally ordered Estorea to report back to her on what was stirring up in the palace. Where would she get this information from? Why, the maids, of course! They have always been the gossipy bunch, after all.

Adding on, Estorea has also encountered Kari quite a few times and now, they are friends? She wasn’t sure, maybe they were…

Eventually, she came to know that Kari was also like her, some person from another world, only with the fact that she had transmigrated much later than her, which was 2 years ago. Kari didn’t seem worried at all, despite saying she had a husband who was the clingiest shit known to mankind, and also very easily jealous. Estorea could tell something was up which she didn’t know. However, she could only turn a blind eye to it. Who would like someone digging into their secrets after all?

It was soon going to come close to her execution. And ever since Kieran had visited her that day, he had basically also stayed there 24/7, acting like he was super glued to Estorea until she had to leave for some business, and in response to that, Kieran had an extremely displeased look on his face.

But their relationship had progressed, Estorea wasn’t blind, she could tell Kieran had some sort of romantic attraction to her. She was curious about it, but she didn’t question it. It does benefit her when he declares war and would be occupied and busy while she flees away.

Estorea was not accustomed to having a romantic relationship, and neither does she have extremely strong feelings for Kieran, well, a little bit… she has to admit. Estorea calmly accepted it, it’s not her choice whether or not she could control her feelings or not. So if she liked him a bit, then sure, she did. Estorea rather not go through the five stages of denial like the other heroines who were in the enemy to lovers trope. It’s tiring to have thoughts go against each other like how humans do for whatever reason even though they were literally the same species.

Why is every world so difficult to live in?

…

Estorea pushed open the door, greeted by a delicious waft of cooked chicken. Proceeding forwards, she saw Kieran setting up the table. He immediately noticed her presence and looked up, a bright smile blooming on his face. “Estorea! You’re finally back, you must be really tired. Go take a bath and have dinner!” Scampering over to her, he took her hand in his and dragged her to the bathroom. It seems Kieran was destined to be the househusband…

Helplessly, Estorea took a bath, only to instantly realise she had forgotten her class. Wrapping a towel around herself, she stood up and went out of the bathroom, only to be stared at by Kieran who went into a daze seeing her semi-naked. “...I understand you’re a normal male and you probably got a…” Tilting her head down to see a tent forming in his pants.

“Do you wanna go inside the bathroom and deal with that? I will change out here.” With no hesitation, Kieran dashed into the bathroom, closing the door behind him. Leaning on the door, he breathed heavily, sliding down and covering his eyes with the back of his hand. “Now’s not the time… Resist, Kieran…”

…

Estora stabs her fork into the sliced chicken which Kieran had cut for her, bringing it up to her mouth to chew and swallow. She looked across to see Kieran shifting uncomfortably in his seat.

“...” She sighed.

“Kieran, are you still concerned about the incident? Don’t need to feel guilty, really… If you really need to, you can go to a brothel to relieve yourself…” Estorea suggested.

Kieran blinked. Standing up abruptly, the chair fell backwards as he slammed his hands on the table, his head down. He was trembling.

“...”

Estorea couldn’t tell whether he was angry or shameful, both emotions maybe?

“Estorea… Do you really want me to do that?” Gritting his teeth, he seems to face a lot of difficulty just trying to spit those words out.

Estorea thought about it silently, she did feel a bit uncomfortable about it. "I guess I do, but I don't mind honestly."

Kieran's lips trembled, he parted his mouth, in a whisper, "So, you do mind...?"

Estorea nodded honestly. She had connected the uncomfortable feeling to jealousy or discomfort.

Kieran's face seem to lit up from that nod, joyful that Estorea felt uncomfortable about it. If she didn't, it would mean to him that she doesn't care about him and would let him do whatever he wants without being concerned.

"Don't worry, Estorea! I would never go to those kind of places with you here by my side! Just don't leave me and I will never ever go to those places!" He especially emphasized the last part of the sentence.

Estorea blankly nodded, and went back to eating.

"Estorea!" Kieran called out to her once again in a cheerfuk voice.

She lifted her head up, to see a sliced chicken stabbed onto a fork. Kieran was holding up the fork with expectant eyes.

Estorea could only sigh helplessly, she leaned forward and bit off the chicken on the fork. And without a second, the fork was back with another slice of chicken.

"..."

Kieran grinned happily, she looked down at his plate to see the chicken being sliced into pieces, all ready to be stabbed by a fork and fed to her.

'Really..?'