"Don't let go, I'm cold."

"But..."

"Ancia please stay next to me."

Up until a while ago, he insisted that he would go to train, but not even a moment later, he was like this.

"I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"It's because I'm powerless."

If I had been the Heir of Light, if I had the ability to lift the curse of the Goddess, Blake would not have been ill.

"Don't say that. I'm happy to have such a great wife."

Blake smiled as he hugged me. The moment he embraced me in his arms, a warm light enveloped us.

I slowly opened my eyes, feeling dazed and somewhat appalled.

I felt like I had a nightmare, but I couldn't remember it now.

'Did I fall asleep?'

I came to my senses slowly. I was going to let Blake rest, but I guess I fell asleep too. I looked at the clock and saw that 3 hours had already passed.

Blake fell asleep quietly as he held my left hand. His hands were warm.

I felt relieved seeing that.

At the same time, I felt like a fool and clenched my fist in frustration.

'Sleeping together in such a situation, Ancia, have you lost it? Blake is fine, so it's okay. But even a 13 years old wouldn't do this! Oh, you idiot! So stupid!'

"Ancia, what are you doing? Don't do that!"

As I was reflecting over my own stupidity, Blake woke up with a startle and stopped me.

"I'm sorry, did I wake you?"

"No. I was about to get up!"

"How are you?"

"I'm fine! I can train right now!"

He wasn't bluffing, he really seemed to be alright, but I wanted him to rest well today.

"No, we're supposed to be together today."

"Uh, uh, ah! Yeah! I'll be with Ancia today!"

Blake nodded violently. He was so cute that I couldn't resist and pulled his cheeks.

"Anthiaa, what ith it?"

I found him even cuter because his pronunciation was a bit off.

"My husband is so cute."

"Uuuh!"

He flew into a rage. These days, he didn't like hearing people saying he was cute. What was wrong with him? Was he already going through puberty?

But even that look of his was cute.

"I got a letter from Diana today."

"Did her winter training go well?"

"Yes, it must have been fun."

"That's great."

"I'm going to write back to her. Your Highness should write with me too."

"Me too?"

He seemed surprisingly unwilling. Of course, I was a little surprised because I thought he'd say, 'I want to write a letter to Diana too.'

"Why? You don't want to?"

"I don't. We'll see each other during the vacations anyway. I don't have to write a letter..."

He sounded rather half-hearted, like a college student who had been told to write a letter to a friend who just joined the army.

They were like close friends, but I felt a little uncomfortable by his somewhat cold reaction. Was there such a side to my little rabbit, who was full of gentleness and tenderness?

"Your Highness, didn't you miss Diana?"

"Not really. It's rather good."

"G-good?"

"Yes. Now I can be alone with my wife."

Blake snuggled and hugged me, as he whispered, "Actually, I was jealous."

"Jealous?"

"With Diana here, I had to spend less time with you. It's good to be with you all the time now."

I thought he was having fun with his friend, but he actually felt this way. I giggled and stroked his hair.

"So my husband is jealous~"

"Do you hate it?"

Blake looked up at me with his doe eyes. I immediately shook my head as soon as he blinked his big eyes and lowered his eyes a little worriedly.

"No, I like it!"

Who could hate my cute bunny!

"Hehe. Thank God."

Blake laughed. When I saw his innocent smile, I felt like my heart was healed.

***

Diana seemed to have adapted well to the academy. In particular, she was in the same class as Jayden, the red-haired boy who took the podium before, and half of her letters were about him.

—Jayden has already been granted permission to own a real sword.

—Jayden's hometown must be very far away. He said he'd stay in the dormitory during the vacation.

—Jayden didn't eat much today. He usually eats everything clean.

Jayden, Jayden, Jayden, Jayden... I heard so much about him that I felt like I knew him personally even though I had only seen him once at the entrance ceremony.

Diana kept on talking about him. I thought she liked him, so I asked her to bring him along during the vacation. But then, she wrote, "What? I'm already sick and tired of seeing him at the academy all the time!"

Was I wrong? But if she was worried about him not eating, so didn't that mean she liked him?

Was this world like that? Was this what kids did these days? I agonized over it, but did not find an answer.

—I wanted to see Jayden. It's a shame.

I wrote the letter and put it in an envelope.

Blake didn't send Diana any letters. Diana didn't really want a letter from Blake either. But that didn't mean they didn't think about each other.

Blake sometimes asked me, 'How's Diana doing?'

Diana also asked me about how Blake was doing. However, neither of them seemed willing to exchange letters.

How did the heroine of the original novel and the second male lead become like this?

I was going to seal the envelope, but my eyes were naturally drawn to the rose that lay on a side of the desk. It was the first gift Blake gave me. The flower would wither soon, so I added preservatives to it and placed it in a vase.

This red rose was my most precious treasure. I could not exchange it for any of the treasures of the world.

Suddenly someone hugged me tightly from behind. He smelled like roses. I smiled and held my husband's hand.

"Ancia, what are you doing?"

"The roses are pretty."

"Ancia is much more prettier."

The moment I heard it, I burst out laughing.

"Why are you laughing?"

"You know how to praise people naturally now. I feel like my husband is all grown up."

"I'm 11. I am a grown up."

He emphasized his age this year. Come to think of it, he seemed to have lost some of his baby fat and grown taller in these few months. Though he was still smaller than me.

"I'm only two years apart from my wife."

Blake snapped.

"There's still a two-year difference."

"......."

He pouted his mouth. Was he upset? I decided to stop teasing him.

I held his hand and touched his forehead lightly. These days, his physical condition got worse quite often, so it had become a habit for me to check whether he had a fever whenever I had time.

He didn't have a fever and he looked fine.

Blake would be sad if he noticed me checking if he had a fever, so I quickly lowered my hand from his forehead and touched his cheek.

Blake curled up shyly in response, but he still rubbed his face on my hands.

"Ancia's hands are warm..."

Oh no. I couldn't bear his overwhelming cuteness and hugged him tightly.

"My rabbit is the cutest in the world!"

"And coolest?"

"Ah, cute."

"Cool..."

"Very cute!!!"

"......"

"...Your Highness?"

Blake looked at the door silently. I turned my head to look too but there was nothing there.

"What's wrong?"

"Oh, nothing."

He smiled sweetly and held my hand. Thankfully, he wasn't sulking anymore....

"Your Majesty, let's go down. The beans I prepared yesterday should be done by now."

"Yes, alright."

We went downstairs, hand in hand.

***

I was going to make tofu today. In fact, I wanted to make it earlier, but getting a millstone and making a tofu frame took longer than I expected.

I went down to the kitchen with Blake and checked the condition of the beans that I had left to soak last night.

"We're going to peel it now."

"Yes! Your Highness! Just give me an order!"

Chef Terry answered. Terry was Edon's brother, and he was very interested in Eastern cuisine.

I was going to peel the beans with Terry and Melissa, but Blake approached us....

"I want to help."

"Really?"

"Yes!"

When I lived in Korea, I made tofu quite often. Peeling the beans with my grandmother used to take a long time, so I used to whine, saying, "Why don't you just make it with the skin?"

I was probably about 9 years old at that time.

Blake wasn't much older than I was back then, but he did not grumble and immediately got to work.

The work was finished much faster thanks to so many people doing it together....

When I put peeled beans into the millstone, the water flowed out.

"Wow. Amazing."

Blake admired. Terry and Melissa were also amazed because this millstone was different from the ones used in the Empire.

To be honest, it was new for me too. There was a millstone in my grandmother's house, but the handle was worn out, so I didn't actually use it. Instead, I used to use an old mixer.

Of course, I had seen it in videos before, but seeing the beans being split like this, my eyes naturally grew bigger in fascination too.