He stopped me from speaking with one word, and then he really left.
I had no choice but to sit and wait on the slightly faded bed.
Suddenly, I remembered what Aaron had said about Ian before.
Ian Wade was born as a swordsman genius, but he said that he was more diligent in his training than anyone else.
He did his best and didn't waste anything…
'Yes, Ian is the best model student in the world.'
Suddenly a great hypothesis came to mind.
'Then now… That person, it seems like he and I are going to be really sincere as lovers, right?'
Indeed, it wasn't long before Ian brought the meal on a tray. He made salad with steak, roast potatoes and fruit.
It was not a dish that required great skill, it was just a nutritionally balanced diet.
"Huh… Well… Did you cook it yourself?"
I asked awkwardly, eating a piece of properly cooked steak.
"When did you ever do this?"
"Everyone in the knights knows how to do this in case of an emergency. There are times when we have to do things like camping depending on the mission."
He said while eating together in front of me.
"You eat Oscar's food every day now, so this probably doesn't taste good."
"It's tasty. Really."
I shook my head and answered.
"When I was living with Reid, I ate only crispy yipper meat almost every day. Compared to that, this is a dinner party."
Ian glanced at me and sighed.
Then he said in a very blunt voice.
"I am going to have chicken for dinner, how about it? If the kitchen is not busy, we can try frying some mushrooms."
"Well… You want to make dinner too?"
"I don't usually skip breakfast, so I think a stew would be better. I think there were tomatoes and turkeys…"
Seeing that he was thinking about what to eat for breakfast tomorrow, he seemed to be in charge of cooking.
As I looked at Ian with a confused expression, he said calmly.
"Isn't it natural to think about feeding a lover who grew up eating yipper meat three meals a day?"
"…"
"Don't pick out the broccoli, eat it all."
I had no choice but to mix the broccoli I had quietly picked out into the salad again.
"Wait, the seeds in the lemon need to be taken out."
I stared blankly at Ian, who removed the seeds from the lemon slice on my plate.
Even my parents didn't look at my meals this carefully.
'I think he's serious about taking care of what I eat… It's like Leslie.'
I didn't hate the interest again, no matter how sincere Ian was in acting the method.
"I heard there's indoor clothes in the closet. I'm changing in the bathroom."
Ian took the plate out after the meal.
As he said, when I searched the closet, there were indoor clothes that were inexpensive but not of bad quality.
"That's amazing."
I mumbled, kicking my tongue.
"Here…Why are they so good at their job? It's like a complete hotel here."
There were quite a lot of things that had to be done to really call it a hotel, but anyway, I could see that they had planned each room one by one very thoroughly.
When I finished changing my indoor clothes in the bathroom, another strange scene spread out in front of me.
"What are you doing?"
"There was so much dust on the bed."
Ian… I mean… Ian Wade, the eldest son of Duke Wade, and No. 1 in the swordsmanship competition, was cleaning.
"The room management is definitely messed up because there are no servants."
I stared blankly at him shaking the sheet again.
The hypothesis, "I guess he can't sleep in such a place because of his precious body," and the question, "Why is that precious body cleaning?" collided.
"But it was a relief that he brought me cleaning supplies right away when I asked for them."
"Uh… Yes."
I sat awkwardly on the sofa and asked.
"Do you know how to clean up?"
"I just did it."
He responded bluntly and began putting on a white pillowcase he brought from somewhere.
"Of course, you have to pay attention to your lover's bed cleanliness."
I didn't know that sleeping cleanly was the duty of a lover, but Ian's standard was just very unique.
There was only one bed in the room.
It was big enough for two people to sleep in, but Ian was cleaning with all his passion, so of course I thought he was checking the bed.
"…So this is your bed?"
"Don't worry, I will sleep on the sofa."
"Oh, no."
I quickly waved my hand.
"I slept on a really bad old mattress when I was living with Reid. My back usually hurts when I wake up, but this sofa is much better than that. I can sleep there."
"…"
Ian sighed for a moment.
"After hearing that, there is no man who will have his lover to sleep on the sofa, so let's stop arguing."
"After all, it's just the two of us, so why do we keep talking like lovers…"
"I think the debate between us has been quite enough. Was 8 years not enough time?"
Those words were enough to make me shut up.
After I paused for a moment, Ian asked again.
"Is this pillow high enough? What about the thickness of the duvet? If it doesn't fit well, come and have a look."
In the end, I talked about what had bothered me for a long time.
"…Actually, I think the pillows are a little high."
"Okay."
"The blanket is also a bit thick."
"Okay. Please wait for a moment."
Apparently, Ian was the type of person who took care of his lover very thoroughly.
The habit of thoroughly managing the Knights Templar didn't go anywhere.
'Well… Is this alright?'
I thought it would be very uncomfortable if we continued pretending to be lovers, but it was the exact opposite.
So I decided not to stop him from calling us a couple.
~*~
(3rd person pov)
Carlon was preparing to return from the Duke of Edison to the Empire.
There was one reason why he, the crown prince, volunteered to be on a mission to such a small country.
"Lagian Velicis, I'll ask you one last time."
Carlon looked at the giant man standing next to him and said.
"Seriously… You can beat Annabelle Rainfield?"
The man, called Lagian, was a warrior with large muscles.
He replied with a nod.
"I've been attending the Empire's swordsmanship competition since I was young. I couldn't participate because I wasn't an imperialist, but I've seen them from the front seat every four years."
Lagian swept up his white hair and his blue eyes shone.
It was a look that caused a sense of pressure just by looking at its large body and muscles.
"I can easily beat Annabelle Rainfield. I'm sure."
"You can beat Annabelle easily?"
"If you look closely, there are bad habits that have been accumulated since childhood, and she is less agile and doesn't know how to completely hide her signs. It's the result of not properly cultivating your natural talent."
Lagian spoke like flowing water and licked his upper lip with his tongue.
"That's easy to win."
"Winning is not important."
Carlon crossed his arms and spoke leisurely.
"You're going to get rid of her."
Black hair resembling the empress was stretched out.
He had the same green eyes as Robert, but his eyes were much sharper.
The atmosphere itself was different from Robert, who looked like the emperor.
Carlon thought that the emperor's trust in Robert also played a part in the emperor's appearance.
Anyways, they were half brothers who did not like each other in many ways.
He headed to the Duke of Edison immediately after hearing from Richard about the Black Market at the general food store.
In the Empire, there was no one who could beat Ian or Annabelle.
In other words, even if he wanted to get rid of them and disguise it as an accident, he couldn't think of a way.
That's why when he heard that a genius swordsman came from the Duke of Edison, he applied to meet the man in person.
Lagian, a genius swordsman, was fortunately a person who could move easily with money.
He nailed that he had no confidence to beat Ian Wade, but when Annabelle Rainfield's name came out, he could not hide his hateful eyes.
And as soon as Lagain heard that Ian and Annabelle were together these days, he began to show enthusiasm, arguing that he would somehow not let Annabelle Reinfield go.
Lagain was so enthusiastic that Carlon wondered if there had been a bad relationship in the past, so Calon felt a little burdened.
"Then it would be easier."
Lagian smiled and said.
"I'm personally very happy that I can get rid of Annabelle Rainfield."
"Killing people can cause headwinds if you do something wrong… You have to watch the timing carefully and think about various measures. It's true that it's very annoying, but I can't say I'll let you kill her right away."
Carlon spoke indifferently slowly.
"She's only a girl from a commoner's family anyway, so once Robert uses her, she'll just be abandoned."
In fact, he didn't want to devote much energy to a commoner girl.
He continued, raising the corners of his mouth.
"…I'm ashamed of disturbing you, but I just want to get rid of her quickly… I'll have to decide when I get back to the empire. Anyways, I will accompany you to the empire."
It was when Carlon offered Lagian some jewelry in advance, a pigeon flew toward him.
When he received a short note, Carlon frowned.