The three men’s roast session ended with the busy Crown Prince needing to go deal with paperwork from the royal side. Once he left the Knights Order, the whole room fell quiet again, with only the sound of Kale flipping through papers remaining.

Even though this was Arman’s captain’s office, Kale, the vice-captain, was the one in charge of all the paperwork. So this had basically become Kale’s office too. A scene like this, with the vice-captain diligently handling everything inside and outside the Order while the captain only sat there spacing out, was absurdly common.

“If you’re tired, take a nap.”

After the Crown Prince left, Kale quickly slipped back into work mode. Arman, meanwhile, returned to that same heavy silence as before, as if he were brooding over something. He kept lying on the sofa and, just like earlier, pulled that black-and-white coat trimmed with gold over his head.

“I’m not sleepy,” Arman muttered in a muffled voice. He quietly lifted the coat a little and looked up at Kale through the gap while Kale worked with his head down. “How much is left?”

“A lot.” Kale shook his head. “Every knight has to be accounted for. This isn’t something we can finish in a day or two.”

“Ah…”

Arman climbed up from the sofa, casually tossed his medal-decorated coat over the backrest, then plopped down on an empty spot on the desk and picked up the unfinished documents.

Arman didn’t like dealing with this kind of stuff, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t. If he weren’t the hands-on type, he and Kale wouldn’t have worked until midnight yesterday before finally heading back to the manor.

If Kale’s wife hadn’t been worried, and if his daughter weren’t still so young and in need of her father, Kale would’ve had no choice but to stay. At that point, the two of them probably would’ve just worked through the night at the Knights Order.

“Are you staying here all day again?” Kale looked up at Arman in the middle of his work.

“Mm.”

Arman tapped his heel against the wooden desk. He only showed Kale his profile, and the loose hair by his temple made it impossible to read his expression.

“Not going back to the manor?”

“I’ll think about it tonight.”

“That’s not a good idea.”

“What, me staying late with you is a bad thing now?”

“...”

Kale still couldn’t see Arman’s face, but from his tone, he could hear that carefully faked calmness.

Rustle.

Kale’s papers shook in his hand. Then came the click of a pen cap snapping shut. After that, the sound of a chair moving. Even without turning around, Arman knew Kale had stood up. The sharp tap of footsteps stopped right behind him.

“—You brat.”

“Wuh—?!”

Then Kale kicked him right off the desk.

Of course, he held back. Otherwise, a sneak attack like that definitely would’ve left Arman’s back aching for a while.

“Good grief... what are you doing?”

Even so, Arman still ended up sprawled over the sofa, rubbing his waist. The sudden attack startled him badly, especially when his mind had been somewhere else the whole time.

“You’re bottling yourself up and making your brother worry. Since when did you start acting like some bullied little wife?”

“Hah?” Arman patted the footprint on his waist, then picked up the file that had fallen to the floor and put it back on the desk. “What are you getting worked up for?”

“...”

Kale said nothing. He just stood in front of the desk with his arms crossed. Judging by the way his fingers kept tapping against his arm, he was clearly very dissatisfied with this version of Arman.

“Haa...” Arman rubbed his head in frustration with one hand and planted the other on his waist. “This is complicated. It’s not like what you think.”

“What, is she underage? Or is it some forbidden love?” Kale frowned, his fingers tapping even faster. “Don’t tell me you like men?”

“How could that be...! My orientation is perfectly normal.”

“Then what’s there to be scared of?”

“I’m not scared—I just—”

Arman stopped halfway through, right at the highest point of his voice. It all turned into a long sigh instead.

“Arman. Is she pretty?”

“Huh?” Arman froze for a second, not knowing how Kale had steered the conversation there. But the moment he heard the question, Evelia’s face appeared in his mind at once, beautiful like an exquisite oil painting. Faced with his own brain’s instant reaction, Arman awkwardly pinched his ear and nodded. “...Pretty.”

“What about her figure?”

“...Amazing.” Arman’s hand slowly covered half his face as the scene in the carriage that day surfaced in his mind again.

“She’s an adult, right?”

“Yes, an adult.” At least that was what the file said.

“Then what are you hesitating for? Just go for it!”

“What are you even saying?!”

Kale’s shocking line made Arman raise his voice too.

“I mean take the initiative. Women like men who make the first move.”

“Ah...” Arman wiped away some sweat. “So that’s what kind of ‘go for it’ you meant...”

“Hm? Then what were you thinking of?”

“...”

Arman said nothing and guiltily looked away.

“Anyway, curling up in here like a turtle won’t help. The most important thing for you two is to clear things up. Same as before—find a chance to apologize.”

“But I didn’t do anything wro—” He got only halfway through before Kale shot him another sharp look, and Arman immediately shut his mouth. Even though he was the captain and technically ranked higher, this vice-captain four years older than him still crushed him completely in terms of presence.

“Alright, go on. I’ll handle this stuff. You deal with yourself.” Seeing that Arman had understood, Kale returned to his seat and went back to processing the documents on the desk as if nothing had happened.

“...”

Arman clearly still wanted to say something, but seeing Kale’s whole attitude of I’ve said my piece, now go cool off somewhere else, he didn’t say another word. With his head lowered in resignation, he turned and walked out of the room marked Captain’s Office.

Ever since that day, Arman had wanted to see Evelia and clear things up. But for some reason, after letting his emotions settle for a day, he no longer wanted to face her.

But... now that he’d already walked out of the office he’d been using as a hiding place, he should go find Evelia and talk properly...

Talk about what, though...?

With someone like Evelia, the more he said, the more likely he was to say something wrong. If he slipped up even a little, he might reveal something fatal.

He wanted to talk to her, but didn’t know how. His own hypocrisy was already making him miserable, and the apology waiting ahead might also be full of lies and deception.

“So damn annoying.”

He muttered that again as he walked out of the Knights Order.

He’d originally planned to just wait it out. Wait for time to wash this whole thing into the past. Once enough time had passed, he’d pretend nothing had happened and just let the whole irritating matter go cold. He’d even prepared himself mentally, planning not to trouble himself over Evelia anymore.

But when he got back to the manor, he had barely even warmed his seat before the old butler, who had been putting away his clothes, slowly drifted over and said:

“Master, Miss Evelia received flowers.”

“Hah?!” Arman had just sat down, but he shot back up like he’d landed on a spring. “When did that happen?!”

“This morning. Not long after you left.”

“What?!”

—Someone’s trying to court Evelia right under my nose?!

That was the first thought that exploded in Arman’s head. His heart pounded hard, and his fists clenched tight.

Even though he told himself he had no other thoughts about Evelia, that he was only stabilizing a spy sent by the Second Prince, it was still the same old point—

—How the hell does anyone dare try to court Evelia right under my nose?!

This was a matter of principle!

How dare someone lay a hand on his person?!

“Where is Evelia?” Arman took a deep breath, trying to make his emotions look steadier.

“She went out after receiving the flowers.”

“She went out right after receiving them?!”

So much for calming down.

In truth, Evelia had gone out to buy flower wrapping paper.

“Yes, and she dressed up very nicely too.”

“She even dressed up for it?!”

Now he was even more worked up.

But actually, Evelia only did that because she was planning to stop by Anna’s clothing shop on the way. She felt she should at least dress properly for a visit there.

“Hah...”

Arman had to admit it. After hearing all that, he really was getting anxious.

What exactly was this restless, irritating feeling?

“Damn it, they’re just flowers.” Arman cursed, not even bothering to put on his coat before striding out. “I’ve got plenty of those...!”

Bang.

Arman shoved the door open and stormed out. Watching him leave in a rush like a gust of wind, the old butler hummed and sighed with feeling.

“Youth really is wonderful...”

After leaving, Arman headed straight for his back garden. The garden was open to the servants, and there were even a few young couples secretly dating there now and then. But the moment they saw Arman charging over, they were so frightened they grabbed each other’s hands and ran. Very quickly, the whole garden was left with only Arman in it.

He still remembered that when he had gone off to war, a country in the west had gifted him some local thornless blue roses. Since they were the same color as his own eyes, Arman had become especially fond of them. He’d gone through a great deal of trouble to cultivate them into a variety that could survive in his own home. He’d had quite a few seeds at first, but in the end only one cluster survived.

He had a bit of selfishness in this too, so when the Crown Prince had this manor built, Arman asked for those flowers to be planted somewhere more hidden. That way they wouldn’t interfere with his occasional walks to admire them, and people wouldn’t easily spot them and come asking him for some.

The moment he heard from the butler that Evelia had received flowers, Arman immediately thought of those blue roses, the very ones he usually couldn’t even bear to let others look at too much. He hadn’t hesitated for even half a second before running over.

But when he reached the spot, he stared blankly at the bare rose bush.

“Hm...?”

He looked around, up and down, left and right. He checked the whole area.

There wasn’t a trace of blue anywhere.

“Where are my flowers?”