Namgung Se-ga, the warrior, was reincarnated in Romance

It was a gift prepared by his mother. She placed the precious box, which was the size of a palm, on the table in the living room and pushed it towards the child. The child quickly accepted the gift and opened the box.

“I’ll give it to you first before you forget.”

“Oh, this is what I wrote in the reply.”

“Yes. It is a gift from God… and it is said to be sent from Valentia and Ernhard.”

It was a brooch decorated with clear pink and purple gems on a branch made of gold ore attached to silver.

It was a precious and heavy symbol with various valuables added. Ruber, who was calmly examining the jewels placed like fruits on a silver branch, smiled faintly again.

“God’s⋯.”

“Yes. You’ll understand if I show you.”

“⋯Yeah. Thank you very much. I’ll do my best.”

“Yes, and⋯.”

After all, I had promised to give him a gift, but I brought something else instead of just the symbol that my parents and relatives had given me. It was something that the servant had refused to take and I had to take with my own hands.

As I placed the box of food on the table in the living room, Louver’s face turned pale.

“uh?”

“This is what I give you.”

“This, really, really isn’t that it⋯?”

“Yes. Because it is time to eat everything that was before.”

“Ugh,” Louver groaned and covered his face with both hands.

Is it because her head is small? Or is it because her hands are big? I felt regretful when her pretty face was hidden from my eyes. She was cute and funny. I couldn’t hold back my laughter.

“No, that⋯.”

“Are there any left?”

“I ate it all. I ate it, but… No, what the heck….”

“You should live a long life.”

Louver glared at me through his fingers. He was also a bit cheeky. When he saw my smiling face, he ended up laughing, so I couldn’t hold back my laughter either.

We faced each other and laughed for a long time. I felt so relieved.

ah.

Yeah, it was nice to meet you.

It had not even been a month since I had sent my child off with such affectionate greetings the last time, but I had so much to say that I emptied the teapot twice while talking so thirstily.

As always, Louver served me snacks while talking about this and that, and I accepted them as usual.

The palace, which prepares for the debutantes and New Year’s festivities, is said to be noisy every day these days.

The prince and princess’s palace was relatively free from the commotion, but the Opal Palace, where the party hall where the banquet was held, was said to be changing not only the tapestries and chandeliers, but also the windows and decorations.

When I met Ruber at the palace, he was dressed in fancy clothes, as if he had been practicing dancing the other day.

I, who was wearing similar clothes, felt uncomfortable and stuffy whenever I moved, but Louver seemed to be covered in light feathers. The way he moved his arms and occasionally crossed his legs looked very natural.

This kind of appearance, this kind of clothing, this kind of posture, this guy is familiar. While I was thinking that, Louver opened his mouth slightly with a nervous look on his face.

“So… do you have someone you can escort?”

“yes.”

He answered easily without thinking, but when he realized that Ruber was startled, he quickly continued talking.

“Marianne, I decided to take the child in.”

“Uh… Philodendron, Young-ae? ⋯Why?”

“Yes. Last year he entered with the Glotin Tenor, but this year he said he was bothered by not having an opponent. It doesn’t mean anything.”

“Ah… I see.”

Ruber focused his gaze on the gesture of his hand sweeping across his chest. The jewel ring on the unmanned hand caught the light and scattered a yo-yo light.

“Senior.”

“I, ⋯still, no one.”

“is it so.”

I wondered what expression Ruber had on his face as he answered, but I only focused on the ring. Around my neck was the locket he had given me as a gift. I can’t forget that the locket had a gem of the same color as the ring.

My throat was parched. I picked up my teacup again.

“Still, it’s nice to see you like this.”

“⋯Yeah. Me too.”

“Will you just show me the living room?”

“Oh, do you want to look around some other places?”

“Yes. I’m curious since you said you’ve been here for a long time.”

The Duke of Valentia’s mansion was so magnificent and had so much to see, so how much more so must the Second Prince’s Palace be? As Ruber blushed and got up, I stood up.

After thinking for a moment, Louver turned to me and smiled sweetly.

For some reason, I felt uneasy, so I pretended to touch my lower body with one hand and covered my mouth.

Louver asked sharply.

“Shall we start from the armory?”

“⋯Let’s do that.”

I didn’t necessarily refuse the child’s consideration.

Louver said he lived alone in this large palace. Of course, there were plenty of people to serve him, but according to the law, the emperor lived in the emperor’s palace, the empress lived in the empress’s palace, and the prince and princess lived in their own palaces. I also heard that because the palace was so large, it was rare to see each other without making an appointment.

When I asked the child if he ever felt lonely since he lived with his family and blood relatives, he hesitated and couldn’t answer right away.

“Uhhh… Lucilla and I lived in the Empress’s Palace until we were five. I never felt lonely.”

“hmm.”

“I don’t remember well because I was so young… I had a big party for my fifth birthday and received a lot of presents, and I received this palace as a birthday present. It’s not like my path to the Empress’s Palace was blocked, so I didn’t need to feel lonely again.”

How did he spend his nightmare nights? I couldn’t help but wonder about such things, but I didn’t ask. It wasn’t a good question to ask a grown boy without any worries.

While looking around the armory, I listened to the history of the precious swords and shields. Among them, I couldn’t take my eyes off one that looked like a sharp sword, and then he immediately asked me, “Should I give this to you?” so I smiled.

“Why do you keep wanting to give me this?”

“But, Erhard Young-shik also gave me a nice gift.”

“You were glaring at me with such a disgusted expression.”

“⋯No, not that⋯.”

“except?”

“⋯But, I never thought that I could eat a turtle⋯.”

“It’s good for your health.”

That sharp face was so cute that my fingertips trembled. I tried hard to suppress the urge to pat the child’s head. Now that we were no longer in a comfortable and good relationship as seniors and juniors at the academy, I had to stop being rude.

To hide his regret, he gently pushed the child’s back and left the display case with the Unwol-do on it.

“I want to go see the garden. There are some familiar things there.”

“I wonder? Something familiar, something like that?”

“I’ve seen a lot of the same maple trees before… Is that the kind of tree you originally liked?”

ah.

⋯A blush came to Ruber’s face again. I felt embarrassed and didn’t ask any more questions.

While walking through the gardens of the Academy, I sometimes imagined how large and beautiful the gardens of the Imperial Palace would be.

I had a vague idea that it would only contain rich and precious things, but Louvre’s garden was different from any garden I had imagined.

The simple-looking four-leafed trees stood side by side, leisurely in their embrace, and when I stepped between their branches, I could clearly see the green fruit.

The branches on this side and the branches on the other side were tied together and arranged like a cave, and magic lights were hung in the space between them, so it wasn’t dark at all.

I’ve been down a similar road many times.

What I thought were white flowers everywhere turned out to be not flowers but plant leaves.

“Silver lace is not a plant that blooms all year round, but I like it because the leaves themselves are pretty like flowers.”

“⋯Hmm.”

“Isn’t it pretty?”

“yes.”

When I touched it, he allowed me to touch it, and there was soft fur. Looking at me like that, Louver whispered again as if humming.

“⋯I like things that don’t change.”

Was it the zelkova tree, or this beautiful plant? Or… I couldn’t find the words to answer, so I remained quiet. Ruber didn’t ask me any questions even though I didn’t answer.

Instead, he grabbed me and said in a gentle voice, “Now that the floor is cold, let’s get up and walk.”

In one corner of the wide garden, a swing hung from a large tree. The swing, which stretched out beneath the green leaves, was well-maintained but small.

I’m not that big, but I was barely able to sit down, so I measured the length with my hand and asked if there were any small children who could ride something like this.

Louver looked a little embarrassed and told me that it was something he used to ride when he was little.

I couldn’t help but laugh as I watched the little black kid swing his feet. I wanted to see him swing. It was so nice to see him dance, but it would be nice to see him swinging. I was happy thinking about that.

“Why, why are you laughing like that⋯?”

“Because you’re cute.”

“⋯Sometimes, I really wonder what I look like in your eyes.”

How does it look? Cute, pretty, pitiful, and also⋯.

Instead of telling that story, I asked something else.

“I have a question.”

“huh?”

“About the Aristocrats’ Yearbook Management and Inspection Department.”

“⋯Huh?”

“I would rather hear it from my senior than from anyone else.”

“Ah, no… suddenly?”

Louver looked around.

It was a walk where only the two of us were out, even after the servants left. I focused my gaze on the child who was not responding. Her bright smile was lovely, but when I looked at her embarrassed face with her eyebrows lowered, it felt like I had a lake inside of me. I tried hard to ignore the ripples and the ripples.

I waited for an answer while swinging the empty swing for no reason, but since the child was flustered for longer than expected, I added an explanation.

“I received an offer from Professor Wilton Roberts.”

“⋯Ah.”

“He said that I would be in his position. No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t help but think that if he wasn’t my senior, there would be no way he would say something like that.”

“Oh, right. Through Professor Roberts… That’s it.”

For some reason, Louver smiled with a relieved look on his face, then looked up at the sky and sighed deeply.

“I have something I want to show you. I was thinking I should talk about it before the debutante anyway.”

“What kind?”

“Well, let’s go to the study first. Let’s go and talk.”

“yes.”

The majesty in Louver’s voice was unfamiliar. I followed him without saying a word.

I only just noticed that I had been walking shoulder to shoulder with him the entire time I was walking in the garden. The hair that swayed around Louver’s shoulders looked like it had been carefully combed many times.

Marianne’s voice came to mind again. She said that it was more important to consider whether I liked him than whether he liked me.

But what if I love him?

Louver had already found the right path. He couldn’t shake this young child with unnecessary greed. He cleared his mind by coughing.