Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull!

I let go of Kyle’s hand for a moment and greeted him.

“I see the sun of the empire. Vivian Rosiere gives greetings to His Majesty the Emperor.”

“I see the sun of the Empire.”

I was a little sad when I saw that even Kyle was paying respects to the emperor as his servant.

Kyle was still a child.

Neither his father nor his mother have attached affection to him.

I wanted to hold Kyle’s hand again, but I hesitated because the emperor noticed.

But then, Kyle took my hand again first.

“Hmm.”

When emperor Ishad saw us like that, he handed over the documents to an aide standing next to him.

“You’re not late. Sit down.”

The attendants pulled out chairs for Kyle and me. Soon, brightly decorated snacks came up on the table one by one.

My eyes twinkled.

God, what’s all this?

At first glance, these desserts seem incredibly sweet and delicious. The decorations made of chocolate and sugar were also delicate and luxurious.

I don’t think even our genius chef can make something like this.

“Pretty.”

I could hear a laugh in front of me, as I unknowingly admired the desserts out loud.

When I looked up, the emperor was looking down at me carefully.

When I blushed with embarrassment that I was only distracted by snacks, the emperor asked.

“You must like sweets, don’t you?”

“…..Yes, Your Majesty.”

When the emperor asked, I answered, but I was too shy.

This made me look like a child.

Although, in my defense, my current physical age was that of a child.

When I peeked at the emperor, he was sipping tea as if he had no interest in sweets.

Come to think of it, all the desserts that came out were only set up in front of me and Kyle.

It felt like they were prepared on purpose for me and Kyle, because we were at the age when we would love sweets.

“Listen comfortably.”

So, the real teatime began.

I was a bit nervous before I came here, but the atmosphere was softer than I thought.

He praised me and Kyle for our hard work and encouraged our achievements.

Especially when praising Kyle, his voice became very friendly.

“You’ve worked hard. Good work.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty!”

Kyle exclaimed in a loud voice with a smile on his face at the emperor’s praise.

Kyle’s expression was one of the happiest expressions I’d seen from him recently.

The emperor also seemed to be quite content.

Maybe their relationship wasn’t as bad as I thought?

As I felt more at ease, the dessert tasted even better.

In particular, the second lemon tart was very, very delicious.

How could I not even get to know the recipe?

While I was agonizing and lamenting my lack of lemon tart knowledge, the emperor brought up a surprising story to me and Kyle.

“Both of you passed a difficult test, so as a congratulatory gift for your entrance, I will give you anything you want.”

I blinked my eyes, not expecting to receive a surprise gift in addition to being invited to teatime.

It was the same for Kyle.

Kyle, who was struggling, spoke cautiously.

“May I save my wish, Your Majesty?”

You idiot! You shouldn’t say that here!

You should have said that you want to spend time with your father like today, or that you want to live safely away from your mother’s violence.

But the words were already spoken. The emperor nodded slowly.

“As you wish.”

Then he looks back at me as if to tell him what I want.

What should I do….

I pondered for a moment.

I covet the recipe for the sweet and sour lemon tart, but now was a moment to make a more precious wish.

But I shouldn’t be too greedy.

After narrowing my ideas down, I finally had one wish to say.

“I hope His Highness can stay at my house until we enter the academy!”

“Vivi?”

Kyle looked at me in surprise. Feeling Kyle’s gaze, I said firmly.

“I want to go out and play with him until I enter the academy. We have to study in advance. Can’t we, Your Majesty the Emperor?”

To be precise, I was trying to drive a wedge between Kyle and Titania so that Kyle could completely get away from her.

Now that he had passed the test, there was no reason for him to stay at the Marquis of Rosiere.

I don’t want to leave Kyle by Titania’s side for even a moment. Who knew what she was going to do when given even a second of time with him.

The scar on Kyle’s back was finally getting better because I applied the medicine over and over again every day!

The emperor smiled when he read the unbreakable determination in my eyes. 

“So be it,” the emperor said, leaning back on his chair.

“Your Majesty?” Kyle asked, almost in disbelief.

“Anyway, the time left until the entrance date isn’t long, so it would be better to prepare together.”

“Wow, thank you so much!”I thanked him from the bottom of my heart. I got permission more easily than I thought.

I turned my head to Kyle and smiled.

“It went really well. Right, Your Highness?”

“Yes.”

Kyle nodded.

The emperor muttered to himself, “You are better than your father.”

I didn’t know what he meant by that, but hehe, sure.

Originally, it was called exceeding one’s master.

Good for him anyway!

On the way back home after the audience, the emperor’s aide gave me a basket full of desserts.

“What is this?”

“Another gift from His Majesty.”

When I opened the basket, there were a lot of the lemon tarts that I liked.

I smiled softly.

It was a pretty good day, really.

***

With the emperor’s permission, Kyle was now fully living in our house.

Unlike the plot development of the original work, it was possible for him to escape Titania’s abuse from an early age.

Would Kyle’s childhood be a little happier now?

But while I was concentrating on Titania, I forgot one important event.

“I forgot about the charity event.”

To be precise, it was the incident where the female lead and male lead met for the first time.

God, how could I have forgotten this?

In late autumn, when the days were getting shorter, the imperial family opened a relief project for the poor in the capital.

It was also the time when winter was approaching, so it was to increase the dignity of the royal family and distribute harvested grains to supplement the people’s livelihoods ahead of the harsher season.

Because the support of the people was a pretty important factor in becoming an emperor in the future, Kyle also participated every year under Titania’s order.

And as I recalled, perhaps this year, Kyle would encounter the female lead who was out on the street to pick up grain.

It was a fleeting moment, so both of them ended up forgetting about it, but it was technically their first meeting anyway.

But we were going to the academy soon, right? So, he couldn’t meet her?

It was so easy to interrupt the first meeting between the male lead and the female lead, wasn’t it?

“Ugh.”

I hid my head on my desk, pulling my hair.

I, not anyone else, blocked the meeting between two main characters.

It wasn’t that I thought I should keep the original story going perfectly. My family and I die of treason if it goes along the lines of the original. That was never going to happen if I could help it.

However, it made me uncomfortable to know how much the two protagonists in the original story loved and cared for each other.

Maybe I made the two people who would’ve loved each other fall apart?

Of course, Kyle could fall in love with someone other than the female lead, and the same went for the female lead….

Ugh, I had a lot on my mind.

I’d callously only thought about getting him away from Titania.

“Phew.”

Groaning, I suddenly raised my head.

I didn’t know about love, but anyway, Kyle and the female lead needed to meet at least once.

This was because Kyle’s journey to becoming an emperor, which he will go through after growing up, requires the power of a saintess. The saintess being none other than the female lead.

One month left before academy admission.

I must somehow find the female lead and make her run into Kyle at least once!

Having made up my mind, I jumped up from my seat and headed to Kyle’s room.

“Kyle!”

Contrary to the energetic visit, Kyle’s room was empty.

I grabbed a servant passing through the hallway and asked.

“Where did His Highness the Prince go?”

“The Prince is on the training ground with Verdo.”

With my brother?

Without delay, I headed straight to the training grounds.

“Ha! Ha! Ha!”

A shout was heard from afar.

When I arrived at the training grounds, Kyle was wielding a wooden sword under the guidance of my older brother, who had returned home after a long time.

As Kyle was now staying at my house instead of staying at the Imperial Palace, his swordsmanship class would naturally be held at my house’s training grounds.

I didn’t like it because I would be sweaty and tired, but Kyle really liked to wield a sword.

I approached the two of them stealthily so as not to get in their way, but my brother caught me first.

Verdo greeted me with a broad smile.

“Vivi, are you here to see your brother?”

“No, I’m not.”

I vehemently pushed my brother away who was trying to hug me. 

‘How old am I that my brother is still trying to hug me like a baby?!’