Don’t Concern Yourself With That Book

It did not hurt but it did leave me feeling flustered. There was a middle-aged man with a stiff expression and a slightly awkward smile standing in front of me. His tangled red hair that had been tied up reminded me of someone.

“Ah. Who’s this?”

Then, the middle-aged man hurriedly took two steps back before bowing his head politely.

“The Head of Aventa greets the beautiful Amadema, the 8th Branch.”

I almost did not believe it but his appearance did not stray too much from my expectations.

“Hm. So you’re Rebecca’s father? Right?”

“Yes. That is correct.”

Other than my own lady-in-waiting, I had never seen anyone else speak as eloquently as him. Just as Rebecca was a beautiful woman, her father was quite handsome as well.

‘They look really alike, especially their eyes and eyebrows.’

However, his gaze felt slightly more warm and kind than Rebecca’s.

“I hope my daughter was not too much trouble.”

“Absolutely not! Rebecca is an extremely amazing lady-in-waiting.”

I smiled widely like a clown before slowly scanning him.

‘He’s really handsome.’

He was a DILF. (1) In the original novel, he joined the 2nd Prince’s faction and led the rebellion after his one and only daughter died. As a templar of the sword, he was a good swordsman and had a great understanding of strategy. He was like an assault captain from my previous life.

But now, instead of holding a sword, the person in front of me looked like he could be seen crossing his legs whilst holding a glass of wine. He looked as big as Granius.

“That’s a relief.”

The duke lowered his head further to greet me.

“It was my wife’s insistent decision for that child to become your lady-in-waiting. It must have been quite sudden but I’m relieved you like her so much.”

Well, was it solely the duchess’ decision? I narrowed my eyes.

“My father wanted me to find out the truth behind the rumours between you and the Crown Prince.”

I had continued to work hard, die and endure living in an environment where I could trust no one so I knew it was always good to be suspicious. I fluttered my eyes before smiling.

“Don’t worry. I’ll make Rebecca happy.”

Because of my sudden yet sincere words, the duke seemed to stare at me in surprise for a moment.

“I’ll make her the happiest person in the world.”

Unlike how she was in the novel.

His brown eyes were different from Rebecca’s. I did not feel a hint of cold from his gaze.

“Thank you.”

The duke bowed his head once again with a smile to express his gratitude.

For some reason, when I saw him, it felt like I had to say those words.

‘Wasn’t that… something the male lead of a romance novel will say?’

When I turned around, Amor was looking this way with one of his eyebrows raised. I must have been very good at acting cheerful.

Gosh, this was not even his first or second time seeing me act like this.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Nothing. I was just thinking about how different hearing about you and seeing you directly actually is.”

As I smiled shamelessly at him, Amor scoffed. It might have looked like a ridiculous expression to him but since it had been a while, it was genuinely good to see him again.

“Were you busy?”

“Not really.”

I walked towards him. The surroundings were different from usual. There were books, some plants and what looked like some kind of flower petals with vines wrapped around them. There were also small vials lined up along his side desk as if he had just been conducting an experiment.

“Sit.”

Crack.

Amor raised his head before nodding. The vines then whipped around before snatching the vials and disappearing beneath his bed. In the blink of an eye, the view in front of me had changed and I was sitting on his bed. There was something I was curious about.

“By the way, are you close to the Duke of Aventa, brother?”

“Close? With who?”

“Are you close enough for him to visit you?”

“You know he’s someone who would rather lock me up and use me as he pleases?”

“He does not seem like such a perverted person though?”

“Can you tell a perverted person just from looking at their face? His visits are annoying.”

“But you don’t look that offended by his visits.”

Amor’s palace would never allow those Amor did not permit to step inside. All the plants surrounding the palace would never allow those Amor considered strangers inside.

Now that I thought about it, he had quite a convenient ability. He could control plants and create any poison or medicine he could think of. So, he would never fall victim to a poisoning nor would it be possible for him to be assassinated because of the vines that would move at the flick of his wrist. Television did not exist here so he could just watch flowers bloom every day whenever he was bored.

“I’m jealous, I want to live here too.”

He looked down towards me indifferently as if he thought I was being ridiculous. I sat on the floor before slowly moving my head and burying my cheeks into legs.

“I mean, I was just thinking I won’t ever die if I stay here.”

I might have sounded insincere to him but if I stayed here, I thought I could avoid any unnatural deaths.

It had been a thoughtless remark but for some reason, Amor was now staring at me with a complicated gaze. He looked at me as if he had been full of things to say but he then slowly opened his mouth and muttered languidly.

“You can.”

I blinked my eyes before bursting into laughter.

“Woah, I fell for it for a moment. Are you sure you’re going to let me stay here?”

“And if I am?”

“I was joking. I want to live a stable life.”

If Amor really tried to convince me to stay in the same palace as him, I did not mind continuing to live whilst pretending I could not win him.

I wondered what kind of rumours would circulate then.

“Fine. If brother is willing to feed me, I will bring with me the best painter in the world.”

“A painter? Why would you bring something so useless?”

I smiled brightly.

“To show you a world you cannot see, brother.”

Of course, the best thing I could do for Amor was to free him from this palace but even if he was released from here, he still had a weak constitution. He would not be able to walk for long so it would be better to just enjoy paintings with him. I was hoping to fill Amor’s room with as much of the beauty the world could offer as possible.

“Anyway, I do want to live here but I can’t. So I’ll just be grateful for your words.”

“… You seem to understand the reality of your situation well.”

He spoke bluntly. I let out a gentle smile before picking up the fallen leaves from the covers.

“Yes, I do. I’m holding back because I don’t know how the rest of my brothers will react since I’m currently the main character of the rumours in the Imperial Palace right now.”

After attending the symposium, I had received copious amounts of mail in my palace. They were invitations from other nobles. Of course, I did not respond to any of their invitations. I did not know anyone there so how could I go?

“I’m going to lay low for a while.”

Rebecca also told me that I did not have to attend any so for the next one month and a half, I would not be going anywhere but the administration.

“Aren’t you going to work? Don’t mind me and just go ahead. I want to take a look around here.”

“I don’t mind.”

I wondered if he had missed me before I saw him nod and bring back the herbs and medicine he had stowed away just a while ago. I watched as he leaned back to his bed.

The moments he and I spent together were always like this. If nothing special happened, he would continue to do his work while I just watch him.

I had something to ask today but I wanted to stare at him so I continued doing so without a word.

“Brother. I think I’ll be leaving the Imperial Palace soon.”

I mumbled suddenly.

“Are you getting married? Or are you getting kicked out?”

Amor asked without looking.

“It’s nothing like that. Just some undercover work?”

“… Undercover work?”

He stared at me through a tiny vial of medicine.

I talked about my upcoming outing with Soricks. As if wanting to look at me, he then turned his head from the table.

“… Something so useless…”

And for some reason, he cleaned the table. Then, he brought new herbs and leaves and started making something. What he had completed a small moment later was a small potion. I was surprised at the gloomy green I saw at first glance. It looked like a ruined magic potion from magic school.

“You don’t have anything to do today?”

“What are you making?”

“Well, something very dangerous?”

“…”

He then smirked.

“Do you want to try drinking it?”

I was not even looking at it anymore but I could still feel chills down my spine.

“Ah. No.”

Impossible, was he going to bring this to the Emperor? I wondered if I should stop Amor from doing whatever he was going to do. Then, I laid my eyes on him before shaking my head.

‘How was I supposed to stop him?’

If he was doing it under the Emperor’s orders, it would be hypocritical of me to tell him not to do it when I clearly knew why. I could not even offer him a solution.

‘…The emperor who asks his own son to make poison for him is the real evil here, isn’t he?’

When did Amor stop doing things like this in the novel? After meeting Rusbella and getting close to her, he seemed to have learned the difference between good and evil and stopped being so ignorant. Though, the current Amor was way off from being someone like that.

Because he knew exactly what he was doing and why.

I winced before thinking, ‘Do I really have to stop him?’

I slowly stared at Amor’s head and then his fingertips. I tried to avert my gaze from his fingers but my hand suddenly reached out for him.

Without realising it, I had swallowed whatever I had brought to my mouth.

“What. What did you just eat?”

“Something dangerous?”

He smiled languidly. … I just swallowed it without chewing it, was it alright?

“Are you using this to assassinate someone?”

“What?”

Well, at least now I know this was not meant to kill anyone.

“Did you follow the recipe wrongly? I should have died by now but I’m still alive.”

“That’s not what it’s supposed to do.”

“Liar.”

His thin face smiled gently.

‘Excuse me, your eyes were not smiling at all.’

Staring at him, I patted my neck. Something should have happened after I ate it but after some time had passed, nothing happened.

‘… That’s strange?’

Staring at him, I held my chin before flashing a relaxed smile.

T/N:

(1): Okay so raws said handsome middle aged man but in a sort of acronym bUT HOW COULD I NOT USE DILF