For men to also wear makeup—Sharina knew it was a trend nowadays. As such, she answered Tobias’ question without the slightest hesitation.

“Oh, no, forgive me. Senior Tobias’ friendly personality is infectious, I end up forgetting my position and assumed such a tone.”

Suddenly speaking in an informal tone, Riol apologized in a hurry. It was rare for Riol to make such a trivial mistake—despite so, the apologizing Riol was also cool.

“No, no! You can speak to me in any way! As I said from the beginning, there’s no need to be so formal with me!”

“Thank you for your generous words, Tobias…”

The informally-speaking Riol was cool.

His timing when he switched from formal to informal was also cool.

It seemed that he had toned down the level of formality a certain degree, proven by how short his words of gratitude were. It would be considered rude if he went all the way to speaking informally.

“What is he talking about, then?”

“Did His Highness Roland say anything else? Anymore details regarding this ‘witch makeup’?”

Ah, it seemed that Riol had noticed something again. When Riol said that, the answer would unfold.

“Ah, right, yes…”

“Can you tell me? In as much detail as possible?”

“Hmm… I don’t seem to remember much, but…”

Under Riol’s persistence, Tobias muttered awkwardly. He averted his gaze and scratched his cheek—he was clearly befuddled.

“What you remember is also fine, please tell me everything.”

“I think I was misunderstanding something… Rishana, no Sharina’s white powder’s thickness is about ten centimeters? Something about revealing her ugly face…? As I thought, it’s not something to be taken seriously, right?”

“…I see.”

After hearing Tobias’ answer, Sharina finally realized that the second prince wasn’t interested in makeup.

“Umm, did he perhaps suspect His Highness Leonardo was deluded by my thick makeup?”

When she thought about it, to come to that kind of conclusion was only natural.

The second prince, who was studying abroad, received news that his excellent brother went mad over and was ruined by a woman. Of course he’d suspect he was deceived by an evil woman.

“He suspects that I’m some kind of beautiful woman with makeup who seduced His Highness…?”

“No. ‘Makeup’ is just a metaphor.”

The answer seemed to be different—Riol was shaking his head.

“Riol, could it be, you understood what His Highness Roland is trying to say? Please enlighten me.”

“What you’ve told me is too little, I can’t conclude much.”

“A, alright! I’ll tell you everything! I will try to remember what he was saying… remembering our first conversation regarding this topic…”

Tobias leaned forward and begun to talk about the matter.

“In other words, His Highness Roland is skeptical about the report from the kingdom, which said that His Highness Leonardo fell in love with a female student and was deprived of the right to succeed the throne in an attempt to eliminate his love rival. After some pondering, he probably came to the conclusion that the female student is cunning—like that of a witch. He suspects what actually happened was that His Highness Leonardo was seduced by her, while she made use of her follower to entrap him. However, since he doesn’t know her true aim and also doesn’t have any evidence, he ordered you to gather it. That’s basically it, I think.”

“Really?! Then, what does it have to do with ‘makeup’!?”

“That’s a metaphor for liar, deceit, or possibly, hiding her true identity.”

After Tobias had finished talking about everything. Riol, with one hand at the corner of his eye, said plainly.

“Which mean… His Highness Roland…”

She vividly recalled it—that kind of metaphor…

…Before listening to that story, she already felt certain about it.

Recalling what happened a few months ago, Sharina felt her heart shudder.

“What is His Highness Roland saying? Isn’t it the truth that His Highness Leonardo attempted to kill Riol? There’s also no evidence that Sharina is a villain. Isn’t that habit of his difficult?”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

When they were wondering about how to prove their innocence to Roland’s servant, Tobias…

“It’s mean of him to make the two of you feel unpleasant. I’ll speak to His Highness Roland properly. Riol and Sharina are both good people, they aren’t planning anything.”

“U, umm…”

“I, I see.”

She didn’t understand what he had said for a moment—because it was just too decent.

“T, thank you…”

“That will be a great help…”

He understood their words—their story. Or basically, human language. No, of course he would. Despite so, it still came out as a shock.

“This very day, I’ll speak with His Highness to clear up the misunderstanding. Would you like to meet here again tomorrow to hear the report of what happened? The two of you always have lunch here, right?”

“Yes, we come here every day for lunch.”

Even though it was their first meeting, she thought that if it was someone with Tobias’ personality, he’d understand. However, that quick? He understood so fast, she failed to keep up.

“Thank you, but is Tobias really okay with that? You’ll be rejecting the thoughts of His Highness Roland head-on.”

“Yes, that’s basically it. Why, would there be a problem?”

When Tobias heard Riol’s words, he answered nonchalantly.

Then, he made a fist and placed it over his heart.

“The only time a knight should pull out his sword is when his lord needs protection, or when the lord did something wrong.”

He clearly spoke those words. Furthermore, his deep blue eyes weren’t cloudy in the slightest.

If only that person wasn’t the servant of the second prince, but the first prince—…

He was so reliable, if it was him, surely, the first prince wouldn’t had derailed to that extent.

---

***T/N: Fokin hell, I’m weak for knightly guy.

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