Chapter 79

※I also updated yesterday. If you haven't read the previous chapter, please start from the one before.

“Guh...!!”

Stuart groaned in pain and reached out his hand toward Claudia.

However, Claudia remained seated gracefully on the bed, not moving. She simply smiled at Stuart.

“Adeleheit-sama...”

Murmuring this, Stuart collapsed onto the stone floor.

Claudia watched him with indifference, then turned her gaze to her servant’s back.

“Noa?”

“...”

Noa, who seemed to be aware that he had done something wrong, turned around slowly, exuding an awkward atmosphere. He looked like a watchdog that had disobeyed his master’s orders. Claudia beckoned Noa and made him kneel before her.

“Where has my ‘good boy’ gone?”

When she asked this deliberately, Noa, who was kneeling on one knee, replied with a somewhat sulky expression.

“...I am still your ‘good boy.’”

“Hmm?”

“I didn’t inflict a single wound on Stuart, as ordered.”

“Being unconscious from the shock of the barrier being forcibly shattered doesn’t count as unharmed.”

Upon hearing this, Noa’s face contorted as if he were at a loss for words.

“...That...”

Eventually, the adult Noa bowed his head and whispered in a voice filled with genuine remorse.

“—I am truly sorry.”

“...”

Claudia, though expressionless, looked down at Noa’s clearly dejected cowlick and thought to herself.

(If I show on my face that I find him cute, it won’t be good for Noa’s education...)

Thinking this, she gently covered her mouth with both hands.

(What should I do? But he is so cute. I can almost see the drooping ears and tail of a puppy.)

However, she steeled her heart, made a pouting face, and crossed her arms under her ample chest.

“Your control over your power is improving, but if you can’t control your emotions, it’s all for nothing. Since you are trying so hard to be useful to me, be loyal to the end.”

“...Yes, Princess. As you say.”

“As punishment, you must endure being petted in your adult form. Understand?”

Noa, who seemed to be about to say something, then suppressed it, slowly extended his head.

Noa, in his adult form, always disliked being petted by Claudia in her adult form. So, this was special.

Noa’s black hair, in his adult form, was harder than when he was a child. While petting the soft hair of the child Noa was nice, petting the responsive hair of the adult Noa was also very enjoyable.

Claudia smiled as she savored this.

“You’ve returned to being a good Noa. Good boy, good boy.”

“...Princess. If you are satisfied, please...”

“Nope. Well, what should we do with Stuart...”

While petting Noa with one hand, she glanced at the fallen Stuart.

“We can’t do anything reckless to a prince from another country.”

“...”

Even if they transformed into their adult forms and moved secretly, they would still be suspected, given that it was still the period of Claudia’s visit.

If Stuart told anyone about this, suspicion could fall on Claudia and the Kingdom of Abinoia.

“Stuart saw my adult form on the first day. It wasn’t a problem because he stayed in his room and had almost no contact with others.”

“However, now that we’ve become enemies, Stuart might not keep quiet to others.”

Noa said, bowing his head again to Claudia.

“I am sorry. It is all my fault.”

“It’s fine. I was planning to put him to sleep and take him if he resisted. ...Well,”

Claudia stood up and crouched beside the unconscious Stuart.

“...”

She closed her eyes and placed her hand over him, checking the magic flowing through him. This was the same method she used on the sleeping princesses.

After carefully tracing the magic, she slowly opened her eyes.

“...As expected.”

“Princess?”

She stood up and brushed the hem of her dress, which had touched the floor. Noa immediately came to her side and cleaned it with a purification spell.

“I want to hear Stuart’s story, but it might take a while for him to wake up.”

“...What should we do? If healing magic doesn’t work, should we splash cold water on his face?”

“He didn’t faint from an injury, so healing won’t work. To avoid being suspected of using an attack spell if everything is revealed, we should avoid such magic. —So,”

Claudia smiled sweetly and looked up at Noa.

“Shall we? Kidnap him.”

“—Huh?”

***