Tails stared solemnly at a piece of sausage on his plate, held his breath, and slowly raised the knife in the posture of Professor Genie in his memory.

One second.

Two seconds.

Three seconds.

Finally, the prince let out a deep sigh.

With a loosening of his hand, he put his knife and fork back on either side of the plate, giving up his intention to eat.

Tails raised his eyes in a headache and looked to the other side of the table—the blonde girl stared at him with blue eyes, pursed her lips, and stared at him dissatisfied, the food in front of her not moving.

As soon as they entered the Archduchess's dining room, Thelma threw them out with a cold face in the face of the opposition of Jinx and the two maids, and surprisingly, the Lady Jinx only symbolically expressed her objection and complied with the Archduchess's wishes, which was very rare in the past.

"Well," Tails said stiffly, "our esteemed Grand Duchess, do you have any opinion on my dining posture?"

Selma snorted lightly and stared at him for a full three seconds before she pouted:

"Here we go again. ”

Tails was stunned: "What?"

"You're talking to me like that again," said the girl, grimacingly, "'Honorable Grand Duchess'—the kind of tone that makes you want to beat you up." ”

Tails' eyes widened, and he looked at her helplessly, and said with a smile: "But this is the proper title for meeting the Grand Duchess, especially our lovely and charming ......."

The sound of metal striking sounded suddenly:

"Wow!"

Tails looked at Selma in a daze: the girl with a gloomy face had just stabbed and cut a plate of beef in front of her.

The incision is flat.

Thelma still looked at him with a frown, her eyes full of unhappiness.

The young prince's throat rolled.

He took a deep breath, put away his smile, and pressed the thought of amusing the girl with a playful tone to the deepest part of his stomach.

It seems that she is really in a bad mood.

To put it this way......

"Boom!" There was another crunch of metal colliding with the plate, and the beef on Selma's plate turned into three pieces.

Tails' heart sank.

Alert.

Alert!

than she was two years ago...... It's also scary.

Tails immediately retracted the expression on his face and calmly looked at Selma, who was curled in his mouth.

"I'm sorry," the prince looked Thelma into the eye sincerely, "it's my fault...... From just now to now, I have neglected your mood. ”

Thelma's eyes moved, and her face slackened.

Tails looked at her depressed look, and couldn't help but lower his head and sighed.

The next second, the prince decisively left his seat and walked towards the girl.

Selma was slightly startled.

Looking at Tails, who was getting closer and closer, she seemed a little uncomfortable, and her whole body shrank slightly like a hedgehog.

The girl pursed her lips and hummed in a low voice, "What are you doing?"

Tails didn't answer her.

The prince walked straight to Selma, who looked suspicious, pulled out a chair on the side of the table, and sat down silently.

"Hey, remember, I'm your friend," the prince leaned forward, lowered his arms and leaned on the table, looked at Selma seriously, and showed a gentle smile: "You know, you can trust me. ”

"Tell me anything. ”

Thelma's breathing was slightly sloppy, but she still struggled to maintain that dissatisfied expression and snorted through her nose.

But Tails was still patient, looking at her gently, and never took his eyes off her.

One second.

Two seconds.

Now, on the contrary, Selma, who has always kept a straight face, was a little embarrassed by him.

The girl cleared her throat unnaturally and turned her head away.

But Tails still looked at her with burning eyes.

Finally, Thelma, who was stared at by him and couldn't stand it, took a deep breath helplessly and blew it out hard.

She looked up and watched her forehead hair blow up.

"Forget it. ”

"It's nothing," Thelma pouted, glancing at Tails, and bowed her head darkly, "It's just my own bad temper." ”

"Nope. Tails shook his head.

"Thelma," the prince exhaled, slowing his voice as fast as he could, "good girl. ”

"I know it's going to be a tough day for you. ”

"Listen to the political day, those disobedient vassals ......"

Thelma jerked her head back, her breathing racing.

"Hmph. She looked at Tails angrily and asked sarcastically:

"Difficult, how can it be?"

"I am the Female Grand Duke of Longxiao City, the only one and the only one in the past seven hundred years, the only one ......"

"I hold the most powerful territory in Exeter, how can it be difficult......" Selma's breathing became heavier and heavier, and the girl folded her arms and said with an ugly face:

Tails watched her silently.

“...... My vassals are among the most loyal and loyal of all," Selma snorted angrily, "Powerful and wise, with them, Longxiao City is as stable as a sigh mountain range......"

"Nothing - including my own - I don't have to worry about it, everything in Longxiao City is running in order, and the Walton family is as prosperous as ever......"

Selma seemed to open the conversation, her mouth opened and closed wider, and the girl's expression became more and more angry.

"So how can I be difficult, compared to some hostage prince who is trembling, pitiful, and afraid that one day I will eat to the bone, I am simply the happiest woman in the world...... Hmm!"

The girl was stunned.

Her mouth was gagged.

Thelma watched Tails' movements in amazement, feeling what was in her mouth.

At some point, the prince sat down beside Selma.

Tails stared straight into Thelma's clear eyes.

The girl was a little overwhelmed, and her face was slightly red.

And then.

The second prince exhaled, and as if he were in a moment's time, he pulled the spoon out of the stunned Selma's mouth.

"If this spoonful of beans doesn't give you gas, though," Tails said with a smile, turning around and scooping another spoonful of beans on his plate and shaking it in front of Thelma, "Then I'll have another spoonful." ”

Only then did Selma react, her slightly red face tended to be annoyed and angry, and she snorted a few times with a mouthful full of beans.

Still squinting and smiling, Tails shook a spoonful of beans at her.

"That's right!"

"Bite them hard!"

"This will be deflated!"

Thelma muttered her bean-stuffed mouth and glared at him disapprovingly for three seconds.

Tails smiled in response.

In the end, the girl with an unsettling face snorted heavily.

She tilted her head and stared at Tails, munching on the beans in her mouth as if she were angry.

That chewiness — as if she wasn't chewing on beans, but Tails' meat.

The prince winked at her, smiling.

Really, she used to have a very good attitude towards herself......

The one who likes to hide behind his back, soft-spoken, poor and cute little slippery head...... Where did it go?

Tails looked at Selma with a sneer.

Look at the girl who glared at him as if demonstratively.

Watching her cheeks on both sides be stuffed and bulging, she shook as she chewed harder and harder.

"Even shrunk over...... Well, I said it," said the girl, who chewed and swallowed the beans in her mouth, and said angrily to the prince, "I am not unhappy at all...... Hmm!"

Tails gave out a second spoonful of beans with a blank face, gagging Thelma's mouth.

The prince held back a smile in his heart, and when he pulled it down, he found that he couldn't pull it back: Selma bit the spoon hard, and her eyes were already ready to kill.

"Well, well, the most important thing is to be happy...... Tails resisted the twitch of his shoulder, and finally pulled the spoon out of her lips, watching Thelma angrily start chewing harder than the first spoonful.

Although the eyes of the Grand Duchess were still terrifying, the prince suddenly felt at that moment that the life in front of him was not so bad.

Fortunately, she is quite cute like this.

Tails grew distracted.

When did she go from being a cautious girl to what she is now?

Ah, probably someday.

Was it the day two years ago, when she came to her sleepy-eyed self with red eyes before dawn and panicked and sneaked up with bloody sheets?

And after that day, she was rushed from the room on the sixth floor to the Blood Courtyard by the female officer Jinx, who heard the noise.

Or the day a year ago, when she was laughed at with her own eyes in the library after putting on a corset with a red face?

Thanks to the Jinx lady, she tirelessly taught her ladies to abide by the dogma of being a noble woman.

Or was it the first time she stood in front of her in a ceremonial dress, with her lady's hair combed, nervous and excited, only to be so angry that the prince who was laughing so much turned around and left?

I don't remember.

Anyway, before you know it, it's like this.

The girl who was once immature and cringe.

It has grown slowly in the high walls and ice and snow of Valhalla Palace and Longxiao City.

Eventually, it will inevitably transform into an existence that they are not familiar with.

Archduchess Thelma Walton.

But......

Tails couldn't help but feel gloomy when he remembered the past when they met.

Is this really what she wants? Will she really be happy?

Become a ...... Walton?

Tails, who was preoccupied, sighed and took a bite of the bean.

Right now.

"Hey!"

Thelma's anxious voice interrupted him.

The girl's voice sounded a little surprised, and a little hurried.

Tails came back to his senses and looked at Selma's expression in amazement: the Grand Duke's face was a little unusually red, and she held out her right hand to herself both hesitantly and nervously, as if to remind her of something.

"Huh?" the prince chewed the beans in his mouth in two or two times, and raised his eyebrows inexplicably: "What?"

Tails noticed that something was wrong: Selma's face was already red at this time, and even the roots of her ears were full of blood, especially against the background of her blonde hair.

Why blush?

The last time I saw her like this, it seemed that she was wearing the dress of a banquet and came to ask for her opinion?

What's going on?

"That ......" Thelma looked at him in a daze, and stopped talking, her flushed face twitching slightly, as if embarrassed.

The hesitant and cowering look reminded Tails of her childhood.

In the end, under Tails's puzzled gaze, Selma lowered her head slightly, covered her face with her forehead hair, and whispered like a mosquito:

"Nothing. ”

The Grand Duchess stopped talking, just stared blankly at the table.

Tails shrugged inexplicably, still not quite understanding why Thelma blushed.

The prince shook his head and lamented that women were strange.

Just as he lowered his head and was about to scoop the stew into his mouth......

Tails' gaze swept over the spoon in his hand.

"Dangchang!"

The prince's heart shuddered, and the spoon in his hand slammed on the plate, rattling back and forth.

Tails sat in his place dumbfounded, looking at the familiar spoon and at Thelma, who was blushing to the root of his ears, and felt extremely embarrassed.

He couldn't help but smile wryly: "Uh, that ......"

"I just wanted to warn you," Thelma's voice was so sharp and thin that she could barely hear it, "it's just that you're too fast." ”

Tails' head was as big as a bucket, and while glad that no one had seen this scene, he used the last shred of reason to swallow the sentence "It's okay, I don't mind" back into his stomach.

The atmosphere at the table suddenly became embarrassing.

However, it was Selma, who had just bowed her head, looking at Tails' reaction, as if she was dissatisfied.

She lifted her gaze slightly.

"Hmph, you did it on purpose," the girl snorted slightly, "Jinx said......"

"Ah, yes!" Tails slapped his head hard and stiffly shifted the subject: "I remember!"

Under the disgruntled gaze of the Grand Duchess, the second prince took out a small but delicate wooden rectangular box with a simple pattern carving from his breast pocket.

"Well," Tails said nonchalantly, and only wanted to use this incident to dilute the embarrassment of the moment:

"Your birthday present...... Although there are still two months left. ”

(End of chapter)