Why Do You Think?

I knocked on the office door and waited for a reply, then burst into the room the moment I heard one.

“I-it’s a huge problem!! Julius-san!”

“Ah, Riko. Looks like you and Dorothea have become friends.”

In stark contrast to my flustered state, Julius-san looked up from the documents on his desk and smiled gently as usual when he saw Dorothea-san clasping my hand tightly.

“Hmph! We are not friends! There simply weren’t any suitable servants, so I had no choice but to let Riko escort me!!”

“I didn’t expect someone as proud as you to reluctantly hold hands with a ‘commoner who doesn’t know her place.’”

Julius-san! That’s not something someone who was just regretting his own immaturity should say!!

They were both smiling so gently, but I could practically hear the sparks crackling between them...

“Ah, um... That’s not what I mean...!!!”

I wanted to quietly slip out and return to my room, but this was no time for that...