You’re In A Supporting Role Anyway, So Just Love Me.

As Pell remained tight-lipped, Joe grew anxious and started bouncing in front of him.

"Mister, I mean, is it rude if I ask? What is your name?"

"...Pell."

Pell barely managed to answer, shaking his head slightly.

There must be some mistake. His Highness wouldn't have written a letter to crush this young boy's heart; he's too kind for that.

Something was clearly amiss. Perhaps they were close enough to play such light-hearted pranks on each other...

"Joe, are you close with His Highness?"

Joe opened his eyes wide, raised his straight eyebrows, then frowned. His reddish lips pouted in a way that was cute, no matter how you looked at it.

"No, I don't think we're that close. His Highness drew his sword on me when I told him I loved him. Do I seem repulsive to you, sir?"

"Oh, no, not at all, my dear."

Joe's caramel-colored eyes, which resembled a golden field, sparkled clearly, and Pell felt his heart clench.

How could anyone find Joe anything but lovely? Even their longing and admiration as young boys were disregarded by such a merciless lord.

Pell embedded a negative image of Kyle in his heart.

"How old are you, Joe?"

"...Um, maybe seventeen or eighteen. I'm not exactly sure of my age."

"What do you mean you don't know your age?"

"I came over here because of my circumstances, but I'm not sure how old I am. Nevertheless, I'm living diligently with the determination to see His Highness."

A chilly wind blew through Pell's chest.

Poor thing.

A child who doesn't even know how old he is, working hard in the palace only out of love for the prince.

"... Yes, His Highness, who heard your confession, then... He had you work here in the stables."

"Yes, I said I didn't want to leave His Highness's side. I'm not asking him to accept my feelings, and I can't force him to like me either. Still, I want to continue to love him, so I said I'd stay by his side."

"... You haven't seen His Highness since then?"

"It's okay! His Highness is busy. Besides, I'm always confessing my love to him in my heart."

Looking at Joe's refreshing smile, Pell unwittingly raised his hand and stroked Joe's hair, making the soft hair tangle under Pell's palm.

"Why are you doing that? What did His Highness say?"

Pell couldn't bring himself to say it to this young boy, "His Highness doesn't even want you to admire him."

"... Does His Highness Kyle hate me? It's all because of me, isn't it..."

"No! No. Oh, my God, you're such a good boy. Poor Joe. That's not it. All love is beautiful. His Highness must not be feeling well now, that's why he's acting that way. You can still love His Highness just as before."

"Really? Wow! Thank you! This is something I should really thank you for, but anyway!"

Pell smiled and nodded his head before returning to Kyle.

The Crown Prince, who won't even accept a child's love. Was he someone who only cared about appearances?

Pell couldn't hide his disappointment in his master, whom he served.

Of course, after Pell left, Joe tilted his head and sighed.

'As expected, you are still doubting me because I was hiding in your bedroom? But since you said I could continue to love you, I will continue to love you.'

As if venting his frustration internally, Joe again called out to Kyle.

Kyle, hello; it's your Ging Ging-ja.

                                                 ************

After a brief break, Kyle, who was about to return to work, stood up with a start at the sound of Joe's voice in his head again.

"Pell!"

When he called out to Pell and asked if he delivered the letter properly, Pell only answered with a stiff face, "Yes, Your Highness."

Perhaps he has seen the letter because Joe's number of messages to Kyle has decreased a little, but it is still too much. It was always as vivid as if Joe were around.

"If it's going to be like this, it would be better to just keep him by my side... No, no. I must be crazy. If I keep such a person by my side, my blood will dry up completely."

The next day, Kyle wrote another letter, but for some reason, Pell didn't want to take care of that errand.

"Your Highness, I'm sorry, but I cannot give that child such a letter."

'Why the hell not?!'

Frustrated, Kyle sent a different servant, but even after he returned, he bowed his head and said hello to Kyle as if he were looking at trash. Kyle tilted his head, feeling ignored even though he was obviously greeted.

After that day, these kinds of things were repeated several times. He tried sending other servants, even the maids, because they were soft-hearted, but they had the same reaction. Some even returned with tears in their eyes.

"How insensitive...."

"How can you be so indifferent...."

Benji came to see Kyle just as these conversations started to bother him.

"Your Highness, shall I go instead?"

"It's just delivering a letter. You don't have to go... But now none of my servants want to go to Joe. What's happening?"

Even though it was just delivering a letter, no one wanted to go to Joe. Something was amiss.

Benji also did not understand the servants.

Joe has the power to attract and captivate people. For some reason, one would quickly nod along with him and become his ally after seeing him once; you'd want to see him again, which was wrong.

In reality, Benji wanted to see Joe more than he wanted to deliver the letter.

"So, I'll go check, then come back."

"....Alright, then. go ahead."

With that, the command not to visit Joe for a while was lifted.

Benji walked happily towards the stables. Even though he was moving calmly, his steps kept getting faster.

The sound of horses neighing grew closer, and in the distance, Joe appeared carrying a pile of hay with his sleeves rolled up.

It's been a while since he's seen her. She's grown up in various ways.

"Joe."

"Benji!"

Throwing the pile of hay off her shoulders, she ran towards Benji like a younger sibling left behind at her hometown. Benji's heart was filled with emotion.

"You should call me Mr. Benji."

"Oh, who cares if there's no one around! Benji cut a big chunk of my hair, but look at this, it grew a lot, right?"

Even if she said it was long, it was only visible enough to show the base of the neck. A slender and white neck flashed before him, which startled Benji and made him close his eyes tightly.

"Benji? Why are you closing your eyes? Did my hair grow a lot?"

"...It might be better to wear a hat."

"Why? Is short hair not good? I like it."

"...You're ugly, so you have to cover your face."

"Oh, Benji, you won't be popular with girls if you say that. Who would like that kind of talk?"

Watching Joe dismissively brush off his comment, laughter involuntarily rose in Benji's throat.

"I brought a letter."

"Really? Benji, you're a knight and the prince's assistant, yet you brought me a letter. What a waste of talent."

"I appreciate you acknowledging that, but the other servants don't want to deliver letters to the stable."

"What? That can't be true."

"...What do you mean, it can't be?"

"Just earlier, Pell and Tommy came by and gave me some food and a blanket. They were worried it might get cold at night. They even stayed and spent time with me yesterday when it was pouring rain."

Personally, he didn't need a letter to know that he wanted to visit the stable and see Joe. That means the problem must have been clearly written in the letter.

When Benji took out the letter, Joe loosened and then tied up her hair again, asking him in a tone that didn't sound like a request.

"Can you read the letter for me? I can't read."

"...... Okay."

'Why, why can't I seem to hate her? Is she really a witch?'

Benji hesitated and then unfolded the letter. It was clear that Kyle's handwriting had been hastily scribbled, probably due to his recent discomfort.

「Joe, please stop thinking about me. You make my head hurt so much.」

Aha.

Now he finally understood why the other servants had reacted the way they did. As someone who knew the circumstances, Benji naturally thought, 'Joe has been thinking too much about His Highness Kyle.' 'Your Highness must be in pain.' But the other servants would have seen him as the heartless prince rejecting the young boy's innocent love.

"What, Benji? What does the letter say? Everyone who came here didn't read the letter and just left."

"Well, they were probably all similar."

"What do you mean?"

"His Highness has been feeling tired, so it might be best if you think in moderation."

"Oh, gosh!"

"......What?"

"I've been doing that so much lately out of habit. I've been sending letters upon letters with a lot of gossip and silly comments. Did he hear all of it?"

"I think His Highness might have heard all of it."

"Oh no, I'm screwed."

"Why? What did you say?"

Benji thought she was cute, and looked at Joe with warm feelings he had been suppressing for a month, then spoke.

"I said I wanted to be born as His Highness' lips in my next life. If I'm born as his upper lip, I can kiss his lower lip, and if I'm born as his lower lip, I can kiss his upper lip."

"That's...surprisingly creative."

"I know, right?"

Joe started laughing awkwardly when the sound of hoofbeats started to get louder. It was Dieppe, the biggest black horse.

On the field, Dieppe, who was munching on grass alone, jumped over the fence and began to run. At first, he ran around the stable, but soon he jumped over a pile of straw.

Dieppe started running in the opposite direction across the field, but there was no way to catch him if he went that way.

"What should we do? If we lose him, I might really get fired!" Joe ran out, determined to catch Dieppe.

"Dieppe! Dieppe, come back! Dieppe!"

Dieppe didn't come back, no matter how many times Joe called. When he was satisfied with his run, he stopped smoothly, then turned around and ran with the wind in his face.

Joe marveled at his flowing mane, like something out of a painting, but before he knew it, Dieppe was running towards him.

Previously, Joe had run towards Dieppe to catch him, but he stood frozen as Dieppe, who was twice his height, approached him at high speed.

'Am I going to die like this again? Please, save me.'

But before she could even finish her thoughts, someone grabbed her by the waist.

"Snap out of it!"

Benji rode on one of the horses from the stable; he lifted Joe from the ground and sat him in front of her on the horse. Joe, who settled on the running horse, was thrown into Benji's arms with a puzzled expression.

Worried that he might lose her, Benji tightly held onto Joe's waist and grabbed the reins with his left hand, steering the horse away from Dieppe.

Slowing down and turning back, they saw Dieppe pass where Joe was standing and enter the stable on his own, whinnying and kicking the ground with his hind legs as if he had finally let out all his pent-up frustration.

Joe let out the deep breath she had been holding.

"I, just now... just now, I..."

"You almost died just now! You idiot, why were you just standing there like that,?!"

"Why, why are you getting mad at me like that? I was just as surprised!"

"If something had gone wrong, then-?!"

"What if something had gone wrong, so what?!"

Benji pursed his lips together. He could see Joe's hand trembling in his embrace. His own hand, holding hers, was also shaking.

'If you had been hurt...I...'

"His Highness Kyle told me to be careful until we found your identity. Don't act recklessly."

"But just now, Dieppe was the one that ran at me!"

"No, that's not what I meant..."

Benji, who had been silent for a while, relaxed his hand. The warmth that had filled his hand slowly faded away.

".......Don't get hurt," he said.

Benji didn't say anything more, and Joe was too stunned to respond, still trying to calm her racing heart.

                                         ************

Kyle quickly scrambled to his feet.

"Your Highness, what's the matter all of a sudden?"

The servants moved quickly to follow Kyle, who seemed to be in a hurry, as if he had remembered something urgent.

It had been quiet since Benji left, but just now, Joe's voice echoed in his head.

Save me.

It was a short sentence, but the fear-stricken voice was enough to make the world go dark in his eyes.

"I'm going to the stable. You don't have to follow me."

"You're going there yourself? Should you need a horse, I'll have someone fetch it for you?"

"No, I'm going because I have something to do there. It's fine."

Ignoring the stuttering servants who questioned what he was doing at the stable, His Highness Kyle headed towards it with quick strides.

Today, the path felt longer than usual, and he was feeling restless.

As he climbed over the fence surrounding the stable, he noticed Joe sitting atop a black horse.

'Why did you ask to be saved? Are you alright?.'

But his concern turned to anger at the sight of Joe looking perfectly fine.

"Ging ging j...!"

He was going to call out to her while approaching when Benji, who was hidden by the cabin, caught his eye.

Benji lifted Joe off the horse's back, carefully supported her, and sat her down on a small chair. Although Joe was saying something inaudible, Benji and Joe were definitely laughing.

Kyle's expression hardened. It was strangely unpleasant that Joe's voice, which had been ringing in his ears nonstop for a month, could not be heard.