"Ouch~ You are starting to quibble~~ I think you are simply shy."

"You are already 20 years old this year, so what? I am already 26 years old........."

The further Tianzhangyuan continued speaking, the lower his tone became.

First, the volume gradually decreased, turning into a humming sound, and finally, I couldn't even speak.

Along with this, her head also became "down".

Every time she said the word "的", her head lowered a little, and the light in her beautiful eyes also dimmed a lot.

"...Your Highness, why do you say something like killing eighty enemies and losing ten thousand to yourself?"

"Nothing, no road race!"

Tianzhangyuan blushed, gritted his teeth, and raised his eyes to glare at Qingdeng.

"In short, I am an elder who will always be 6 years older than you! In my eyes, you will always be a child!"

Looking at Tianzhangyuan who clearly cared about his age, but still insisted on treating himself as a "mature elder", Qingdeng felt that his facial lines relaxed unconsciously.

Somehow, the idea of ​​teasing the other party suddenly came into his mind.

"Your Highness, since you just said, 'You don't actually need to be so polite,' then it shouldn't be a problem for me to open my eyes wide and enjoy your beautiful figure, right?"

"That's natural."

Tianzhangyuan replied without thinking.

"In that case, you're welcome."

As he spoke, Qingdeng straightened his gaze and stared directly at Tianzhangyuan's calf.

"Huh?"

Tianzhangyuan was shocked.

"Huh? Ah! Wait, wait a minute! Are you serious?"

"Of course I'm serious."

Qingdeng said seriously.

"Your Highness, as a mature elder, you will definitely not care about the immature eyes of a young child like me, right?"

"Well, that's natural! Come on, watch as you like! But you're only allowed to look, not touch. If you touch me, I'll just yell, 'Tachibana Qingden teased me,' and your reputation will be ruined."

"

What a cruel move... And if you insist on saying it, you are obviously teasing me... Qing Deng slandered.

Tachibana Aoden flirted with Tianzhangin Atsuhime - if this news spreads, it will not be as simple as losing his reputation...

Qingdeng put away his messy thoughts, sat up straight, and stared straight at Tianzhangyuan's legs with a solemn expression as if he was admiring a miracle.

"Oh~ Mr. Ju, your eyes are full of explicit desire, it's really obscene~~"

Tianzhangyuan's red lips changed back to the shape of a cat's mouth, and his tone of voice became a little more interesting.

"..."

"You are a child after all, you are so easily charmed by me."

"..."

"Hey, hey! Don't keep silent! Your behavior of staring at other people's legs without saying a word is quite scary!"

"..."

"Humph! So you kids who don't have enough experience are really..."

"..."

"Uh huh huh~~!"

Tianzhangyuan's cheeks gradually turned as crimson as the sunset.

"..."

"Gu Gu, Gu Wu Wu Wu Wu...!"

The cute toes wrapped in the white foot bags began to be grasped repeatedly uneasily.

"..."

"Enough, that's enough! It's almost time to see enough! No more!"

Tianzhangyuan stretched out his hands to block his calves.

"Isn't it His Highness who told me to let me look around?"

Qingdeng asked with an innocent face.

"No Road Game! I didn't tell you to keep watching without blinking, right? In short, you are not allowed to watch it anymore! If you watch it again, I will really yell, 'I was molested by Tachibana Aoden'! Okay!

Come on, come and play 'Double Six'!"

After that, in order to get rid of her shyness, she bent down, lowered her head, and "concentrated" on arranging the "Double Six" chess pieces.

Tianzhangyuan, knowing that he had been defeated by Qingdeng, secretly cast a resentful look at Qingdeng.

"Tch...he's just a kid 6 years younger than me..."

Qingdeng pretended not to hear, with a "returning from victory" smile on his face, and happily arranged the "Double Six" chess pieces with his opponent, and opened his own lunch box.

Probably because they are becoming more and more familiar with each other, whenever the two of them are alone, Tianzhangyuan will always appear more and more informal, less and less "easy-going" and less of a gentleman.

There is no so-called dining hall in Edo Castle.

Therefore, cabinet ministers like Aoto who commute to Edo Castle must bring their own lunch if they want to have lunch.

The person responsible for preparing lunches for Aoto is sometimes Abi (Kondo Shusuke's wife), Atsugi (Kondo Isamu's wife), sometimes Inoue Genzaburo, and most of the time it is Souji - today she is the one who is here to prepare lunches for Aoto.

Make a lunch box.

The bento that Souji prepared for Aoto today was 8 large rice balls stuffed with tuna.

Onigiri is made of rice and stuffed with tuna... This was a rare delicacy in the Edo period.

Souji's cooking skills have never disappointed Qingteng.

The rice grains with a slight vinegary taste are very chewy. Just bite the fish meat wrapped deep in the rice grains, and the rich umami flavor spreads out from the tip of the tongue to the entire mouth... It is really delicious.

Qingdeng held the rice ball with one hand and accompanied Tianzhang to "Shuangliu" with the other hand.

In the Tianzhang Courtyard opposite, people are also eating and playing games.

Tianzhangyuan, who has a distinguished status, naturally cannot eat food that is popular among common people like rice balls.

The food she ate was naturally an exquisite meal prepared with great care by the Yu Zhongju and tested for poison.

[Note·Yu Zhongju: The female official in Da'oli who is responsible for arranging meals and testing poisons.]

Not only did he cross his legs, but he also played "Shuangliu" while eating. When it was his turn to play chess, he immediately put down the bowl and chopsticks in his hands and chewed the food in his mouth that made his cheeks bulge.

He concentrated on throwing the dice and moving the chess pieces; when it was Qingdeng's turn to play chess, he picked up the bowl and chopsticks and continued to eat rice.

Such an appearance...doesn't have the style that a great Odai should have at all.

However, this is her most relaxed and real look.

Because it is played by two people, the game pace is very fast.

When Qingdeng swallowed the last rice ball, they just finished the third round of the game - the result was that Tianzhangyuan won 2 games and Qingdeng lost 1 game.

This time, Tianzhangyuan did not return the chess pieces to their original positions, but let out a sigh of relief.

"Okay... let's stop playing here. Oops, it's been a long time since I played 'Double Six' with someone. This game is really fun."

Qingdeng glanced at Tianzhangyuan's expression, then put the chess pieces back on the chessboard and said softly:

"Your Highness, after I played around with you for a while, did you feel better?"

"Um?"

Tianzhangyuan was stunned.

Qingdeng continued the words silently:

"You're having trouble with Wakong again, right?"

"..."

Tianzhangyuan was silent for a long time, and then let out a dry laugh.

"Hahaha... You saw it... Yes, I had trouble with He Gong again, and I was very depressed, so I brought you over to play games with me. Thanks to you, I am in a much better mood now

Already."

Qingden smiled.

"That's good."

Tenjoin and Wagongiya were incompatible - this was hardly a secret in Edo.
To be continued...