“Are we going with just the two of us?”
“Why are you asking the obvious?”
“What about Father and Rose?”
“You"ll come to know.”
Eve made a face that looked like he was seriously asking why.
No, shouldn"t we go together if our destinations are the same?
“Well, okay.”
But it wasn"t bad. I didn"t want this narrow s.p.a.ce to be awkward with them around.
"……"
[Clunk] But being with Eve was also awkward. I"m a bit worried that my fight to contain the drool inside my mouth can be heard.
‘Let"s just look at the outside scenery."
As she turned her awkward gaze to the window,
Eve, who was watching the scene, spoke.
“Sister. Can I ask you something?”
I looked out, and nodded without giving him a glance.
The time he chose to talk to me seemed funny to me. Like a child trying to get attention from their parents, by asking a question.
"……"
But no matter how long she waited, Eve"s mouth did not open. It seemed like he was waiting for her to turn to him.
‘Troublesome child, why are you doing that?"
Whether she predicted right or not, when she turned her head to face him, he finally continued.
“Why were you in love with the Prince?”
I couldn"t answer that question. Because I had never loved him.
‘Why did Albury love him."
I wonder. I rested my chin and pondered over the contents of the novel.
‘Albury wanted to be loved by the prince, the love she had not received from the Duke."
Now that I"ve thought it over, did she really cling to the crown prince because of love? I was in doubt.
‘No."
Albury did not love the Crown Prince. She had surely loved him in the beginning. But her love had altered by that point.
‘Love?"
The prince did not give Albury the love that she craved.
Could she have been stuck in her own brainwashed thinking that no one loved her and thus grew obsessed with him?
‘I"m more curious."
About her reasons for loving the Crown Prince.
So curious that I really wanted to ask her. I just said something to the question that I didn"t know the answer to.
“Just, I liked him because he was cool.”
He frowned faintly as if he didn"t like my answer, which he finally got after a long wait.
Seeing that she had answered too roughly, he felt as if she were hesitating to speak on the subject.
“Then.”
Eventually, he opened his mouth.
“What about me?”
“What?”
But the words he spoke out loud were completely unexpected. What answer do you expect from me when you"re asking that kind of question?
‘Is he jealous?"
I don"t think so. I slowly glanced up and down at him in search of an answer.
‘Um."
At first glance, he had a face pretty enough for him to be mistaken as a woman, but he didn"t look that way because of his firm jaw and straight forehead. He"s tall, broad-shouldered……
“You"re pretty.”
I couldn"t think of any other way to describe him. Except for the word “pretty.”
When I first saw Eve"s face, I thought it looked pretty.
But again, I guess he didn"t like my answer.
“I"m… pretty?”
His face wasn"t an offended one. What is this, ah, he looked like he had heard me talk in an unknown alien language.
I know that you know what it means to be pretty so why do you look so clueless.
“I"m pretty…”
Then he muttered that to himself the whole time.
Until we arrived at the Imperial Palace.
“We"ve arrived.”
She turned her head around at the horseman"s words. It was the royal palace that I had visited once before. It was unknown how splendid and wonderful the interior of the ballroom would be.
“Sister, come down using my hand.”
As I got off the carriage, I grabbed the hem of my dress, and Eve, who had gotten down first, reached out to me.
I looked down at his elongated fingers and held his hand.
“Be careful.”
It wasn"t anything else but a slight touch of his outspread hand, but in a flash, he tightly wrapped his hand around mine. There was a satisfied smile on his face.
“Let"s go in.”
I wanted to tell Eve that he didn"t have to hold my hand anymore now that I had gotten off the carriage, but
‘I can"t do it."
I went into the ballroom holding his hand. The soldier out on guard duty looked at me and Eve alternately, and cried out loud.
“Duke Valentine is entering!”
The door opened. The inside of the ballroom was magnificently decorated with red and black to symbolize the crown prince.
The chair at the top and the seats surrounding it on both sides were empty as the occupants had yet to arrive.
“Eve, wait a minute.”
Thanks to the crowd swarming to greet us, our hands were caught.
When I pulled out my hand, Eve turned around quickly and looked back at where I was, but it was already after I had mixed into the crowd.
“Huu, this is hard. I ache all over.”
I must have been nervous.
The moment Eve got out of her sight; she felt her head cloud over and her breathing turn rapid.
Fortunately, the goal of the flocking n.o.bles was Eve, not me, and no one caught me leaving.
‘The corner is the best."
I could see that the younger and more spirited n.o.bles had already formed a group to talk together. Putting my plan into action, I looked around the area for a secluded place.
‘Good, about here."
This was a place that wouldn"t be noticed easily. The main lord of the Valentine family was already at the center of the party, so it was likely that no attention would be drawn to the other lord in the corner.
I accepted a gla.s.s of wine from one of the attendants and sat down sighing.
“Hmm…..”
But it was getting boring. I examined the area around me to make sure that it was deserted and that no one was pa.s.sing by. It had been a long time since I drank alcohol.
‘I"m still a princess after all……."
The reason I had went this far away from the crowd was to avoid attention but something unexpected could happen at any time.
I had to make them think I wasn"t trying to avoid them. I scanned the standings and the imperial family had not come in yet.
‘I"m going to have to do this for way more than a day."
The party did not end with just today.
There would be hunting compet.i.tions, special t.i.tle awarding ceremonies, and several parties to come, in the future.
As I was reaching the peak of my boredom, there was a loud noise.
“His Highness the Crown Prince is entering!”
The protagonist of the party appeared.
Looking around, the women bowed deeply, and the men placed their knees to the floor and dipped their heads down. I also bowed as I had to blend in with the crowd.
The prince, who strode to his seat with his graceful gait, had a presence that could be seen from afar.
He leaned back into his chair.
He seemed to sit roughly, but his n.o.ble status made the action look dignified.
“Lift your heads.”
The prince"s words made all of the n.o.bles, who bowed before him, raise their heads. His red-hot eyes were distinct.
"……"
Everyone was waiting for the Crown Prince to open his mouth.
But no matter how long they waited, nothing came out of him. In the continuing silence, the n.o.bles" disappointment grew.
He closed his eyes as if the situation was boring and exhausting.
When those red eyes were no longer in sight, the aristocrats realized that he was not going to say anything and then continued to dance and talk.
‘I guess this is often how things work."
No one considered the situation strange. Rather, they seemed used to this kind of treatment. I watched the dance as well as where the prince was sitting.
“What is that?”
Weren"t you sat with your eyes closed a moment ago? The crown prince couldn"t have seen where she had disappeared to.
Did you just leave your seat?
As she shook her head in doubt, someone came from behind her and put a hand on her shoulder.
“Eek!”
The sudden sensation made me scream.
I quickly turned my head around to see who the owner of the hand was.
“Your…Highness?”
The crown prince eyed me strangely.
“What were you doing in the corner?”
I really wanted to say, ‘To avoid you," but I was able to resist it.
“Albury, I asked you what you were doing."
“Why are you curious?”
I deliberately answered in a colder tone than his. The Crown Prince faltered for a moment like my answer was not one he had antic.i.p.ated.
“That"s-“
“Don"t you have to find Rose?”
After I had interrupted him, the crown prince"s face crumpled up and he replied with,
“You must have heard about it already. The story of my engagement with Rose. "
……Hm? It"s excuses one after another with this man. I don"t care if the engagement"s broken or not! I"m trying to manage the harem, nothing more.
“The engagement has been broken. Now there"s nothing between her-
“Your Highness.”
I cut off his words once more, and said with empty eyes, emptying all of my mixed feelings.
“Have I ever opened up to you?”
“……What?”
“I"m sorry to hear that you"ve canceled your engagement with Rose, but it"s not like we"re on any terms.”
"……"
“I don"t care at all.”
The prince tousled his hair at my resolute words.
This isn"t how things are supposed to play out, but I didn"t care about the words that made their way through his teeth and out of his mouth.
“So I hope Your Highness will also turn your back on me too.
“…….”
“Isn"t that what you"ve always wanted?”