Chapter 67

After gaining enlightenment thanks to Mikhail’s “excellent” (?) help.

The place my footsteps led to was the now-familiar mansion of my fiancée, the Valencia Duchy Mansion, a place I could find even with my eyes closed.

Although the visit time was considerably later than usual because I had to pass through the Crown Prince’s office.

But it didn’t really matter.

At least for today, I had no intention of leaving this mansion.

“Welcome, Prince. I’ll open the door for you.”

“Thank you.”

The mansion’s butler, upon seeing my face, opened the main gate without needing further confirmation.

“Nice to see you, Dorothy.”

“Prince? You didn’t catch a cold, did you?”

Dorothy, who noticed me walking in slowly through the main gate, looked surprised.

As if wondering how someone who should be resting to recover could be here.

Hmm. I’m sure I never informed the mansion about my cold.

Rebecca too, where did the people of the mansion get all this information about me being sick?

“Surely the Duchess mentioned that the Prince wouldn’t be visiting for a while due to a cold…”

“…”

As if to render my earlier worry pointless, Dorothy immediately revealed where she heard about my illness.

And only after hearing that did I understand how things had unfolded.

If the Duchess Valencia had informed everyone, I could make sense of the situation.

The exchanges between my mother and the Duchess were frequent enough to meet at least once a week, and it would be strange if my mother didn’t mention her son during those conversations.

And I could roughly guess what happened next.

The Duchess, knowing how close Rebecca and I were, probably assumed Rebecca already knew about my illness and brought it up.

Rebecca, hearing about my illness out of the blue during a usual conversation with her mother, must have come to the mansion.

······Honestly, I can’t help but feel a bit resentful toward the Duchess for casually mentioning it.

But in the end, this cold incident became an opportunity for me to realize Rebecca’s change of heart.

I even thought about giving my future mother-in-law a gift.

“Ah, shall I guide you to the Young Lady as usual?”

While pondering what kind of gift to give, Dorothy finally seemed to remember her role and spoke up.

“The Princess?”

“Huh? The Young Lady?”

“Is she feeling unwell or…”

Hearing that, I suddenly became curious about Rebecca’s current state.

Could she have caught my cold from the previous visit?

Rebecca, who kissed me to transfer my cold because she couldn’t stand seeing me pretend to be sick.

Of course, I know better than anyone that the idea of transferring a cold is nothing but a superstition.

But it’s also true that my cold miraculously disappeared after that sweet kiss.

This was just a precautionary check.

“No, she’s just as usual.”

“That’s a relief.”

Fortunately, contrary to my worries, Dorothy said there was nothing wrong.

As Rebecca’s personal maid, Dorothy knew Rebecca’s condition better than anyone, so her words were trustworthy.

“But why are you suddenly asking about the Young Lady’s condition…?”

“It’s nothing. I just thought she might have caught my cold from the visit.”

“Ah…”

Hearing my reason for asking about Rebecca’s condition, Dorothy looked touched.

“As expected, the Prince always thinks of our Young Lady more than anyone…”

“…”

“When will I ever have a beautiful love like the Young Lady and the Prince…”

Though I didn’t mean for Dorothy to take it that way.

Well, it’s not wrong that I always think of Rebecca. And Dorothy’s sighing demeanor didn’t seem like she wanted to say more.

“Then, please guide me, Dorothy.”

“Ah, yes!”

I decided to let it go.

What’s important now isn’t what Dorothy thinks of me and Rebecca, but how to scold my fiancée, who has been messing with my heart.

Even just walking, I could already anticipate what would happen in my fiancée’s room soon.

***

The large room, still decorated in red to match its owner.

Thud- Thud-

There, a girl considered the Empire’s greatest genius was beating a pillow with murderous intent.

She couldn’t even remember how many times she had hit the pillow.

Ever since returning from Count Zernias’ Mansion, she had been venting her anger on the pillow, except when working or eating.

One might feel sorry for the pillow, which was starting to lose its shape, but Rebecca didn’t stop hitting it.

– This is because I don’t like you expecting special treatment for being sick.

– ······So, don’t get the wrong idea. I’m not doing this because I like it.

Clearly, her mind had temporarily left her upon hearing that her annoying fiancé was sick with a cold.

There’s no way she, in her right mind, would say such embarrassing things.

How could she have even uttered such shameless words?

Even if she admitted that ‘Albert Zernias’ had grown on her.

Even if she admitted that she might have started to like her fiancé.

How… how could she do something so shameless…

-Peck-

Whoosh-

As the memory of her approaching her fiancé surfaced, her cheeks turned as red as they could possibly get.

How could she ever face her fiancé now?

The only saving grace was that the words that came out of her mouth at the time were along the lines of “don’t get the wrong idea, I’m not doing this because I like it.”

But there’s no way her annoyingly perceptive fiancé would take her words at face value.

He might have already realized that she had fallen for him.

······No.

That absolutely must not happen.

As I’ve said before, there’s no way she could handle the situation if this imagined scenario became reality.

Especially since she’s weak to her fiancé’s embarrassing words.

There’s no way she could withstand her fiancé’s teasing (?) once he was sure she liked him.

Moreover, the other party was none other than ‘Albert Zernias.’

Her fiancé, who understood her heart better than anyone else in the world.

If he realized he had the upper hand, he would surely try to manipulate her.

And she, already hopelessly fallen for her fiancé, would be helplessly swayed by him.

If nothing unusual happened between them, they would eventually marry, and she couldn’t live her whole life being manipulated.

“······Marriage.”

The word “marriage” suddenly came to mind as she imagined that terrifying scenario becoming reality.

Who would have thought?

That the word “marriage” would come from her mouth, of all people, about marrying the fiancé she had fought with from the moment they first met.

It was such a strange thing.

That she could casually utter such a significant word and feel little resistance to the idea of marrying her fiancé.

How did it come to this?

She clearly used to hate ‘Albert Zernias’ so much.

She always found fault with everything he did.

She always hated how he won every bet, so she tried her hardest to win.

But comparing then and now, so much had changed.

Even though she still grumbled, she no longer said harsh things.

Even though she always vowed to win, she now didn’t mind losing.

······Somehow, she had started looking forward to the penalties after losing.

So much had changed that she didn’t even know where to start fixing it.

No matter how much she worried, only one solution came to mind.

“······I must never let him find out.”

She must never let her fiancé discover her feelings.

It was already too late to erase these pounding feelings.

No matter what, she had to hide her feelings and make her fiancé fall for her.

Ding-dong-

“Dorothy, are you out there?”

And to realize this resolution, she needed a plan—or help.

She couldn’t do it alone.

Though her status was that of a maid, Dorothy, who had always helped her, would surely assist her this time as well.

Knock-knock-

As if she had been nearby, a question of whether she could enter came from the door.

“Come in.”

Since it was she herself who had called Dorothy, she absentmindedly gave permission to enter.

Creak-

After her permission, the door slowly opened with a sound.

“…”

She deeply regretted giving that permission.

“······Why are you… here…”

The person who entered the room wasn’t her loyal maid, Dorothy, but her mischievous fiancé with a playful expression.

Whether it was because of the unexpected visit from her fiancé.

Thump-

Her heart started pounding again.