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Chapter 2
At Theo’s words, Liriope looked at him with a deliberately flustered expression before tilting her head once more.
“Ah, then was it during the Hunting Festival?”
“Didn’t the Duke say it was too dangerous and forbid you from coming? As far as I know, you’ve never attended the Hunting Festival.”
“Ah, then… the New Year’s Festival…”
“I haven’t left the Grand Duke’s castle during the New Year’s Festival for the past four years.”
“Th-Then… I must’ve seen you four years ago.”
“Weren’t you attending the Academy until four years ago?”
Ha… this jerk. Why does he have such an insanely good memory?
Having completely run out of excuses, Liriope rolled her eyes helplessly.
Theo slowly swept his snake-like gaze over her.
“So… do you really mean that you like me?”
He asked in a voice as slow as his gaze.
Liriope nodded immediately.
“Of course. I like you so much that you even appear in my dreams all the time. Besides, why would I lie and say I like you if I didn’t?”
“…”
“Of course, I understand why you don’t believe me. I’ve spent all this time chasing after His Highness the Crown Prince, after all. I understand that. But it’s still heartbreaking that you won’t believe such sincere devotion.”
Pressing a hand dramatically against her chest, Liriope lowered her gaze with a mournful expression.
Since it’s come to this, I might as well make my engagement to the Grand Duke of the North an established fact and completely sever my ill-fated connection with the Crown Prince.
At least then I won’t end up dead.
Although she felt uneasy about dragging the male lead—the Grand Duke of the North—into this, she only needed to borrow him for a little while before handing him over to the heroine. That shouldn’t be a problem.
Saving the life of a single villainess shouldn’t alter the original story that much.
Theo’s eyebrows twitched briefly at Liriope’s excessive performance before he stood up.
The engagement contract with her was firmly held in his hand.
“Well, let’s leave it at that for now.”
Liriope rose to her feet as well.
At that very moment, the faint, pleasant fragrance drifting from her caused a subtle change in Theo’s expression.
His eyes lingered on her for a moment.
“However.”
Still staring at her, Theo stepped closer, his deep voice low and steady.
Startled by the sudden closeness, Liriope looked up at him in confusion.
Theo stopped right in front of her, tilting his head slightly as he stared intently into her eyes.
Not knowing what he was doing, Liriope darted her eyes around awkwardly.
Theo slowly bent down toward her.
Bringing his lips close to her ear, he whispered quietly,
“The moment I walk out of this room with this in my hand… there’ll be no undoing it.”
His breath brushed against the stiff nape of Liriope’s neck.
The ticklish yet chilling sensation spread through her entire body, and a sigh that was almost a gasp escaped her lips.
Startled by the sound of her own breathing, she instinctively took a step back.
Theo’s gaze shifted strangely as he watched her.
Heat that had begun at her ears spread across her face, down her neck, and throughout her entire body.
Without realizing it, Liriope tightly clutched the hem of her dress with both hands and avoided his gaze.
Even without looking in a mirror, she was certain her face had turned bright red.
She desperately wished for anything that could hide it.
Theo stared at her for a long moment before letting out a laugh so quiet it was almost inaudible and straightened up.
His eyes still held that peculiar gaze that made her heart pound.
“Even if you cry and beg, it can’t be called off.”
As he spoke, he playfully waved the engagement contract in his hand.
His eyes looked strangely amused.
At his words, Liriope’s face fell.
She immediately stepped toward him and reached for the engagement contract.
“Then maybe we should reconsider it while we still—”
Before she could finish speaking, Theo raised the hand holding the contract high above his head.
Losing her balance, Liriope stumbled forward and her face collided with his chest.
Instinctively, Theo wrapped an arm around her waist.
Startled by the unexpected contact, Liriope quickly pushed against his chest and staggered backward.
Theo also stepped back just as quickly.
Seemingly flustered by his own instinctive reaction, he cleared his throat before lowering the hand that held the contract high in the air.
Then, pretending nothing had happened, he calmly looked at Liriope.
“Of course, I have no intention of calling it off.”
Just moments ago, he had said that once he left this room it couldn’t be undone.
Now he was saying he had never intended to cancel it in the first place.
Liriope frowned.
Her heart was still pounding from their accidental contact.
Her mind was already in chaos, and his contradictory words only made it worse.
Forcing the most polite smile she could manage, Liriope looked at him.
“The truth is… I’ve had a crush on you for quite a long time. But I never intended for things to jump straight to an engagement like this. My father arranged everything without even discussing it with me. I’m just as shocked as you are, and I can more than imagine that you feel the same way.”
So… shouldn’t we just end this engagement right here?
Her eyes remained fixed on the engagement contract she wanted to tear into pieces.
“So what I’m trying to say is… there’s really no reason for you to get dragged into something like this because of me and my father—”
Suddenly, a soft laugh escaped Theo’s lips.
It wasn’t frivolous, nor was it unpleasant.
It was oddly captivating.
“It seems you’re the type to worry about unnecessary things, Lady.”
Liriope looked at him in bewilderment.
A faint smile rested on his lips as he continued,
“Even if you end up crying because you want to marry the Crown Prince instead, it won’t matter. The moment you decided to use me, you naturally accepted the consequences that come with it.”
With that, as though there was no reason to hear anything more she had to say, he turned around and left the reception room.
Liriope stood frozen in place, blinking as Theo disappeared.
“Huh…”
Only after he had completely vanished did she let out a long sigh and stare blankly at the ceiling.
I think… trying to change the original story has completely backfired…?!
After returning to the North through the teleportation portal, Theo sat in his office within the Grand Duke’s estate, staring at the engagement contract glowing with golden light.
When Duke Rikaze Staila himself had come to propose the engagement, Theo’s first thought had been that it was complete nonsense.
After all, Liriope Staila was known throughout the Empire as “the foolish young lady who blindly obsessed over the Crown Prince.”
No matter how coldly the Crown Prince rejected her or tried to shake her off, she stubbornly clung to him, pursuing him so relentlessly that it made people frown.
How could a woman like that suddenly claim to like him?
There was no way he could believe it.
She was undoubtedly plotting some idiotic scheme.
And if she intended to use him in that idiotic scheme, then it was only natural that she should pay the price.
Yet…
Why did he feel so strangely unsettled?
And what was with that pleasant scent?
Theo recalled the fragrance he had smelled when he had approached her.
It was astonishing that a person could naturally smell that good.
Maybe my sense of smell has become strange because of Lazerian.
He tried convincing himself of that, trying to deny what he had felt.
Yet the urge to rush back to her and confirm it one more time grew stronger, causing his brows to knit together.
“Are you really going through with the engagement?”
His aide, Adil, asked.
Theo’s expression stiffened for a moment before a quiet chuckle escaped him instead of an answer.
“Well… what do you think?”
To be honest, the engagement contract itself was valuable enough because of the living phoenix, Linix, that Liriope had created as her Academy graduation project.
It gave him leverage over her.
As the only person with a fire attribute capable of producing an eternal flame, Liriope would be of tremendous help to the frozen North.
And Linix, especially, was something the North desperately needed.
Adil looked at Theo with concern.
But Theo paid no attention to his gaze.
His thoughts remained in the Duke’s mansion.
The fragrance he had sensed when he drew close to Liriope.
The way her face had flushed at his actions.
The bold look she gave him while pretending not to be embarrassed.
Everything had thoroughly thrown his mind into disarray.
Especially when she had explained why she had fallen for him…
“It’s true that I’m weak against handsome men, but I didn’t fall for you because of your sculpted face, Lord Theo. More than your appearance, it was your abilities, the way you’re good at everything, and your steady personality that stole my heart. Speaking of which, Lord Theo is truly the most capable nobleman in the Empire…”
He had found it too uncomfortable to keep listening and had raised a hand to cover Liriope’s mouth.
Still, it had been the first time a noble lady had confessed to him so openly, right in front of him.
He had been genuinely flustered.
Then there was the way she had immediately called for a servant to remove the Lazerian flowers the moment she noticed him coughing, without the slightest hesitation.
The only people who knew that Lazerian triggered his allergies were his personal physician and those who worked in the Grand Duke’s castle.
Even the members of the Imperial Family, where he had spent his childhood, didn’t know.
It was strange enough that Liriope knew.
Even stranger was the fact that she noticed him enduring the irritation in his throat and calmly ordered every Lazerian flower removed from the reception room.
Most noble ladies of the Empire treated flowers as though they were extensions of themselves.
So seeing Liriope casually order the removal of flowers that had clearly been arranged for display or decoration had genuinely surprised him.
In any case, telling them to remove the flowers without hesitation…
Opening the windows herself to air out the room for him…
Every one of those actions had been completely unexpected.
And those unexpected actions lingered in his mind far more deeply than he cared to admit, causing the corners of his lips to rise again and again.
Of course, Theo himself remained completely unaware that he was smiling.
