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Chapter 19
“Because I need him.”
“So, what do you need him for—”
“I’ll tell you when you come to the Grand Duke’s castle later.”
Theo quickly turned around, apparently in a hurry.
Strangely enough, Linix showed no intention of moving from Theo’s arm at all.
Liriope was beginning to wonder who Linix actually considered its master.
“You’re leaving already?”
Liriope instinctively followed after him as she asked the question, causing Theo to stop in his tracks.
Naturally, Liriope stopped as well.
The moment she did, Liriope realized her mistake.
Then a pleasant, low-pitched voice drifted down over her head.
“Even if you’re disappointed, bear with it today. I’m very… busy.”
There was an awkward pause between very and busy, but since Liriope was absolutely not disappointed, she frantically shook her head and shouted,
“D-Disappointed? Who’s disappointed?! I’m absolutely not disappointed!”
She shouted with a completely serious expression, her face already bright red.
Theo looked at her with the gentlest smile in the world.
Liriope felt her already-flushed face growing so hot that it seemed ready to burn, so she quickly avoided his gaze.
“N-No. Seriously, who would be disappointed…”
Theo looked at her with that same gentle smile.
His voice was sweeter and more pleasant than ever, his low tone practically dripping with warmth.
“Right. Actually, I’m the one who’s disappointed.”
At Theo’s words, Liriope fanned her burning face with her hands while watching him walk out of the reception room.
Then she suddenly remembered his terrible telephone etiquette and quickly shouted after him.
“By the way! When you’re going to disconnect the communication sphere, please say you’re disconnecting before you do it!”
At Liriope’s shout, Theo turned around.
His expression seemed to ask what she meant.
So she shouted again.
“Don’t just disconnect without saying anything!”
“…Then?”
Theo tilted his head in confusion.
Apparently, people here—including Theo—simply disconnected once they had finished saying whatever they wanted to say. There was no need to announce that the conversation was over.
Liriope looked at Theo, who seemed genuinely puzzled.
“You could say something like, ‘I’m going to hang up now,’ or ‘I’ll disconnect.’ Just give me some kind of closing greeting before you end the call.”
Theo stared at Liriope for a moment.
Then he gave a small smile and nodded once.
“All right.”
As he turned around, Liriope caught a brief glimpse of his white teeth.
She realized that he was smiling brightly because of what she had said.
Even after Theo disappeared from the reception room, Liriope stood there blankly for quite some time.
She couldn’t tell whether he had laughed because he found her ridiculous or because he found her amusing, but seeing him smile so brightly with his teeth showing was undoubtedly a very rare sight.
‘I want to see it from the front.’
Liriope clicked her tongue and thought that she wanted to see his bright smile properly at least once.
Several hours after Theo took Linix away.
An unwelcome guest arrived at the Duke’s residence.
Liriope had just finished attending a mandatory tea party and was resting, so her brows immediately furrowed in annoyance.
“Lady Liri! His Highness the Crown Prince is here!”
At Gemma’s frantic shout, Liriope, who had been sitting in the study with her chin resting blankly on her hand, removed her hand and sat up with a short sigh.
“Why is he here again all of a sudden?”
At Liriope’s dissatisfied voice, Gemma looked around behind her helplessly.
“He obviously came because he has something to say.”
A moment later, the platinum-blond, snow-white Crown Prince appeared right behind Gemma and spoke to Liriope.
‘Sigh…’
Liriope let out a deep sigh inwardly before standing and bowing her head toward Kadin.
“Hello, Your Highness.”
Kadin, however, didn’t seem particularly pleased with her greeting.
His beautiful eyebrows, seemingly drawn by the gods themselves, twitched.
Then he said something that left Liriope genuinely dumbfounded.
“Why didn’t you ask me why I came?”
“…Pardon?”
“You asked that bastard why he came. Why did you just greet me instead of asking why I came?”
‘Huh… What is this now?’
“You should ask me why I came from now on, too.”
Having said that, Kadin abruptly turned around and disappeared with Gemma, who hurriedly escorted him toward the reception room.
“What the…”
Only after Kadin had completely disappeared from sight did Liriope let out a disbelieving laugh.
‘Why does this idiot keep showing up at my house without even contacting me first, only to spout complete nonsense?’
Pouting, Liriope left the room.
She stopped when she saw Gemma hurrying toward her.
“Lady Liri! Your appearance! You need to get dressed up!”
Gemma looked horrified at the sight of Liriope heading toward Kadin exactly as she was.
Liriope shook her head and continued walking.
“No. Even if you don’t want to dress up, at least put on some makeup…”
“Why bother? And why does he keep coming to other people’s houses without saying anything first?”
“Oh my! Please watch your words! Watch your words, Lady Liri!”
Gemma looked horrified and whispered urgently.
Liriope clicked her tongue and headed down to the reception room.
When she saw Kadin sitting there with his legs crossed and drinking tea as though the Duke’s reception room were his own home, her eyes narrowed.
“Why did you come without contacting me first?”
Liriope asked Kadin while glaring at his fingers.
She desperately resisted the urge to complain that the Imperial Palace surely had plenty of communication spheres and ask why he always showed up without warning.
Then she shifted her gaze toward Gemma, who had just placed a teacup in front of her.
Gemma was biting her lip, looking almost as though she were about to cry.
She was probably telling Liriope to speak more politely.
“I thought you’d be happier if I came without contacting you.”
But there was no way anything that came out of this man’s mouth could possibly sound pretty.
“I’m not happy about it at all, so please contact me before you come, Your Highness.”
Liriope picked up the teacup, decorated with floating flower petals, and spoke in a chilly voice before taking a sip.
“I didn’t realize you were waiting so eagerly for my contact. All right. From now on, I’ll make sure to contact you first.”
‘What is he talking about now?’
Liriope stared at Kadin in near disbelief.
“Anyway, I came today because I have something very important to tell you, Duchess. No—Liriope.”
“What is it?”
Liriope asked indifferently, setting her teacup down on the table.
She seriously doubted anything Kadin considered important would actually be important.
“That damned bastard.”
But the moment Kadin mentioned Theo, Liriope’s gaze immediately shifted toward him.
Kadin continued speaking as he watched her.
“I heard that he took your graduation project today.”
‘And where did you hear that?’
The fact that Kadin already knew about something that had happened only a few hours ago made Liriope certain that he had a spy somewhere in this household.
She narrowed her eyes, wondering which person in the house could possibly be Kadin’s informant.
“See? That guy is trying to get engaged to you so he can use you. He absolutely isn’t marrying you because he likes you.”
“It wasn’t my graduation project. It was Linix. And I asked Lord Theo to take care of Linix for a while.”
“Do you even know what that damned bastard is planning to do with your graduation project?”
“I said it’s Linix, not my graduation project.”
“Whatever you call it, what does it matter?”
“It matters. I made that child using my fire attribute. He’s alive, and he has a name.”
“……”
Kadin looked displeased for a moment at Liriope’s words.
Then he waved his hand dismissively a couple of times.
“Anyway, aren’t you curious why he took it?”
“Not particularly.”
Liriope shrugged once as she answered.
Kadin’s eyes widened so much they nearly popped out.
“Not particularly? You’re not curious? Why?”
“Why? Am I supposed to be curious?”
“Of course you’re supposed to be curious! That bastard took your—your graduation project! No, Liriope, your graduation project! No, he took Lenix and is planning to do something with—!”
“It’s Linix, not Lenix.”
Liriope interrupted him to correct the name, causing Kadin’s brow to furrow deeply.
Whether it was Linix or Lenix, apparently the distinction didn’t matter to Kadin.
Liriope gave him a firm look and said,
“You’d be offended if I called you Prince Kaden or Prince Kadeong, wouldn’t you? Our child would also want its precious name to be pronounced correctly.”
Kadin’s eyebrows twitched at the names Kaden and Kadeong coming out of her mouth.
“…Anyway, do you know what that guy who took ‘Li’ nix plans to do with it?”
“I told you I don’t know.”
“A cold wave caused by abnormal weather is currently sweeping through the outskirts of the North. All the flames attached around the outer walls of the tower are going out.”
“…Oh dear.”
Liriope recalled the events of the original story and tried to remember whether a cold wave had ever struck the outskirts of the North.
The original story hadn’t even begun yet, and the Empress hadn’t joined forces with the black mage, so this incident probably wasn’t the result of someone’s scheme.
Even so, the North had always suffered through difficult circumstances, even without the Empress deliberately targeting it.
“That’s why he needs Linix’s undying flames.”
‘Linix’s flames are undying flames…?’
Although the body she had possessed possessed fire-attribute magic, Liriope herself had never used attribute magic even once since possessing it.
She hadn’t learned any of the theory behind attribute magic in the first place, nor had she ever actually used it.
Naturally, she knew nothing about that subject.
So this was the first time she had learned that Linix’s flames were inextinguishable.
“He’s been interested in your fire attribute for a long time, Duchess. No—Liriope. It’s all because his North is gradually freezing over. Do you know what will happen if you marry him?”
“……”
“You’ll spend your life as nothing more than firewood for the North, and eventually meet a pitiful end. No, you, Liriope.”
Kadin gestured toward Liriope with his chin as he spoke.
