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chapter 08
An Unexpected Reunion
Even in the reception room, Serena was still absorbed in her notebook. When a servant announced that the guest had been brought in, she responded absentmindedly.
“Yes.”
“Shall I escort him in now?”
“Mm.”
Because of that, the moment Lucas stepped into the reception room, what he saw was Serena with her hair tied high into a single ponytail, dressed plainly, scowling as she read her notebook.
She even had a pen tucked behind her ear and was licking her finger to turn the pages.
“Still rude, I see.”
At Lucas’s low voice, Serena froze. She lowered the notebook and slowly lifted her head to look at the guest.
His tall height—comparable even to Grand Duke Farel, famed across the continent for his imposing build—and his broad shoulders could not be hidden beneath a shabby hood.
“There’s no reason for me to tolerate such words from a suspicious guest,” Serena replied coolly as she stood and glared at the hooded man.
He was taller than her—far taller. The first man like that she had seen since the Grand Duke of Farel.
“And even less so from someone who’s clearly hiding something.”
Her blue eyes looked up at Lucas sharply. Lucas, however, was momentarily speechless—overwhelmed by the realization that the goal he had chased for six long years was now right in front of him.
“You think I’m hiding something?”
That familiar low voice had been echoing in her ears from the start.
“Or have you forgotten?”
From beneath the hood’s shadow, the corner of the man’s lips twisted.
Though he was a stranger, that distinctive voice burrowed into her mind, dragging up the memory of her engagement ceremony six years ago.
“Don’t tell me…?”
Despite her words of denial, Serena’s blue eyes trembled ever so slightly.
Just then, the clouds parted and sunlight poured in through the window, illuminating everything with startling clarity.
“No. That can’t be… possible.”
The Crown Prince had forgotten her.
For six years, not a single letter. Even when his fiancée turned twenty-four, the engagement had never been fulfilled. By convention, that meant the betrothal was void.
“What—because it makes no sense that I’ve grown taller than you?”
With a sharp motion, Lucas threw back his hood.
The face revealed was exactly as Serena remembered. His sharp eyes—once striking even when he had been smaller than her—were unchanged, as was the mischievously twisted line of his lips.
But six years had brought change.
His frame was now far larger than hers, his shoulders broad and solid. Most of all, the movement of his Adam’s apple as he spoke down to her carried the unmistakable presence of a grown man.
“I still remember what you said at the engagement ceremony.”
His jet-black eyes looked down at Serena without restraint.
“You said you didn’t like men smaller than you, didn’t you? Why—care to say it again now?”
“And who was it that said they didn’t like big women first?” Serena shot back. “I merely responded.”
It was true—back then, an angry Serena had looked down on her fiancé, who seemed like a child, and treated him dismissively. But he had been the one to start the fight.
“Hah. Seems we both remember that day quite well.”
“Yes. Because it was unpleasant for both of us.”
As Serena replied coldly and took a step back, Lucas tossed the shabby hood completely aside. His broad shoulders and chest beneath the white shirt came fully into view.
Six years wasn’t such a long time—yet the Crown Prince, once much smaller than his peers at fourteen, had returned like this.
“And today?”
Lucas stepped forward, narrowing the distance between them again.
“Is today unpleasant too?”
She could tell at a glance that he had grown. But she couldn’t understand why he had gone so far as to infiltrate Astel disguised as a wandering knight.
“Reuniting with your fiancée, yet not even a greeting?”
The rude one was clearly Lucas.
Still, Serena wasn’t foolish enough to flare up blindly. No matter how sharp-eyed a brat he once was, he was the Crown Prince of the Empire. And now, she had far too much to protect.
“My apologies.”
With those curt words, Serena stepped back two more paces.
Then she lifted the hem of her dress and offered a formal bow—as though the bond between them no longer existed.
“I, Serena of Astel, acting duke, pay my respects to His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“…Is that all?”
With her head lowered, Serena couldn’t see the way Lucas’s gaze wavered. She had no idea what was stirring in his heart.
“I ask forgiveness for my past rudeness.”
Straightening, Serena looked at him again. Her jewel-like blue eyes were still beautiful—but this reunion was nothing like the countless ones Lucas had imagined.
“You haven’t forgotten our engagement, have you? Didn’t you wait for me?”
Without realizing it, Lucas frowned deeply. He wasn’t the only one who had changed over six years. Serena felt about the same height as before—but his eye level had risen.
“I don’t recall making such a promise.”
Her lips—bare of any color—were naturally pink with life.
Her platinum-blond hair, loosely tied into a single strand, shimmered beneath the sunlight more brilliantly than he remembered.
“But we exchanged vows.”
Lucas spoke in a low whisper, staring into her blue eyes.
“We vowed to complete the marriage and become husband and wife.”
It wasn’t just his height or build that had changed. The fourteen-year-old boy, raised sheltered in the palace, had seen the world and returned as a man.
The scent surrounding him now—rough and unpolished—was unmistakably masculine.
“Isn’t that vow heavier than any other promise?”
Lucas dipped his head slightly, meeting Serena’s gaze, as if confirming the flicker of confusion in her previously cold expression.
“Where did that fire from the engagement ceremony go? Lost for words now?”
His black eyes traced her refined features. His gaze burned so intensely it felt as though every place it touched grew hot.
“Earlier, you greeted me as the acting duke of Astel. But that’s not who I came to see.”
Each time his low voice echoed, it stole her breath. Though this was a familiar ducal residence, she felt like a cornered prey animal with nowhere to flee.
“Serena.”
The name Lucas had whispered through countless nights finally left his lips.
“I came to see my fiancée.”
She had believed the engagement was long over. Now the man himself had appeared and called her his fiancée—no wonder Serena’s eyes widened.
“Aren’t you happy?”
“No. Not at all. By custom, isn’t our engagement already null and void?”
Even flustered, Serena spoke clearly. Seeing this, Lucas’s mouth twisted.
“That temper of yours hasn’t changed.”
Now Serena was glaring at him too. But things were very different from the day of their engagement.
As proof, Lucas reached out with his large hand and seized her wrist.
“Ah—!”
Had anyone ever grabbed her wrist like this before? His hot grip yanked her toward him as though he meant to pull her straight into his arms. The force was strong enough that Serena could barely keep her balance.
“This behavior… is improper.”
She snapped, eyes flashing. But no matter how she struggled, she couldn’t shake off his grasp.
“I’m no longer the fourteen-year-old child you remember.”
Calling himself a child—perhaps Lucas really had grown.
“You could say it’s all thanks to you, Serena.”
The mischievous smile on his face made it impossible to take that at face value.
“I don’t recall doing anything.”
“Didn’t you say you hated it?”
Lucas suddenly leaned closer.
“Because I was smaller than you.”
At the same time, he tugged her wrist. The fragile balance she’d been maintaining collapsed, and she stumbled into his arms.
“I hated it too.”
The man whispering into her ear was no longer the fiancé of her memories.
“I hated being smaller than you.”
His grip on her wrist was still tight. They were close enough that she could hear his heart pounding violently.
“But not anymore.”
Each word made his Adam’s apple shift. Only now did Serena notice the calluses on the hand holding her wrist—and realize just how long six years truly were.
“Let go!”
With her free hand, Serena slapped the back of his hand.
“Unless you trained just to overpower me.”
Her defiant blue eyes pierced straight through him. Perhaps because of that, his grip loosened, and Serena finally tore her hand free and stood upright.
“Your Highness the Crown Prince. There is no marital bond between us.”
Her calm gaze met his.
“The engagement was unavoidable at the time, and it left us with nothing but bad memories… We simply weren’t meant to be.”
Bad memories?
Lucas frowned deeply.
“There’s no bond between us?”
The words came out as if chewed and crushed.
“Yes.”
All the humiliation and rage of that engagement ceremony—he had endured it all, training with the thought of seeing her again.
“Why?”
Born the Emperor’s only child, he had become Crown Prince from the moment he was born. If not for those blue eyes looking down at him that day, he would never have felt the need to train, to grow stronger.
“Serena, you are my fiancée.”
Not all of his six years of training had been for her alone—but she had been the trigger.
“I—”
“I’m taller than you now. Stronger too. I’m not a fourteen-year-old child, but a twenty-year-old man—your fiancé.”
Overwhelmed by the surge of emotion, Lucas grabbed her shoulders and pulled her toward him.
“I…”
The strong scent of him and the thunderous beating of his heart stopped Serena in place.
“Not a single day passed when I forgot you.”
His rough, unpolished confession rang undeniably true.
