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Chapter : 10
I thought the original story was over, but it’s Episode 10
“Your Highness the Crown Prince, can’t you see me? Am I dead? Am I a ghost?”
“……”
I leaned my head closer to Leopold’s face and asked, but Leopold was only staring straight ahead.
There was only one reason Leopold was blatantly ignoring me like this. It had to be that day—the day he turned away in a huff after I refused to call him “Leo.”
As the memory of that day surfaced, I thought to myself, What a childish jerk… but I couldn’t say it out loud. And well, at fourteen, that kind of behavior was pretty age-appropriate.
At first, Leopold had tried to tease me by calling me “Titi,” but at some point he became oddly obsessed with me calling him by a nickname.
I knew exactly what kind of person he was. Once he fixated on something, he wouldn’t care about anything else until he got it—like a crazed bulldozer.
In short… he was incredibly stubborn.
With an irritated voice, as if I didn’t care who heard me, I called out to him.
“Hey, Leopold!”
“……”
Even then, Leopold ignored me. Despite that, he was steadily walking toward the end of the corridor.
There was something I absolutely had to tell Leopold today. I had to say that Evelin was waiting for him and ask him to visit the viscount’s estate again.
But if I couldn’t tell him now, I wouldn’t be able to get a word in with him at today’s banquet either.
If I missed this timing, I wouldn’t get another chance to talk to Leopold alone.
“……”
I stared at Leopold’s cold, unfeeling back. Then I let out a deep sigh and, in a very, very small voice, spoke.
“…Leo.”
“……”
At that, Leopold finally stopped walking. He turned around sharply to look at me. His golden eyes, which usually held a chilly light, seemed faintly excited.
When our eyes met, I found myself momentarily staring blankly into Leopold’s golden eyes, which looked almost childlike.
“Ti—”
Leopold, his face flushed, was about to say something to me.
“Don’t call me Titi.”
“……”
I said it with a serious expression. How dare he try to force that nickname on me by sheer momentum?
“…Not bad.”
“……”
Whether I liked it or not, Leopold was wearing a strangely satisfied smile. Somehow, the fact that he was pleased irritated me.
It felt like I’d lost. If it weren’t for Evelin, this wouldn’t have happened.
Standing crookedly with a dissatisfied look, I stared at Leopold and spoke.
“Crown Prince Leo, I have a favor to ask.”
“What is it?”
Leopold looked at me with a flushed face. Right now, he looked like he’d agree to just about anything. Was he really that weak to nicknames? Or was this because he was reminded of his late mother?
Either way, it didn’t matter.
“During this holiday, would you please visit the viscount’s estate? We’ll do our best to entertain you—no, to serve you.”
“You’re asking me?”
Leopold stared at me intently, as if expecting something in return.
His golden eyes seemed to sparkle with anticipation. Well, they always sparkled, but still—it felt like I could see right through him.
I let out a deep sigh, then spoke firmly, emphasizing each word.
“I’m asking you, Leo.”
“Alright.”
Contrary to my expectations, Leopold answered lightly and without hesitation.
Time passed, and the banquet began. The main gates of the imperial palace opened, and nobles poured in like a tide.
My family and Evelin arrived as well. Evelin’s escort knight, Asad, also joined the banquet after escorting her.
I was chatting casually with the two of them in a corner of the hall when Leopold, having finished his schedule late, approached us.
“Your Highness.”
“……”
“…Leo.”
“Yeah.”
When I called him “Your Highness,” Leopold completely ignored me, but the moment I called him “Leo,” he looked at me as if asking what was going on and replied calmly.
It seemed he had no intention of responding if I called him “Your Highness,” even here at the banquet.
Watching us, Evelin spoke with relief.
“Looks like you made up.”
“…Yeah.”
It wasn’t like we’d actually fought. Leopold had just sulked on his own and gotten over it on his own. But since I didn’t want to make things complicated, I simply nodded.
“That’s a relief.”
Evelin said with a relieved smile. A relief, huh.
With a slightly flushed expression, Evelin gazed at Leopold and said,
“Then I’ll call you Leo too!”
“……”
Leopold seemed to frown subtly at that, but he quickly composed himself.
He didn’t say anything. Was he embarrassed?
Well, it probably didn’t matter if I called him that, but it made sense for him to feel embarrassed if Evelin did. They weren’t even lovers yet.
“Sure.”
“Yay!”
Since Leopold was too shy, I answered Evelin in his place. Evelin jumped for joy, even though she hadn’t actually gotten his permission.
I could feel Leopold glaring at me irritably. I looked back at him like, What are you looking at?
“Ugh.”
Then Leopold lightly poked my side, as if telling me to read the room.
What? In the end, Evelin gets to use the nickname anyway. Why complain even when I help?
I looked at Leopold with that thought in my eyes.
“…Haah.”
As if he’d read my mind, Leopold let out an annoyed, deep sigh.
Just then, Asad, who was standing beside us, suddenly spoke to Leopold.
“Can I call you Leo too?”
“I refuse.”
Leopold answered immediately, staring coldly at Asad. His reaction time was far faster than when I’d first refused to use his nickname.
Watching the two face off silently, I spoke to Asad before the atmosphere could get any worse.
“Do whatever you want.”
“……”
At that, Leopold’s gaze sharpened, and he glared straight at me. The nerve.
I ignored his hostile glare like I was used to it and said,
“He says he won’t respond unless you call him by his nickname from now on.”
At this point, I might as well share the nickname with everyone.
Leopold stared at me blankly for a moment, clearly flustered, then was just about to say something angrily—
“Are you a child?”
“…Ha.”
Asad, who’d been listening, sneered at Leopold, and Leopold shot him a look like he was about to lose it.
In the end, that day’s banquet concluded with Asad continually calling Leopold by his nickname and getting on his nerves—until the two of them ended up in a duel.
What was the outcome again? I don’t remember very well.
Anyway, after that incident, the way everyone addressed Leopold became fixed as “Leo.”
At first, Leopold was awkward about it, but eventually he seemed to get used to it. Or rather, resigned to it.
And that was how I finished explaining to Russell how I ended up calling Leopold “Leo,” something he’d been curious about.
Despite being the one who asked, Russell looked at me with a rather dumbfounded expression.
“…Tina, you and that guy can never be friends.”
After hearing everything, Russell concluded decisively.
I looked up at him as if to say, Isn’t that obvious?
“Well, yeah.”
I replied nonchalantly.
We’d never been friends to begin with, and I had no intention of becoming friends. The problem lay entirely with Leopold.
I didn’t have many friends myself, but that guy truly had none. And yet he was always lecturing me about friendships—when would he realize he wasn’t in any position to do so?
The only people Leopold could possibly call friends were the remaining two male leads: Asad, one of the Knights of the Round Table, and Elwin, the archmage and master of the mage tower. But they weren’t particularly close.
Putting aside Leopold’s terrible personality, the fact that they were rivals over the same woman made it stranger if they were close.
Especially Asad. Calling him merely an enemy of my ex-husband would be an understatement. Neither of them had personalities suited to blending in easily with others, so they clashed like oil and water at every turn.
On top of that, Asad was a confidant of the Empress, Leopold’s political enemy. There was no way they could be close.
Come to think of it, Leopold hadn’t attended my wedding to Asad.
We’d known each other for so long—wasn’t it a bit much not to come to the wedding? I’d gone, after all!
But now, I felt like I could understand Leopold’s feelings a little.
After all, Asad was a knight who had sworn loyalty to his wife, Evelin. Leopold must have been jealous.
Despite his cool outward appearance, Leopold was actually the jealous type. It would’ve been stranger for him to attend my wedding with Asad and Evelin happily.
I gazed up at the sky with unfocused eyes, reminiscing about the past.
Russell watched me closely, as if gauging my thoughts, then sighed and spoke.
“Looks like you still have energy to worry about things like that. Starting today, I’ll double your exercise.”
“……”
I pretended not to hear him. Pretended to be asleep. Now I finally understood why Russell had suddenly pretended to sleep earlier.
