She started a contractual relationship with the duke with half a year term. Will the duke be able to fall in love with Luana within that period? It was a mystery.
“But if it remains like this in half a year, I think it’ll be pointless.”
Luana had just woken up, thought so in a daze. She soon put her forehead on the bedpost. The headache made her come to her senses.
‘What do you mean ‘pointless’?’
Yesterday, she was swept away by the duke and decided to date him, but today she was going to make him aware of reality. She is the princess of the fallen kingdom, and he is the duke of the empire! She meant to say that the two could never be together.
“You need to eat more. You said you’d make me gain weight every time, but now you’re getting skinny.”
In the meantime, he pushed the food in front of Luana, which was an unfamiliar act. She is okay eating all of it by herself. However, the Duke was very proud to see it.
“I won’t put someone to watch you from today.”
That’s good, but why?
“I hear love begins with faith. So I have to believe you.”
He put down his fork and looked at Luana.
“Don’t run away.”
‘I mean, if I run away, you won’t let me go. You said you’d believe me, but your actions and words are contradictory!’
But it was fortunate that he removed the raven. Because she was uncomfortable having someone she didn’t know to keep monitoring her.
“I won’t run away.”
“Yes, I’ll trust you.”
“Then can I go to the market?”
“It may be dangerous. You can if a knight accompanies you.”
Not long ago, it was Luana who asked for a knight. They’ve tried to remove the wanted list from society, but some people still looked for her, so she needed a knight to escort her.
“Alright.”
Luana nodded, knowing why; she then realized she was being swept away again.
“No, wait!”
“What’s wrong?”
“I don’t think this is right.”
“What?”
“I am the princess of the fallen kingdom, Sir… Legion.”
“Legion.”
“Legion is the Duke of the Empire. Don’t you think we shouldn’t date?”
Although the kingdom was destroyed, the people of the kingdom were still living under the empire’s rule. Most of the nobles and royals from the kingdom were dead, and Luana was one of the royals who were still alive. In other words, if Luana gives birth to a child, the child will have the legitimacy to inherit the throne.
So shouldn’t she avoid having a relationship like this? Besides, many ladies are more eligible for that position rather than her. Armed with a perfect theory, Luana intended to use it as an excuse to break her contractual relationship until she heard what the duke said,
“I don’t care. What’s the problem with me being a duke? It’s not that I can’t protect you.”
He pulled up the corner of his mouth, and the bold figure looked very cool. Luana groaned, covering her burning face.
‘Why do you look so cool?’
“More than anything, there’s Ingrid. Even if she has a child, her child will have priority. You don’t have to worry about something that hasn’t even happened yet.”
“That’s true, though,”
“By the way, I can’t believe you thought that far.”
The duke slowly leaned back on the chair and smiled with a meaningful expression. Luana was now struggling to escape her contractual relationship. Seeing that she was worried about the distant future in such a situation, she felt an unfamiliar feeling.
Her burning face was red and looked cute. He wanted to see her face and touch it, but he suppressed that urge, afraid that she would jump and run away if he did.
Luana was annoyed; it made the duke want to tease her a little.
“You even thought about having a child with me.”
At those words, Luana’s face grew hotter. It’s already as red as a tomato, but somehow it gets redder? It was surprising.
“I-it’s not like that!”
She spoke in a tiny voice, but as she watched him act that way, a certain feeling of overwhelming pounded in her chest. Vyan, the self-proclaimed love expert, said this was the first time the duke tried to be in love. She couldn’t believe the whole thing she was feeling right now, but it must have been a special one. She didn’t think she could feel this way from anyone else.
“Yes. Is there any other reason why we shouldn’t date?”
The duke intended to respond to anything Luana said.
“Oh, there isn’t.”
“Then let’s go steady and try to love.”
Luana pouted her lips at those words but didn’t add anything more.
“Yeees.”
It was just a small affirmative answer. The duke thought that was all he needed.
***
‘Our duke has changed!’
‘He wasn’t that kind of person. Give me back the old duke!’
Luana shouted as she struggled. After the meal, the duke smiled affectionately and went to the Imperial Palace to work. As he walked, the duke said they should go on a date next time.
“Date, a date!”
Her heart pounded at the thought of having a date with the duke. She felt like her heart is about to pop at any time. Luana grabbed her chest for a long time and calmed herself down. She got up from her seat and looked up at the sky. Fortunately, she still had plenty of time.
She was thinking of going to the market today. The duke had already given her permission in advance. The knight was immediately there when Luana told the butler that she would go to the market. Fortunately, the knight is Lugard, whom she is already familiar with. In addition, Vyan was idling around because he had no work and tagging along.
“Can you bring me to the market today?”
“What? Why should I do that?”
“Please let me tag along?”
Luana clenched her fists.
‘I’m having a hard time because of you; I can’t do that for you!’
Vyan nodded and trembled at Luana’s voice, which was full of anger.
“Okay.”
They prepared to go to the market.
“Let’s go around the market today!”
“Is that possible?”
Vyan shouted, but Luana ignored him. Today, she was going to buy various food ingredients in the market and thought to experiment with the ingredients with her magic because there is much magic that she hadn’t tried.
‘It would be nice to make macarons.’
Or maybe mousse cake.
Just thinking about it made her excited. Vyan was tired and gasped halfway through, but he succeeded in following her. On the other hand, Luana felt refreshed. Every time she saw fresh ingredients, her eyes sparkled, and she jumped.
“Look at this! There’s an avocado here! Oh, that one is good too!”
Luana smiled as she looked at the ripe avocado. But was it because she was too excited? She dropped the coins while taking the money out of her pocket.
‘Oh, my mistake.’
The coins hit a stacked box in the middle and rolled into a dark alleyway. She unconsciously followed the coins and reached out but saw another hand. Someone else was picking up coins.
“That’s mine!”
She shouted, but that person immediately stood up. That person’s face was quite familiar. She saw this person at the cooking contest held at the duke’s residence a while ago. It was the last person who gave her the flower bouquet, so Luana remembered this person clearly.
Luana tried to pretend not to know because she used magic to conceal her appearance when she met this person.
“I was going to pick it up for you. Here you go.”
It didn’t sound like a lie. The man was neatly dressed and courteous like a gentleman. Luana didn’t know why he was in this dark alley, but he didn’t look like a bad person.
“Thank you.”
Luana reached out to get the coin. But the man suddenly grabbed her hand. Only then did she realize that Vyan and Lugard did not follow her all the way here. She quickly tried to kick the man. If he had let his guard down a little, she would have kicked him in the crotch.
“Wait a minute.”
The man shouted impatiently.
“Listen to me for a second!”
As he grabbed Luana, who was about to swing her leg again, he hurriedly spoke.
“I’m from the kingdom.”
“What?”
Why are the people of the kingdom here? Luana paused and stopped moving.
“I have come to rescue Miss Ingrid.”
“Oh, I see. My apologies.”
While lowering her legs, Luana looked back and secured a way to go. The man let go of Luana’s hand and began to explain calmly.
He said he was the eldest son of the Marquis of the Kingdom and was in a foreign country when the kingdom was destroyed. Later, when he heard the news the Empire had invaded the kingdom, he tried to return as soon as possible, but he missed the timing, and the kingdom had already collapsed. After that, he entered the kingdom corps and ran back and forth to build the kingdom up again. In the process, he said he also had contact with Ingrid.
“And I came to visit the princess.”
Two surviving royals, one is Ingrid, and the other is Luana, the abandoned princess. Ingrid indeed expressed her intention to join them. Although she was acting as if she had fallen for the emperor on the outside, she was full of burning hatred inside. Those who confirmed to join decided to contact the other princess just in case.
“Miss Luana!”
She heard someone calling for her outside of the alley. As soon as the man listened to the voice, he stepped back into the dark alley.
“I will come back later.”
“Wait!”
Frustrated, Luana tried to catch him, but he quickly disappeared. Vyan and Lugard finally found her.
“What are you doing here?!”
“Oh, my coin rolled.”
“This place is dangerous. Let’s go.”
“Yes.”
Luana grabbed the coins and followed them out of the alley.
TL/N: Thank you for a reader who today supported me on ko-fi! <3
