“…What?”
I was about to ask why she was looking at me like that, but my thoughts froze.
“What did you just say…?”
As I reacted, half confused and half stunned, Diana seemed startled instead. She quickly averted her gaze, blinking rapidly.
“Oh, uh, I mean… Was that… not it?”
Her voice grew smaller and smaller as she glanced at me hesitantly.
“…Because when we first met, you were ‘El,’ weren’t you?”
Why was that name coming up here?
My body stiffened.
“Should I… not have pretended to know?”
Diana scratched her cheek awkwardly, her tone uncertain, as though she realized something was off. Only then did my frozen thoughts begin to thaw.
‘El… that would be….’
The name I hastily made up when I met Diana at Biblos Academy.
“You… knew about it?”
At my stuttering question, Diana nodded slowly.
“Um… yes.”
My jaw dropped.
‘She knew? Since when? And how?’
At first, I felt sheer shock, but that quickly turned into overwhelming embarrassment.
Diana, noticing my face turn pale, seemed to grow just as flustered, waving her hands hurriedly.
“Oh, well. I didn’t know at first, I promise! Really! You didn’t look anything like the Grand Duchess back then.”
Of course, I didn’t. That disguise had cost a fortune.
“But then, I realized… There aren’t many visitors to our academy during the second semester. Most come during the first semester. And you said you were from Levant, right? At that time, the only visitors from Levant were the Grand Duke and the Grand Duchess.”
“…Ah.”
A small, defeated sound escaped my lips.
At the same time, Diana pressed her hand to her mouth as if realizing her mistake.
“Oh no, did I mess up? I thought… I thought you told me on purpose…”
Her rapidly darting eyes betrayed her own embarrassment.
“N-No, that’s not…,” I stammered, pressing a hand to my forehead.
‘I really was careless, wasn’t I?’
She had figured it all out, and yet here I was, blissfully ignorant, thinking I’d pulled off a flawless covert fan meeting.
The memory alone made my head spin.
I closed my eyes tightly for a moment to calm the rising tide of exhaustion before opening them again and looking up.
‘Wait, if she knew, then wouldn’t she have every reason to dislike me even more?’
Not only had I stolen the person she admired, but I’d also deceived her.
Yet, despite all that, Diana’s attitude toward me remained nothing but friendly.
“…Then why are you happy to see me? You don’t exactly have a reason to be.”
“Pardon?”
This time, Diana blinked at me, seemingly not understanding my words.
Her blue eyes shimmered in the darkness like jewels.
A few seconds passed before she suddenly burst into laughter.
“Surely, you didn’t think I’d hate you because of Ian… I mean, the Grand Duke, did you?”
She hit the mark.
When I didn’t respond, Diana laughed lightly again, waving her hand dismissively. But as her laughter faded, her face grew serious.
“…You really thought that?”
“…….”
“My goodness…”
Whether it was a sigh or an exclamation, her soft murmur slipped through her lips.
“El—no, Your Grace, you told me, didn’t you? That I should do what I want. That while winning someone’s heart is good, my own happiness is what’s most important.”
“Did I? Ah…”
“‘No matter how things change, Diana, you should do what you want to do. Winning someone’s heart is fine, but your happiness comes first.’”
A vague memory of something I had said in the Nomos Empire surfaced in my mind.
Diana shrugged lightly.
“So, I thought about it again. About how I can truly be happy. Until then, I’d always thought of life at the academy as an escape, not as something I actually wanted to do.”
I held back the urge to ask if she wasn’t taking her “escape” a bit too seriously, given that she had swept the top honors there.
“But once I realized that, I finally understood what I was most passionate about right now. And because of that, I was able to finish my graduation project quickly. You have no idea how much fun I had.”
“…….”
“I didn’t realize it before, but I really love making shoes.”
“Well, considering you’ve conquered the central social scene of Levant with your shoes….”
Diana glanced alternately at my feet and my face before muttering with a long, drawn-out tone.
“…I guess it wasn’t that I just wanted to be loved by someone. I think I actually wanted to be recognized.”
“…Recognized?”
“For someone who would never like me to like me after all, and for others to acknowledge that I was someone worthy of it.”
Her expression was calm, unlike the confession-like sincerity in her words.
“Oh, of course, it’s true that I genuinely loved him with all my heart. As embarrassing and shameful as it is, I don’t plan to hide it now.”
Diana touched her lips lightly, perhaps feeling awkward about her own admission.
On the other hand, I was feeling oddly strange.
‘Am I really listening to the main heroine of the novel declare the end of her unrequited love?’
That alone was bewildering enough, but I was also the spouse of the very person she used to have feelings for.
I had imagined many scenarios where Diana might criticize or lash out at me, but I never thought I’d hear her heartfelt confession instead.
Unaware of my complicated feelings, Diana continued speaking in a calm tone.
“When I thought over Your Grace’s words for a long time, I realized just how futile it was to pour my emotions into and cling to someone who didn’t feel the same way. You gave me the answer.”
“I’m so glad I got to meet you today, El.”
“…….”
“Thanks to you, I feel like I’ve finally found the solution to a problem I’ve been lost in for so long.”
…And apparently, the reason the heroine ended her unrequited love was because of me.
I couldn’t decide whether I should be happy or utterly perplexed.
“Anyway, I wanted to tell you that, if you were worried about my return, you don’t have to be.”
She wrinkled her nose playfully.
“To be honest, the atmosphere earlier was so tense that I couldn’t stand staying there any longer without leaving right away.”
Her light-hearted laughter seemed carefree, but watching her made me feel more than a little unsettled.
‘…Here I was, the whole time worrying about whether I should let Ian go to Diana, the heroine of the original novel.’
While I’d been guarding against Diana, albeit indirectly, it seemed she had been figuring out how to overcome her decade-long unrequited love.
Suddenly, I felt embarrassed, especially in this moment when Diana’s confident demeanor—the very reason I had admired her—stood out clearly.
Without knowing my conflicted emotions, Diana added more strength to her voice, as if to change the mood.
“Anyway! So, I’ve adjusted my goals a bit. To something easier and clearer.”
“Goals…?”
When I asked in a puzzled tone, Diana smiled brightly and clenched her fist.
“I’m going to open the best shoemaking shop in the capital!”
Her eyes sparkled, now with a completely different kind of enthusiasm.
Staring at her blankly, I eventually stammered out a question.
“Wait. So, you’re saying… the reason you graduated early and returned so suddenly was…?”
“To start researching the market and establish myself quickly.”
It felt as though someone had struck the back of my head.
So, Diana’s plans upon her return didn’t include Ian at all?
I had vaguely thought that, since Ian’s life had changed so much because of me, he might not feel the same love for Diana if they ever reunited.
But I never imagined Diana would also completely move on, leaving me feeling relieved and dumbfounded at the same time.
“Then Ian—no, the Grand Duke…”
“I already told you, I don’t have any lingering feelings anymore. Besides, it only takes ten seconds of watching you two to see there’s no room for anyone to come between you.”
She raised an eyebrow and winked.
Before I could even blush in embarrassment, her next words hit me like another blow to the head.
“And when I thought about it more, I realized that staying single might not be such a bad idea if I want to pursue my passion freely.”
“…What?”
“I mean, I have an older brother to carry on the family name, so I don’t need to worry about that, right? So…”
“…….”
“I’ve decided to stay single.”
Out of nowhere, the heroine had just declared she was going to remain single.
• • •
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