He whispered whenever he could that his mother hated commoners.
It was clear that she was implicitly trying to make an excuse for not being able to make me her duchess.
But I knew that was just one of many reasons.
Would the Duchess be the only one who would object to me joining Rex Begonia?
His brothers will use me as a weakness to take down Rex Begonia. I guess I’m just easy prey for them.
Even the servants would not want to treat commoners as their masters.
Even Erhan, who had mixed blood with me, hated him, and there was no way he would like anyone else.
Rex Begonia turns into an evil spirit if you don’t give him the answer he wants.
His brothers always trying to find fault with me. Even the users who ignore their owners.
It was a terrible future just imagining it.
As his thoughts grew longer and I did not open my mouth, his expression gradually hardened.
“Answer, why don’t you?”
Instead of opening my mouth to answer, I closed my eyes.
Because I didn’t want to say that I would be his wife even if I died.
“If you won’t open your mouth, I will have to help you. I’m sure you’ll feel like answering when you two have some alone time together.”
How much time has passed since then? Rex Begonia, who was watching me tremble, opened his mouth in a regretful tone.
“Say something. It breaks my heart, Lien.”
I fell down on the cold floor and let out a small word.
“Lie.”
The question is whether you think you can overcome all the obstacles caused by the social status gap and have me as your duchess.
And the statement that it hurts was a double meaning, as if it were a lie. He raised his eyebrows as if he was happy to finally hear my voice.
It seemed like the meaning of what I said was interpreted electronically.
“We, Lien, have a lot of doubts. It’s not a lie.”
Rex Begonia put his hand close to me. I closed my eyes tightly.
I couldn’t feel him moving for a while. When I carefully opened my eyes, I saw him kissing the end of my hair.
“I will be with you forever.”
Those disgusting words did he leave my room.
Without hesitation, I cut off the hair where his lips touched. The next day.
Rex Begonia found me early in the morning. It was a morning close to dawn.
His eyes briefly fell on my hair. Did you notice?
My hair is so long that I thought I wouldn’t notice even if I cut it by about a width.
Fortunately, his gaze quickly turned to my eyes.
“I don’t think I’ll be able to come visit you for a while.” I looked at Rex Begonia with an emotionless face.
What kind of plan is this again?
Does he think that I will miss him if he doesn’t come visit me for a few days?
“When I declared that I wanted to be engaged to you, the family was in an uproar. Especially my mother is very angry.”
…It’s not a lie?
He seemed to notice that my eyes had widened slightly and drew his eyebrows together with a sad expression.
“I don’t know why everyone is trying to separate us. I love you like this.” He held my hand affectionately. As if they really were lovers.
“Wait a munite. I will keep my promise to have you sit next to me. No one can separate us.”
Rex Begonia never really appeared in front of me after that day. Even the occasional letters were sent through Erhan.
It was clear that Begonia Dukedom had taken control to prevent him from meeting me.
It was an opportunity.
A chance to run away from him. If not for this opportunity, I will never be able to escape from him.
I took the transfer exam for Arena Academy without Erhan’s knowledge, and passed.
And as soon as I heard that I had passed, I ran away to the academy. Arena Academy was my perfect refuge.
Outsiders could not visit the academy without permission, and even if
they were family members, the only way to contact current students was through letters.
When Rex Begonia and Erhan disappeared from my life, I was finally able to breathe.
It was my first full breath in several years.
* * *
“Are you okay, Lien?”
“Huh? Ah… I was hurting myself again.” Carsion was looking at me worriedly.
After hearing the news of Duchess Begonia’s death, I sometimes felt bruised like this.
It was because I was worried that I would be able to escape from his grasp after graduation.
I smiled and opened my mouth as if I was thinking about something else.
“Kaon, what do you think about spring break thanks to you?”
Carsion smiled brightly as if he was truly happy.
“It’s nice to be able to stay with Lien for a long time.”
“I was asking this to see if it pricked your conscience.”
…Done. It was my fault for asking. Spring break has begun.
Although it was a short period of about a week, this vacation had a special meaning.
This is because it was one of the few spring breaks in the history of Arena Academy.
At the academy, various magics have been cast to ensure the safety of students.
However, it is said that several magic circles were damaged simultaneously some time ago.
They say it’s damage caused by a collision of powerful mana.
I knew the cause, but my conscience pricked me more than I liked the sudden spring break.
In a way, I was the one who gave Carsion the cause.
Anyway, for that reason, we needed time to repair the magic circle, so spring break was given.
Carsion suddenly asked as if he was curious.
“Lien, have you heard anything from your roommate?”
“Jane is a very well-informed person, so I heard a lot, but there was nothing special. Why? Is there any information you’d like to know?”
“Hmm. Nothing.”
I looked at Carsion with a puzzled look and then immediately looked away.
Since Carsion has Fjord, there is no need to introduce him to Jane. Now that I think about it, the fjord is….
I leaned back on the sofa and sighed.
“The fjord. No matter how much you think about it, it’s strange, right?”
Since the vacation was short, most of the children spent time in the dormitory instead of returning to their home.
This is because the round trip from the academy to the capital city alone would take three or four days.
But as soon as spring break began, Fjord packed his bags and returned to Marquis.
“Is it because of my brother that I had to go back so hastily?” Carsion nodded slightly.
“Marquis Ananas declared that he had chosen a successor. The announcement is scheduled for late next year.”
“Heir?”
The Marquis of Ananas is from the Fiorne family.
I roughly expected it, but after hearing that, I now fully understand why Fjord was so nervous.
“Fjord was always at the academy except during vacations. However, the fact that the Marquis declared that he had decided on a successor….”
Carsion shrugged his shoulders.
“There is a high probability that the successor will not be Fjord.”
I stayed silent for a moment and thought about it.
Is it right to just watch Fjord like this?
At first, I tried to respect his choice.
But no matter how much I thought about it, it didn’t seem like a friend would just sit by and watch this happen.
Like Carsion said to Fjord, I wanted to help him at least make a choice he wouldn’t regret.
After making my decision, I spoke with a gentle expression.
“Kaon, do you know that?”
“What?”
“I’m a bit lazy.”
Carsion smiled and agreed to what I said.
“I know.”
“The closer we got, the more I couldn’t leave it alone.”
“I like Lien like that too.”
I didn’t ask because I wanted to hear that, but…. Well, it’s not bad.
“So, shall we go visit my friend’s house?”
“If you want.”
Carsion raised his eyebrows and nodded. As always, as always.
* * *
Fjord stood at the entrance to the marquis’ mansion and looked at me and Carsion in turn with a shocked look on his face.
Perhaps because he came out in a hurry, his hair was very tangled.
“Why did you come here?”
“I came to see you.”
“What I’m saying is why did you come to my house without making an appointment?”
I responded by putting an iron plate on my face.
“I want to play with you. Right, Kaon?”
“Huh.”
Fjord pressed his eyebrows as if he was tired of our shameless behavior.
“I’m sorry, but I’m busy and don’t have time to deal with you.”
“What should I do?”
“That….”
Fjord hesitated for a moment, confused. But he soon became stern and
spoke.
“No way. I’m sorry it took me a few days to come to you.”
My eyes naturally turned to Carsion.
In fact, he used his space movement magic to come right away without
having to wait a few days….
There’s no need to make you feel sorry by telling the truth.
When my eyes landed on Carsion, he nodded in confidence and said,
“I guess I misunderstood something.”
“Leen says there’s something he wants to talk to you about. When you say something nice, let us in and serve us tea.”
Hey, that’s a threat.
It was when I was about to stab Carsion in the side.
“Fjord. What’s all the fuss about?”
We turned our attention to an unfamiliar voice coming from behind the fjord.
“…Brother?”
Fjord looked at the man standing behind him and used the title “Brother.” Then that person….
He was a man with blond hair and green eyes like Fjord.
However, unlike Fjord, who was friendly and likable, he gave off a hard and cold feeling.
The man looked at me and Carsion indifferently and asked.
“…Prince Carsion was also there. Is the other person a new friend you made at the academy?”
“You don’t know anything.”
The man didn’t even blink at Fjord’s cold response and gave orders to the employees around him.
“Take them to the parlor.”
“Brother.”
“You can’t kick out precious people.”
“It’s already over. The two decided to go back.”
When are we?
As he glared at Fjord with his eyebrows twitching dissatisfiedly, the man lifted up the glasses he was wearing.
“It seems like the guests here are talking about something different from you.”
“I’m busy with other things. Don’t you have the authority to force me to date someone else?”
The man slowly tilted his head with no expression on his face.
“Who told you to serve guests?”
“What is that….”
“I invited you. You will be my guest, so you do your job.”
“….”
Fjord just chewed his lip as if he had nothing else to say in response.
The man indifferently took his eyes off Fjord and turned and walked inside the mansion.
“Please come in.”
I didn’t know that I would be invited to his brother and not Fjord. Wow, isn’t this really awkward to death?
