My Lover Isn't Interested With The Female lead!

 

 

 

 

“There was a lot to handle after the tournament. That’s why Eustace went in my stead, didn’t he?”

 

“Of course, I was delighted to have Prince Eustace come. But I would love for you to visit our estate at least once. Prince Eustace and Princess Judith visit us often, but Your Highness has never visited, even once.”

 

When she intentionally spoke with a slight pout, an icy glint appeared in Matthias’ blood-red eyes.

 

As Letticia felt relieved, thinking he was starting to get annoyed, Matthias cast a scornful look as if he was observing a pathetic person and retorted sharply.

 

“I thought a noble lady would understand that someone else’s busy schedule wouldn’t allow for indulging her whims. Was I mistaken? From what I hear, your brother, Lord Lenard Sharon, and cousins, even your younger sister, Lady Lenoa, are each handling their roles at Sharon Jewelry. Aren’t you ashamed that even your younger sibling, who isn’t yet an adult, is already hard at work?”

 

At that moment, it was pure luck that Letticia had to make a turn. If not for that movement, she would have kicked Matthias’ shin right then and there.

 

‘What the hell is this bastard saying?’

 

Unable to hold back her surging emotions, Letticia tightly gripped Matthias’ shoulder and glared at him.

 

Seeing Letticia glaring instead of breaking into tears from shock, Matthias seemed slightly taken aback.

 

“…It seems I worded things in a way that Your Highness misunderstood. I always understand when my family is busy.”

 

Barely managing to suppress her fury, Letticia forced a smile. If only she could, she would have ended his lineage right then and there, but his status was simply too powerful.

 

Fortunately, Matthias must have sensed that Letticia was angry, as he neither apologized for nor retracted his previous words, but at least he didn’t say anything further. Had he uttered any more derisive remarks, Letticia, who had been practicing dance for the last twelve years, might have given his foot a good stomp with her heel after sending all her poise up into the heavens.

 

About a minute of silence passed, and this time it was Letticia who spoke.

 

“…Come to think of it, I asked my mother about what Your Highness mentioned last time.”

 

Facing Matthias directly, Letticia decided to touch on a sensitive issue within the royal family.

 

“Did you say I had no choice but to become a Diamond because of the story behind how my mother became a Ruby?”

 

However, Letticia couldn’t quite make sense of it.

 

‘Isn’t it usually the opposite?’

 

Logically, it would make more sense for Camilla’s daughter, who was deprived of her position due to corruption, to resent Emilia’s son, who took over that honor for political reasons.

 

But Matthias seems to hold a grudge against Camilla and Leticia as if they were to blame for that incident; the audacity was astounding.

 

“…Before the diamond became the most precious gem as it is now, the ruby was considered even more valuable.”

 

Matthias didn’t respond immediately and instead started talking about something else. Letticia wanted to grab him by the collar and demand the truth, but she held herself back, knowing it would only escalate things.

 

“If it were the ruby that’s still called the king of gems, that would be enough honor even if it wasn’t the diamond. In the social circles, everyone revered the queenly ruby while scorning the diamond, which was pushed to the background.”

 

The earlier *tangent was clearly a setup for this analogy.

 

Letticia was so stunned by the easy-to-understand metaphor that she was left speechless.

 

Does he think people sided with my mother and rejected the former Empress because my mother lost the Diamond position? And that’s why they dislike me and my mother?

 

She had heard that the late Empress Emilia didn’t engage much in social activities, but Letticia didn’t know exactly how she had lived.

 

However, if the setting remained that Matthias turned dark after reading his mother’s diary, it was evident that Emilia was quite alienated due to the Diamond issue.

 

‘No way… am I the main villain, the real villainess here? Like a curse carried over from my parents’ past, or something like that?’*

 

Any chance of a romance flag with the original male lead was gone, replaced by a death flag.

 

‘Could it be because of my early clash with Ariette at the academy? That’s not I bet, there was no mention of that in the original work.’

 

She barely calmed her thoughts, which were spiraling out of control.

 

To the best of her memory, there was no significant character named Letticia Sharon in the original story.

 

In the social world, Seraphina was the villainess, and the final boss and obstacle to their love was the Duke’s household. However, that ‘final boss’ merely threw tantrums, refusing to let Ariette go.

 

‘So, it’s likely a setting that didn’t appear in the original story. There’s no way he could have secretly eliminated us before meeting Ariette.’

 

Even as a crown prince, he couldn’t purge a noble family without a valid reason.

 

Moreover, the Count Sharon family was politically neutral and avoided military matters, so falsely accusing them of rebellion was impossible.

 

As her mind cooled, Letticia decided to unleash her favorite skill: her sharp tongue.

 

“It must have been someone who thought there could be only one diamond who made the ruby, ultimately. Rather than holding the ruby accountable, shouldn’t the root cause of the issue be examined carefully? The ruby, too, is a victim, robbed of what it rightfully deserved.”

 

“The ruby enjoyed far more than it lost. Continuing to claim victimhood in such a case wouldn’t exactly be honorable.”

 

“Of course, she’s not insisting she’s a victim. But the fact of the loss remains. No matter how much time passes.”

 

Letticia looked Matthias straight in the eye as she spoke confidently.

 

After hearing her rebuttal, Matthias frowned and asked softly,

 

“Then, do you believe you were chosen as a Diamond purely based on your own qualities?”

 

“I’m not that naive. The Empress wanted to choose me, and fortunately, I had enough qualities to persuade people, so I was selected. That’s how I saw it.”

 

“You didn’t consider the political issues tied to it? Like needing a new noble example to check the old nobility?”

 

The headache-inducing topic made Letticia frown. She hadn’t ignored that aspect, but it was a bother she preferred not to think about.

 

“That wasn’t my concern. It was already overwhelming just striving for the Diamond to avoid being overshadowed by my mother’s legacy.”

 

“Your perspective is limited. As the crown prince, I’ve been studying etiquette since I was five, so I know how demanding etiquette studies can be. But that doesn’t mean you should neglect everything else.”

 

Letticia didn’t bother to ask where all that strict etiquette training had gone. It wasn’t that Matthias didn’t know how to behave; he simply chose not to.

 

“Politics touches everything the imperial family does. Even matters like selecting the Diamond in social circles serve as a means for the imperial family to control the nobles. If you can’t grasp that, you’d only be swayed by those around you, even if you were to become the crown princess.”

 

At those last words, Letticia’s eyes widened.

 

Become the crown princess? Why would he say that to her?

 

Suppressing her trembling, Letticia intentionally played ignorant, pretending not to understand his implications.

 

“Crown princess? That’s quite sudden.”

 

“Pretending not to understand is useless. With the first new noble Diamond, the possibility of the first new noble crown princess is not far-fetched. Surely people around you have mentioned this.”

 

“Even if that’s the case, Your Highness hasn’t attended any gatherings, nor have you asked me or Lady Eskis to dance since the last palace ball. Are you planning to visit our estate tomorrow?”

 

“Depending on your answer, I might.”

 

‘Why on earth?!’

 

Letticia pondered seriously for a moment, wondering if it would be better to hit Matthias on the head with a book to make him lose his memory, or if she should return and set the temple on fire.

 

Just a moment ago, he was openly hostile towards her. So, why was he suddenly acting this way?

 

‘There’s no way he likes me. I can tell just by his expression.’

 

After her debut in society, Letticia had seen countless men in a short period, so she could usually tell if someone truly liked her or not.

 

And judging by Letticia’s intuition, Matthias not only didn’t like her, but he might actually lean towards disliking her. It even seemed like there were lingering feelings tied to the grudges from their mother’s generation, so they would have to start from deep below zero.

 

Although it was much better than being obsessively pursued, if Matthias fell for Ariette, who knew what he might do after they broke the engagement?

 

‘If he decides to throw in revenge for his mother, even Her Majesty the Empress wouldn’t be able to stop him.’

 

Revenge is often driven by emotions and is not always justifiable. Many people end up using revenge as an excuse to vent their anger.

 

And Letticia didn’t trust Matthias in that regard at all. If he weren’t that type of person, he wouldn’t be disregarding the line between personal feelings and official matters just because of Ariette.

 

 

 

🍓: 

*tangent – means to suddenly start talking about something that is unrelated to the main topic. For example, if a friend is telling a story and then starts talking about a completely different subject.

*She is wondering if she’s destined to be viewed as the bad person due to unresolved conflicts or hostilities that go back to their parents’ generation.