Armin didn’t head straight outside. Instead, he spoke to the butler.
“Where is the Viscount?”
“The Viscount, sir?”
The unexpected question made the butler glance at me, then at Armin. A moment later, a look of realization crossed his face.
“Ah, the Viscount should be in the study right now. Shall I show you the way?”
Armin nodded. I tried to follow, but he stopped me.
“I’ll be right back.”
“What could you possibly have to talk about with my dad…?”
I had already waited four hours for Armin, and now I had to wait even longer. My lips pouted in protest. But Armin only smiled at my reaction and didn’t suggest I come along.
It took about thirty minutes for him to return.
“Okay, let’s go.”
“Go where?”
“Do you have somewhere in mind?”
“No.”
“Then let’s just go out for now.”
A carriage, which had been waiting for quite some time, stood in front of the house. Inside the now-familiar Grey’s family carriage—almost as familiar as our own—I asked Armin what he had talked about with my father.
“Curious?”
“Yes.”
Armin responded as if it were the most natural question in the world.
“First, we have to be home before sunset.”
“Huh?”
“No secluded places until we’re officially engaged. We must go on dates in public places.”
“What is that supposed to…”
“Those are your father’s conditions.”
Armin had gone to my father specifically to get his approval for our relationship.
It was practically a done deal already, and yet my father had still set such conditions, which made my face flush with embarrassment.
“I mean… why would we go to a secluded place! Honestly, how ridiculous!”
I spoke louder than usual, flustered. It wasn’t like I ever stayed out past sunset anyway. Seriously!
“Really?”
“Yes!”
“I didn’t realize until the Viscount said that—”
His violet eyes sparkled. They’d always been beautiful, but now they seemed to shine even more.
My heart began pounding. His eyes, somehow soft and heavy with emotion, carried a subtle intensity that made them feel almost dangerous.
“—that I actually wanted to go somewhere like that with you.”
Oh my gosh.
Armin’s gaze, full of teasing boldness, pierced through me.
“What about you, Vivi?”
“Um… well…”
What was I supposed to say? In a split second, a thousand thoughts raced through my mind.
Should I say no? Pretend I didn’t hear? Or act like I don’t understand?
But unlike the chaos in my head, my mouth had already answered on its own.
“I heard from Michelle.”
“Michelle? Ah, your personal maid.”
“Michelle knows a lot of things. I think she said there’s a reed field near the river delta.”
A quiet, secluded place. She said watching the sunset there is amazing. Not that it means anything, of course.
I hadn’t even been asked, but my self-defense mode kicked in, and the explanation just kept going. Armin couldn’t hold back a laugh as he looked at me.
“I see.”
No, what exactly do you “see”?
“So, Vivian wants to go to the reed field?”
“Uh, well… I’ve always been interested in nature, you know.”
A bold-faced lie—but it rolled off my tongue smoothly without a drop of oil. Interested in nature, my foot. Even in a past life I was more of a staycation person than a camping enthusiast—strictly indoors.
Even so, Armin nodded along, as if buying into my obvious lie.
“Then let’s go wherever you want today.”
“Where were you originally planning to go?”
His eyes curved into gentle crescent moons.
“First, we’d have steak at a restaurant for lunch.”
“Steak?”
“Then head over to try some trendy desserts.”
“Desserts.”
Suddenly, hunger I hadn’t noticed before hit me all at once. I swallowed the saliva that pooled in my mouth, and Armin struggled to hold back laughter at the sight.
“And then we’d go for a walk.”
“Mm.”
“I heard the statue maze garden at the Central Botanical Garden is the hottest date spot lately.”
“Maze garden?”
That existed in this world? It was the first I’d heard of it—probably because I’d never paid any attention to that kind of thing.
While I blinked in surprise, a teasing voice curled around me.
“Really now. You’re so into nature, but you’ve never heard of the botanical garden, Vivi?”
“Excuse me! Of course I’ve heard of it. I mean… it’s an okay date spot, I guess?”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. So let’s go eat that steak first.”
“You sure you’re okay skipping the reed field?”
“If you keep teasing me, I’m going straight home.”
“Heh. Alright.”
I glared at him with all my might, but it seemed to have absolutely no effect. His smiling face didn’t change a bit.
* * *
The date course Armin had prepared was truly impressive. But he kept asking, “Shall we go to the reed field now?” at every opportunity, and eventually, I ended up pressing my heel down on his foot—hard.
Even after getting his foot stepped on, all he did was laugh. He was definitely missing a screw somewhere.
I’d heard that the Central Botanical Garden was one of the most famous date spots, popular only among the trendiest people, but I hadn’t known why it was so well-known.
Right at the heart of the garden was a massive, lush hedge maze, like something out of a movie. As expected of a famous date spot, the garden was packed with people.
“This should count as a public place, right?”
“Ugh! I told you to stop with that!”
“Shall we go in?”
Armin held out his hand to me, and together we stepped into the entrance of the maze. It really looked just like those cinematic mazes I’d seen in movies.
Excited, I started showing off what I knew to Armin.
“Did you know, Armin? In a maze, if you keep one hand on a wall and follow it, you’ll eventually find the exit.”
I stuck to the right wall and told Armin to do the same.
“From now on, we’re going to follow the right wall.”
“I didn’t expect you to enjoy this so much.”
“It’s fun!”
We had been following the right wall for a while when suddenly, Armin drifted away from it. Deeply immersed in maze-escaping mode, I told him to hurry back to the wall.
But he didn’t listen.
Instead of placing his hand back on the wall, Armin came to stand to my right. Then, one by one, he laced his fingers between mine.
It was completely different from the usual polite escort hold—he had interlocked our fingers.
I could feel each joint of his firm fingers against mine, and I was left speechless for a moment.
“Is it okay… if I hold your hand?”
Already holding it and smiling like that—how unfair. All I could do was nod.
* * *
Escaping the maze ended up taking less time than expected. Even though we tried to drag it out as much as possible, when we finally found the exit, I felt oddly disappointed.
Armin seemed slightly displeased that I kept letting go of his hand every time we passed other people. But what could I do? I was still a total beginner at this whole romance thing, and public displays of affection made me squirm. Honestly, I admired how Armin was the one who seemed more desperate to show we were a couple.
On the way back in the carriage, I spoke to him seriously.
“How about next time we go somewhere that doesn’t have a lot of people?”
I only said it because I absolutely couldn’t handle cringy couple behavior in front of others, but Armin flatly refused.
“No.”
“Because of my dad?”
“No. Not until you can hold my hand in front of people without pulling away.”
“Ugh, seriously!”
“I mean it.”
He gestured to his outfit with a serious expression.
“Why do you think I dressed like this today?”
“There was a reason?”
The look Armin gave me said, ‘I can’t believe how clueless you are.’
“Do you think I wore this uniform for no reason?”
“Well yeah, I was thinking it looked really uncomfortable…”
“Vivian Roha.”
His voice suddenly turned serious as he called my full name.
I swallowed nervously and glanced at him. Armin looked at me with that deeply serious expression.
“Since the royal ball. We’ve been together constantly, right?”
“Y-yeah?”
“But a lot of people still think our relationship is just friendship. Why do you think that is?”
“I don’t know…”
I avoided his gaze. ‘I don’t know’—yeah, right. It was because I’d been stubbornly insisting we were just friends all that time.
“I don’t like it. That people think what we have is just friendship.”
His words could’ve come off as petty, but they didn’t. The possessiveness and intense affection shimmering in his violet eyes were enough to knock the breath out of me.
As someone raised in a very proper and conservative society, showing affection in public was ten times harder than just watching others do it. But Armin remained firm.
“So you need to get used to it. Quickly.”
“…Mm.”
“Answer me.”
Faced with Armin’s unexpectedly direct attitude, I gave a small nod.
“Then first…”
The stern expression on his face melted like snow under spring sunlight. Armin took my hand and gently pulled me toward him, making me sit right beside him.
“I think we should start with getting used to holding hands.”
He acted all firm, but the tips of his ears were red as he stared out the window. If my heart was racing at a sight like that, I had to be completely crazy.
Inside the rattling carriage, just the two of us sat side by side, staring out in opposite directions. But the fingers interlaced between us stayed tightly entwined—until we arrived home.
Unbearably cuteeeeeee!!!!!! 😍😍😍😍