In the course of finishing the meal, a sweet dessert was delivered.
On a white, round plate sat a few pieces of apple, glazed with melted sugar and roasted. Franz, who was quietly staring at the plate without touching it, wore a peculiar smile.
“Listen. It seems you enjoy sweet things, so I prepared this for you.”
“Oh my, you didn’t have to go to such lengths…”
“I did it because I wanted to. Don’t feel burdened; just enjoy it.”
A man who observes and remembers every detail of her actions, providing for her even when she isn’t aware of it. Laila’s face flushed again with Franz’s thoughtful gesture.
Franz found it amusing how transparent her thoughts and feelings were while she held onto the fork.
But this didn’t mean he had no feelings for Laila. It’s just that he tended to exaggerate the size of his feelings. It wasn’t entirely false; it was a kind of truth.
When dealing with women, Franz often acted as if his feelings were deeper than they actually were.
In other words, exaggeration makes a small body appear larger; no matter how faint the feelings are, they do exist.
“Mmm, this is really delicious!”
“I’m glad.”
Just one bite of apple had her wide-eyed with sincere admiration. When Franz smirked, Laila’s face reddened even more as she touched her mouth with her hand.
Worried that she might have gotten food on her face, she wondered if that was why he was laughing.
“Why are you laughing?”
“Did I laugh?”
“You kept looking at me and smiling… I thought perhaps I made a silly face.”
“That can’t be.”
Laila’s actions seemed amusing because, despite being of age, she acted more innocent than a 13-year-old girl.
Innocence. Franz was not fond of Laila’s naive demeanor.
While it seemed cute at times, seeing her act as if the world had no evil made his heart grow cold. It eventually reached a point of being frozen.
“You turn into a child when you eat something sweet, don’t you?”
Kind and good-hearted people might see Laila’s innocence and say so, but for Franz, such people just hadn’t encountered the right circumstances yet.
There is always a potential for things to turn bad. She had simply not experienced what could make her evil yet.
Franz firmly believed that no one is inherently and unconditionally good from the start. Anyone praised for their goodness might turn wicked in a situation where everything is at stake, showing their true colors.
It was an obvious truth just by looking at Laila’s appearance. If she truly were the ‘kind and endlessly good’ person as commonly believed, she shouldn’t even be here.
She shouldn’t be secretly spending time with someone who her benefactor—the one who saved my life and will always be my benefactor—hates deeply, and blushing around them.
Thinking about that made Laila’s youthful image appear cute, but soon my heart grew cold.
Kind? Angelic? It’s laughable. Anyone who experiences a life denied from the moment of their birth wouldn’t turn out any differently than I have.
“You seem to be really thoughtful and gentle, Your Highness.”
With a crunch, Laila finished her piece of apple, carefully set down her fork, and mumbled.
What a difficult thing to say yet her face turned as red as the apple on the plate.
If it were typical men, their hearts would flutter at such a scene. This beautiful, delicate woman blushing as she gives what could be seen as a confession.
“That’s not true.”
“No, it’s not. I can feel your sincerity in everything you do for me.”
“I don’t do this for just anyone. I do this only for you, Miss Tooper.”
“Ah….”
Her face turned even redder; it seemed impossible. If she blushes this much over a few words, how would she react next? Franz tilted his head.
“I’ve never experienced this before… Ah, I don’t mean it that way. I mean, I’ve never been treated like a protagonist, invited and treated like this, Your Grace.”
“I understand what you mean.”
“I worry wondering if this is okay, and I feel guilty, as if I’m receiving too much kindness.”
“You don’t need to feel that way.”
“No, simply accepting one-sided kindness is against etiquette. That’s what I was taught.”
Against etiquette. A crooked smile appeared on Franz’s lips.
“I don’t want anything from you, Miss Tooper.”
“Of course, I have very little to offer, so I can’t repay you materially in a way that would satisfy you…”
Watching the flowing conversation, he felt he could quickly get the answer he desired. As Laila herself mentioned ‘repayment,’ Franz began calculating in his mind.
An endless display of grace and kindness creates a sense of debt in the other person.
Stimulating that sense of debt makes them want to repay in the best way they can. Once you reach that point, the rest follows quickly.
“Simply having the honor of being with you has been enough of a reward for me.”
“Oh my, such a….”
A dining gathering filled with rehearsed words and expected shyness. Today, I managed to elicit the desired words more quickly than I anticipated. It turned out to be a satisfying meal.
“If you truly feel like you want to repay me, then just respond earnestly to my call without rejecting me, like you are now.”
“Your Highness.”
“That’s all that’s needed.”
Franz offered a warm smile to Layla, who gazed at me with moist eyes. That kind of touched look…
“Your Highness?”
In that moment, Franz recalled someone who had hoped to see such an expression, and without realizing it, his face hardened.
“Is there a problem?”
“Oh, no. There’s no problem. I’m just a bit tired.”
“Oh my. You shouldn’t be tired. It seems I’ve been intruding on your time without realizing. I should get up soon…”
“It’s fine.”
Franz quickly organized the anger that had risen to his face without his awareness.
‘Celeste…’
No matter how much kindness and hospitality she received, she had never shown such an expression.
From countless experiences, it was clear that Celeste was an extraordinary woman.
I simply wanted to see her let her guard down and smile at me just once, or even show a hint of shyness, but she never did. Not a single time did she act in accordance with my wishes.
Initially, I was anxious about that, and as time passed, I grew angry. How dare she? Unaware that I was her lifesaver, she didn’t realize that her very existence now was thanks to me.
Arrogantly ungrateful. As I chewed on my anger, a long-standing chasm of emotions grew between us.
And it lingered for a long while.
Franz, perplexed by his own obsession and anger toward Celeste, finally defined the reason recently.
It was competitiveness. The anger and frustration he felt when he saw Celeste came from a simple competitive desire to subdue a subordinate who wouldn’t act as he wished.
He realized this when he felt a similar, albeit slight, anger upon seeing Karl.
“When I look at Tooper, I find her to be such a pure child.”
“Me?”
“Perhaps that’s why she seems even more lovely.”
“Oh my….”
Now, even the back of her hand had turned red. Struggling to find the right words, Laila finally managed to stammer out a response.
“Do you like children?”
Do I like children? Of course not. But when women ask such questions, you must answer affirmatively.
It stirs the unconscious maternal instincts they might not even be aware of.
“Of course! I really do love children. Their pure nature, the embodiment of innocence… it’s just irresistible.”
“Oh my, I never knew Your Grace liked children!”
“I do hear that from time to time, and it’s true.”
“I see….”
“But it seems I hardly ever get to see children lately. Especially not recently.”
“That’s true. Still, not long ago, His Grace Duke Albrecht had a child….”
Caught up in excitement and forgetting her words, Laila suddenly realized her mistake with a shocked expression.
Talking about Duke Karl in front of Franz. She became aware of her blunder.
“I saw that child too. Really adorable.”
“…What?”
Her face went from red to pale. Laila, who had looked so thrilled, now had a dazed expression as Franz reacted unexpectedly.
“To think such a lovely child appeared in a palace where I hardly heard the sound of children. Even if just for a moment, my heart felt full.”
“Oh my goodness. So, His Grace really does like children!”
No way. Laila’s face, which had turned pale when she mentioned Karl, quickly returned to its usual state.
Relieved, she smiled, and Franz returned a fake smile while muttering to himself.
“Thank you for bringing up that rascal Karl and his child, Tooper.”
