Chapter 49 …
No Need for the Osmanthus
“Next to you?”
Yudar’s gaze was fixed on Loa. Yet, as if to ask her to introduce herself to Kairon standing beside her, he gestured with his chin.
“Ah, this is my younger sister. She came up after hearing the news about being invited to the royal ball, just to exchange a brief greeting…”
“I see. Kairon is also a son of a count, after all.”
The same scene had unfolded in the past.
Why? How could this be happening?
Loa felt that even the slightest change in her words or actions could alter the situation. Even with the same words or gestures, a subtle change in attitude or expression could provoke a different response from others.
She shouldn’t have run into Yudar at all since she hadn’t gone out to the garden before. Yet, despite being in the courtyard, here he was. This was a situation that experience alone could not explain.
“Lady Clarion, what is your name?”
No, it was even worse. Unlike the secluded garden before, the outdoor hall in the courtyard meant quite a few people had gathered around them.
“Oh my, the Crown Prince is speaking to some young lady.”
“Is she the one the Crown Prince has chosen?”
The Crown Prince Yudar—the main figure of the day—was showing interest in her first. All eyes around them inevitably focused on Loa. She couldn’t possibly refuse him in front of so many people. Even though her attendance was personal, everything done here would reflect on her family’s reputation.
“I am Loa Clarion.”
“Loa…”
The way Yudar repeated her name felt repulsive. Loa clenched her lower lip, trying to understand how things had come to this.
In the past, she had gone to the garden following Kairon and accidentally ran into Yudar. Replaying that moment in her mind, an idea struck her.
The “coincidence” had been her assumption.
If Yudar had been watching her from the start and followed her, then this situation made sense. He had sent the invitation knowing full well she was Eisen’s fiancée.
In other words, Yudar had been interested in her long before the ball even began, long before their first encounter that day.
That explained everything. That day had not been a mere coincidence—it was a calculated inevitability disguised as chance.
“What a name as beautiful as shining hair.”
Yudar spoke the same words as before. But this time, he added an action he hadn’t done before. He reached out and touched the tip of Loa’s golden hair, well-combed and gleaming.
Goosebumps ran over her entire body. The Yudar in the garden had never dared to touch her. Why was he different now?
Was it because there were too many eyes around, and he thought he couldn’t be pushed away? Knowing this man’s suspicious intentions, Loa felt dizzy and faint.
“My gaze is upon you. Will you accept my proposal?”
Yudar’s boldness didn’t stop there.
“…Excuse me?”
This was a proposal she hadn’t encountered before. He knew she couldn’t refuse him, and he also knew she had broken off her engagement with Eisen. The unexpected assertiveness of Yudar made Loa break out in a cold sweat.
“Since we’re already out, how about taking a walk with me?”
He reached out his hand toward her.
“I’d like to invite you to a very quiet garden.”
It was dreadful. If she refused Yudar’s proposal here and pushed his hand away, her family’s reputation, painstakingly built over years, could collapse in an instant. She was already known as the arrogant countess’s daughter who rejected the proposal of the empire’s hero, Grand Duke Throne. If she refused Yudar as well, people would say the Clarion family had raised their daughter to be conceited and insolent. Loa could no longer tarnish her family’s name.
She turned her head slightly in distress, and her eyes met a piercing gaze. Eisen, watching from a distance, had caught her glance.
Ah, how unbearable. She had to hold another man’s hand in front of the man she loved.
Yet Loa had no other choice. Because Eisen was present, she had to take Yudar’s hand.
To completely escape him, to let him go, to save him—
She had to become Crown Prince Yudar’s woman.
“Apologies for interrupting your sibling time.”
Yudar assumed she would accept even before she spoke. He confidently asked Kairon to step aside.
“That’s fine. I’ll head in first.”
Kairon, as before, stepped back without resistance.
“Loa, then I shall take my leave.”
Her only supporter was gone. Loa’s eyes felt hollow, empty. Her chest was filled with a sense of helplessness.
“If you accept, take my hand.”
Yudar brought his hand closer to hers, urging her to respond.
“Good. You’ll take it, right?”
“What kind of question is that? If I don’t, my family might be ruined.”
“Is our chance already over?”
By now, the crowd had encircled them. Even Yudar’s guards had stepped back.
She had become the center of attention. She had wanted to be a mere extra passing by, but being an unwilling protagonist felt utterly miserable.
But no matter how much time she took, the outcome would be the same. She had only one answer to give.
Loa gently placed her hand on top of Yudar’s. She didn’t want to hold it, but he gripped her hand tightly so as not to let go.
“Kyah!”
“Oh my, oh my.”
Exclamations rang out around them.
“I’m so jealous!”
“Ugh, let’s just enjoy ourselves alone.”
Loa’s envy was directed at the young ladies from other families, gazing at her with admiration.
She felt as if she were being dragged to a slaughterhouse, wearing a tragically doomed expression.
She had wanted to pass quietly, so why was she holding Yudar’s hand?
Ah, why had she come to the courtyard? She should have gone to the garden. That way, she could have avoided this worst-case scenario.
Hadn’t she come back in time to change the worst outcome? Was she really doing the right thing? Or was she just making her fate even more twisted?
She should have realized from the start that he was targeting her. Loa knew how calculating and sinister Yudar was. Yet why had she dismissed their first encounter as mere coincidence?
She had been too naive. No, foolish.
Loa had only followed where Yudar led, looking straight down at her feet, powerless. The crowd parted to make way for them as they walked. When she finally moved past the throng, she turned her head to search desperately for one person. But he was nowhere to be seen. Where he had stood, only the women who had been with him remained.
Even then, she wanted one last glimpse of his face. Cruelly, God had denied her even that. Loa lowered her head again.
He would form a good bond with another woman. That would be enough.
Their relationship was completely over. Only when the situation concluded did Loa manage a faint smile.
Eisen would survive.
Yudar brought Loa back to the garden—a place only accessible with prior royal permission.
They had returned here in the end. Loa should have spared Eisen from hurt, knowing the outcome would be the same. Even after it was all over, her thoughts remained on Eisen.
“Was the ball enjoyable?”
“Yes. It was pleasant.”
Loa answered with a hollow voice to Yudar’s question.
They began walking along the garden path. Loa deliberately slowed her pace. She didn’t want to walk side by side with Yudar as if they were lovers. Yet Yudar kept adjusting his pace to match hers.
“That’s fortunate, then.”
Yudar stopped in front of a tree.
“Do you know this tree?”
The dreaded osmanthus. Had he been rehearsing his lines in front of this tree? Just imagining it made her gag.
“It’s an osmanthus, as I know it.”
“As expected of Kairon’s sister, you know your species well.”
Yudar shifted his gaze from the osmanthus to Loa. But Loa didn’t look at him; she kept her eyes on the tree. She didn’t like this tree, but she wanted to avoid eye contact with him.
“There’s no flowers, only leaves, yet it smells so fragrant. Quite a unique species.”
Yudar touched a leaf and leaned in to smell it. Acting sentimental… knowing his true intentions, Loa felt disgusted at his performance.
“I was going to gift this to your garden as well…”
“No.”
Before Yudar could even finish speaking, Loa cut him off sharply. A precise, biting refusal. Interrupting a royal—how audacious. Yudar looked at her, surprised rather than angry.
Yet Loa didn’t blink. She looked him squarely in the eyes and drove the point home once more.
“No need for the osmanthus.”
