CHAPTER 47……………………………………..
Perez doesn’t joke.
Ariana slowly stopped laughing.
No one would dare harm the Princess of Berkshire.
But Perez was the exception to every rule.
“Didn’t you hear? I asked you to pass a message to Brother Cherdikas. I’ll repay Sir Perez’s debt with a bouquet.”
She had just perfectly prevented the tulip bubble from collapsing, and in her garden were still 730 tulips more splendidly named than herself—Semper Augustus.
For now, since it was before the tulip bubble, buying them up would only invite suspicion—but soon, a single tulip would rise to as much as 500 million won.
What Perez did with the bouquet—whether he sold it at the peak—was none of Ariana’s concern.
‘Brother Cherdikas and he look about the same age on the outside. But their atmospheres are completely different. Is this the difference between the villain’s brother and the male lead?’
Perez was likely the strongest man in this world.
A young girl like Ariana, who couldn’t even handle mana, would easily lose her life to a dagger he swung carelessly.
No—he probably wouldn’t even need a dagger.
If he simply reached out and gently placed a hand around her neck and applied the slightest pressure, her life would end just like that.
‘Ah, I see where the difference lies.’
Perez could kill Ariana at any time.
In the original story, he was described as a half-blood of an evil god who felt most alive when facing death.
The final struggle to live reflected in despairing eyes.
The desperate plea to be spared—the intense glimmer it produced.
‘A dangerous man. But I have to pique his interest. If I can at least become an amusing toy that stimulates his tedious life, I’d be grateful.’
But Perez did not feel emotions easily.
Perhaps he merely found it slightly irritating that his possessiveness toward Ariana wasn’t clearly defined.
The “young” Perez might not even recognize the color of the interest directed at him.
So she had to be extremely careful.
Of course, only his outward age was young—his soul was anything but.
And this year, at 666 years old, the growth clock that had long been frozen had begun ticking again.
‘If Perez’s possessiveness level rises, I can’t even imagine how he’ll change. How would I know what chilling thought circuits are running inside that round head?’
“Princess. You may speak casually to me.”
“No. I’ll continue speaking formally to you, Sir Perez. My romantic ideal is a married couple who address each other politely.”
“……”
“Now you understand why I speak formally, don’t you?”
“I do not.”
Perez drew a line, stepping back exactly as much as Ariana stepped forward.
Realizing this wouldn’t work, Ariana made a blunt request.
“Am I very dirty? Please cast a Clean spell on me just once.”
“……”
“You like cleanliness, don’t you? Wouldn’t it be easier for you to look at me if I were clean instead of staying like this?”
Perez’s cover identity was the eldest son of the Marquis Dominique.
By etiquette, Ariana had no reason to speak formally to him.
At this point, he should have caught on to her intentions—but his gaze remained indifferent.
She had gone to find him in the Anthe Flower Garden, suddenly mentioned a precise 10% monthly interest rate, and borrowed a huge sum of money.
To a man known as a swordsman rather than a mage, she had requested a high-level spell like Clean.
She had even waited in a back alley, as if knowing exactly where he would go, using a doghole as passage.
At this level, suspicion would be natural—yet Perez remained quiet.
“Just once. The spell.”
Ariana crept closer and stuck her head toward him.
Perhaps the doghole stank terribly; Perez frowned before placing a hand atop her head.
He did not refuse her request.
His touch was gentler than she expected.
The warmth of Perez—so starkly at odds with his cold nature—was so contradictory that Ariana froze.
‘Is this what magic feels like?’
It was her first time experiencing it.
She had been filthy just moments ago.
In an instant, she was clean.
Fascinated, Ariana held her breath and looked up at him.
Perez slowly removed his hand.
Though his touch withdrew, his warmth lingered like a burn, pressing against her scalp.
Ding.
Your understanding of Perez has increased.
Unconsciously, Ariana’s gaze shifted to the window that appeared beside him.
Perez noticed and faintly furrowed his brow—but Ariana didn’t catch it.
“…Thank you—!”
The next moment, Ariana froze mid-sentence.
Without the slightest hint of consideration, a rough grip seized her chin, forcing her gaze up toward Perez.
The sudden contact was chilling—like a predator that had long awaited its prey.
“I’ve heard that you have a habit of staring into empty space while someone stands before you, Princess.”
Seeing it firsthand seemed to intrigue him; a savage darkness flickered in his eyes, and for a brief moment Ariana felt intimidated.
She didn’t particularly like fake smiles.
But at that instant, she would have welcomed even one—just to ease the suffocating tension.
Perez rarely smiled.
The hand gripping her chin was nothing like the one that had stroked her head earlier.
“I didn’t realize I had such a habit. You’d look better if you smiled more, Sir Perez.”
“……”
Ariana barely managed to move her lips and break the silence.
‘Is reading the baby bird’s notification window being interpreted as me staring into empty space?’
She wouldn’t have been surprised if a dagger suddenly pierced her body.
Perez was set up as a perceptive genius.
Even if he discovered she was a transmigrator, it wouldn’t be strange.
‘But Perez is an uncontrollable character. If he realizes he’s the male lead of this story, he might want to vent all the accumulated boredom and rage on me—the reader.’
That wouldn’t help her transmigration quest at all.
Suppressing her panic, Ariana met his gaze even more boldly.
“You are interested in me, aren’t you? And yet you’ve never once shown it.”
“……”
Perez had been observing her for quite some time.
‘Whether it’s suspicion or wariness, anything is fine—just show some interest.’
Perez released her loosely.
Without a single word of apology, he turned away.
Though frustrated, Ariana called out to his retreating back first.
After all, the one who regrets more is the one who digs the well first.
“Until we meet again, Sir Perez.”
For a moment, he showed only his profile—as if wanting to ask why she was being so polite—but then he left without hesitation.
‘I thought my jaw was going to break.’
Ariana rubbed the chin he had just gripped.
Only then did she swallow a belated, tense breath.
When she returned to the clock tower, her escort knights were in an uproar.
Apparently, it was because she had once gone missing in the slums when she was one year old.
“Failing to protect the Princess is dereliction of duty. Please take our lives.”
“I’m the one who ran off—why should you die? I’m sorry for worrying you. It won’t happen again.”
The swordsmanship tournament was soon, and Ariana’s birthday ball as well.
She would be able to see Perez at least two more times—and she intended to make him her fiancé.
There was no longer any need to shake off her escorts just to cling to a chance encounter with him.
“S-Sir Captain.”
At that moment, Waldif, the commander of the Berkshire Knights, arrived—and the knights, still kneeling, looked flustered.
