Chapter 17…………………………………………………
“Didn’t you add something before or after the words ‘be prepared’?”
“Uh… I did add something.”
“What was it?”
I asked simply, but Ban’s face flushed a little. Why? Did I say something embarrassing? I looked at him with slight tension. Ban cleared his throat a few times and then glanced away.
“Tonight.”
“Tonight?”
That didn’t sound especially embarrassing.
“So you’re saying that, while I was dizzy from taking an aphrodisiac, I said, ‘Tonight, be prepared’?”
“…Yes.”
“……”
Embarrassment washed over my entire body. I see. So that’s how it is. I thought ‘tonight’ was nothing special, but when combined like that, it definitely wasn’t nothing.
Looking at his face—bright red as he avoided my gaze—I slammed my head down onto the table. I didn’t think I could endure it otherwise.
“…Please forgive my disgraceful behavior.”
I should just go crawl into a hole and die…
I never imagined the words ‘tonight’ could sound this suggestive. Anyone who heard it would easily misunderstand. And on top of that, I’d taken an aphrodisiac. It wasn’t strange at all that the man hearing it would think all sorts of things.
I buried my head and closed my eyes. Should I just fall asleep again right here? Maybe the lingering alcohol would muddle my mind and help me escape reality? I prayed desperately, but unfortunately, escaping reality wasn’t possible.
If this was going to happen, I should’ve just drunk something stronger. Why did I bother with something so weak? This is seriously mortifying…
How could I say something like that to a man I’d just met? Ah—well, it wasn’t that I disliked Ban or anything. And seeing that I woke up perfectly fine the next day, I knew he was quite the gentleman.
But regardless, the shame covered me from head to toe. Even during my cringe middle-school phase, I struggled to avoid creating dark history—yet here I was, in another world, at this age, updating my blacklist of embarrassing memories. For the next few days, I’d probably be pounding my blanket every time I thought about this.
“Please don’t worry about it too much. If you don’t know what you meant by it, you don’t have to dwell on it. Honestly, I feel embarrassed myself for assigning meaning to something so trivial.”
“You… assigned meaning to it?”
I lifted my head and tilted it as I listened. Assigned meaning? What meaning? When I stared at him, Ban’s face tinged slightly red again.
“……”
“……”
Ah. That meaning. I didn’t even need him to say it. They say you don’t need words to understand something like Choco Pie—seems the same goes for us. What kind of bond is this, exactly?
“Ahem. This topic is a bit… awkward. Shall we change the subject?”
“Y-yes, shall we?”
I nodded, but unfortunately, a new topic didn’t come to mind right away. Silence settled over us again, and I hoped Ban would say something. I mentally kicked my brain, screaming at it to come up with a topic, but it refused to obey and instead replayed ‘Tonight, be prepared’ on an endless loop.
Suddenly, I wondered—what if I’d actually said that with that intention? Really?
Then would that make me… a born pervert? No, that can’t be right. I’d just taken an aphrodisiac. So it had nothing to do with my true nature, right? Yeah. That must be it. I’ve never even held a man’s hand—how could I possibly…?
Everything has steps, after all. You clear step one before moving on to steps two and three. Who skips everything and tries to jump straight to the final stage? R-right?
I muttered internally, trying to comfort myself, but the thought that, if time had simply passed like that, I might’ve woken up naked in bed with him made my face burn repeatedly. Ah… this is driving me crazy.
I wanted to drink some cold water, but I was too embarrassed to stand up. Instead, clinking softly, I lifted my teacup and brought it to my lips. I savored the red-colored tea as it gently flowed into my mouth.
It’s nicely warm. It warms the heart. It’s delicious. Sweet. Sweet—just like this atmosphere—
No, wait, that’s not it!
“B-Ban!”
“Hm?”
I met his eyes as he turned back toward me and smiled awkwardly. I’d called him, but what was I supposed to say? I stared blankly at his face before hurriedly opening my mouth.
“O-our eyes are the same color, right?”
“Our eyes?”
“Mine are red, and yours are red too. Yours are a little darker, though. Mine just have a reddish tint, but yours are deep and really beautiful.”
“Ah, these?”
He rubbed just under his eye with a finger and lowered his gaze slightly. Every movement looked like something out of a photoshoot. Have you ever considered modeling? Unifying the continent doesn’t seem impossible for you.
“It’s a characteristic of the Battenberg family.”
“A characteristic?”
“Black hair and red eyes. Ah—did you know?”
He erased his hesitant expression and spoke again, looking a bit more relaxed.
“What kind of family the Battenbergs were before the imperial family was established.”
“I’m not sure?”
I tried to think. Was there information like that? I swam through the vast knowledge stored in Rudia’s mind, but there was nothing about it. When I tilted my head, Ban smiled faintly.
“Before the current empire was founded, the Battenberg family was infamous as one of the families that led assassinations across the continent.”
“Assassinations? Like sneaking in and snip—off with their heads?”
“Uh, um… y-yes. That.”
He laughed awkwardly. Was my wording too blunt? He smiled stiffly, then hurriedly continued.
“After the current imperial family began ruling the empire, much of that history faded away. But in the past, dark hair was extremely useful because it blended into the night. It was said that when targets met blood-red eyes in their bedroom at night, they immediately sensed death—so they were also called the eyes of the Reaper.”
He pointed to his eyes.
“What do you think? Aren’t they a bit frightening?”
Frightening? Not at all.
I quite liked vampire movies, so I’d always had a bit of a fantasy about red eyes. That’s why I’d been satisfied that Rudia’s eyes weren’t the common brown but had a faint red hue. But his eyes—far deeper, as if carved from crushed rubies—were incredibly beautiful.
“No. They’re like deep red jewels.”
“Jewels?”
“Yes. Deeply crimson, beautifully ripened red jewels. The kind that look like they’d burst with juice if you took a bite.”
I met his gaze and smiled softly.
“So they’re beautiful.”
“……”
Ban turned his head slightly away. Had I talked too much? We hadn’t known each other long—was it rude to ramble on about how pretty his eyes were?
“Just a moment…”
He spoke briefly, then stood up right away. Where was he going? With his face turned diagonally away from me, he rolled his eyes as if checking on me, his lips moving as though he wanted to say something. Was he telling me to wait?
Ban hurriedly left the room. Everyone kept leaving me behind. Sitting alone in the spacious room, I stared blankly at the empty teacup.
“…Am I being ostracized?”
“So you just… ran out?”
The couple who’d been holed up in the next room looked up at Ban with exasperation as he came in. Liana’s expression, in particular, was fierce. She stood up from her small frame, crossed her arms, and looked up at him—he was a full head, no, a head and a half taller than her. Her thin eyebrows arched slightly.
“Ban, say that again.”
“Older sister.”
“If being capable includes spinning such long-winded nonsense just to say you ran away because you were embarrassed by a compliment, then yes, I suppose it’s a talent.”
“That’s too harsh. It wasn’t nonsense.”
Ban complained with a genuinely aggrieved expression, prompting Liana to sigh.
She was one of the few people who viewed Ban objectively. Most people looked at him through two lenses of prejudice: his status and his appearance.
It was understandable. He was undeniably handsome (though not as much as my man), and he was practically guaranteed to inherit the imperial throne as crown prince. Still, Ban wasn’t someone who cared much about his own position.
Among the princes, he was the third; counting the princesses above him, he was the fifth child overall. His standing was precarious at best. Considering that, the only reason he’d managed to hold his position until now was his outstanding ability.
The moment he took Roman Bernhardt, the marquis opposing the noble faction, as his mentor, Ban became the leader of the imperial-supporting forces—while simultaneously placing himself in opposition to the increasingly powerful noble faction.
But Ban didn’t concern himself much with that. Confident in his ability to objectively assess himself, he believed he could secure the crown prince’s seat. Liana knew that too.
So while she might complain about him not meeting women, she never truly nagged him. Still—having that face and status, yet being this hopelessly awkward?
Liana thought that rather than shallow, pretentious noble ladies, someone thoughtful and free from family pressure—like Rudia—suited him better.
On top of that, Rudia was the first woman Ban had ever approached with genuine interest, seeing her simply as a person. Liana wanted to do everything she could to help… only to discover her cousin was practically a romantic disaster. And yet he’d had no trouble charming other women?
A small smile on the street, calling their name once—every single one would fall for him. A guy who could change women 365 times a year without anyone batting an eye was now fretting helplessly because Rudia had given him one compliment. It was both cute and stupid.
Arms crossed, Liana lifted her chin.
“So, was it that moving to hear someone call the eyes everyone else finds eerie ‘beautiful’?”
“Older sister. She was the first. Everyone else comes up, looks at my eyes, and gets startled—but Rudia…”
“She said they were pretty?”
“I’m telling you, yes!”
Unbelievable. Was he going to fall apart like this every time he got a compliment? Was his immunity to women really this nonexistent?
Liana clicked her tongue softly, about to say something, then stopped. Well… she could understand. Considering the pressure Ban had lived under and his environment, he wasn’t exactly good with people. He just tried to look good at it.
‘Assassination threats… does he still get them?’
Thinking of Ban as a child, Liana smiled bitterly and turned him around by the shoulders.
“Older sister?”
“So—did you at least thank her?”
“Pardon?”
“Did you return the compliment to Rudia?”
“Ah, n-no.”
“Go do it.”
“But if I go back like this, she’ll notice right away!”
Liana recalled Rudia’s face and smiled slyly.
“Notice? I don’t think so.”
“What?”
“In my opinion, you and Rudia suit each other very well.”
