Chapter 69
When she threw out the question in an almost blunt manner, the children who had been quietly looking for an opening around her recoiled in shock. Someone glared at Greta with eyes wide open, while someone else hurriedly gauged the prince’s reaction.
“Something to say to you?”
The gentle, affectionate smile the prince usually wore stiffened slightly. He hesitated, and now all of the children’s gazes turned toward him.
“Yes, Your Highness. Is there, perhaps, some news you wish to tell us?”
Greta pressed on relentlessly. As her clasped hands tightened, her fingernails dug painfully into her palms. Her eyes trembled with an eagerness bordering on frenzy.
The smile almost completely vanished from the prince’s face. He lowered his head for a moment, his expression thoughtful as if calculating something, then lifted it again. Once more, he wore a neat, composed smile.
“Yeah, actually, there is something I want to tell you. I kept it a secret because I wasn’t sure how things would turn out, but it seems like it’s already been found out anyway.”
As the prince calmly announced this, smiling evenly and speaking clearly, the children’s eyes widened.
No way, no way—really? Is His Highness really in a relationship?
“I have someone I’m seeing. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you beforehand.”
“Oh my goodness, Your Highness, really?”
“Wow, congratulations!”
“But why are you only telling us now?”
“Like I said earlier, I wasn’t sure how things would turn out, so I stayed quiet. It’d be awkward if I told you and then it ended right away, wouldn’t it? I wanted to make it public after the relationship had settled down a bit.”
Amid the children, who were flustered for various reasons and making a commotion, the prince alone maintained his composure. But that composure was merely a mask—his gentle smile was taut with tension.
“Since when have you been dating? Who is your partner? Please tell us everything!”
“Where did you first meet? Is it someone we know?”
“Everyone, calm down and ask one question at a time. I’ll answer everything.”
As questions poured down like a waterfall, the prince laughed affably. He continued smoothly.
“Her name is Noxia Dekan. She’s the same age as me, and she currently works as an assistant librarian at the academy’s central library. You’ve probably run into her at least once while coming and going from the library, right?”
“What? Dekan?”
“That person… isn’t she a librarian?”
“Yes, that’s right. I just said that.”
The prince maintained his amiable demeanor. However, his blue eyes gleamed sharply, and the children fell silent for a moment, exchanging glances among themselves.
“Your Highness, then… is she a commoner?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Ah, then what about her family? She’s not from the capital, is she?”
“No, she came from another region. And she grew up in an orphanage from a young age, so she doesn’t know who her parents are.”
The prince’s tone was utterly casual, as if he were talking about today’s lunch menu. Yet his gaze remained keen—like a blade drawn, or frost settling in the air.
“We first met at the royal palace’s spring welcoming ball. After that, we happened to run into each other a few times and became close. We’ve been dating for about two months now, and last Saturday, she met my father and mother as well.”
Hearing the revelation that the prince’s commoner orphan girlfriend had already greeted the king and queen, the children sucked in their breaths. The prince continued to smile gracefully, adding in a gentle tone,
“My father and mother, as well as my elder sister and elder brother, all seem to like Noxia very much. I’m nothing but grateful. If someone so precious to me hadn’t been acknowledged by my family, I would’ve been truly sad.”
While appearing to answer the children’s barrage of questions one by one, the prince was, in fact, delivering a sharp warning.
Noxia Dekan—a commoner orphan from another region. A lowly girl who had to work as a librarian just to make a living. A trivial woman who seemed as though she wouldn’t even reach the prince’s toes.
And yet, the prince described her as “someone very precious.” Moreover, he subtly emphasized that his father the king, his mother the queen, and even the princess and the first prince had acknowledged her.
How dissatisfied and presumptuous you may feel about this is none of my concern. You must not dare lay a hand on her. On someone acknowledged even by the royal family—how dare you.
Elennon engraved that icy warning into his clear gaze and pressed down, one by one, the eyes of the children staring at him with varied expressions.
Lastly, his gaze met that of Greta Beriton. A pitiful child staring at him blankly, as though betrayed by a love meant to last a thousand years. No—truth be told, she wasn’t entirely pitiful.
I’m sorry. But to be honest, I’m not that sorry.
A sharp and perceptive prince couldn’t possibly be unaware that Greta Beriton had long coveted the seat beside him.
Even so, he couldn’t tell how much of that desire was truly hers and how much was the result of being indoctrinated by the duke and duchess.
At times he pitied Greta, who clung obsessively to the position of crown princess as if pushed by her parents; yet whenever she latched onto him like a stalker, disregarding his own wishes entirely, he felt utterly exhausted.
Looking straight at Greta Beriton—pitiful yet not, tragic yet repulsive—Elennon hurled a silent warning.
Please, don’t touch her.
Don’t touch Noxia Dekan just because she gets in the way of your family’s unsightly ambitions. Don’t delude yourself into thinking that removing her would give you a chance.
So that I can at least maintain a formal friendship with you, please—know your boundaries.
Don’t.
And Greta, who understood that warning, felt the fist she had clenched tremble faintly. She could bite her lip and hold back a scream, but she couldn’t stop her face from turning pale.
I have to become the crown princess. It can’t be anyone else. For my family, I have to win the prince’s heart…
Her father’s harsh grip, her mother’s cold gaze, her sister’s irritable sigh weighed down on her. The imagined memories, rooted in experience, were so vivid that it felt as though they were standing right before her.
Without realizing it, she wrapped her arms around herself, as if trying to soothe her body, shrunken and conditioned by pain.
The prince’s warning, disguised as a confession, left a vivid impression in many people’s memories that day.
And without anyone realizing it, it lit the fuse for a chain reaction that would follow in the future.
After meeting his fake friends during the day, Elennon met his real lover in the evening.
After dining at a high-end restaurant that strictly protected its guests’ privacy, Noxia and Elennon rode together in a carriage toward the prince’s villa in the suburbs.
There, Elennon told Noxia that he had revealed their relationship to his classmates. Noxia asked, her face tense with worry,
“Really? Then how did they react?”
“They seemed a bit surprised at first, but in the end, they appeared to accept it fairly well. If I, the person involved, am happy, what could they possibly say?”
“Your Highness, please be honest. Was that really all? Just a little surprise, and that’s it?”
“I’m telling you, that’s how it was. Well, at least in front of me.”
“Of course they would downplay their reactions in front of you! But inside, surely they’re all thinking—”
“Thinking what?”
“…Thinking that you’re far too good for me.”
Noxia muttered while avoiding his gaze. Elennon frowned, then reached out and pulled his lover into a tight embrace, pressing a kiss to her soft forehead. Noxia closed her eyes for a moment.
“I don’t think that way. Not even once have I thought I was too good for you. And isn’t what I think far more important than what people you’re not even close to think?”
“That may be true, but…”
“Right? No—actually, the most important thing isn’t even what I think. It’s what you think. Your own opinion matters far more than the opinions of strangers you don’t even know.”
Speaking firmly, Elennon gently cupped Noxia’s cheeks with both hands. Her green eyes, tinged with anxiety, intertwined deeply with his blue eyes shining with affection.
“The people involved are just the two of us, Noxia. My friends aren’t the ones dating right now. And I think I’ve told you this several times already, but they’re not really my friends anyway.”
“…They may not be friends, but they’re still important people in your life. You see them often, after all.”
“Well, that’s true. Then let me put it this way. They’re important, but not precious. You’re far more precious to me. Understand?”
Elennon’s eyes curved beautifully as he smiled. He leaned in and kissed his lover again—this time on the lips, where sweet breaths mingled. Their soft lips met briefly, then parted.
“The two of us like each other, and the two highest authorities in this country acknowledge you. Is there really any need to worry so much about the opinions of a bunch of kids? Don’t worry too much, Noxia.”
“Hey, what do you mean ‘kids’? We’re eighteen too, you know.”
“It’s just an expression, an expression. What I really want to say is that I hope you won’t be afraid.”
He soothed his lover like a dependable adult, yet at the same time lowered himself toward her, pleading silently. Please don’t worry. Please don’t be afraid. Just feel happiness, and smile without a shadow.
His strong yet earnest attitude melted her anxieties, if only a little. With eyes steadier than before, Noxia gently clasped Elennon’s hand.
“I’m not afraid.”
She confessed sincerely. If she had truly been afraid, she wouldn’t have been able to start this relationship in the first place. It was a choice made possible because love far outweighed fear.
“Like you said, the highest people in this country are on our side. So what is there to be afraid of?”
Moreover, there was something solid to rely on in reality as well. The support of the king and queen was by no means trivial. When Noxia spoke playfully and smiled brightly, Elennon smiled back in relief.
“That’s exactly what I’m saying, Noxia. So there’s no need to be scared.”
“Like I said earlier, I’m not scared. It’s just… I think my desire to be acknowledged by the people around us was stronger than I realized. The desire to proudly show the world that you are my love, and I am yours.”
My proud, lovely lover. I wanted to boast boldly to the entire world that this person was my love.
That was why she agreed to make their relationship public, and why she hoped others would look at her with warmth.
So that she wouldn’t have to shrink back.
So that there wouldn’t be even the slightest blemish on the happy days she shared with her lover.
