Chapter 4
Liriope glanced once at the engagement contract Cadin had handed her, then looked back at his face.
When she looked again at the engagement contract and then back at Cadin, absurd words tumbled out of his mouth.
“Yeah, hard to believe, isn’t it? But don’t worry. This isn’t a dream.”
“……”
“This is indeed the engagement contract you so long desired with me. Be at ease.”
Even at his words, Liriope just stared blankly, glancing back and forth between the contract and Cadin.
When she showed no sign of taking the contract he held out, Cadin placed it on the table.
Strangely, the contract landed in just the right spot to completely cover Teo’s face on the front page of the newspaper.
“You may rejoice as much as you like, my lady.”
The crown prince spread his arms wide with a smile, like an actor playing an over-the-top Hollywood scene.
What on earth is going on here…?
Cadin, who had been watching Liriope with a haughty, condescending gaze, suddenly looked away when she rolled her eyes and scrutinized every detail of his expression as if trying to see through him.
Liriope, unable to comprehend why this dazzling man had suddenly appeared without warning and shoved an engagement contract in her face, began thinking seriously.
She had clearly tried to prevent an engagement with the crown prince, so why had things ended up like in the original story, with her tied to him once again?
The thought crossed her mind that perhaps no matter how much she twisted the story, her fate was still to die at the crown prince’s hands. Her heart dropped with a thud.
Don’t tell me this damn fate is unchangeable, and I’m doomed to a brutal ending no matter what I do?
That thought jolted her awake.
No, I can’t allow that. I worked too hard for this second life. I fully intend to live out my days enjoying the near-diamond-spoon life of a noble lady and then die quietly of old age.
Liriope steeled her resolve once again.
If fate kept pushing her toward death, she would just keep twisting the original story.
If she avoided entanglement with the crown prince and refrained from envying or tormenting the heroine he loved, then there’d be no reason for her to die.
I should just become the heroine’s closest friend instead.
Unconsciously, Liriope nodded to herself, renewing her determination to befriend Rosearin.
At that moment, her eyes met Cadin’s.
But first, she figured it was best to deal with the bomb in front of her. She addressed him firmly:
“I’m already engaged, you see.”
At those words, the crown prince’s beautiful face twisted instantly.
For a moment she admired how he still looked handsome even when scowling, but then his ridiculous words made her frown.
“So you can stop with this act now.”
Act…?
“You’ve drawn enough of my attention, haven’t you? I even brought the contract myself.”
“Sorry, but I didn’t get engaged to Lord Teo just to get your attention.”
At her reply, a flash of ferocity crossed the crown prince’s face.
Apparently, he had expected Liriope to be overjoyed and stamp the contract right away.
“Since when did you start calling that bastard by his name?”
What bothered him seemed entirely unexpected.
“Uh… for a while now? Since I started liking him, maybe?”
Her murmured words made Cadin’s eyes narrow sharply.
“Surely you don’t expect me to believe the nonsense that you actually fell for him.”
“Unfortunately for you, it’s not nonsense but fact.”
“Stop with the lies, my lady.”
The crown prince twitched his brows fiercely at her.
“Why do you keep calling it a lie?”
“Why? Because you—!”
You’ve loved me all along.
Even though he didn’t say the words, she could almost hear them.
Liriope sighed lightly and said:
“Your Highness, people’s hearts can never remain the same forever.”
His face stiffened instantly.
“Love is no different. And I am not foolish enough to be dragged around for life by a love that can never be fulfilled.”
“For all that, weren’t you the lady who clung to me for more than ten years?”
He sneered, a trace of superiority crossing his face.
It seemed he still firmly believed she would always love him.
In the original story, though not fully detailed, there had been plenty of hints in short mentions and in noblewomen’s gossip about Cadin’s verbal abuse and cold treatment toward Liriope—enough to kill any affection.
Yet she had stubbornly continued to like him, so his conviction wasn’t entirely incomprehensible.
“Yes. Now that I think about it, it has been a long time.”
Nodding at his reminder of her years of devotion, she spoke with a cold smile.
Her frosty expression was something Cadin had never seen before.
Uncomfortable, he tried to avoid her gaze and said:
“Exactly. So even if you claim you now like another man, in the end you’ll still come back to me…”
“And yet, despite all those years I liked you, Your Highness, you still call me ‘lady.’”
She cut him off with a mocking tone. His face froze.
In the original novel, one of Liriope’s deepest resentments toward the crown prince was precisely this matter of address.
Back at the academy, he had always used shortened nicknames for the young noblewomen he was close to.
Those nicknamed girls, of course, were the ones Liriope harassed out of jealousy—Rosearin included.
But for Liriope, he always used the stiff “lady.”
“That’s…”
Cadin opened his mouth as if to explain, then clamped it shut.
— Why won’t you ever use a nickname for me?!
— Step aside, lady.
— Please, call me Liri too, Your Highness!
— Don’t loiter before my eyes, lady!
Memories of how coldly he had treated her rose unbidden.
Liriope looked straight at him.
If they were always that distant, why was he now creating this scene that hadn’t even happened in the original?
Perhaps his feelings had shifted—from viewing her as dirt under his feet, to not wanting her for himself but resenting letting someone else have her.
But his expression suggested something else, leaving her uncertain.
“I’m curious, Your Highness. Why suddenly seek me out now, after never once looking for me before? And why present me with an engagement contract when I’ve already signed one with another man?”
“W-what reason! Because you went so far with this act that I—”
“I told you several times already, it’s not an act. I truly am engaged to Lord Teo.”
“You know very well such a contract can be broken anytime.”
He frowned.
Indeed, in this world an engagement contract was more like a verbal promise.
Only once the contract was signed and an engagement ceremony held did it become binding—like signing a marriage certificate and submitting it to city hall.
“We’ll be setting a date for the engagement ceremony soon.”
“My lady!”
Startled—
The crown prince suddenly shouted at her, making Liriope flinch.
Goodness, that scared me!
“Why are you yelling?!”
Liriope wasn’t the type to be meek. Crown prince or not, she raised her voice just as loud.
After all, the louder one wins.
Cadin blinked in shock. Never had Liriope raised her voice to him like this.
She pressed on firmly:
“I don’t need your engagement contract. I told you—I’m already engaged to Lord Teo!”
“D-don’t say that bastard’s name in front of me!”
Cadin’s face flushed red, his eyes even glistening as he panted angrily.
Then, as if the idea were impossible, he shouted again:
“How can love change?!”
…Excuse me?
Liriope sighed and shook her head.
“I think you should leave now.”
Seeing that his condition didn’t look good, she figured it best to send him away.
But instead of leaving, Cadin flared his nostrils like an enraged rhino and grew even paler.
“You… you’re not serious, are you?”
“Oh? Which part of me doesn’t seem serious, Your Highness? Do tell.”
Spreading out the shawl draped over her shoulders, she muttered, “Maybe I should show you where exactly my sincerity lies.”
Watching her, Cadin’s face went blank with shock, his mouth opening and closing like a fish.
A very pretty fish.
Liriope looked at the pretty fish and said firmly:
“You seem to think everything I’ve done is just to attract your attention. So let me be clear: I no longer like you, Your Highness. I’ve liked Lord Teo for quite some time now, and…”
“Absurd! Do you think I’ll believe that?!”
“And if you don’t, what then?”
Her dry tone made his face burn even hotter.
Unable to contain his rage, he snarled:
“When could you possibly have met him?!”
“Here and there. Passing by.”
“Nonsense! Passing by, and you—who loved me all this time—suddenly fell for him? Do you take me for a fool?!”
Then—
“Well, I do have the kind of looks you could fall for at first sight.”
A pleasant, low baritone voice rang out behind her, and Liriope quickly turned her gaze toward the audience chamber door.
