Chapter 5
By the door stood Teo for reasons Liriope couldn’t fathom, and behind him Gemma paced anxiously, not knowing what to do.
They had planned to take him to another reception room, but that dark Northerner had apparently barged in here the moment he heard Kadin’s voice.
“You’re here.”
Liriope forced a smile and hurried over to him — annoyed that he’d come without warning, but determined to act as if she liked him in front of the crown prince.
Teo, instead of answering, scanned Liriope up and down and raised an eyebrow.
“By the way.”
When Liriope stepped closer to him, Teo looked down at her with a cold gaze and said,
“That’s not the kind of outfit a woman should be wearing in front of other men.”
“Oh — you came without telling me. But it’s just loungewear….”
“If someone barges into the house without notice, don’t let them in. Even if it’s His Majesty the Emperor, it’s rude to my fiancée.”
“What the—?!”
At Teo’s words, Kadin shouted back in an immediately sharp voice.
Teo watched Kadin and, with his usual impassive face, said,
“Don’t barge into my woman’s house like that either.”
My fiancée. My woman.
Liriope felt complicated watching Teo say that so casually.
Her heart pounded like mad even though she knew the title belonged to Rosearin, and she felt mixed emotions.
“Liriope! Are you seriously going to get engaged to that guy?!”
Liriope’s gaze, which had been on Teo, shifted to Kadin at his outcry.
It was probably the first time.
The crown prince hadn’t called Liriope “princess.”
“You’re mistaken. We’re already engaged.”
At Teo’s words, Liriope’s eyes returned to him from looking at Kadin.
“We haven’t even had the engagement ceremony yet — you can’t just say a stamp on a scrap of paper…!”
“I actually came today to set the date for the engagement ceremony. Since you came all the way here, why don’t you help pick a date and then leave?”
Teo cut Kadin off like that, and Kadin’s face went ashen.
“No way! You can’t be engaged to the princess! She’s liked me for a long time!”
At Kadin’s outcry, a small smile lifted one corner of Teo’s mouth.
He looked down at Liriope beside him as if she were something adorable.
Startled by the gaze she’d never felt before, Liriope blinked, and Teo continued to look at her tenderly.
“She likes me now. Very much, in fact.”
“……”
“Isn’t that right, Ripe?”
Teo flashed a charming smile that made his cheeks dimple and used a pet name for Liriope that she’d never heard before.
“Wh-what, Ripe?!”
“You shouldn’t call her that. Only I’m allowed to use that nickname.”
‘When did that even happen?’
When Liriope looked up at Teo in disbelief, he still smiled sweetly and looked down at her.
“Right, Ripe?”
Teo handled Kadin smoothly and sent him away.
Watching how Teo dealt with him, Liriope felt she understood, at least to some extent, why Kadin could never beat Teo in everything.
Teo Artein was fundamentally very skilled at handling people, and Kadin — who’d grown under his mother’s wing and never really learned to assert himself — was naturally weak against someone like Teo.
‘But why isn’t he leaving…?’
After sending Kadin off, Liriope watched Teo sit casually on the sofa and sip his tea.
Sensing her gaze, Teo looked up from his teacup at Liriope.
Their eyes met and she instinctively flinched; she awkwardly smiled and asked,
“So what brings you here? You didn’t contact me.”
Teo raised one eyebrow and put down his teacup, replying to her,
“If you mean contact, I already did.”
‘He did…?’
“Duke Steyla must have passed along a message to you.”
‘Of course not. My father hasn’t returned from the palace for two days.’
“You didn’t contact me directly.”
Liriope gave a strained laugh and said that, and Teo shrugged once.
“I thought you might not like my messages.”
Her eyes widened at that.
Blinking at him with widened eyes, she looked at Teo, who then gave a lazy, exquisite smile.
That smile threw her heart into confusion, and Liriope did her best to avert her eyes from him.
“Ah… hahaha… Why would you think that…?”
Teo simply smiled and stared at her.
“Anyway, that’s not the main reason I came.”
“Ripe.”
At her question, Teo used the improvised pet name again.
“You should think wisely about things. If that Kadin came to you waving that scrap of paper, he clearly has an ulterior motive.”
Teo lowered his gaze to the engagement paper the crown prince had left behind.
Liriope looked down at the paper too and replied indifferently.
“I know.”
Whatever scheme he had, Kadin would naturally become even more involved with her after the hunting festival, so his visit now was ultimately meaningless.
There was no need to take his coming so seriously.
Teo looked at her with a strange expression as if surprised by her answer.
“…That’s a relief.”
Then he raised one corner of his mouth in a satisfied way.
An awkward silence fell between them.
Unable to bear the uncomfortable quiet, Liriope spoke first.
“You didn’t come because of that… did you?”
At that moment, with a whistling sound, Rynix flew over to Teo.
To be more specific: Rynix flew into the reception room making a mysterious sound, Teo naturally raised his hand, and Rynix naturally landed on his wrist.
Liriope stared in puzzlement — remembering that Rynix had no connection to Teo.
“That’s your graduation piece, isn’t it?”
Teo looked at Rynix.
From what Gemma had said, Liriope’s phoenix had been the academy’s first ever living graduation work, so it made sense the rumors had reached him.
‘But why does it go and sit on a Northerner’s arm so casually?’
Liriope watched as Rynix settled on Teo’s wrist and began preening its feathers.
“You certainly have talent. It seems Duke Steyla doesn’t like you showing it off.”
“My father?”
“Judging by the fact he didn’t send you to Peraan.”
Peraan.
Liriope’s eyes narrowed instantly.
“Why would I go to Peraan? That’s where the Monster Forest is.”
When Liriope frowned at his words, Teo lifted his charming mouth corner.
“That place is as good as any for showing off that talent.”
“You’d say that because you’re battle-crazed.”
The remark slipped out without filter, surprising Liriope herself, and she immediately clamped her lips shut. Teo just watched her with amusement.
His smile was dazzling, and Liriope struggled to calm her racing heart.
“I’m not crazy about battle; I just can’t stand monsters that attack humans.”
Teo tilted his head slightly and, meeting her eyes with a smile in his voice, said that.
Her heart, which she’d been trying to quiet, suddenly leapt.
Liriope avoided his intense gaze and muttered quietly,
“They say you’re always out on the battlefield because you’re obsessed with fighting.”
“That’s just a rumor. Even if I’m a little crazy, would I really enjoy living in a place swarming with monsters?”
“……”
“Well, once we’re married you’ll only be in the duchy, so you won’t have to worry about anything else.”
“…Other worries?”
Liriope tilted her head, clearly not understanding what he meant, so Teo stretched his mouth into a long grin.
Liriope couldn’t help but cover her face with both hands at what he said next.
“I won’t leave you alone. I don’t intend to be separated from my lovely wife for even a day.”
Saying that, Teo rose and came up to Liriope. He gently took her wrist — which was covering her face — and then put a piece of paper into her hand.
“He said he chose especially good dates. Pick one you like.”
Liriope’s eyes moved to the paper she now held.
Teo watched her intently.
Feeling his gaze, Liriope looked up to meet his eyes.
Teo’s gaze wandered to the shawl she’d been wearing, which had slipped off one shoulder and was dangling over her arm.
He stared at the disheveled shawl for a moment, then reached out and grabbed it.
“If you have regrets, you should’ve regretted using me before doing it.”
He carefully lifted the shawl up onto her shoulder.
As his hand brushed her nape in the process, Liriope felt that place grow warmer and swallowed dryly.
Teo watched her with a strange look.
When Liriope lowered her head, uncomfortable under his overt stare, his pupils darkened.
At that moment, the hand that had held the shawl hovered near her face.
Startled, Liriope instinctively pulled away, and Teo’s hand twitched.
He quickly withdrew his hand and took a step back.
If he’d stayed any longer, he might have touched her flushed cheek.
Teo himself didn’t seem to understand what he had almost done; his face hardened, then he clenched his fist and turned away.
After taking a step he paused, then spoke to Liriope.
“One more time — you can’t back out now. You chose me, and I chose you.”
“……”
“Even if that stupid crown prince screams and begs and clings, our engagement won’t be broken.”
