Chapter 75

I glared at the person who had snatched my bouquet.

 

“Your Highness?”

 

“Freyer?”

 

Ivailo’s face stiffened instantly.

 

“Uh…? The Second Prince?”

 

The customers inside the merchant guild also widened their eyes in disbelief at the sight of him. Freyer frowned as he looked down at the bouquet of red roses, his gaze dripping with disapproval.

 

“I see you’ve come to buy something as well.”

 

“No. I have business with my Lilithia.”

 

“Your Lilithia…?”

 

The eyes of every customer fell upon me. Flustered, I blurted out a denial.

 

“My—what do you mean, ‘my’!”

 

“If it’s not ‘my,’ then what exactly is our relationship?”

 

Freyer dove in headfirst without hitting the brakes. Unable to find the words, I could only let out a series of stammered syllables.

 

“T-that’s…!”

 

If it were a normal relationship, I would have simply said ‘customer and guild master,’ but for some reason, I found it hard to decide.

 

The favorite character and the reader? Or… the relationship of having spent a night together?

 

As my face turned as red as a ripe apple, Freyer looked at me with a playful smirk.

 

“Let’s go with landlord and guest.”

 

Surprisingly, a flick of disappointment brushed past me at his answer. I didn’t know why I felt this way, so I hurriedly shook my head.

 

“…Right.”

 

“Landlord?”

 

Ivailo asked with a dubious look. Without a hint of hesitation, Freyer shrugged and replied.

 

“You are aware, are you not? The news that I am staying at Lady Baimery’s residence.”

 

“It’s news to me.”

 

“Then perhaps you should pay a little more attention to your younger brother.”

 

Ivailo’s eyes sharpened at Freyer’s mocking tone.

 

“Return that flower you’re holding to the Lady immediately.”

 

Freyer held up the bouquet, one corner of his mouth curling upward.

 

“Are you referring to these flowers?”

 

“Yes. They were not given to you.”

 

“That is truly a shame. I have no intention of doing so.”

 

Freyer peered at the bouquet with a look of curious interest.

 

“Aren’t you curious? Whether a flower that ‘never withers’ truly cannot be broken.”

 

“What are you—”

 

“Oops. My hand slipped.”

 

The bouquet slipped from Freyer’s hand and thudded onto the floor. Upon impact, the red petals scattered and tore away.

 

“Are you sure a preservation spell was cast on this? It fell apart quite easily.”

 

Freyer let out a dry, short chuckle.

 

“Regrettably, it seems that ‘passionate and eternal love’ you spoke of, brother, has been ruined.”

 

Freyer then grabbed my shoulder as I stood there in a daze.

 

“I have things to discuss with Lady Lilithia, so we will be taking our leave.”

 

“You…!”

 

Leaving Ivailo’s words behind, Freyer led me away to my office.

 

 

***

 

 

An uncomfortable tension settled over the office. I kept stealing glances at Freyer, who was staring directly at me with an expressionless face.

 

‘Why is he being so scary?’

 

It had only been about a day since I last saw him, but Freyer looked extremely dissatisfied.

 

‘I didn’t even do anything wrong….’

 

I felt myself shrinking. I tried to pull myself together and act confident. I tried to square my shoulders and lift my chest, but under his stinging gaze, my eyes just darted around nervously.

 

“Haha. What business brings Your Highness to the guild?”

 

“…….”

 

That was a huge mistake. A furrow formed on Freyer’s brow. I hurriedly picked up a document from the table to hide my face.

 

“I have urgent work to attend to right now, so if it isn’t important, could you tell me later?”

 

Since he was bound to look angry, I peeked past the edge of the paper toward where he had been sitting.

 

‘He’s gone.’

 

Freyer, who had definitely been sitting in the chair, was no longer there.

 

“Lilithia.”

 

“Gah!”

 

Startled by the voice coming from above, I dropped the document and froze like a statue.

 

I hadn’t heard a single footstep or felt a presence, yet there Freyer was, looking down at me.

 

“I can never predict where you’ll run off to.”

 

Freyer spoke as he gripped both armrests of my chair, leaning in so close I could feel his breath.

 

“M-me…?”

 

“I can’t leave you alone anymore.”

 

“…?”

 

“I’m assigning a knight to escort you.”

 

“If it’s because of my health, I’m fine. The healer even said I was okay….”

 

I withered under Freyer’s dissatisfied expression.

 

“I’d like you to listen to me just this once. It’s because I’m anxious.”

 

I heard a soft, airy chuckle, and then my eyes went wide at the sensation of something soft and moist touching my forehead.

 

“……!”

 

“You really have no intuition. Though I like that about you.”

 

Freyer stroked my hair and then turned away.

 

“Let’s have dinner together.”

 

As soon as he left, I collapsed against the sofa, touching my forehead.

 

“Ugh.”

 

My face heated up like a boiling kettle. My resolve from a few days ago began to waver.

 

 

***

 

 

Ricardo’s image flickered in the air through the communication device. He wore a grim expression.

 

— Your Highness. It won’t be easy.

 

“Is access completely impossible?”

 

— Yes. Perhaps because it wasn’t an official attempt to contact the King, the security is far too tight.

 

Freyer gripped his throbbing head. If that was the case, official diplomatic contact was necessary. However, the current situation made it difficult to cross over to the Oneren Kingdom.

 

— For now, I will monitor the situation and contact you again.

 

“Very well.”

 

Freyer sighed, running a hand through his hair. A problem had arisen in an unexpected place.

 

‘I can’t leave the capital right now.’

 

His brother was approaching Lilithia. After the attempt to eliminate both her and himself failed, the subsequent movements had been quiet, so he thought it might be over, but as expected….

 

If the actions had been consistent, he could have deduced the motive and settled it.

 

But roses?

 

An absurd laugh escaped him involuntarily.

 

‘What on earth is he planning?’

 

He couldn’t ease his worries about Lilithia for even a moment.

 

“Dammit….”

 

Freyer sighed, lost in thought.

 

 

***

 

 

Whenever I moved, the large man followed close behind me. I snapped my head back to look at the red-haired figure.

 

“Sir Derek.”

 

“Yes, Lady Lilithia. Is there a problem?”

 

I let out a deep sigh at his stiff response.

 

“Are you going to follow me in here, too…?”

 

“I intend to follow you everywhere….”

 

I pressed a hand to my forehead, while Derek tilted his head, seemingly unaware of the issue.

 

When Freyer said he would provide an escort, I never imagined the protection would be this persistent.

 

Of course, an escort’s duty was to protect their charge.

 

‘But this is too much!’

 

Standing in front of the restroom, I looked back and forth between the door and Sir Derek. Despite my obvious cues, Sir Derek was completely oblivious.

 

“Why are you acting like that?”

 

“This is… the restroom….”

 

“!?”

 

Only then did Derek look between the door and me before abruptly turning around.

 

“My apologies. This is my first time escorting a lady….”

 

“It happens.”

 

“I will be more mindful… I am sorry.”

 

Stepping inside the restroom, I finally found myself alone.

 

‘He was like this this morning, too.’

 

Leaning against the door, I looked at the ceiling and recalled the morning’s events.

 

Very early in the morning, I had to get ready for work at the guild as soon as I woke up.

 

Sir Derek, acting on Freyer’s orders, had been waiting for me in front of my bedroom since dawn. He almost followed me into the bathroom until Winnie barely managed to stop him.

 

“Sir Derek, I know your mission, but this is not it!”

 

“Ah…! M-my apologies!”

 

Only then did Sir Derek snap out of it, his face turning pale as he scrambled out of the bedroom.

 

He maintained a heavy guard on the way to the guild, on the way back, and even inside the guild building, he was wary of everyone.

 

While it was good that he was diligent in carrying out his master’s orders, for me, it was nothing short of a nightmare.

 

“I want to tell Freyer that this is excessive.”

 

The dinner with Freyer the other day had been canceled. I was told he couldn’t make it because of a sudden, urgent schedule. Since that day, I hadn’t seen so much as a strand of his hair at the mansion.

 

‘It would be weirder if he weren’t busy.’

 

I heard he had taken the position of Minister of Foreign Affairs. I had been worried because he was staying at the mansion and lingering around me so much, but it seemed important business had finally arisen at the ministry.

 

“I was looking forward to it, though.”

 

I was startled by the sentence that slipped out of my mouth. If anyone had heard, they would think I was actually anticipating a date with him.

 

“No, it’s just because I wouldn’t have had to eat alone for once.”

 

To clear my head, I splashed cold water on my face and stepped outside.

 

“Have you finished?”

 

Sir Derek had been waiting in front of the door the entire time. I gave a light nod and headed for my office.

 

However, upon checking the documents on my desk, I had to call Kenny immediately. Kenny also seemed to be having trouble speaking, looking quite shocked.

 

“……You’re saying the reserved items have been canceled?”

 

“Yes….”

 

Except for Sir Derek, it had been a perfectly normal day. But with the news Kenny brought, my day turned to despair in an instant.