Chapter 141

Minuelle finally felt, however vaguely, that Ramande’s demeanor was different from usual, but her curiosity overwhelmed her.

“A-another relationship? What kind…”

For the first time, Ramande felt shy. His rejuvenated heart was beating violently, fueled by shyness.

His ears felt like they were on fire, but the years he had spent as a High Priest shone through.

He asked her seriously, with no change in expression,

“If I kissed you… would you be upset?”

“…”

Minuelle couldn’t even twitch an eyelash, just staring at Ramande, who had gotten so close to her without her noticing.

‘What… what did I just hear?’

She was dumbfounded by a situation she had never once considered in her life.

‘Ramande, what, to me?’

Because she was so flustered, Minuelle didn’t realize that she wasn’t repulsed by Ramande’s words.

And Ramande didn’t have the patience to wait for her to realize.

First, his heart felt like it would explode, and second, he wanted to confess before he got slapped.

‘Actually, I like you a lot.’

Something like that.

But what actually came out of his mouth was…

“You didn’t answer, so I’m just going to do it.”

“…What?”

Minuelle’s eyes widened, and Ramande sighed deeply in his heart.

‘Oh my God, Plendena.’

‘I think I’ve messed up this chance, too.’

But since he was already going for it, Ramande took Minuelle’s lips as they were about to say something.

“You really… Gasp!”

Why would she even ask? Of course he was serious.

‘I’m so serious that I’ve only ever wanted you my whole life, and you’ve made me such a fool.’

…He wanted to answer like that, but at the same time, he didn’t want to. He was afraid this moment would break if he pulled away to answer.

* * *

The moment she saw Ramande’s back walking away, Minuelle quickly hid behind a corner.

“Ugh, what the heck! Why am I the one avoiding him!”

She stomped her feet, but she knew the answer best herself.

Because they kissed! Her and Ramande!

“Agh!”

She couldn’t forget that day.

‘You should close your eyes, Minuelle.’

His gentle whisper. His lips that were more than warm—they were hot. His solid embrace and their hands that didn’t unlace.

‘Was Ramande’s shoulder always that broad?’

She remembered how he had completely enveloped her, and how she hadn’t disliked any of it.

Minuelle hit her head against the wall with a loud thump! Her face was as red as the crimson velvet dress she was wearing.

“No, and why is my heart pounding so hard?”

This was the biggest problem.

The fluttering she had felt when she first started to have a thing with Esadien was so different from what she was feeling now.

This made Minuelle even more confused.

Had her cardiovascular system finally broken down from her picky eating, or…

“I like Ramande? Me?”

Hahaha.

Minuelle laughed a hollow laugh.

She had been charmed by Esadien the moment she saw him, and now she’s getting flustered by Ramande with just one kiss?

‘There’s no way I’m the type to fall in love so quickly. No way!’

She absolutely could not accept it.

And another thing she couldn’t accept was…

‘It’s fine. When I think about it, first loves never work out anyway..’

‘Who says? You and the Prince didn’t break up because he was your first love. You broke up because you weren’t a good match, that’s all.’

It seemed as if Ramande had been giving her hints all along, pretending not to.

‘You like someone, Ramande.’

‘Who do you think it is?’

Even recently.

‘…You really know how to hammer it in, don’t you?’

Hahaha.

“There’s no way I’m that unobservant!”

Minuelle stopped laughing and defiantly stomped forward.

Whether she liked him, had liked him, had a cardiovascular disease, or was just unobservant.

“I’m going to grab Ramande and… no, I need to confirm the facts.”

Without realizing the mix of tension and excitement on her face, Minuelle’s steps quickened in the direction Ramande had gone.

But just like a mirage that you can’t catch, she couldn’t run into him when she wanted to talk to him.

“…Am I mistaken?”

No, she was definitely not mistaken.

Thinking hard, Minuelle soon found the reason.

“He’s not looking for me.”

They were close enough that it was natural for them to seek each other out and spend time together, even without a specific reason, but since that day, Ramande hadn’t come to find Minuelle.

“Oh… even if I did act a little awkward.”

Since Ramande had been quick-witted since childhood, he probably knew she was avoiding him and was giving her space.

“Ah…”

When that thought dawned on her, she felt a little sorry for Ramande.

But even when she belatedly went to his room, he wasn’t there.

And then he would show up at dinner with Lady Juela, as if nothing had happened.

She had tried to grab him even then.

“Hey, Rama… huh?”

It was for just a moment.

In that brief moment when she looked down at the dessert plate, Ramande had disappeared.

“Wow…”

To the crestfallen Minuelle, Juela kindly informed her, with an expression full of amusement.

“He just left, sweetie.”

“…”

After a long silence, Minuelle gnashed her teeth and said, “Sister.”

“Hmm?”

“I’m going to grab Ramande for sure today.”

Minuelle got up with a start and left the dining room with loud footsteps.

Juela watched her go, then faced her husband and smiled.

“Ramande played it well.”

The atmosphere between Minuelle and Ramande was so different from usual.

Something must have happened, and if Ramande had stuck by Minuelle’s side like usual, the girl would have probably been muddled by useless thoughts.

For example, thoughts like this.

‘I can’t start seeing someone new already after what happened with Esadien.’

‘What if Ramande loses his divine power because of me?’

But now, Ramande was making Minuelle a little anxious, focusing her attention on trying to catch him.

“I hope we hear some good news soon.”

“Me too.”

The family had known about Ramande’s feelings for a long time.

No, among the people belonging to the Karnian family, Minuelle was probably the only one who didn’t know.

“From childhood friends to a married couple, that’s amazing…”

“Honey. That’s a bit of a jump.”

Juela didn’t care about her husband’s dissuasion.

“I have a good feeling this time.”

Especially since the outsider that was the Third Prince Esadien had disappeared.

However, Minuelle, the person directly involved, didn’t feel a good premonition at all.

Because Ramande had, once again, disappeared somewhere instead of going to his room.

“Ugh, seriously! Agh!”

Thump, thump, thump.

Minuel stomped her feet and banged her head against the ownerless door.

“What is it, what is it! If it was a mistake, just apologize coolly!”

Thump, thump, thump, thump.

She didn’t realize that the speed at which she was banging her head was getting faster and faster.

She was so hot with rage.

No, actually, she was anxious. It felt as if she was the only one who didn’t want to lose the person who had stayed by her side longer than her family.

“Cowardly Ramande. You bad person!!”

If he was going to act like this, he shouldn’t have done it in the first place! He shouldn’t have said anything about another relationship!

Minuelle bit her lip and squeezed her eyes shut. Her head was tilted far back.

‘I’m going to hit it hard and forget about it. I don’t care where he goes now!’

It was, so to speak, self-induced amnesia.

But the headbutt she had worked up the courage for didn’t reach the door.

Plop.

A large hand covered her forehead, which had gotten hot from all the banging.

“Why are you hurting yourself? And why didn’t you come up to your room?”

A cool divine power flowed from the hand that covered her forehead and went past her eyes.

Maybe the divine power was cooling her head, too, because Minuelle was able to quickly understand the meaning behind Ramande’s words.

“…You… you were in my room?”

“Yes. I was waiting for you.”

No matter how big the mansion was, Ramande was human and it was difficult for him to constantly avoid Minuelle.

So, while Minuel was looking for him, he was in the one place she was least likely to look: her room.

He enjoyed waiting for Minuelle to figure it out and come, but at the same time, he hoped the door wouldn’t open.

However, Ramande simply tossed the reason for not meeting her to Minuelle. He didn’t want to be caught with his own ridiculous mixed feelings.

“But you seemed busy lately.”

Even with Ramande’s slyness, Minuelle had no time to notice it.

When she kept her mouth shut, Ramande became a little anxious and asked again.

“So. Why were you doing this here?”

“Aren’t you bothered by it?”

Of course he was. It had been a day since he had been able to sleep, but he feigned ignorance and asked back,

“By what?”

The moment the question mark appeared, the lower half of Minuelle’s face started to turn crimson.

No one knew the premonitory signs of that better than Ramande.

‘…Ah. She’s going to explode.’

As soon as he thought that, Minuelle’s fists attacked his shoulders.

The sounds were more like ‘poof-poof’ than ‘thump-thump’ because she was weak, but her voice was incredibly loud.

“You…! After you did that, that thing, that day!”

“What thing?”

Ramande said, pressing his twitching lips together.

The fact that Minuelle was thinking about him… It was, how should he describe it, electrifying.

‘I’m not in my right mind, either.’

Was this the side effect of wanting just one thing for so long?

But even as he thought that, Ramande couldn’t control his mouth.

“Do you… want to kiss me again?”

When he leaned in close to her ear and whispered, Minuelle, whose face had now turned completely red up to her forehead, pushed him away and shouted, “How could you say that when you know how precious you are to me?! I’m being serious!”

“…”

‘You are precious to me, too. So precious that if you’d just let me, I’d carry you around so your feet never touch the ground again.’

But for some reason, whenever he tried to confess, his lips wouldn’t move, as if they were glued together.

But there was no way Minuelle would know about Ramande’s state. She could only bite her lip and drop her head at his silence.

“What do you want? After that day, I… I thought of all sorts of things…”

Minuelle wasn’t just chasing Ramande blindly and simply, as Juela had thought.

This meant that while Ramande was subtly avoiding her, Minuelle had plenty of time to kick her blanket in frustration.

“…What did you think about?”

“What you were thinking when you did that… if you were just going to run away like this!”

The cotton-like pounding began again.

Ramande, who had been silently enduring it, suddenly raised his hands.

‘Gasp.’

Minuelle, who had started the violence, flinched and cowered, but Ramande’s hands didn’t grab her wrist.

They grabbed her face.

He cupped Minuelle’s face with both hands as if he were holding a pudding that would melt if he put any pressure on it, then he lowered his head.

Hup.

A short intake of breath was the only sound before their lips met, and this time, too, Minuelle couldn’t push him away.

Why?

No matter how hard she thought about it, she couldn’t find a reason. She only felt as if she was wrapped in warm bubbles, her body floating in the air.