“Iris, I hereby break off our engagement. I have awakened to true love. I will now be engaged to Lilian, who is present here. Everyone here shall bear witness to this.”
My fiancé… no, my former fiancé, the Crown Prince, declared this while holding the waist of a baron's daughter, her platinum blonde hair loosely braided. Did he think making such a bold announcement made him manly?
“Your Highness…” Lilian, the woman in question, looked up at the Crown Prince with teary eyes.
Did he really say this during a ball hosted by a duke? In front of this entire crowd? Has he no sense of shame?
“Thank you very much… Ahem, I understand.” I curtsied and turned to leave, but—
“Wait a moment.” The Crown Prince stopped me.
“Iris, did you just say ‘thank you’?”
Oh… I was caught.
“No, I did not. I said I understood.” I insisted, feigning ignorance.
“You are so rigid. I've never seen you smile, and you lack any sense of fun. In contrast, while Lilian may have her flaws, she is honest and innocent. Perhaps because of that… it seems you've been bullying her. Did you know she cried in secret?”
She has more than just a few flaws. In fact, there’s hardly anything about her that isn’t flawed.
Is this conversation still going? I can’t keep my face under control… I'm about to start laughing. Please, just end this already.
“And after all that, you say ‘thank you’? Are you mocking me and Lilian?”
A brief silence followed. Is it my turn now?
“Absolutely not. I wish you and Lady Lilian everlasting happiness.”
The Crown Prince sighed and shook his head.
“There you go again, putting up a strong front. How about saying something honest for once, like Lilian does?”
Does he just want to say “like Lilian”? If he wants to brag about her, he can do it somewhere else. While thinking this, I responded:
“To express my true feelings and bare my heart would be disrespectful to Your Highness. I leave everything to your will.”
With a smug attitude, the Crown Prince said:
“In this instance, I will allow it. I won't hold you accountable for any disrespect. Iris, speak your mind.”
Everyone was watching. Can he just let me go already? I’m reaching the limit of what I can endure. Even if I try to hide my mouth with a fan, my eyes are already smiling.
“What truth are you referring to, Your Highness?”
The Crown Prince glanced briefly at Lilian. “For example, your feelings of jealousy towards Lilian.”
I swallowed a sigh and responded calmly. “I hold no feelings of jealousy towards Lady Lilian.”
“Hah, that can’t be true. After all, I’ve taken the man you love away from you.” The Crown Prince smirked, and Lilian seemed to bask in her sense of superiority.
As the Duke, the host of the event, looked on with concern, I began to speak my true feelings in a slightly rising tone.
“I am the daughter of a noble marquis family. In terms of social status, dignity, education, lineage, wealth, and beauty—by any measure, I surpass Lady Lilian. I do not love the Crown Prince. In other words… there is no reason for me to be jealous.”
Lilian’s face turned red. All I did was state the truth. Was she unaware of it?
The Crown Prince stared at me in shock. You were the one who asked me to speak honestly.
He hurriedly spoke again.
“Iris, didn’t you diligently prepare to become the Crown Princess? Surely, you wanted to be my bride?”
Oh yes, Your Highness, you were always skipping your royal lessons, weren’t you?
“No, it was out of obligation. Being born into a noble family, a political marriage is unavoidable. I studied diligently for the sake of this country and its people, not for you.” I answered calmly.
“And what about learning how to cook for me?”
“I did indeed learn to cook, but how exactly does that benefit Your Highness?”
“I heard it’s popular among commoners to cook for the man they love.”
“That is a baseless assumption on your part, Your Highness. It was simply for my own personal interest. After all, there are chefs, so I hardly need to cook for anyone.”
0 Comments