CH 21

“But I don’t have a spouse?”

What kind of accusation was this when I didn’t even have a boyfriend? Blanc even said it with some kind of determination in his features.

“At the tower, youuu… liiive with that maan…”

His voice was still slow, but what he wanted to say was conveyed clearly. At this, I feel sweat pouring down.

“It’ll spell big trouble if you go around saying His Highness is my spouse. You can’t say something like that anywhere else.”

Just like what Schubert was here for earlier. Wasn’t it generally known that the person living with a prince was a manipulative witch who deserved to die?

First of all, it was decided even before Blanc entered the tower.

“Theeen, humans who are stuck together like that doesn’t necessarily mean they have that kind of relationshiiiip…”

Mm, I persuaded you well. He tends to speak slowly, but Blanc is very smart.

…So there was nothing more I had to say. The fact that there’s some skinship between us and that our lips sometimes become swollen was irrelevant here.

“Haha, oh, I’m sleepy. Blanc, shall we go to bed?”

When at a disadvantage, the best course of action was to change the subject.

But after saying that, I really did become sleepy. It was originally time for bed anyway, and because I was in a better mood after going out of the tower and staying here in such a luxurious room, eventually, I fell asleep with Blanc in my arms.

* * *

“Rosé.”

At that moment, I was still half-asleep when someone called me.

“…your permission.”

In my drowsiness, I nodded. A warm touch gently swept away the hair over my face. I blinked slowly and looked to see who the owner of that hand was.

A slight brush of a finger left my lips, and a hushed, languid voice reached my ears.

“It’s time to go.”

But I want to sleep more. It’s cheating to wake me up like this when I’m sleeping so comfortably—whoever it was. The face was blurry because I was still half asleep.

Instead of waking up, I snuggled further into the duvets and buried my face into the pillow.

“I already got your permission. Are you still going to stay like this?”

A sweet voice resounded. Those words that asked for my permission became mere afterimages in my dream-like state.

Someone with this kind of voice, was there anything he could ask me for permission about?

…There is, I think. While thinking about it, I was drifting off to sleep, but I was startled by the hand that lowered the duvet.

“Cold…”

I mumbled as I pulled back… well, tried and failed to pull back the blanket. There’s a fireplace, but during dawn, the tower was still freezing. And furthermore, the attic I stayed at was colder than Albert’s room.

I trembled unconsciously. But contrary to my anticipation, there was no cold wind.

Was this not inside the tower?

Only then did I remember that we went out.

Raising my heavy eyelids, I found Albert sitting by me on the bed I was lying on.

He was sitting at the bedside, looking down at me. While the night sky brightened up as the sun rose, the light filtering in moderately brightened up the blurry gray hair. There was a slight shadow over his face.

I was looking up at him, but even from this unsavory angle, I could see no fault in his beauty. Were there even any faults to begin with?

Albert was perfect from each and every angle. Even though we saw each other every day, I couldn’t help but stare at him blankly as though possessed.

His hand reached over to caress my cheek slowly. Over the path his hand touched was a trail of the sun that passed by. I feel like I’d been lit up like the embers of the fireplace.

Albert’s gaze was both warm and cool. Two different characteristics were subtly intertwined.

What did he think about whenever he looked at me? I was suddenly curious.

I feel like I’ll walk right into trouble if you talk to me like this…

This is a breach of contract. I blinked and timidly spoke.

“…I already opened my eyes.”

“But you’ve already given me your permission, Rosé.”

“…What permission?”

“The permission to touch you now.”

“Prince, I don’t remember answering to that…”

“I got it. So Rosé, I’ll say it again.”

He looked down softly. Then, as he leaned down, he put his lips close to my ears. The sound of his breaths could be felt in my ear, and my body was startled. Albert whispered softly.

“I want to touch you.”

As he paused, the air he breathed out tickled my ear, which caused goosebumps starting from my ear going down my neck.

I trembled. Looking at me, Albert added in a lower voice.

“Please give me your permission.”

Oh, it’s that.

What I heard earlier was only the part of ‘your permission’, and so now the puzzle was solved. As expected, it was better to listen to someone else from beginning to the end.

In other words, I shot myself on the foot.

Gulping dryly, I slowly moved away from Albert and protected myself by wrapping the duvet around me like I was a roll of kimbap.

“Waaaiit… Can’t breeeathe…”

And then Blanc, who was trapped there in the blanket, spoke drowsily.

Even while he was running out of breath, he still spoke slowly. It was safe to say that it’s like he’s someone on vacation.

Still, Blanc’s words need to be respected, so I quickly took him out of the blanket and set him down between me and Albert.

Seeing the prince, Blanc tilted his head to the side while standing up on his stubby paws.

You’re trying to protect me!

You’re trying to save me from that prince’s magic spell!

Blanc is a fledgling dragon! Although he had yet to reach adulthood, from Albert’s enchantment, he’s trying to save me, this great, wonderful magical be…ast.

“Blanc, where are you going?”

After getting up on the bed, Blanc went towards the fireplace some distance away and settled there. Turning his head, he glanced at me and waved.

“You twooo… solve it by yourseeelf.”

Smacked with a sense of déjà vu, I recalled the time when Blanc asked me to go up to the room from the kitchen by myself.

With a resounding crash, the bond between Blanc and I had collapsed.

“I thiiink… that guy is scaryyy…”

Blanc explained this as if he could read my shaking eyes.

“I didn’t know there’d come a day in my life that I’d be praised by a dragon fledgling.”

As he observed my demeanor, Albert crossed his arms and shrugged.

While looking back at him, I tried to respond calmly.

“I’m taking it back, Prince. It’s cancelled.”

“I expected that.”

Contrary to my concerns, Albert stood up without any qualms. Nothing else happened.

But it’s kind of a shame that you’re listening to me so obediently…

No, wait, don’t be sad about that. This is Albert’s way of flirting. If you start thinking like that, you’ll get swept away.

With my eyes wide open now, I shook off these sentiments. No thoughts, head empty. No thoughts, head empty.¹

“Are you sad?”

“No, that’s impossible.”

I answered Albert in an instant. It was a robotic answer to hide what I was really feeling.

With his eyes curved beautifully, he smiled.

“But that’s regrettable, Rosé. I’m sad.”

I had nothing to say to this even if Albert said so.

“I shouldn’t have revealed it too quickly.”

There ensued a moment of silence. As I sneakily averted my eyes, Albert calmly said.

“Let’s get prepared for the return trip.”

“Already?”

Albert raised his brows.

“You must like this place.”

“The room’s big and it’s pretty, so I like it. My room in the tower looks so desolate.”

“We have to go back soon, but look around the room. I’ll charge you later, so you can take anything you want.”

“Really?”

“I’ve never taken back my words before.”

“Prince, I love— no, thank you very much.”

Like a habit, I almost said ‘I love you’. It’s a common expression I say towards my friends, so sometimes it pops out without even my control.

…But he confessed to me, so I can’t do this. I wonder if he noticed from the beginning.

Albert’s expression was calm as if nothing had happened.

At this, I figured it’d be okay to just move on, but.

“Why are you changing your words in the middle of talking? Continue what you were saying.”

I’m not sure if he knew it’s something that came out unconsciously, but it’s flustering me that he was asking me to continue so openly.

“…Prince.”

“I know you’re saying that without meaning to.”

“……”

“So just say it without thinking much.”

The weight of those words changed completely from before.

Albert continued staring into my eyes. He applied that silent pressure that was as natural as breathing was for him, just in the same way that he naturally said and acted out those perplexing thoughts and actions.

But that’s why I can’t do that anymore.

“Prince, I can’t say…”

Shhk, shhk. After getting out from under the blankets, I got out of the bed and stood up.

“Here’s a substitute instead.”

I placed both hands over my head to make a big heart shape—a heart of love. The meaning was the same, but the weight of it wasn’t as heavy.

“This heart equals love.”

“…I don’t think that gesture means the same thing.”

“It has a mini-me, too.”

With my thumb and index finger together, I made a smaller heart. This is the Korean finger heart!

“I don’t know what that is either.”

Albert responded offhandedly, but the atmosphere was definitely softer than before.

Then, there was a knock on the door. Albert’s smile changed subtly.

His expression contained only sincerity until then, but there was now a mask over his features.

Just like when I first met him.

“Who is it?”

“Your Highness, it’s me, Duke Masen.”

Albert breathed out and stroked his chin.

“I told you to rest more. I don’t understand why you rose from your bed.”

“I couldn’t just let Your Highness leave like that, which is why I’ve come here.”

Duke Masen was the reason why Albert was here.

I fidgeted with my clothes.

“You’re being conscious.”

“No way, of course not. How can I possibly look away from the Prince? I’m just maintaining proper etiquette towards any other person.”

I’m embarrassed that I’d be meeting someone for the first time while I was in a blanket burrito. I answered back skillfully while slightly biting back. Albert narrowed his eyes.

“I have a hunch that’s not the only reason, but that’s probably my misunderstanding.”

“There’s no one as handsome as you, Prince.”

These words were sincere, but Albert was kind of on the mark. It’s inevitable to anticipate one’s first meeting with a duke.

In romance novels, the duke was bound to be either the male protagonist or the second male lead. As long as I’m this close to Albert, there’s a high chance that I’d meet Seo Ina later. So it’s also highly probable that the duke was the second male lead.

In romance novels, the male leads were always handsome, right? If Schubert was a young man whose looks you could look forward to in the future, then what about Duke Liam Masen?

What did he look like?

Three cheers! Three cheers for handsome guys!

“Come in.”

“Yes.”

Ba-dump, ba-dump. I stared at the door as though I was watching a movie. When the door opened, Duke Liam Masen stepped inside.

“Your Highness.”

The duke’s voice was huskier than Albert’s sweet voice.

Liam was quite the looker, with his short black hair and green eyes. He definitely looked older than Schubert, and considering his strong physique and the scabbard at his side, it was clear that he was someone who wielded a sword.

Even if I looked at his tanned face for a long, long time, I don’t think I’d ever get tired of it.

…As expected. Just catching sight of a romance novel’s male leads made my eyes endlessly blissful.

——

¹ What Rosé chants here is this mantra: 무념무상무념무상 (munyeom, masang, munyeom, masang) and the dictionary definition for it is [ a state of impassivity ] or [ the act of attaining a spiritual state of being that is free from all thoughts and worries ] and sure, I could translate that into a more sensible English mantra, but my brain is fried and I literally can’t think of anything but that meme xD