Chapter 45

“Propose? That’s… umm… What is that?”

“You said you wanted to be a couple with me, didn’t you? Then if I propose to you, you can accept it.”

“Then are we going to be a husband and wife? Can we live together?”

“That’s right.”

“Okay, then!”

Rubette readily agreed, and the boy laughed for a long time as he thought that Rubette was interesting.

“Well, since we promised, I’m afraid we’ll have to say goodbye today.”

“Mm…”

Rubette knew he was trying to comfort her, so she didn’t bother him any more and took a regretful step.

After returning home that day, Rubette was scolded by Molga, who was pretending to be worried and crying, and her angry first brother Viego. But she wasn’t very upset.

As long as she could meet that sweet boy again…

She felt it was going to be okay.

***

Tick.

A brass pendant carved in the shape of a lion.

As soon as I got home, I took it out and opened it. The thing had beem stored dearly in the accessory box.

Inside the pendant with a small groove when opened, was powder made from drying the roses the boy had given her.

“Hmm…”

I looked at it silently.

I had thought a lot the whole time I had been running with Lark at that yard.

Even after returning home, I was still thinking about the festival night seven years ago.

“That lion mask…”

It was Kedrick Reiger.

‘She fell in love with Kedrick for the rest of her life because of what happened that day.’

8-year-old Rubette had been lying in bed, suffering from lovesickness and only thinking Who was that brother?

‘It was easy to guess that he was a high-ranking noble.’

If so, wouldn’t it be one of young dukes of similar age?

Just as she was in doubt, Kedrick appeared in front of her. And she happened to hear about him, too.

For some reason, he’d been severely scolded by his father and hadn’t been able to enjoy the festival because he’d been in custody…

‘It was the same with the boy with lion mask. He said it was difficult to tell him his name because he came out without his father’s knowledge.’

As a young child, Rubette was convinced that the lion’s mask was Kedrick.

Why was she convinced that the two were the same person on the basis of mere evidence?

“T-That day, the one with a lion mask who helped me… was it you, Young Duke Kedrick?”

Of course because she had gone to Kedrick in person, talked about the day, and even heard the answer.

“I was very grateful back then. You took me home safely, didn’t tell others that I was lost, and even… played with me.”

“Aaah… Well, that’s right.”

“I-I like you! I think I’m in love with you! Please take this!”

On the day she had the courage to go to Kedrick.

She gave him an expensive cravat and confessed directly.

“Haha, you got me. Shh. Don’t tell anyone else.”

“O-Of course!”

And he had obviously nodded.

Tick.

Closing the open pendant, I slowly tilted my head.

And the moment I closed my eyes.

Memories with Kedrick, whom Rubette had been entwined with for the rest of her life, flashed through me like a lantern.

“She’s been following him since then.”

Oddly enough, Kedrick hadn’t been as friendly as their first meeting.

‘In the end, every time Rubette got tired and tried to quit liking Kedrick, she failed fiercely. Failed again. And failed more.’

Whenever Rubette’s interest waned, Kedrick would made a subtle platter like throwing a loaf of bread to a beast that had starved for three or four days.

“You know how I feel, don’t you?”

“I missed you.”

“Do you still like me?”

Kedrick’s friendly smile and voice were like raindrops in Rubette’s weary heart.

As time went on, he was more interested in Lillia than Rubette, and even joined the twin’s bullying bullshit…

“What about that memory?”

Rubette, who could not forget the night of the festival, weakened her heart each time.

Kedrick was the first person to be kind to her, who was someone of low virtue.

Kedrick, who comforted her without getting angry even though she was crying and shouting.

Kedrick, who later promised that he would marry her and live together.

“Wow…”

Rubette believed that the lion mask of the day was Kedrick in her 45 years of life.

“Then if he’s not…”

“Why are you talking to yourself?” Wishit, who was lying carelessly on my bed, asked.

“Wishit, why is there so much trash around me? Is this my fate too?”

“It’s nothing new.”

“But-“

I grinned, straightened my reclined body, and hung the pendant around my neck.

“I hope you haven’t wasted your time and got hung up, chasing after that trash man you’ve never met in the first place. Please.”

[T/N: The exact translation of “trash man” is “똥차” which means “an ex-boyfriend who has disappointed and hurt you”.]

The grip on the pendant became tense.

“I hope you weren’t mistaken, Rubette.”

***

The next day.

Lark readily complied with my request to work out together tomorrow.

Even though I knew well that he must have a lot of work to do in the palace…

‘That needlessly friendly attitude is just like the lion mask.’

I swallowed a rejected laugh and said after running for a while, “Your Highness.”

“Mm.”

“Why didn’t you get married at this age?”

“Mm?” Lark tilted his head and looked back at me.

He was nineteen.

He may still be a minor in the world I originally lived in, but it’s different here, especially if you’re a royal, not to mention the crown prince.

According to the imperial law, 16 is considered an adult, so it would not be strange for the 19-year-old Lark to get married and have one or two children.

“Usually, the heirs of the imperial family get married when they turn 16. And get engaged from when they turn 12 or 13.”

“So?”

“So why have you not taken a wife until now? I’m sure the parliamentary aristocrats must’ve nagged you a lot.”

“You’re suddenly curious about that?”

“Yes.”

“Mm, well…”

Lark pondered and shrugged his shoulders.

“I’m just a little cautious.”

“Aha. So that’s why you tried to propose to me? Since I’m the daughter of Duke Diollus who’s about the same age, you thought it’ll help you if I become the crown princess.”

Lark paused and smiled apologetically.

“No, I mean… that’s the reason, but I’d be sorry if you said it out loud.”

“Is there really no other reason?”

“Mm?”

When I stopped running, Lark naturally followed me.

In front of Lark with a puzzled expression, I showed the pendant hanging from my neck out of my clothes.

“Mm…”

Lark squinted and looked into it, paused in surprise, and burst into laughter.

“Isn’t the lion pendant cute?”

“Yeah, it’s cute. Who bought it? They have a good eye.”

“Hahahahaha…!”

“Hahahahaha!”

I could be sure he recognized this pendant from Lark’s playful smile.

I felt stuffy as I laughed after him, but also cold.

‘Did you not get married until 19 because of the playful promise you made to marry me that day?’

Perhaps I had misunderstood Lark’s intentional approach when I hadn’t known, but…

After I had found out, it was heartbreaking.

“Who bought it? Of course it was Young Duke Kedrick Reiger.”

When I spoke with a bright smile, Lark stumbled in an instant.

He asked, narrowing his brow.

“Who did you say bought it for you?”

“Young Duke Kedrick Reiger.”

“… No, it’s not.”

“Yes, it’s true. Seven years ago, during the national holiday mask festival.”

Lark’s lips, which opened slowly, perhaps thinking it was absurd, trembled. He clearly wanted to say that he was the one who bought this for me.

“I was lost then, and I met Young Duke Kedrick in a mask.”

“No, wait a minute. Princess, that’s what-”

“Listen to the end. Young Duke Kedrick gave me, who was lost and crying, a tour of the festival that day, and bought me this pendant as well.”

My eyes felt heated in an instant, and I slowly closed my eyes and took a deep breath.

“He told me that he didn’t want to separate and that he would come to propose to me later, because if we are married, we can live in the same house.”

“Yes, so that’s-”

“It was Young Duke Kedrick. I asked him myself.”

“What? Kedrick Reiger said the lion mask was him that day?”

“Haha, the lion mask? I just said he wore a mask, did I say it was a lion mask?”

To the startled Lark, I clenched my teeth and smiled brightly.

“You heard from Victor that I had a crush on Kedric for seven years, right?”

“Wait. No way…”

Lark closed his eyes tightly and grabbed his wrinkled forehead.

“Yes, that’s right!”

I couldn’t contain the heartbreak, so I took a step closer to Lark.

“I fell in love with Kedrick in lion mask that day, like a fool!”

“Ah…”

“My time! My innocence!”

I was in tears because it was so unfair that Rubette had had to suffer her whole life by holding on to an unexpected trash man.

Lark paused and stiffened as I reached out my fist over his chest with a deep, helpless force.

“What have you been doing? You should have come sooner.”

“…”

“I didn’t even know it was you until now…”

It’s unfair.

I managed to bite my quivering lips and say with difficulty.

“For seven years, I’ve followed Kedrick Reiger, thinking I’d be with him forever! I almost followed him to death!”

Perhaps Lark was quite embarrassed, as he held my hand still above his chest and remained silent in a daze.