Chapter 19

Ca, calm down…

It is all right, I can still persuade him. I can lead the male protagonist who is still faithful to that keyword onto the right path.

“That, before the Grand Duke…!” 

“I’m afraid it might be too soon to get married right away, so it would be better to get engaged first.”

“…Yes?”

“Did I say something that was difficult to understand?”

He was staring at me with a face as though he did not understand. There were no difficult words, though I suddenly became anxious at the sight of him smiling.

Ha. Can I do it…?

Will I really be able to guide the man who intends to take on a responsibility he did not even have to create? I shut my eyes tightly with the disbelief that flashed through my mind for a moment before shaking my head.

No, what if I cannot guide him? Am I really going to marry the male lead…?

“Wait, wait a minute. It seems that Your Highness must have misunderstood something.”

“….?”

“You don’t have to take responsibility. I can handle my own business!”

As I drew a line, he asked back while furrowing his eyebrows at my words.

“I think I need a little more explanation of what you mean.”

“I was saying that there was nothing, nothing at all — even in the slightest — that the Grand Duke is responsible for because we slept together without anything happening.

“I’m not responsible for anything at all?”

“Of course! Oh, don’t worry if my parents are concerned, I can persuade them.”

I was afraid that he might have thought about my family, or that he was concerned about the gaze of other people, so I quickly added to my words.

With my eyes twinkling, the corners of Cain’s lips rose slowly as he spoke. Contrary to the lifted corner of his mouth, a strange feeling of anxiety ran down my spine at that moment as his eyes did not contain a smile.

“Young Lady.”

“…Yes.”

“Does the Young Lady think I look like a person who’s interested in the County and wants to get married because of that?”

“….”

“It’s a pity if you think that way about me. It’s very regrettable because you would’ve been mistaken for a long time.”

I shuddered at the sight of him uttering those words with no smile at all.

It was sincere…This obsessive man, who was described as having a lot of temperament, was now showing his 100% pure sincerity.

…Why would he want to marry me?

“Is, is your Highness saying that you’re really going to marry me…?”

“I don’t see any reason why I couldn’t.”

“Are you out of your min…!”

I managed to resist the swear words that were about to come out of my mouth. No matter how great and high your nose is, there are things you can and things you could not say…

I could only smile awkwardly at him, who gazed at me with an indifferent face despite the half-protruding profanity.

…Why is he so relaxed?

The more I talked, the more I could not shake the feeling that I was already deeply entangled with him.

“I, I thought that it would be a little too much to take responsibility when nothing had happened…”

“But, the fact that we only slept is something that no one at this inn knows except us.”

“What…?”

​​

“Your maid, my knight, even the owner of this inn…”

“….”

“Everyone thinks we spent the night together.”

“….”

“Oh, It seems like it was slightly passionate, too.”

It was hot because Lily put too much firewood in the fireplace…!

I bit my lip, chewing and swallowing the words I could not say out loud. Seeing Cain smiling with the corners of his mouth raised, I thought that if I could just hit him once, I would have no other wishes. Heat surged at his witty and brazen attitude, and I forcibly controlled the corners of my trembling lips.

Calm down, common sense…

I am just speaking with common sense. Besides, I am sure Cain has some, too, because—

—His keyword is, a person with a sexy brain!

“With common sense… To be honest, marriage isn’t something like a breakfast menu, so if you decide like this…” 

“I’m not a picky eater.”

A vein bulged on my forehead at his reply back with a single smile.

Of course, right now, I am just metaphorically talking about food…!

Letting out a deep sigh, I barely managed to hold back the anger that was about to rise. Cain was smart, so he was good at talking as well… was that why such miraculous logic came out?

I used my forehead on a keyword about Cain that was of no help in the slightest and exhaled slowly. In any case, it was right for writers to refrain from attaching keywords that they thought would be okay for exposure. Because right now, I am having such a hard time because of that!

Meanwhile, he looked at me, while I was pouting my lip, and smiled as if nothing had happened.

Seeing him with a faint smile hanging around his mouth all morning, I suddenly wondered. Obviously, Cain in the novel I was reading was a cruel Grand Duke who did not even laugh. It was not because he lost his brother in the war, though it was just his character’s personality in the first place.

His natural personality and the fact that he could not sleep properly made him more sensitive. As a result, it must have been a genuine reason for a person who did not normally laugh much to become even more expressionless.