Chapter 52.1

After finishing the meal, my mother opened her mouth. “Is the Crown Prince going to the palace after finishing his meal?”

“Yes, I have an afternoon schedule.”

“Thank you very much for coming today. I’ll tell Arthur when he wakes up.”

“I hope the Duke gets well soon.”

My mom faintly smiled.

The crown prince ate as he said and went back. It was a pretty good meetup, except for the fact that he was throwing a bomb at us before we went back.

“Princess. My lady, will you accept my invitation next time?”

Oh, yes. What about the crown prince? In fact, there was only one thing I could say when the crown prince said that.

“Yes, I would, if you invite me.”

* * *

“Don’t you ever dare go,” Alexid said once the crown prince was gone.

“Oh, I can just tell him that my older brother told me not to come! The crown prince definitely wanted me to go, How can I ever say no?”

“Hey, how can you say that?”

“Then how can I say no!”

There wasn’t a day where I went on with a quiet day! My brother was repeating mercilessly that I shouldn’t go. What the hell is wrong with him?

“I’m scared.” Alexid recited quietly.

I was so full of energy. When I stared at Alexid, he blushed and cleared his throat. That crazy guy is doing all sorts of things. He’s the real thing. How come there’s no one around?

I let out a sigh.

“Let’s just hear why. We need to know why we need to be careful so we can take measures.”

“It’s just… It’s just that he’s a demon. He may look fine, but he’s really evil! Why did he even visit here? I couldn’t even roam around our home quietly!”

“The devil came and you ran away without me!”

“You had Gerald with you!” My brother pointed a finger at Gerald.

Gerald, who was dragged into our fight, tilted his head.

“Why are you dragging him along here? He’s him and you’re my biological older brother!”

“Jeje is a monster! I’m just a person!”

What nonsense is this? Is it really this hard to talk to an irrational person?

“If you’re going to say something weird, will you get out of here?”

“There’s nothing I can’t say to you! You’ll get in trouble!”

You’re going to get in trouble, you peanut! Why are you bothering me so much? You do you, I do me!

After shaking off Alexid, Gerald was left by my side. Gerald smiled when his eyes met mine.

“You’re not going?”

“I’ll be going there soon, though I still have the necklace left.”

“Oh.”

Whew. My romance.

I’ve been so stubborn about it so far and it flew away right in an instant. The Crown Prince is a fox. I never thought he’d point out not having a necklace on at that moment. Of course, what I really didn’t expect was my cursed game skills. How can I be so bad at games anyway?

“Okay, we can do it, “I grumbled.

Gerald smiled lightly and put a flat box on my palm.

For some reason, it was a box with an old edge.

“When did you prepare this?”

“Last year. I wanted to give it to you first, Lulu,” Gerald said affectionately.

I opened the box. It was designed to appear easy to wear at any time. A little scarlet jewel glittered.

“It is the only diamond in the world.”

I know. I know that. I clenched my lips. I had received this necklace before. I remembered how happy I was when I heard that Gerald ordered a necklace to match the color of my eyes, I felt like I had the whole world. This was proof of Gerald’s love for me.

It wasn’t really like that. Little did I know, a necklace couldn’t be the proof of his love for me.

I closed the lid on the box.

“Thank you, Gerald.”

“Lulu, you don’t have to give it to me right now.”

Gerald’s eyes flashed. He had a smile on his face, but he was now frowning.

Why is Gerald doing this to me? We have already failed. There must have been some reason for Gerald, as Alexid said. Although, I couldn’t pretend to not know that the feelings he had for me were a lie.

I remembered Gerald, who was crushed by my plea for divorce, but still, I didn’t know the reason why. For what reason does Gerald have to do that to me? It was me who was frustrated. I couldn’t accept Gerald’s feelings until I knew the reason why. If I still couldn’t understand Gerald, then the same thing would happen eventually.

You don’t know what I’m thinking.

Gerald said softly. “Do it if you want to.”

“……Yes.”

Gerald hesitated and took my hand. “I’ll come back again.”

So Gerald left. He left me with a huge wave. Bad jerk.

* * *