Secrets with the Crown Prince 9
Since morning, I had to act as the heroine of a spy movie with my personal maid, Maria. The reason for that was because today was the day, I had to meet Argon.
For my adoptive father’s position, I had to meet Argon. However, while I was trying to meet Argon, the madman kept tagging along. Of course, this was a recipe for disaster! It was troublesome that the madman didn’t try to leave my side even for a moment, but I thought I would be able to find the right timing to escape.
It didn’t make sense that I had to meet my ex-boss, who was like my archenemy in my past life, every day like this. After I ate a light breakfast with the madman, I made an excuse that I had to take a nap. Then, I went out of the mansion’s back door, where servants walked, with Maria. A carriage man was waiting for us in front of the back door, and Maria and I quickly got into the carriage.
“Do I look alright?”
I rose both of my arms and examined my condition. Maria looked at me, collected her hands, and furiously nodded her head.
“You have a mysterious appearance, Lady.”
I was wearing a dress that emphasized my shoulder-line, but because I moved my arms too aggressively, the neckline came all the way above my shoulders. Ah, how embarrassing. Maria fixed my crumpled dress and sleeves again.
“I think that’s why a white dress looks very good on you. Lady, you look like a fairy from another world.”
It was true that I came from another world. I felt shy from hearing Maria’s exaggerated compliments and closed my mouth. The reason why my father had placed Maria as my personal maid was because of her good character and lack of prejudice. She looked at me a bit differently than other people in this world.
Everyone treated me like an outsider, but Maria treated me, who had come to a foreign country at a young age (since everyone thought I was younger), like a younger sibling— although I was sure that my real age would probably be more than her.
The carriage stopped in front of a café that Argon was probably waiting in.
“We have arrived.”
As expected, in the café, Argon was waiting for us. A man with jet-black hair looked at me from the café’s entrance and rose from his seat. Argon was best friends with Rioel, because they were both knights in the Royal Order of Knights. Thus, as expected, he had a similar, large physique as Rioel.
Argon stared at me like he didn’t know what I was thinking and didn’t say anything; so, I also stared at him without greeting him. He seemed to be a bit taken back by this and finally greeted me.
“It’s been a while, Lady Lubiche.”
He carefully kissed the back of my hand and guided me to a seat. Seeing Argon, who sat without a fault in his manners, I already felt suffocated. Even a cleric would struggle to look this stiff. I looked from his neatly brushed, black hair and down to his clear, blue eyes. I couldn’t read what was in his mind.
After taking a seat, we didn’t say a single word. If a server hadn’t appeared to give us a menu, we would have died from suffocation.
“Please call me after you choose your menu,” the server told us with a friendly smile and disappeared.
I read the menu calmly; it has been long since I mastered the Alpine empire’s language, so this was nothing for me. I wanted to drink Vienna Coffee, but I wondered if they even had something like that here. Since I was in a café anyway, I wanted to get a sweet drink like a Lattė rather than an Americano.
“Have you decided?”
“No, not yet.”
At Argon’s question, I looked at the menu again. Should I just drink a latté? Is there something like a latté? When he saw me looking at the menu for a long time, Argon called his servant.
“Order two warm cups of coffee.”
I placed the menu down in surprise.
“Why is Sir Roadbalt ordering my drink however he wants?”
Argon looked shocked at my question— it was a very strange reaction.
“I thought you didn’t know the coffee menu well…”
I became speechless by his response. It was obvious that he didn’t think I was capable of reading such basic letters or had ever been at a place like a café before; since from his perspective, I wasn’t an aristocrat.
Then, did he think I had some substitute to write my part when we were exchanging letters? I knew I shouldn’t feel annoyed about every little incident like this since I would have to endure it frequently in the future. Still, it was true that I felt annoyed by it and talked sharply.
“I was wondering because I wanted to drink Vienna Coffee, and it seemed like they didn’t have that here. Do you know what a Vienna Coffee is? Probably not. They won’t have it in a place like this. So, anyways, that was why I was looking at the menu to see if they had something similar. I didn’t want to drink an ordinary coffee.”
I called Maria, who was glancing at us, from a close vicinity.
“Maria, please order me a latté. Do you want to drink the coffee that Sir Roadbelt ordered for me?”
Maria, who liked coffee, nodded brightly. Then, I smiled at Argon.
“Thank you for being considerate of me, Sir Roadbelt.”
Argon kept his mouth shut without saying a single apology or excuse. He was always like this.
After a few minutes, the coffee and latté we ordered arrived. I looked down at the steaming cup below me and thought. Everything was so bothersome. I swallowed back a strong feeling of rising annoyance and spoke.
“Why did you ask to meet me?”
“I heard that you didn’t want our engagement.”
At his words, I brought the cup to my mouth and stopped. I had never told anyone to let him know that. After finding out that my adoptive father, who I coincidentally saved, was an aristocrat, and at the moment, I became his daughter, I had expected something like an arranged marriage. Thus, although I grumbled about it a couple of times before to my adoptive father and Rioel, I didn’t mean to whole-heartedly reject the offer.
I didn’t expect him to receive that information in such a rude way. It was obvious that the culprit was Rioel. The only person, who would pass on a message like that so incautiously, was Rioel.
“I apologize, Lady, but I think it is too early to make a decision.”
Argon answered with a firm face.
“It’s a misunderstanding. It seems like my words have been twisted in its delivery.”
I placed my teacup down and told him. In response, Argon sat in silence and stared at me. It was really suffocating.
“I understand why you would hate me.”
He understood me? I was surprised by what Argon said, and as if he was almost confessing his sins, Argon talked carefully.
“I’m not a good talker, and my personality probably seems bleak to you. It’s understandable why you would want to cancel your engagement with me.”
That wasn’t the problem. When I talked to Argon, it was true that he didn’t respond to my words and cut me off at time. And I had thought he was a very egoistic person, who was hard to converse with, so it surprised that he said this so suddenly.
“However, as you probably know after becoming an aristocrat, you can’t break the promise made between families because of trivial feelings.”
Argon’s argument was meaningless since we weren’t even engaged yet. Did he say that, thinking that I won’t know much about how aristocratic interests? In short, Argon’s words weren’t convincing in the slightest. In addition, my adoptive father had told me that I didn’t have to do the engagement if I didn’t want to.
From the first place, I didn’t have a fantasy about marriage; so, I didn’t have many complaints about our loveless relationship. Although our personalities clashed a bit, since his appearance, background, and skills were all good, I had already convinced myself that Argon wouldn’t be a bad choice if I had to marry.
“When I’m with you Lady, my heart feels calm. And since you are different from the other ladies I had met, it feels new too.”
And from then on, Argon began to express a completely contrasting feeling from me about our meetings.
“Sorry?”
“So, then, how about we try seeing each other for a bit longer? If you still don’t like me then, I will try to persuade Count Lubiche and my father to cancel our engagement.”
“No, I think you misunderstood—”
I tried to add to what he said, but he didn’t let me continue.
“I don’t dislike you yet, Lady.”
“I don’t like you, though.”
“Ah!”
At the sudden low voice I heard, I screamed and got up from my seat. I saw a shining silver hair first, and when I got to my senses, the madman was sitting next to my side. I looked at Maria in surprise, and Maria shook her head as if she didn’t know what was going on.
“Prince Reynold?”
As if he was really surprised, Argon forgot to give his greetings and stared at the madman.
“It’s been a while, Argon.”
“I stand before his Majesty, the Crown Prince.”
Argon stood up from his seat a bit later and arched his back.
“But what is your majesty here for…”
“It’s because she went outside like she was escaping. I went through a lot of trouble looking through all the cafés around this area.”
The madman said while looking at me. Now, that I properly saw him, I noticed sweat on his forehead. For some reason, as soon as I saw the madman’s face, a sense of uneasiness that I had felt seemed to flush away.
I forgot aristocratic etiquettes for a moment and grumbled at the madman.
“Who are you saying escaped? You are the one nested in our place from the first place.”
The madman made a pretty smile at me and pressed his lips on the back of my hand. His warm breath tickled my wrist.
“I’m sorry Mouse bell. I can’t let you go. How can I let you go after finally meeting you?”
My wrist heated up. What was this? I aggressively rubbed the wrist where the madman’s lips touched with my sleeves.
“Do you guys know each other?”
Argon, who watched us quietly, finally asked, and I remembered that I was talking to Argon about our engagement.
“Ah, yes. A bit.”
“A bit? It’s not ‘a bit’. There’s nothing I don’t know about you.”
The madman said very calmly and stared at Argon. I didn’t know why he stared at Argon at that timing, but Argon’s face seemed to stiffen with those words.
“Mouse Bell doesn’t like boring guys like you,” the madman said.
Thus, I scowled and retorted.
“What are you saying? Sir Roadbalt’s face is amusing enough.”
Argon seemed shocked at my words, and he touched his cheeks with his hands. Ah, I didn’t mean that his face was funny in that way…
“I’m better looking than him, though.”
However, the madman understood what I meant and glared at Argon. Then, he whispered in my ears quietly.
“I thought you liked funny things. You told me that’s why you joined a variety broadcast instead of an educational one. I thought you also like people with quick wit. If you are talking about quick wit, you can’t forget Cha Do-Hyuk.”
“Quick wits-my ass. You were the new sensation among the psychos.”
“What?”
The madman looked like his head was struck. Then, I realized what I had done and closed my mouth; I had let my inner thoughts out without meaning to. Argon looked shocked while Argon’s servant and Maria were pale stricken. It seemed like I said my inner thoughts too loudly again.
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