Look, look at how that disciple talks. My face flushed with heat at the disciple’s blatant sarcasm.

But the disciple had every right to be angry. After all, he and I were in the midst of marriage talks.

Then suddenly his elder sister came and said she was carrying his fiancée’s child……

Even the emperor who knows I’m a woman is taking his anger out on me, so the disciple who doesn’t know I’m a woman must be even angrier.

I tried my best to think rationally and suppress my anger. And as soon as I saw some results, I smiled as kindly as I could and said:

“I have no relationship with the 9th Princess, Your Highness. The 9th Princess must have been joking with you.”

I tried my best to appear as gentle as possible, summoning my entire soul.

But the disciple looked down at me with a frighteningly emotionless gaze and wore only a perfunctory smile on his lips.

I felt a bit aggrieved at his apparently very angry appearance. No, the emperor makes me guard his daughter, this guy gets angry at me over marriage talks pushed by his birth father and stepmother.

The empress wants to marry me off to check the 13th prince, and the 9th princess says she’s pregnant after meeting me twice. These royals. They’re all so selfish!

As my insides started to boil again, the 13th prince finally opened his heavy mouth.

“It seems our teacher has a light body and light heart. And wants to grasp in hand anyone who seems even slightly useful.”

It became difficult to maintain the expression I had been forcibly controlling. Still, I struggled to keep my voice even as I answered:

“I had no idea Your Highness was so close with the 9th Princess. To believe everything the 9th Princess says.”

Oh no, this is bad. What good is an even voice? When my words are so twisted, it just sounds sarcastic.

“……”

Fortunately, there was no change in the 13th prince’s expression, but I suddenly felt scared and quickly added jokingly:

“Could it be that you’re jealous?”

I regretted it as soon as the words left my mouth. Jokes should only be made to people who can take them.

If regret came before speaking, there would be no nonsense to say at all. Why do people always regret after the words have already been spoken?

Feeling self-conscious, I can’t bring myself to look above the 13th prince’s stomach. It’s difficult to face him.

But since it would be strange to keep staring at his stomach, after hesitating for a while, I slowly raised my head, only to immediately meet his gaze looking down at me with an indecipherable look.

Feeling cowed, I quietly met that gaze, and the 13th prince jerked his chin as if telling me to follow and turned around.

……Is the scolding over? Can I feel relieved?

Though doubtful, I had no choice but to follow. But far from being over, the 13th prince muttered even more terrifying words.

“It will be troublesome if you continue to spread rumors with all sorts of people like this even after marriage. If you don’t want to fight with your disciple as a married couple, be careful with your actions from now on.”

“!”

[This is the timeline separator]

I ended up going to Wolmugung and giving the delayed lectures.

But even while teaching, it was hard to suppress my discontent. I understood why the 13th prince was angry, but since it wasn’t my fault, I felt wronged too.

Moreover, this 13th prince. He’s much smarter than me. He already knows everything I’m teaching him. Making me teach diligently while giving me the cold shoulder is narrow-minded and scheming.

Still, I endured and finished the lecture earnestly. Around the time I finished, I carefully watched the 13th prince’s mood and cautiously broached the subject.

“Well then, Your Highness. Please think about this part separately and tell me your thoughts next time. Let’s end today’s lesson here, and I will take my leave now.”

Even after finishing speaking, I watched the 13th prince’s reaction, then deliberately slowly gathered the scattered books and put them in the desk drawer.

Then I stood up and pretended to adjust my clothes, and fortunately, the 13th prince didn’t stop me. Good. He’s not stopping me. Let’s hurry and leave.

“Teacher.”

However, just as I was about to bid farewell to the 13th prince, he who had been quiet all along walked to the front of the desk and called me in a concerning voice.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

When our eyes met, the 13th prince deliberately came right in front of me, showed off our height difference once, then pretended to be friendly and repeated his earlier warning.

“I feel I spoke too vaguely earlier, so I wanted to say it once more.”

“No, I understood completely. You don’t need to say more.”

“Teacher.”

“…Yes.”

“I do not have romantic feelings for you.”

“I know.”

“I’m not fond of your appearance either.”

What am I supposed to do with that?

I don’t expect the 13th prince to like my appearance. But is there really a need to meticulously point that out to my face?

Though feelings of displeasure arise, I suppress them and stare blankly at the 13th prince before asking:

“Why are you suddenly saying this?”

“I don’t want to marry you, teacher. But that doesn’t mean I’ll sit by and watch you spread rumors here and there.”

“!”

While I was unable to say anything, stunned by the 13th prince’s biting words, he looked down at me intently and slowly advised in a heavy, low voice as if engraving it into my bones:

“If we do end up married, you’ll have to behave much more seriously. Your body. Your heart. Even this head of yours.”

When mentioning my head at the end, the disciple almost touched the side of my head before lowering his hand.

Completely overwhelmed by the disciple’s aura, I merely nodded obediently.

“Yes. My head too.”

[This is the timeline separator]

When I arrived home, mother was loitering in front of my quarters and greeted me as if we had met by chance.

“You’re back?”

She seemed curious about how the 13th prince would react, as he must have gradually heard about this marriage proposal.

But how could I tell mother, “The 9th princess said she’s carrying my child, so His Majesty is furious and the 13th prince is extremely annoyed”?

Mother might clutch her head and collapse if she heard this story.

“Yes, I’m back.”

In the end, I smiled as if nothing had happened, exchanged a few words, and entered my room.

But as soon as I entered the room, I couldn’t hold back anymore and crawled into the bed, burying myself in the blankets and thrashing around like a fish.

Only after doing that for a while could I come out of the bed, compose myself, and take a deep breath.

Right. This is not the time to be like this. If I keep this up, the whole family will become the target of the emperor’s wrath. I can run away from the 13th prince later, let’s resolve the 9th princess issue first.

Yo Yohwa. Use your brain. Think. I’m smart, aren’t I!

I just need to push forward a handsome and dashing friend who the 9th princess would take a liking to at first sight instead of me. That would work, but… do I have such a friend among my friends? No matter how I think about it, I’m the most handsome one?

“Young master. The madam has sent some snacks.”

“Oh, come in.”

“It’s rice cakes and green tea.”

Lost in thought, I met eyes with Sugil, mother’s close aide.

Sugil, having received mother’s orders, seemed to be checking on what I was up to. Even while setting the food on the table, she kept glancing in my direction. When our eyes met, she suddenly smiled and quickly said nonchalantly:

“Then I’ll take my leave now, young master.”

As she hurried to leave, I suddenly remembered that Sugil had a keen eye.

Sugil had three daughters, all married, and rumor had it that all three sons-in-law were exceptionally handsome.

Sugil must have an excellent aesthetic sense, so she might be able to help.

“Sugil. Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

Sugil came to me immediately, her eyes shining, and asked:

“What can I help you with? Though I may be inadequate, I’m quite well-versed in matters of love.”

“It’s not about my love life.”

Sugil seemed disappointed for a moment but soon recovered about half her sparkle and asked:

“Yes, go ahead and ask.”

“You see, you’ve seen my friends a few times, haven’t you?”

“I’ve seen them often. You often brought them over to play.”

“In your opinion, who among my friends is the most handsome?”

“Of course it’s our young master! You’re in a league of your own!”

“Haha, I know that. I mean besides me.”

Sugil answered immediately without even thinking, as if it was obvious:

“It would be young master Sun An. Though he’s slightly lacking compared to our young master, he’s still a fine young man who wouldn’t be out of place anywhere.”

“What? An is handsome?”

“Of course.”

“I didn’t know. The mirror is what I see every day.”

“Oh my, you shouldn’t use yourself as the standard, young master.”

After Sugil left, I carefully considered Sun An’s face. Come to think of it, he did seem to have the most proper face among my friends.

Well, that must be why Lin Hwa fell for him at first sight and keeps following him around.

Alright. Then should I ask Sun An?

As soon as I had that thought, Lin Hwa, who would stop at nothing when it came to Sun An, came to mind.

If I try to match Sun An with the 9th princess, whether it actually works out or not, Lin Hwa would hate the mere attempt very much.

‘Is this okay?’

Feeling a bit uneasy as I thought about it, I put some rice cake in my mouth and chewed while pondering how Lin Hwa would react to this.

It would cause an uproar, wouldn’t it? Hmm… I should be as careful as possible to keep this from reaching Lin Hwa’s ears.

But as far as I knew from before my regression, Lin Hwa didn’t end up with Sun An in the end.

She married another man carefully chosen by her parents, and they lived happily together even after marriage. I heard she had conceived too. I died before the niece or nephew was born.

Anyway, since Lin Hwa has a good future with another man, wouldn’t it be okay to try to match Sun An with the 9th princess?

If she were to be unhappy married to another man, it would be different, but if she’s going to live so well that there are rumors of their good relationship. There’s no need to change this future, right?

Alright. Then let’s ask Sun An.

[This is the timeline separator]

Since it was an urgent matter, I changed clothes and went to find Sun An as soon as I made the decision.

“We’re seeing each other often these days?”

Sun An seemed disgruntled at my repeated visits, but today I couldn’t afford to bicker with him.

“Come here. Quickly.”

I dragged Sun An into his room and carefully broached my plan.

“Actually, I came to ask for your help.”

“It always ends up like this. I was uneasy because you kept looking for hideouts and ways to escape. Well, what’s the matter? Who did you get in trouble with?”

“The 9th Princess.”

“Goodbye.”

Before I could properly explain, Sun An quickly stood up and shouted towards the outside:

“The guest is leaving!”

I covered Sun An’s mouth, shook my head quickly, and made a desperate expression.

“Ugh.”

Though Sun An shuddered as if disgusted, he eventually shouted towards the outside again:

“Never mind. Bring some drinks!”

“Thank you.”

“If you’re thankful, remove your hand.”

I quickly removed my hand and then shared a slightly fabricated, but truth-infused situation with Sun An.

“Actually, you see. The 9th Princess is claiming to be pregnant with my child.”

“The guest is leaving!”

“Oh come on! Listen to the end! Look, the thing is, I’ve never done anything like that with the Princess. I think the Princess has fallen for me and is deliberately lying.”

“You trash. Did you play with the Princess? And now you’re blaming the Princess because you’re afraid of the consequences? Were you such a lowly person?”

“……”

This bastard. He has absolutely no trust in me? As I gaped at him blankly, Sun An finally raised an eyebrow and asked:

“What? Is it true?”

“Yes.”

Sun An tilted his head.

“Then there’s a problem. Fortunately, you’re unmarried. If the 9th Princess is saying that, can’t you just marry her?”

“The problem is that I… already have ongoing marriage talks with another member of the royal family. It’s still at a confidential level, but. I think the 9th Princess knows about it and is lying to break off my engagement.”

“What? Really? Should I congratulate you or worry? With whom? Which princess are you in marriage talks with?”

“Not a princess… but a prince.”

“!”