“The Duke of Wessex… has declared a new country name, Your Majesty.”

One day, upon hearing those words, I simultaneously realized that my heart was being kneaded in someone’s grasp and learned a few things.

That a kind heart is utterly useless in protecting loved ones.

That negotiations with villains must be based solely on the logic of power.

From that day on, Adrian discarded his dream of being a great and kind ruler and resolved to become the highest predator himself.

But he never forgot for a moment.

That resolution was entirely for Layla Wessex, who was now before his eyes, to protect her.

Adrian desperately hoped that Layla could escape from the greedy people who only thought of using her.

No one in the world would want their loved one to be unhappy, so Adrian followed that natural principle.

‘Though I may have already been completely erased from your heart.’

The name Adrian Pinter Raines might no longer evoke any emotion in her heart.

So there was a possibility that she would be displeased with him for still being unable to forget her, appearing before her, and wanting to win her heart again, ultimately rejecting him.

But it didn’t matter.

He was here, prepared to endure all that pain.

“Well, that’s the situation for now. I don’t need to seek the princess’s understanding of my thoughts, do I? Even if it’s a form that’s disadvantageous only to me, we’ve agreed to make a deal anyway.”

Millay deliberately continued his meal calmly for her, who hadn’t been eating properly since hearing about his incurable disease.

However, when a word that Layla didn’t expect to come out of Millay’s lips did, she instead put down the bread she had been eating.

“A deal?”

Layla put a question mark at the end of her sentence, meaning when did they ever do such a thing.

Glancing at the bread on Layla’s plate, Millay almost sighed, thinking he had said something unnecessary.

“Didn’t the princess agree to follow my very suspicious plan, and I promised to reveal my identity once everything was over?”

“Isn’t that more of a compromise than a deal? Since no money is being exchanged.”

He wondered if she would still be able to say such a thing even after knowing his identity.

When Millay only smiled quietly, Layla fortunately seemed to think it wasn’t an important topic and changed the subject.

“Then, Sir Millay, is that illness of yours… only getting worse?”

“No, it’s not. It naturally improves little by little, and there are several ways to improve the condition.”

Millay shook his head and answered.

In fact, the rebound phenomenon that ability users experience when using their powers doesn’t come on so severely if the power is properly controlled.

However, the threshold is very low, and sufficient rest must be taken when used. So people who use it frequently eventually have to borrow the power of a regulator.

But fortunately, some special items and artifacts that perform some of those functions are rarely discovered, even if they are not regulators, and if you obtain them, you can get help with recovery.

The item that Isabella had snatched away not long ago was that very artifact.

However, as if there was something fishy about Millay’s words, Layla looked at him with a gaze full of her characteristic questions.

Millay tried to interpret that gaze and brought up a likely candidate.

“Princess, you’re not worried that I might be terminally ill, are you?”

Layla’s shoulders twitched as if she had been caught off guard.

“I didn’t say that. It’s just that the severe hand tremors from last time came to mind…”

Millay slightly glanced at Maeve, who was standing near the door pretending not to hear the conversation at all, and uttered an exaggerated complaint that was half serious and half joking.

“I am in a state where I don’t know when I’ll die. I told you I collapsed last time, right? Because of that.”

“What happened?”

Millay’s blue eyes, colored by Lilburn, stared intently at Layla. Layla still turned her curious eyes towards him, as if she was interested in the story that would come from him.

Millay was very satisfied with her appearance like that.

No, just being satisfied might be too lacking an expression.

The first love he met after more than 10 years stood before him in a form far more beautiful than he had imagined.

Moreover, she still retained some of her childhood appearance.

Layla’s eyes, holding thousands of words and tens of thousands of sparkles. The world seemed to have shaken her, but those eyes hadn’t changed at all.

So the time of reunion and being able to enjoy a conversation while facing her felt too perfect to him.

“…It made me miss my first love.”

“Pardon?”

“First love, did the princess not have one?”

The moment he asked, Layla’s face fell.

She seemed at a loss for words, her mouth slightly open. Millay waited for what she would say, and the moment he saw her shaking her head, he felt his heart sink.

The words that followed, as expected, completely betrayed Millay’s, Adrian’s, expectations or beliefs.

“My first love… died.”

“……”

“And it was a very long time ago.”

Layla smiled awkwardly, creating a small well at the corner of her mouth.

Just today, she had dreamed about him.

Although she hadn’t met Adrian since then, she was well aware of what he was doing. After all, there was no one on the Damburnet continent who didn’t know the Crown Prince of Hakin, and his official moves were always a topic of conversation for everyone.

But to Layla, Adrian Raines was also someone who didn’t feel more than that level of distance.

Now she couldn’t even pretend to know him. Even calling him her first love was a shameless thing for her to do.

However, after hearing Layla’s answer, Millay was unable to continue speaking for a while. Only after clenching his teeth and holding back his emotions for a moment did he manage to spit out a sigh and a single word.

“I think I did something wrong. I brought up the princess’s bad memory.”

“It’s alright. It’s all in the past now.”

Layla showed a neat smile towards Millay. But Millay couldn’t bring himself to smile back.

He had to act calmly and nonchalantly, but it was impossible.

No matter what, he never thought she would say he was a dead person. Of course, he expected that good words wouldn’t come out since it was a breakup that left scars on both of them, but…

‘Maybe she wanted to completely erase it.’

He suddenly felt extremely embarrassed, remembering himself from last night who had loudly declared that he would formally propose when Layla returned to Wessex.

Moreover, Maeve, who was listening to their conversation now, knew that Adrian’s first love was Layla.

When his thoughts reached that point, Millay couldn’t sit there any longer, so he wiped his mouth with a napkin. Then he hurriedly informed Layla of the next schedule.

“Come to think of it, Princess, I called someone because I thought we should have the dress fitted that you’ll wear at the engagement ceremony.”

“A dress all of a sudden?”

“Wouldn’t it be too light to go to the engagement ceremony in that outfit?”

“Ah…”

Layla looked down at her own dress that she had just changed into. Although it was thin and unadorned, suitable for everyday wear, she actually thought this much would be enough since it wasn’t even a wedding.

But Millay seemed to think that changing the dress was too obvious.

“But there are too many eyes watching to go outside. I called a person who is a quite famous costume shop designer in this area, but I think you’ll have to be somewhat satisfied since custom orders are difficult under the circumstances, so I’d like you to understand.”

“Rather, I’m indebted to you for no reason…”

She only trailed off her words like that, thinking that she wasn’t in a position to understand or not. Then Millay, who hadn’t eaten much but seemed to have finished his meal, approached Layla and held out his hand.

“Don’t think of it as a debt. It’s all part of our plan.”

At Millay’s words accompanied by a cool smile, Layla momentarily thought of a question in her mind.

Is this excessive kindness of yours included too?

She wanted to ask if this attitude, which made her even mistakenly think that he might like her, was all intentional.

No matter how she looked at it, Millay clearly didn’t seem like the type of person who was kind to everyone, as commonly said.

Why was such a person doing this much for her?

A room and warm food, a mannerly attitude. As the kindness without reason continued, she became anxious and even began to suspect that he might have other thoughts.

‘But he said his first love came to mind.’

Honestly, as soon as she heard it, she was ashamed of herself for wanting to ask if he liked her, even for a moment.

Layla pushed such thoughts to a corner of her mind and stood up, holding his hand.

They touched bare hands as neither of them wore gloves. But the firm hand that grabbed tightly and came was very warm, so it didn’t feel that bad.