“Even though you know, stop pretending you don’t.”

I witnessed Serdice being so serious for the first time.

“Why do you reject my feelings so vehemently?”

Moreover, he was honest.

‘If he had been honest from the beginning, would our relationship be different now?’

I would not have accepted his feelings, but that doesn’t mean I would have treated him like trash.

I didn’t want to treat him as an enemy just because he liked me.

“Do you really not know?”

I asked, probing as I recalled the events in the garden.

The events of that day were still vivid in my mind.

But what happened to Serdice that day?

He acted as if he couldn’t remember, which marked the biggest turning point in our relationship.

“I’ve never dated or dreamed of being in love with anyone else. If I don’t express my feelings like you, how would I know?”

Seeing a man who needed everything spoon-fed, I sighed lightly.

‘Okay. Let’s see this through to the end today.’

Let’s sever our ties altogether!

“On the day of Lady Dalia’s birthday party, do you not remember coercing me aggressively in the garden?”

Serdice fell silent.

“I told you when we met in the dressing room that day. If I, who had just escaped from Your Grace’s arms, could face Your Grace with a clear mind. Honestly, if it weren’t for His Highness, we wouldn’t be sitting here now, having a tender conversation.”

If my status hadn’t been high, I might have been handed over to the guards and left to rot in prison.

“But because it’s His Highness, you’re using the excuse of being family to talk like this. Now that I know Your Grace’s true feelings, it would be better for the peace of the empire if we didn’t see each other anymore.”

I stood up.

“Wait.”

Serdice reached out and stopped me.

“If you have more to say, it’s heartless.”

I looked down at him with a cold gaze.

His eyes were quite unfair.

Is he feeling unjust about this situation? Maybe he would say, “I’m a prince, and you’re just a lowly Countess’s daughter, so what does it matter?” If he were someone else, he might just let it go.

But I have a deadline.

A body that doesn’t know when it will die. I’ll say what I need to say and die.

‘Refreshing, it feels refreshing.’

Thanks to Serdice’s anesthetic ability, my body felt light, and my mouth seemed to move freely.

“Other than that.”

He gently pressed my shoulders and motioned for me to sit back down.

“The real reason you hate me.”

Serdice’s eyes sparkled.

“You’ve been avoiding me even before. Honestly, at first, I thought you were just avoiding me because I was burdensome. But that wasn’t it. Remember when I said I was going to marry Hertian because of that incident? Yeah. Let’s say I conceded a hundred times and married her. But the two of us didn’t really get married. If we had, it would have been fine. You don’t seem to have any intention of divorcing, right?”

I watched silently, wondering what he was talking about.

“I shouldn’t like you for a reason, right? No matter how I think about it, there’s no answer other than that.”

That’s correct.

I thought he had been quiet all this time, but he had thought this far.

“There is no such reason. I don’t know what you imagined, but everything is wrong.”

Even if he doubted me, I couldn’t tell him the truth.

Serdice let out a deep sigh.

“Annette. Then what is it? When I invited you with the promise of special macarons. Until then, you saw me favorably, didn’t you? Definitely. But the next day, after you collapsed, you suddenly stared at me as if you saw a ghost. You even lied about marrying to avoid entanglement with me.”

He held my fingertip as if pleading.

“Don’t give it meaning. I was just uncomfortable as you thought. Your Grace is the body of a Crown Prince and will become the Emperor in the future. But the moment I become connected with Your Grace, I felt burdened, thinking that I would have to face all the trials on the gallows.”
Roughly, I brushed off his hand.

His eyes twisted into a mess.

“Even if I abandon the position of the Crown Prince?”

“What’s that supposed to mean!”

He burst into a bitter laugh.

“No, you wouldn’t have chosen me even if I abandoned the position of the Crown Prince. Even if I sent you off nicely in the garden, it would have been the same.”

“…….”

“You were already looking for a contractual marriage partner. And the expression on your face when you saw me in the garden was something I shouldn’t have seen.”

As if I were leaving, he raised his voice and grabbed me.

“I’m dead.”

His red eyes looking at me seemed like blood.

“You looked at me with this kind of expression.”

I couldn’t bear to look into those eyes and averted my gaze.

Guilt, which I had never felt while watching Serdice, surged through me.

“…But, you know, can’t you understand my feelings just once?”

Serdice would have found it frustrating.

Seeing the person you like suddenly avoiding you and looking at you with disgust.

‘Because of that incident, I thought it was okay to hate Serdice.’

It was a wicked thought.

I pushed him away, rationalizing it, thinking I had to do it to survive.