“It’s not nonsense. I thought you might have misunderstood a bit, so I was telling you. I was just asking if there were many people who liked you as the future Emperor.”

“Is this… Are you making fun of me? The atmosphere of the conversation wasn’t like that!”

“I meant it that way.”

“…….”

What can he say when she says that? Even if Sesenia tried to explain that she misunderstood, she would definitely end up being the one who was wrong. In the end, the Crown Prince laughed as if nothing had happened.

“I seem to have overreacted quite a bit.”
“That could be possible. It seems Crown Prince has had quite a hard time lately. Because of some strange people.”

“Yes, that’s true. Hmm.”

Meanwhile, the knights approached them. Wondering what was happening, the prince raised his hand, creating a space again for Sesenia and the prince alone.

“But, Your Highness, do you really want to be engaged to me? We just met today…”

“Why do you dislike it?”

“I have no reason to like or dislike. If I’m going to be a member of the royal family, I should do whatever it takes. What I’m curious about is whether you are doing this against your will. And there’s my sister, too. Since you are a noble with noble blood, shouldn’t you have a choice? Not someone pushing you into it…”

“Now that you mention it.”

“I really want to be a member of the royal family… But still, I’ll follow your will, Your Highness.”

He stroked his chin.

“You’re making sensible arguments.”

“But first, we should engage. It’s an engagement between Viscount Vestel and the royal family. But how about finding a way for us to live as well? Your Highness.”

“Did you mention it because you wanted to do something behind my back?”

Sesenia brought out parchment and a quill prepared on one side.

“No way. We’re just making a small agreement among ourselves. Although we engage due to various circumstances of the adults, we should still have freedom in any case.”

More than anyone else, the Crown Prince cherished freedom.

The Empress always tried to tie him down. Even without that, he was already a Crown Prince who did as he pleased. Especially recently, the Empress was busy monitoring the Crown Prince’s every move. So the word “freedom” must have felt quite sweet and attractive like a poisonous apple.

Although she didn’t know about others, Sesenia knew. She knew what era Iza liked the most.

“Freedom…”

And the current Crown Prince loved the word “freedom” the most.

“Perhaps Your Highness might not like me. It would be fortunate if we safely got married, but in the rarest of rare cases, one in a million… someday, there might be someone like fate appearing. So let’s do this. Facing such a situation later… it would be too sad.”

“…It’s really unusual and hard to understand. Well, if you say so, I won’t be harmed. After all, my engagement with you is something my ambitious mother desired. Your words about guaranteeing freedom are so fascinating. But I can’t understand why you’re doing this.”

He was not a fool, which surprised Sesenia a bit.

Although she didn’t expect him to come this far, it turns out he’s an individual capable of suspicion.

Sesenia smiled again.
“I like His Highness, the Crown Prince. So, I was actually pleased. When my sister rejected the Crown Prince without even meeting him properly.”

“Your sister… Originally, the one who was supposed to be my fiancée rejected me?”

The Crown Prince, who could have everything, found people like Sesenia quite common. In contrast, there were not many who rejected him in the world.

“Yes. She rejected him without knowing what a great person he is.”

Curiosity. Among human emotions, what Sesenia considered the most useless was exactly that curiosity.

Because of petty curiosity, she had seen many people in life even risking their lives. And just now, Sesenia had firmly pressed the curiosity button of the Crown Prince, who was once her husband.

“A woman who rejected me. Very interesting.”

“Yes. That’s why I actually don’t want to write this kind of thing. I just hope everything goes smoothly until marriage.”

“Then, why write this at all?”

‘He wasn’t that foolish after all.’

Sesenia stood tall, her posture firm.

“Well… that’s…”