No matter how much she denied it, the end of her glamorous single life was in sight.

The crown prince, as when he first arrived, abruptly left the ducal residence. The only difference was that this time he was humming a tune.

Of course, Cedric found the humming crown prince much scarier.

“Your Highness, will you ride a horse all the way to the royal palace?”

“Obviously.”

“Everyone is awaiting the return of the crown prince… shouldn’t you take a carriage from the capital?”

Lucas’s personality was something Cedric knew all too well, but that didn’t mean he could omit a knight’s obligatory questions.

“Well, I’ll think about it then.”

However, instead of reprimanding him as usual, Lucas resumed humming, tormenting Cedric.

“Your Highness seems to have agreed to the marriage?”

When Cedric cautiously inquired, Lucas let out a ludicrous chuckle.

“That lady? Hardly.”

As if he had heard an amusing joke, Lucas’s expression was cheerful.

“If she’s only that much, I didn’t even want her in the first place.”

Cedric nodded.

The only way for Serena to avoid marrying the crown prince would have been to act like a typical noble lady. If she had, Lucas would immediately have lost interest and never sought her out again.

“Everything is going as planned, so I’m satisfied.”

One corner of Lucas’s mouth curled up. As much as Cedric served him, he couldn’t help but inwardly groan at times like this.

“Does the bruise on your leg also fall under that plan?”

“A small price to pay.”

Even against Cedric’s cynical question, Lucas’s answer was buoyant.

“Nullifying the past six years is already a gain, even if I took a few more hits.”

That was precisely what made Lucas terrifying.

“And the lady doesn’t know that all of this was my plan to the end.”

“Yes… that was also part of Your Highness’s plan.”

From the start, living as if he knew nothing of the world’s norms, wandering freely—that had been his plan all along.
The six years of neglecting his fiancée, the deliberate absence from her view, were all calculated moves. Likewise, his six-year disappearance from the imperial capital was a deliberate act.

“The protagonist always makes a dramatic entrance.”

Lucas smiled contentedly.

“Your Highness has always loved drama since you were a child.”

The past six years were preparations for him to become the true protagonist. As the empire’s sole heir and crown prince, who knew no lack, what spurred him on was a fiancée who was taller than me by an inch.

“Didn’t it all work out well? Soon, everyone in the capital and the palace will see me again, and I’ve even won the woman I desire.”

Showing natural growth every day was far from the dramatic entrance he wanted.

The moment everyone had forgotten his previous frailty was the perfect opportunity to leave an indelible impression by appearing in his strongest form.

“Although it seems like you went to great lengths…”

“People find it hard to be moved by what they see every day.”

In the past, the 16-year-old boy who was smaller than his peers wanted to change the world’s dismissive view of him in one go.

“What if I had met Her Grace every year after the engagement ceremony… Wouldn’t she just see me as a proud younger brother?”

Thinking about Serena’s personality, he had a point.

“It was hardest for me to restrain myself when I heard that she was happily living alone in Astel.”

Lucas wanted to completely change the impression he’d left as a mere child fiancé.

And cruelly enough, he came back after six years and achieved his plan.

“Even if I’ve become a man she’d want to kick… Right?”

“Yes.”

He readily admitted it.

“Being a shameless man is better than being looked at with proud eyes.”

There was no doubt that he had achieved his goal. At least Serena would now be aware of the man who was a threat, having forgotten the boy from her past. It could certainly be called a great success.