Serena’s resolute words made Lucas’s expression crumple.

“What.”

Any man in this world would be displeased to hear from his fiancée that death is better than marriage, and he is the Crown Prince of the Empire, no less.

“Do you mean marrying me is more terrible than dying?”

Lucas’s gaze was sharp as he pressured Serena in a low voice that seemed to growl.

“That’s not what I meant. I’m not suited for marriage, and Your Highness obtaining a better companion is the right answer for everyone.”

“Who decided that right answer? Isn’t it you, Serena, who is always extreme?”

Lucas’s black eyes looked down at Serena, not hiding his displeased mood.

“Isn’t it because of Your Highness’s stubbornness to not even listen to words you don’t like?”

Serena glared at him without giving an inch. No matter how outwardly strong a man Lucas appeared, it wasn’t easy to erase first impressions.

“My stubbornness? What about your stubbornness?”

Indeed, they say people don’t change.

“Insisting on nullifying the engagement is your stubbornness, isn’t it?”

The sharp gaze of that boy who had glared at Serena with stubborn and fierce eyes at the engagement ceremony still remained clearly on his face.

“It’s a wise suggestion and compromise.”

“So, that’s what I’m saying is your stubbornness.”

Lucas also recalled the past in Serena’s face now. Even though he had already grown much taller than Serena, she wasn’t intimidated or cautious at all.

“A bad stubbornness of your own.”

Rather, she glared at him with blue eyes as if to say that no matter how much Lucas had grown, he was the same.

“Think as you like.”

Serena was still full of composure. Seeing that, Lucas felt unnecessary anger rising.

“Nothing has changed.”

“Yes.”

At those words, Lucas clenched his teeth. He disliked the reality so different from the reunion he had imagined, and Serena’s gaze that still seemed to disregard him.

“I’ve changed. Can’t you see clearly?”

The pitch-black eyes stared at Serena for a moment. Yes, he had certainly changed. Not just from aging or growing up. Now his gaze was different from the boy’s that Serena remembered.

“I’ve become strong enough to take even a stubborn fiancée away as I please.”

With a strange smile, Lucas approached and grasped Serena’s wrist again. He didn’t add more force, but it wasn’t easy to shake off either.

“I could carry you off to the Imperial Palace like this.”

Lucas murmured confidently.

“Is that so?”

When Serena forcefully shook him off with a thud, Lucas’s hand fell away. Seeing his own hand fall away so easily, a slight bewilderment crossed Lucas’s face.

No matter how robust a lady is said to be, a woman shouldn’t be able to shake off his hand so easily.

“Your Highness has certainly become stronger. However, I can protect myself as well.”

“Still, you can’t change my mind.”

Seeing Lucas unexpectedly persistent, Serena sighed involuntarily. It was already the busy harvest season in the territory, why did she have to deal with this troublesome situation with a fiancé she wasn’t even interested in appearing now?

“Me neither.”

“It seems we’ve reached a conclusion.”

Lucas looked down at Serena, twisting the corner of his mouth.

Then he grabbed her wrist and tried to pull her into his arms with a swift motion. However, what met Lucas’s embrace was not soft warmth, but Serena’s aggressive elbow striking accurately at his solar plexus.

“…!”

Cough, Lucas bent over and exhaled roughly, having been hit squarely in the solar plexus.

“Huh! Now…”

Lucas’s face completely crumpled, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it hurt being hit by an evil woman. He barely stood straight and forced a relaxed demeanor.

“You’re, you’re throwing a cute tantrum.”

Though his solar plexus still ached and his head was ringing, Lucas managed to smile out of stubbornness.

“I just protected my body.”

Serena was completely unaware that she had unconsciously resorted to violence. Because the victim, Lucas, was desperately pretending to be calm, and for Serena it was just a light tap.

“I understand. You must have been lonely for 6 years since the engagement ceremony, you can blame my indifference.”

Lucas spoke rather generously, but Serena was uninterested as she was busy brushing off her crumpled clothes.

“No matter how much you complained to the Papal State and Imperial Family about my indifference, if I say I still want you, that’s the end of it.”

However, Lucas’s arrogant words were clearly heard. Serena raised her head.

“Now you’re looking at me.”

Lucas wasn’t a fool either. He knew that Serena had little interest in him and that the engagement was a shackle to her. His words tasted bitter.

“My heart won’t waver.”

Lucas’s black hair fluttered slightly in the wind coming through the open window. His black eyes shining beneath it gazed at Serena longingly.

“All these years… I’ve only waited for the day I could stand proudly before you.”

Lucas’s words were sincere. Though she didn’t want to know, even Serena could see that heart now in his eyes.

“Not sending a single letter wasn’t because I was indifferent to you. I thought of you, and feared that if even a reply came, I wouldn’t be able to hold myself back.”

“Hold back? What do you mean?”

“From coming to find you. I told you.”

Thud, Lucas spat out spitefully.

“I hated being smaller than you. I hated the thought of appearing before you like that even more.”

Serena didn’t place much meaning on the engagement ceremony. She had only talked back because he provoked her first by calling her tall, and whether he was big or small was irrelevant to her anyway.

But she didn’t know that because of that one word, Lucas had trained himself harshly for 6 years to come this far.

“Your Highness, what I said at the engagement ceremony wasn’t like that.”

“What other meaning was there?”

In fact, it was a meaningless remark. However, those pitch-black eyes were looking at Serena seriously.

Faced with the eyes of a man who had advanced with a single goal, it was difficult to say there was no meaning at all.

“It’s alright. Now I stand before you prouder than anyone.”

A faint bewilderment spread across Serena’s face.

“On lonely nights, I looked at the sky. I thought of you while looking at the moon. Then no matter how hard the day was, I found the will to train again the next day.”

Who would have known that brat would set a goal based on her one remark, train for 6 years, and appear like this?

“At first, my goal was simply to grow bigger than you, but as I thought of you every day looking at the moon, I came to want to become the strongest man in this continent.”

Serena had just retorted because she was annoyed by her smaller fiancé’s jabs, but that one word had changed Lucas’s life.

“Your Highness, I…”

“The only reward I desire is one thing. To become the strongest man and take you as my wife.”

Lucas’s burning eyes didn’t know. That is, that very part wouldn’t work.

“And not long ago, after the battle ended, I realized.”

It’s natural for the Crown Prince to train himself. But Lucas’s training was different.

He had put aside his status and struggled to become strong as a man. It was all for that reason that he had stood on the battlefield himself and participated in combat.

“Now I have the right to come and receive you.”

Seeing Lucas so serious, Serena’s head became complicated.

“What do you think? Don’t I have enough right to receive a reward now?”

Lucas asked in a low and calm voice, but couldn’t hide his nervous expression. This made Serena even more perplexed.

Seeing those eyes like those of a large puppy waiting for praise, it felt as if she had become the bad person.

“Am I still lacking? If you say I’m lacking, I’ll return to the battlefield right away and train more.”

There were always large and small battles in the western empire. However, it wasn’t a place for the Crown Prince to be. Moreover, he didn’t seem to need more training.

“Your Highness doesn’t need such things.”

“Then give yourself to me.”

Lucas, seemingly forgetting the blow to his solar plexus earlier, took another step closer and grasped Serena’s hand. If that large hand hadn’t trembled slightly, his solar plexus would not have survived.

“Let’s get married, Serena.”

As the distance between them narrowed, it really felt like he had grown. His low voice was resonating above Serena’s forehead.

“You’re the only person I desire.”

The image of marriage proposals piled on his desk flashed through Lucas’s mind. The endless marriage talks that came in had no meaning to him. Only Serena, standing before his eyes now, appeared as a woman to him.

Lucas’s breath trembled slightly. When Serena said nothing, he gathered his courage and slowly brought his lips to her forehead.

However, due to his extreme nervousness, his hot breath tickled Serena’s forehead even before his lips could touch.

“Oh my!”

In that moment, Serena let out a shy exclamation without realizing it, slapped his chest, and turned her back.

“Ha…”

Lucas barely managed to resist the urge to clutch his chest, wondering where such strength came from in those white, small hands.

It hurt his pride, but honestly, when Serena slapped him, he almost staggered.

“Don’t surprise me like that.”

Serena’s cheeks flushed for no reason. No matter how much she tried to think of him as that little kid from back then, she couldn’t help but feel tense when a strapping man tried to kiss her forehead.

“Our engagement is null and void.”

“I can’t accept that.”

Lucas’s will wasn’t going to waver from this much.

“But I’ll be careful not to surprise you.”

The still aching solar plexus and chest where she had slapped him awakened his survival instinct. Lucas had certainly become stronger, but he realized in that moment that Serena hadn’t become weaker either.