Lucas, as if revealing all his impatience, had already taken a seat in the reception room before the appointed time and was drinking his second cup of tea.

“… So, when is the young lady coming?”

This question had already been asked several times.

“She will be here soon.”

Hearing the same answer for the umpteenth time, displeasure clouded Lucas’s face. If she had said to meet in the afternoon, it would have been understandable, but this felt like she was deliberately toying with him.

“Lady Serena Astel of Astel, Acting Duchess and Young Lady of the Astel Duchy, has arrived.”

Finally.

Before Lucas’s thoughts could finish, the servant’s voice echoed loudly from the corridor.

“Acting Duchess Serena Astel of the Astel Duchy is here to see His Highness the Crown Prince.”

As soon as the door opened, there stood Serena in a dress completely different from what he had seen yesterday.

Her graceful and restrained gestures, impeccable etiquette, and even the lovely way she held her fan all caught Lucas’s eye at once.

“Sit.”

Originally, he had intended to say something about Serena’s tardiness, but seeing her refined appearance for the first time, Lucas’s mind suddenly went blank.

“I am humbled.”

The head servant brought tea to Serena, who sat diagonally across from Lucas, and soon the two were left alone in the reception room. This was possible because, regardless of Serena’s claims, she was still his fiancée.

“Why did you ask to see me?”

Lucas, who had been staring blankly at Serena, let out a short “Ah.”

“I have various things to ask. More than that, you seem quite unlike yourself today.”

“I also think this appearance is rather amusing.”

When Serena blurted out self-deprecatingly, Lucas unconsciously waved his hand quickly.

“I… meant it in a good way. I mean, this look suits you very well too.”

What had Lucas eaten wrong last night? Serena looked at him with suspicious eyes for a moment, then gave a wry smile.

She had heard from Anna, to the point of developing calluses on her ears, that a lady should smile when receiving a compliment. Of course, what Anna had meant was not this twisted and rotten smile.

“Indeed, now that I’ve grown, my perspective and vision have changed.”

At the engagement ceremony, Lucas had no leisure to observe Serena’s ceremonial dress or demeanor. Back then, he was ashamed and angry about his situation of being much smaller than his fiancée.

“Especially you.”

“Pardon?”

Now that he had a slightly higher eye level than Serena, he could feel the womanly fragrance emanating from her.

When he was younger, he had merely thought of her as his big fiancée, but now he could see her confident beauty in her uniquely tall stature and vibrant appearance.

“I don’t understand why you’re suddenly saying such things.”

Serena looked at Lucas with still wary eyes. Over the past 6 years, Lucas had changed as if he had become a completely different person, but Serena remained unchanged except for having more vitality on her face.

“At the engagement ceremony, I didn’t have the chance to properly see you, and when we met again, you were in such a free-spirited attire that I didn’t realize.”

“So, what are you trying to say?”

Serena’s fingers gripped her fan tightly.

“Seeing you now, adorned as a young lady, I think no woman in this continent could compare.”

Pfft, Serena nearly spat out the tea she was drinking. Fortunately, she had the handkerchief Anna had prepared for her, so she could barely wipe her mouth and maintain her dignity.

“Your Highness, I really don’t understand why you’re acting like this.”

Her blue eyes were serious and indignant.

“With the engagement already nullified, this is very troubling for me.”

If he had shown interest in Serena from the beginning, she wouldn’t have felt this strange.

“It’s not nullified.”

Lucas’s true intentions were incomprehensible. Why, why now! After living well all this time, he suddenly appears and says such embarrassing things without shame.

“At the engagement ceremony, I vaguely wanted to catch up to you, but now that’s not enough. I indeed want you. That’s the only reward I desire.”

Are all royals this stubborn? Serena gritted her teeth, wondering if it was permissible to hit someone with a fan.

“After the engagement ceremony, Your Highness showed complete indifference. So I decided to abandon my fiancé.”

“What?”

Lucas looked at Serena with an utterly dumbfounded expression. No matter how assertive a woman might be, the idea of daring to abandon him, a royal and her fiancé, was unimaginable.

“Afterwards, I came here to the Astel territory and have been spending fulfilling and happy days. Until Your Highness arrived here.”

Serena’s last words were tinged with resentment. At the same time, her blue eyes blazed so clearly that even the somewhat slow-witted Lucas could perceive it.

“I thought all night about why our conversation yesterday was so superficial.”

Really, he does well at things no one asked for. Serena took a sip of tea, half resigned.

“The conclusion is simple. It’s because our views on our engagement were too different.”

“That’s correct.”

In this world, even for those who weren’t royalty or nobility, neglecting a fiancée for 6 years was a cruel act. If a commoner had experienced the same, they would have their marriage prospects ruined and become a widow who never even married.

“I think the engagement was wrong from the start. Originally, my father and His Majesty the Emperor made a casual bet on the battlefield, and because His Majesty lost, I became the fiancée.”

In his youth, the Emperor often went to battlefields or hunting grounds, boasting of his close friendship with Duke Astel. He was also famous for being the most free-spirited and generous among all the emperors in history.

“In other words, I was a punishment. Of course, Your Highness never wanted the engagement either.”

They couldn’t deny it, having openly shown their displeasure at the engagement ceremony.

“It’s different now. Isn’t the present what matters?”

“The present is shaped by the past.”

Neither of them showed any sign of backing down. Though they were conversing with something resembling polite smiles, the atmosphere was quite tense.

“The fact that it was an unwanted engagement, and the fact that, for whatever reason, Your Highness neglected your fiancée for 6 years. Those two things are unchangeable past events, and that past will move the present.”

Her clear voice, like bells, spoke distinctly and firmly.

Serena’s flowing platinum blonde hair shimmered in the sunlight coming through the glass windows, and her azure eyes looked straight at Lucas. It was a direct gaze, free from the awe and fear that others usually showed him.

“Moreover, the reward you speak of is not something I promised.”

Serena lightly tapped her palm with the fan she was holding. Thinking about it again, she was feeling hot and was trying hard to suppress her original temperament.

“And I find it unpleasant that you treat me, who is clearly living my own life, as a reward.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

Lucas hastily replied, forgetting his dignity.

“During my training, I always had you as my goal, so I alone made you my mental support. Also, to be precise, the reward I desire is marriage with you.”

His pitch-black eyes looked at Serena seriously, speaking neither slowly nor quickly. At just twenty, he was still 4 years younger than Serena, but now the age difference wasn’t noticeable at all.

“I told you that we don’t have a marital connection.”

Her hostility towards Lucas gradually faded. His face, eyes, and lips, seen in the bright light, were all speaking sincerely.

Moreover, seeing his sturdy physique up close, she could guess how rigorous his training must have been.

“I don’t think so. Soon, I’ll prove it.”

She could roughly guess what he was thinking.

“Where did you send the messenger birds?”

Lucas smiled mischievously.

“It’s good to postpone pleasant things. You’ll find out soon enough.”

“I’m not sure if it will be pleasant for me.”

Serena said firmly.

“I didn’t abandon you. Not even for a moment.”

“But I abandoned my fiancé… No, I abandoned you.”

After the terrible engagement ceremony, when not even a single letter came for several months, she immediately made a resolute decision. If she was going to be abandoned by her fiancé anyway, she would abandon that fiancé first.

“I have no regrets about that decision.”

And Serena came to the Astel territory without any delay and began to build her own life. To live a happy life without the existence of a fiancé in name only.

In fact, it was a perfect life until Lucas barged in.

“We’ll talk about that again when the messenger bird returns.”

According to the head servant’s report, Lucas had sent out three messenger birds. One must have gone to the Imperial Palace, another to the Papal Office, but she couldn’t guess where the third one went.

“It will take a few days, so in the meantime, I’ll observe how you govern Astel.”

“Pardon?”

“The Crown Prince has come to this prosperous duchy, so it’s only natural that I learn its secrets by accompanying the lord.”

Seeing Lucas switch from being very serious to suddenly becoming so brazen, Serena gripped her fan tightly again. How nice it would be if she could slap that annoying mouth with this fan right now.

“I apologize, but my father, the current Duke, is currently wandering.”

“That’s fine. You’re the Acting Duchess after all.”

Lucas flashed a splendid smile that perfectly suited his handsome face.

“I’m already looking forward to touring Astel with you.”

Unfortunately, there was nothing wrong with his words. After all, the Astel Duchy was under the Empire’s rule, and they couldn’t go against the words of the Crown Prince.

“Shall we start by having lunch together?”

At this presumptuous proposal that reversed the roles of host and guest, Serena gripped her fan even tighter. Anna’s lament about breaking the fan ribs that she had just taken out would come a little later.