No way, it can’t be. There’s no way.

Serena’s startled heart was racing madly. And when she finally mustered the courage to open her eyes, she saw Lucas’s large silhouette comfortably perched on a large tree branch outside the window.

“Why, Your Highness…”

“Why am I here, you ask? I couldn’t sleep at all.”

With a truly brazen reply, Lucas’s dark eyes stared intently at Serena.

“So I thought I’d go for a walk… But somehow I seemed to hear my name, and before I knew it.”

Seeing his mischievous smile, Serena wanted to slap herself for carelessly muttering to herself. Of course, Lucas, who was clearly enjoying this situation, deserved a hundred slaps.

“How could the Imperial Crown Prince be eavesdropping on a lady’s bedroom.”

Serena spoke even more coldly, trying to hide her embarrassment.

“First, I didn’t know this was your bedroom, and second, I just climbed the tree because I heard my name being mentioned.”

Still with a shameless answer and expression, Serena glared at Lucas indignantly.

“Ah, tree climbing is my hobby, you know.”

Lucas’s face was full of composure as he smiled.

“And to explain about what I overheard by chance.”

“What? No.”

Serena shook her head vigorously, but Lucas didn’t back down.

“Earlier, it happened so suddenly that I could only think of saving you.”

Ha, Lucas had finally brought up the topic she disliked most.

“But once I caught you, I was so nervous that I didn’t know what to say. I just had to… pretend as if nothing had happened.”

Despite his calm tone, his eyes were careful and sincere. Indeed, that earlier contact was a significant event. For both of them.

“I don’t know how to handle women. I’ve never even spoken to a woman before, since I’ve only been thinking about marrying you.”

Serena blinked slowly. It was hard to tell if this should be taken as a confession or not.

“Why are you making such a dumbfounded expression?”

Serena didn’t know the answer to that either.

“Just because the first impression was the worst doesn’t mean the entire relationship has to be the worst. As proof, I have… always liked you.”

At Lucas’s calm words, Serena’s cheeks flushed again.

“They say my father sang a love serenade when he proposed to Mother, but I don’t know about such things.”

Lucas’s pitch-black eyes looked straight into Serena’s eyes. Every time he spoke of his feelings, he would look at Serena with unwavering, direct eyes. As if he was showing his entire heart.

“I tried to send you letters many times, but I couldn’t convey my feelings in writing, let alone use flowery language.”

Lucas had no reason to lie. The same was true for Serena.

Serena unknowingly blurted out the same sentence that would lead to the same conclusion. She didn’t know what she was hoping for. The following story was predictable. He would ask for her as a reward.

“Even if Your Highness’s affection is true, what if I can’t be a good Crown Princess?”

However, whether it was the magic of the night, Lucas’s answer was quite different from what she had heard before.

“Who decides that? It’s just that the only woman I like becomes my wife.”

Are all men this honest? Or is it just Lucas?

Listening to his sincere eyes and low, calm voice made her heart flutter and feel like she was the most special woman in the world.

“Why… are you going this far?”

“Because I like you.”

Lucas neither hid nor circumvented his feelings.

“Now and in the future, you are the only woman I like.”

The autumn night breeze kept tickling her heart restlessly.

“Is there a more absolute reason than that?”

He still didn’t rashly speak of love, but even with just the expression of liking, she could feel that his feelings were genuine.

“I liked you from the beginning. I just couldn’t express it in my childish mind.”

Lucas deeply regretted his sulky behavior at the engagement ceremony. Especially when Serena coldly declared the engagement void when they met again, his regret deepened even more.

“I don’t want to regret leaving you again.”

His pitch-black eyes shone even more attractively in the moonlight.

For a moment, his large upper body that had enveloped her, his long legs comfortably perched on the tree, and above all, that handsome face looking at the woman by the window was truly like a scene from a minstrel’s song.

“Serena. Even if you reject me, my feelings will never change. I can swear on my life.”

Even without swearing, Serena knew best that he was sincere now. Such a straight and strong heart could not be false.

“You won’t give up at all, will you?”

“That’s right. Never.”

Serena’s silhouette was reflected in Lucas’s black eyes. No more wasteful conversation was needed between the two. Lucas’s oath was genuine, and there was no way to dissuade him.

“Today, didn’t I look happy in Astel?”

“You were shining brighter than the sun.”

Serena was an excellent lord. Lucas had confirmed this fact with his own eyes. He seemed to understand to some extent why she had firmly rejected his proposal.

“Let’s form a marital bond.”

Lucas looked at Serena with passion.

“I don’t mind what kind of Crown Princess you become.”

Serena’s blue eyes wavered slightly.

“Any kind of appearance?”

“Yes. If there’s something you want to do, go ahead and do it, and if you want, you can tie your hair however you like or even dress as a man.”

“It’s the first time I’ve heard that the Crown Princess has such a free position.”

Lucas smiled a beautiful smile. Now that Serena seemed to be seriously considering married life beyond nullifying the engagement, his heart raced.

“Do I look so weak that I can’t even protect my precious wife’s wishes?”

The Tern Imperial Family was famous for being stubborn, but Lucas was particularly stubborn among them.

That’s why he ignored the Emperor’s orders to return and spent his time wandering and achieving military merits on the battlefield until he turned twenty.

“I admit your stubbornness is stronger than I expected. But it won’t work on me.”

Indeed, it was the man before her eyes who had not forgotten the engagement from 6 years ago and had reached this point even while changing the direction of his life.

Who could break that stubbornness? Even Serena wasn’t confident she could win against her opponent this time.

“Isn’t Astel stifling?”

Suddenly, as Lucas changed the topic, a look of puzzlement appeared on Serena’s face.

“If you marry me, we can see a wider world together, and you can achieve more dreams in the capital. I will surely protect you so that no one can block your path.”

For the first time, she thought this marriage proposal might not be bad. Even now, she was living quite freely for a duke’s daughter, but the freedom Lucas promised was much broader in scope.

“If you become the Crown Princess, there will be no walls or people to stop you. I will make it so.”

A confident expression appeared on his handsome face.

“And I’m not a pathetic man who breaks promises.”

Hoo, Lucas let out a short sigh, seeming relieved to have poured out all his feelings.

“Let’s get married.”

Lucas’s voice, still with a faint smile, was tinged with gentle warmth. It was the warmth of a full-fledged man, not a 4-year-younger fiancé.

“You’ll never regret it.”

At that moment, Serena’s heart was beating so fiercely that she was glad he wasn’t right beside her.

“So marry me.”

Lucas laid out his sincere feelings for Serena. He didn’t know how to decorate or package his heart elegantly, but rather, the somewhat rough proposal made Serena’s heart tremble.

“The night is deep. You should return now.”

Serena managed to speak. Lucas didn’t seem disappointed at all by Serena’s lack of immediate response.

“I must retire to bed now.”

“Is that so? Then, sweet dreams.”

Serena curtsied slightly to Lucas, who was smiling freshly, then hurriedly closed the window and drew the curtains.

“I’m crazy!”

Only then could she run straight to the bed, bury her face in the pillow, stamp her feet, and kick the blanket.

“Why are you climbing trees in front of other people’s rooms!”

As the moment Lucas’s voice was heard came to mind, her legs kicked the blanket even more violently.

“Ah! I’m really crazy, I tell you!”

Serena’s cheeks were as red as ripe apples as she buried her face in the pillow to muffle her voice.

“I’m annoyed… really annoyed!”

In this situation, doesn’t it seem like Serena is feeling upset about what happened on the hill? That’s why Lucas is so boldly and shamelessly saying such things.

“No. It’s not like I’m particularly upset or anything, but… the more I explain, the stranger it gets, and really, why is he climbing trees there?”

It was all because of Lucas who suddenly appeared.

From the day her forgotten fiancé appeared, there wasn’t a single day when her heart didn’t flutter.

“Ah…”

Now she had to admit it. That the daily life before he appeared was already broken and would never return.

“How am I supposed to face him again tomorrow after this? What kind of torture is this!”

Despite being very tired from today’s work, sleep had completely fled. Serena, with her face buried in the pillow, had to keep stamping her feet due to embarrassment and an indescribable feeling.

“I don’t know, ah. I really don’t know!”

Even when she first came to this world and realized she had become the existence called Serena, her emotional turmoil wasn’t this severe.

Back then, she felt elated as if she had been compensated for her futile death, but now her heart was running wild like an unbridled colt.

“I’m really going crazy.”

Serena’s two legs kept kicking the blanket.

For the first time in both her past life and this life, her heart was racing violently because of a man.