Lucas’s voice was low, and his eyes were filled with strong determination.

“I wanted to be yours. That’s all.”

Serena’s vision was filled with Lucas, who had taken a step closer.

“Even if your heart rejects me, you’ll eventually realize that my feelings for you are endless.”

In an instant, Serena belatedly realized that she had misjudged everything. The bad first impression had left more than just prejudice. Because she remembered him as a little boy, Serena had underestimated him.

“Also, I can assure you that no one desires you more than I do.”

The desire in his dark eyes was so pure. That’s why it suffocated Serena even more severely.

“I, Your Highness…”

“I’m not finished yet.”

Lucas took another step closer. Close enough to hear each other’s breath.

“My mind is already made up. We will be husband and wife, and you will want me someday too.”

“No, that’s not true.”

Serena shook her head.

“Don’t think that pushing for marriage will change my heart.”

“Don’t worry. I have more patience than you think.”

It became clear that nothing, not even Serena’s heart, could change his determination.

“My will is the same. I already abandoned my fiancé.”

“It’s okay.”

Lucas narrowed the distance between them again.

“You won’t be able to abandon your husband.”

The obsession and desire he had tried so hard to hide were now fully reflected in his dark eyes. Seeing Serena’s trembling blue eyes, the 6 years he had spent for this very moment were not wasted at all.

“From the beginning… you didn’t need my answer.”

“That’s right.”

Lucas was honest to the end. That drove Serena even crazier.

“If I had to put it bluntly, your answer just wasn’t what I wanted. In that respect, it could be called my failure.”

Serena glared at him with a strange smile, but that provocative gaze only pleased Lucas.

“As you said, 6 years have passed.”

Now Lucas was looking down at her as he had hoped.

“I’m not a little boy anymore.”

His entire being was proving that fact.

“Now that I’ve finally returned to my woman, everything is only natural.”

Lucas easily snatched Serena’s wrist. She tried to shake it off, but his unwavering strength was remarkably unshakable.

Serena was going crazy with annoyance at Lucas, who was smiling leisurely while looking down at her. Over the past few days, she felt like she had been played by him and couldn’t manage her expression at all.

“Finally, the composure has disappeared from your face.”

It was the moment Lucas had been waiting for. When he saw the blue eyes that had always looked down on him trembling with perplexity, his smile deepened.

“It feels much better than I’ve always imagined.”

Seeing his lips drawing a smirk, Serena’s suppressed emotions felt like they were about to explode.

“Did you wait 6 years just to show off your strength?”

“Of course not.”

“You seem very happy to have subdued me, a mere woman.”

“I can’t call you a mere woman.”

Serena agreed with that statement.

“That’s right.”

Serena tried to shake off her seized wrist again, but his hand still didn’t budge.

His strength control was remarkable, not causing pain while making it impossible for her to move at all. But even he had overlooked something: the fact that Serena had sturdy feet.

“Ugh!”

Serena’s attack, kicking his shin very hard, was effective. Perhaps because it was an unexpected attack, Lucas let out a groan and lost his grip on her wrist.

“Don’t think of me as a mere woman.”

Serena, who had dared to kick the crown prince, said with relief.

“And this marriage is a mistake. Please reconsider.”

Serena sighed and turned her back on him. She had done enough by openly resorting to violence against the crown prince.

“Now there’s no need for you to stay at the duke’s residence any longer. I’ll tell the attendant to pack your belongings.”

Lucas felt the lingering pain in his shin as he watched Serena’s cold back.

“Then, farewell.”

Serena unilaterally bid farewell with her back turned and disappeared, but Lucas didn’t stop her. There was no need to.

“Indeed… there’s no other woman like her.”

Contrary to Serena’s intention, his eyes shone with even more satisfaction.

“I need to prepare to welcome my bride.”

Now Lucas had achieved all his purposes.

At least, here and now.

Serena returned to her bedroom, unable to calm her anger. She was angry that the imperial family and the Holy See had sided with Lucas as easily as flipping their hands, but the leisurely gaze with which he had looked down at her after subduing her was even more infuriating.

“When he was young, I could at least find him cute!”

Of course, that wasn’t true. From the time he was a little boy, he was very annoying and ill-tempered, so he didn’t feel like an ordinary boy.

“Well, that little boy grew up to be like this.”

Why did she believe that she could have a conversation with Lucas? Over the past 6 years, she had gotten too used to a world where everything went her way in Astel. Moreover, the confidence she had gained from fending off Duke Farel’s persistent courtship also played a part.

“Duke Farel feels like a gentleman compared to him, this is too much.”

In the first place, Duke Farel’s determination and Lucas’s determination were vastly different, but Serena had failed to realize that. More precisely, she didn’t know how much he wanted her, which led to this situation.

“…What do I do now?”

Even the irresponsibility of Duke Astel, whom she had trusted, worked in a completely different direction, betraying Serena. Moreover, the Holy See urged this marriage, and the imperial family ordered it.

Above all, Lucas’s dark eyes were filled with the determination to make her his bride by any means necessary.

“No…”

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

The crown prince left the duke’s residence as abruptly as when he first appeared. The difference was that there was a bit of tension in the air when he arrived, but now he was humming.

Of course, Cedric found a humming crown prince much more frightening.

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

“Of course.”

“Everyone is waiting for Your Highness’s return… Shouldn’t you take a carriage from the capital?”

Although Cedric knew Lucas’s personality best, he couldn’t omit the questions he had to ask as a knight.

“Well, I’ll think about it then.”

However, instead of rebuking him as usual, Lucas humming again troubled Cedric.

“It seems Lady Serena has agreed to the marriage.”

Cedric cautiously asked, bringing his horse closer, but Lucas let out an absurd chuckle.

“That lady? No way.”

As if he had heard a funny joke, Lucas’s expression was cheerful.

“If she were a lady of only that caliber, I wouldn’t have wanted her in the first place.”

Cedric nodded.

In fact, the only way for Serena to avoid marrying the crown prince was to act like an ordinary noble lady. Then Lucas would have immediately lost interest and never sought her out again.

“I’m satisfied that everything is going according to plan.”

Lucas curled up one corner of his mouth. Even though he was his lord, at times like this, Cedric couldn’t help but click his tongue inwardly.

“Is the bruise on your shin also part of that plan?”

“This much is a small price to pay.”

Lucas’s answer was lighthearted despite Cedric’s sarcastic question.

“Since I’ve nullified the 6-year gap, it’s a gain even if I had been hit a couple more times.”

This was Lucas’s scary side.

“And the lady never realized that everything was my plan until the end.”

“Yes… That was also part of your plan.”

From the beginning, living as if he knew nothing of the world’s rules while indulging in free wandering was all part of his plan.

Abandoning his fiancée for 6 years and deliberately not showing himself was the same. Also, hiding his presence in the imperial capital for 6 years was all calculated behavior.

“The protagonist always makes a dramatic entrance.”

Lucas smiled with satisfaction.

“Your Highness has always loved theater since childhood.”

The past 6 years were his preparation to become a true protagonist. What stimulated him, who knew no shortcomings as the empire’s only successor and crown prince, was his fiancée, who was a span taller than him.

“Anyway, didn’t it turn out well? Soon, everyone in the capital and the palace will see me again, and as a result, I got the woman I wanted.”

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

The moment everyone forgot his weak appearance, appearing in the most robust form was the best opportunity to make an unforgettable impression on the world.

“I wonder if there was a need to go this far…”

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

In the past, the 16-year-old boy, smaller than his peers, wanted to change the world’s view that looked down on him all at once.

“If I had met the lady every year after the engagement… wouldn’t she have regarded me as a praiseworthy younger brother?”

Considering Serena’s personality, he had a point.

“I had the hardest time enduring while hearing the news of her enjoying herself alone in Astel.”

Lucas wanted to completely change his image as a little fiancé.

And tenaciously, he returned after 6 years and achieved his plan.

“Even if it means becoming a man she wants to kick…”

“That’s right.”

He readily admitted.

“It’s better to be a brazen man than to be seen with proud eyes as a well-grown boy.”

Then there was no doubt that he had achieved his goal. At least Serena would forget the boy of the past and be conscious of the threatening man approaching her now, so it could be called a great success.