10 minutes that felt like 10 hours passed, and finally the music ended. Caspian opened his mouth, intending to offer Espin champagne.

“Princess Espin……”

“It was a pleasant dance, Prince Caspian. Well then, have a good time. I’ll be going to my friends now.”

But Espin was one step faster. Finding it burdensome to face him any longer, Espin quickly greeted him and left.

Watching Espin’s back as she hurriedly walked away, Caspian ran his fingers through his hair and smiled widely.

‘What’s this? Is she being shy? How cute.’

Hehe, a confident smile deeply colored Caspian’s red lips. He immediately followed after Espin.

Espin was with her ladies-in-waiting. Caspian very naturally joined their conversation, thinking how lovely Espin’s face was as it stiffened with tension at his appearance.

“Princess Espin, our meeting in Crawford was too brief, so I’m honored to see you again like this.”

“I’m planning to return home soon. Crawford is beautiful, but I couldn’t stay in one place for long as I wanted to see more nice places.”

It was a business-like answer with an awkward smile added. Despite the very cold and stiff tone, Caspian’s ears were not developed enough to filter out such signals.

“I see. Then where is your next destination? How about we depart together this time? I’ll guide you.”

Needless to say, Espin and everyone present wore expressions just short of being horrified.

Espin’s expression and voice were clearly saying that Caspian was uncomfortable. Yet this prince couldn’t understand any of these languages at all.

Where and how did his thought process get tangled up that he could say such things without hesitation in this atmosphere? Everyone wondered.

Espin quickly opened her mouth before Caspian could ramble on with specific plans while puffed up with false dreams. She wanted to get rid of him.

“It’s a kind offer, but what can we do? We’re thinking of returning to Hystrik soon.”

“What? But you just said you wanted to travel to other places……”

Caspian wore a dumbfounded expression at Espin’s response. While he wasn’t very perceptive, he wasn’t so foolish as to not even remember what he had just heard.

‘What’s this? Is she playing hard to get? Because she’s shy? Being too shy is a bit troublesome and not great though….’

No, he was truly foolish in the sense that he was making excessively delusional assumptions.

“Oh my, I see. That’s too bad.”

For now, he decided to back off and mention it again later. Even if she’s shy at first, her shyness might decrease after talking two or three times.

It was then. A sharp cry was heard from a nearby terrace.

“Let go! I said no! Why do you keep doing this?”

It was the voice of Frida, one of Espin’s ladies-in-waiting. Espin immediately ran to the terrace. Her ladies-in-waiting were with her.

“Frida, what’s wrong?”

Espin, who had rushed over in a hurry, cried out. She quickly assessed the situation on the terrace with wide eyes.

A man was roughly gripping Frida’s wrist. Frida, who was frightened, tried to shake him off, but it didn’t seem easy. She looked at Espin with an expression on the verge of tears.

The man was a face Espin knew. It was Viscount Royce Farren, one of the group that often hung around Prince Caspian.

Espin shouted as she blocked in front of Frida. Her violet eyes blazed with anger.

“What rudeness is this, Viscount Farren?”

“Princess Espin, Your Highness, rudeness? That’s quite an exaggeration.”

“The viscount was roughly grabbing Frida’s wrist. Even though she was trying to shake you off. How is this not rude behavior but an exaggeration?”

“I was merely inviting Lady Frida for a walk in the garden. That’s all.”

The viscount said, waving his arms as if he felt wronged. But his excuses and expressions didn’t work on Espin at all.

“If she expressed her refusal, you should know when to back off!”

As Espin spoke sternly with a serious face, Caspian, who had followed belatedly, intervened.

“Ahaha, oh dear, oh dear….. Our Viscount Farren has been missing Lady Frida a lot these past few days. So it seems he made the lady uncomfortable by letting his feelings get ahead of him. I apologize on his behalf, Lady Frida.”

“……Yes.”

As Prince Caspian bowed his head politely and apologized, Frida could only nod. After all, she couldn’t continue to be angry at the empire’s prince who was speaking of the wrongdoing.

Then Espin grabbed Frida’s hand and said,

“Then we’ll take our leave now.”

“Wait……”

This time, Caspian grabbed Espin’s arm. And he hurriedly continued with his next words.

“Instead of that, how about we all have a drink on the terrace to cool off? The scenery here is excellent, and the wind is cool, isn’t it?”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness. It seems a bit chilly here. And we’ve already had a lot of champagne. We’ll be heading in now.”

“……”

Playing hard to get is cute once, but it becomes annoying if it continues. You should push and pull, not just keep pushing! Caspian’s face, which had been smiling all along, began to contort unpleasantly.

His hand gripping Espin’s arm gradually tightened. Espin frowned at the pain and looked up at Caspian. And then she saw it. The madness gleaming in his eyes.

‘That look in his eyes, it’s dangerous!’

For a moment, a chilling fear swept through Espin’s entire body. She shrugged her shoulders and trembled.

It was when Caspian was thinking how adorable Espin looked, trembling like a herbivore. Veronia suddenly appeared and stepped between the two.

“I’ll order a table to be set up on the terrace for the prince’s party. Princess Espin, please come with me.”

Veronia grabbed both Espin’s and Caspian’s arms simultaneously, intending for him to let go of Espin’s arm now. Caspian jumped up.

“How dare you touch me! You lowly……”

His true feelings came out as he lost his temper. But he couldn’t finish the sentence he had started. Because his eyes met with Killian’s, who was just entering the terrace.

Caspian felt irritated at himself for being cowed by Killian’s gaze.

Ignoring his reaction, Killian glared at Caspian and asked,

“Your Highness, what’s the matter? Did my fiancée make a mistake by any chance?”

It was a dry voice befitting his cold expression. For a moment, it felt as if the air within a 5-meter radius had frozen.

With an awkward smile, Caspian waved both hands and said,

“No. I may have had too much to drink and misspoke, that’s all.”

Ha, haha…… Caspian tried to laugh to ease the heightened tension, but the atmosphere only became more grim. Killian furrowed his brow and continued,

“I see. Even if it was a slip of the tongue, I think you should apologize. Though it may not have been your intention, words were already said, and the other party heard them, didn’t they?”

Killian looked straight at Caspian. Faced with a gaze filled with strong will that wouldn’t back down at all, Caspian’s throat went dry.

If there was someone he least wanted as an enemy in this world, it would be this Duke Killian Drea. Even Caspian, who was oblivious and politically ignorant, knew that much.

The gazes of everyone on the terrace focused on Caspian. Their eyes sparkled as if very curious about how he would react.

Caspian struggled to move his facial muscles that weren’t working properly and opened his mouth.

“My intoxication made me misspeak. I’m sorry, Lady Nia.”

To apologize to a mere commoner over such a trivial matter was humiliating. Unexpressed anger boiled in his stomach. Caspian gritted his teeth and swallowed his rage.

If he had met her one-on-one outside, she would have been someone he could just ignore. A commoner he could slash with a sword without much consequence.

But it irritated him even more that this insignificant woman had backed him into a corner thanks to her new status as Killian’s fiancée.

Though he barely managed to utter words of apology, he couldn’t control his expression at all. Caspian stormed off the terrace, huffing and puffing. All his entourage, including Viscount Farren, followed behind him.

As the situation was settled for now, Killian’s worried gaze turned to Veronia.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m fine. But the princess and Lady Frida must have been very startled.”

Veronia was more concerned about Espin and Frida. Killian looked at them and said,

“I’m truly sorry, Princess Espin, Lady Frida. I should have been more attentive, but I failed to do so. I’ll keep a close eye on things from now on.”

“It’s not Duke Killian’s fault.”

Espin said it was okay and tried to force a smile, but she couldn’t hide the trembling of her fingertips. Seeing that, Veronia’s eyes blazed.