Ding~

Christine, who had entered the store, flinched.

“Where is this…?”

“Yeah, a pretty dessert shop?”

He looked around with a face that couldn’t agree with the word pretty.

The interior, with a creamcolored background, was decorated entirely with pink furniture. Moreover, inside the store, there were mostly young female customers.

In such a place, Christine’s existence was strikingly out of place. Already attracting people’s gaze with his appearance, everyone stared at him with forks in their mouths, lost in thought.

“Women think this is pretty.”

“Shall we leave if it’s uncomfortable?”

“Not at all.”

And he marched further into the store.

Then, a young clerk in a suit rushed over.

“Did you make a reservation?”

Adel whispered to the clerk.

“We didn’t make a reservation, but is there a spot that’s least noticeable?”

No matter how much Christine said he wasn’t uncomfortable, feeling people’s gaze would be tiring.

The clerk made a strange face then,

“There is just the right spot available.”

Adel began to whisper… but was forcibly cut off by Christine.

“I can hear you well enough here.”

(This is a time separator.)

“Shall we leave if you don’t like it?”

Adel asked Christine again, looking troubled.

The place the clerk led them to was the most secluded room in the store. The smallsized room had an oddly suggestive atmosphere.

There were sparkling beads hanging by the window, and the floor was covered with pink chairs and carpets with red heart cushions scattered haphazardly. On the wall shelves, there were floral teacups and dolls in bright dresses displayed.

In a place perfect for little girls’ parties, with Christine sitting there, something…

“I feel like a pervert.”

At his dry voice, Adel barely contained her bursting laughter.

But as he pulled his chair back to stretch his long legs, the dolls displayed on the shelf poured down.

Seeing him buried in lace dolls in an instant, Adel couldn’t hold back and,

“Pffft!”

burst out laughing.

Just then, a clerk carrying their ordered cake and tea entered and left hurriedly with a face flushed from suppressing laughter.

But Christine didn’t feel bad.

While Adel held her stomach, laughing, he poured tea from the teapot into a teacup and placed pieces of cake on a small plate for her to eat.

He also didn’t forget to neatly place the teaspoon and fork.

The afternoon sun shining through the window reflected in the beads, sparkling in rainbow colors.

Fragrant tea and sweet cake. And looking at Adel, who was laughing so joyously that she even shed tears, he somehow felt relaxed and at ease.

“Really feel like a pervert…”

Christine was a bit dumbfounded that he felt good in such a place.

“Don’t worry. I’ll still like you anyway.”

“Thanks.”

His handsome lips, sipping tea with dignity, curved slightly.

Adel also stopped laughing and had cake and tea. Every time she did, a ring on her finger faintly sparkled. Seeing another one paired with it on Christine’s finger gave her a strange sense of unity.

“Do you like it that much?”

Christine, who was quickwitted, seemed to have noticed her feelings.

“Yes, especially this diamond is really mysterious.”

Adel smiled contentedly as she fiddled with the ring.

“Of course. Even a castle wouldn’t be enough to obtain it.”

Adel’s eyes widened.

“Is it that expensive? I just thought the mysterious blue light looked similar to your eyes…”

“That’s why I had it hard to get. So you think of me whenever you see it.”

Putting a piece of red velvet cake into her mouth, Adel narrowed her eyes.

“Knowing that, I somehow feel like this ring is watching me? I’ll have to take it off when I’m doing something bad.”

“You’re not planning to cheat on me, are you?”

“Huh!”

When Adel opened her eyes in astonishment, Christine wiped the cocoa powder from the corner of her mouth and smiled suggestively.

“That’s why you should always wear it. It’s a mark that you are mine.”

“……!”

Suddenly, Adel’s face turned pale.
“You’ll never escape me as long as this mark is on you. It’s proof that your soul is mine.”

It was Stone’s cruel voice that overlapped, perhaps because of the word “mark.”

Adel was horrified that his presence had intruded on this happy moment.

“……Why are you like this?”

Even Christine looked at her with a puzzled expression, seeing how rigid her face had become.

“Sorry. I guess the cake got stuck in my throat. Cough!”

When Adel deliberately coughed, Christine quickly brought a teacup to her lips.

“Drink a little.”

Adel took a sip of the tea and smiled faintly.

“Thank you. I’m fine now.”

But Stone’s presence remained lodged in her head and wouldn’t leave.

As he left for his diplomatic mission, it seemed she knew why he had branded his mark on her back. It was a kind of shackle he had placed on Adel.

So she couldn’t meet any other men. Always to remind her of himself.

The real enemy wasn’t those who spread bad rumors about her. It might have been Stone, whom she couldn’t erase from her heart.

(This is a time separator.)