ASPB 3

Chapter 3

Ottilie deliberately spoke in a gentle voice and smiled sweetly.

Arno looked at her with a somewhat dazed expression before slowly nodding.

“Of course.”

Ottilie took a deep breath.

The rich scent of roses seemed to fill her lungs.

“I want to break off our engagement, Your Highness. As soon as possible, if possible.”

After whispering in her clear, melodious voice, Ottilie gave him the brightest smile in the world.

Her silver hair shimmered like flowing water under the sunlight, and her deep green eyes were as fresh and lively as newly sprouted leaves.

She looked nothing like a woman who had just asked to break off her engagement.

‘Ah, this feels amazing! I’m the one who asked to break off the engagement first!’

Deep wrinkles formed between his neatly shaped brows.

His lips twitched a few times as if he wanted to say something, but he soon lifted his teacup with an elegant gesture and took a sip.

When he looked at her again, his dark gray eyes were trembling strangely.

He didn’t seem particularly shaken, but Ottilie, who had watched him more closely and for longer than anyone else, knew.

Arno was flustered right now.

That little movement of rubbing his left thumb and index finger together.

It was a small habit he unconsciously displayed whenever he was nervous or lying.

It was such a trivial habit that no one would notice unless they paid close attention to him.

‘How does it feel, Arno? You’re flustered too, aren’t you? I was so flustered in my previous life. How does it feel to have your engagement suddenly and unilaterally called off by your fiancée?’

Ottilie suppressed the mocking laughter that threatened to burst out and smiled with the purest and most innocent expression she could manage.

After all, she knew better than anyone what drove him crazy.

“Um, Tilly, what do you mean by suddenly breaking off our engagement? What are you talking about? I… don’t really understand. Are you talking about breaking off our engagement? The kind where we go our separate ways?”

Ottilie didn’t miss the slight twitch at the corner of his mouth as he tried to force a smile.

“Yes, Your Highness. That kind of broken engagement. We’ll be parting ways forever!”

“Parting ways forever?”

Arno repeated her words foolishly, making her want to laugh.

“Why…? Why all of a sudden?”

“It’s nothing special, Your Highness. I’m just so tired of you now.”

She spoke with a slightly embarrassed smile, looking shy.

She looked so lovely that her appearance didn’t match her words at all.

“I used to think Your Highness was the only one for me, but not anymore. I want to meet other people, too. Besides, when I think about spending the rest of my life with someone I don’t even love…”

Once again, she smiled sweetly.

Her delicate face, as fresh as a green leaf, crinkled beautifully.

“That sounds… absolutely dreadful. You’ll grant my request to break off our engagement, won’t you?”

She said it with the most beautiful face in the world and the sweetest voice imaginable.

He frowned as if he had just heard something unbelievable.

Another deep crease appeared on his handsome face.

Arno seemed to consider her words for a moment. Then, as though he had finally understood what she meant, he swallowed hard.

He elegantly took another sip of tea before regaining the perfectly calm expression of a Crown Prince.

With that emotionless face, he slowly looked Ottilie up and down.

From head to toe.

Her graceful sitting posture, even her silver hair swaying gently.

‘Why does he keep staring at me? It’s making me uncomfortable.’

Ottilie suppressed the impatience that suddenly rose inside her.

‘What is he hesitating for? He was planning to tell me today that he wanted to break off the engagement anyway. Just accept it already.’

She wanted to get away from this place even one second sooner.

“So, you’re saying… you’ve grown tired of me, Tilly?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

Ottilie answered calmly.

At that moment, simply knowing that she had returned even a little of the pain he had inflicted on her in her previous life sent a thrill through her entire body.

“How could you grow tired of me? You loved me, Tilly. You loved everything about me. Especially this face.”

Did he think she was joking?

He gave her a playful smile and pointed at his own face with his finger.

“Haah… I’m not joking, Your Highness. I’m tired of even that face now. I really want to break off our engagement.”

Ottilie made a face as if she were completely fed up with him.

“Then, should I try changing my style a little?”

He messed up his neatly styled hair.

“How about it, Tilly? Don’t I look like a different person now? Or should I dye this red hair?”

He playfully asked while twirling a lock of his hair around his finger.

“Your Highness. No matter what you change, my feelings won’t return.”

Ottilie’s drooping eyes looked sad.

“I don’t have even the tiniest bit of affection left for you. I really don’t. I’m sorry. I don’t love you at all.”

As she said those words, she looked genuinely apologetic.

Even though she was smiling with satisfaction inside.

“Haa…”

He let out a low sigh before putting his Crown Prince’s mask back on.

An utterly expressionless face.

“That would be difficult, Ottilie.”

His voice, however, was as affectionate as it had been when they were lovers.

“Why is that?”

Ottilie widened her eyes and tilted her head.

She pretended to be unbothered, but she was a little flustered inside.

‘Why? You were planning to break off our engagement today anyway. So why are you saying no? Is it because I said it first? Because you didn’t get to say it first? Is it your pride?’

“Because I haven’t grown tired of you at all.”

He looked at Ottilie with an amused expression, as if he couldn’t understand why she was asking such an obvious question, and chuckled.

Once again, flowers of spring seemed to bloom across his face.

This time, Ottilie couldn’t immediately understand what he meant.

As she slowly blinked and tried to gather her thoughts, Arno gazed at her lovingly.

“Ottilie, if you’re upset because you haven’t had the chance to date anyone else… Fine. You can go and date someone. I’ll wait for you.”

He spoke like an emperor of a victorious nation granting mercy to the defeated.

“Of course, seeing you with another man would make my insides twist with anger. I might even… kill him without realizing it.”

He gave a silly little laugh.

It was a smile Ottilie knew all too well.

Ever since she had first met him, he had often smiled at her just like that.

He would smile so foolishly that it was hard to believe he was the Crown Prince Arno.

He looked like a man who was completely bewitched by her, as if he would gladly give her everything he had without hesitation.

“Well, that wouldn’t be so bad either. If I kill the men you date one by one… At least I’ll be able to figure out your taste in men for certain.”

He was casually saying something horrifying with the very expression she had once loved so dearly.

He even nodded happily, apparently pleased with his own idea.

An eternity seemed to pass in the silence between the bewildered Ottilie and Arno, who continued looking at her lovingly.

“Hahahaha!”

The one who broke the silence was Ottilie, with her clear, refreshing laughter.

As if she were genuinely amused, Ottilie tilted her head back slightly and laughed brightly.

Her laughter echoed along the walls of the glass greenhouse, spreading like the clear sound of crystal beads.

“Haha, so you’re saying you refuse my request to break off our engagement?”

After her laughter gradually subsided, Ottilie gently wiped away the tears at the corners of her eyes and asked.

The delicate white handkerchief embroidered with beautiful patterns, which she took out of her belongings, quickly absorbed her tears.

Watching her, Arno answered as if it were obvious.

“Mm-hmm.”

“And you’re even saying you’ll wait for me while I date someone else?”

Her eyes were wide and innocent like a child’s as she spoke in a soft voice.

“Mm-hmm. But are you really planning to date someone other than me?”

Arno answered while putting on an innocent expression.

It was the very same expression he had always shown Ottilie whenever he had done something wrong since they were children.

“Yes. If Your Highness refuses to break off our engagement, I suppose I have no choice. But are you saying you’ll kill every gentleman I meet?”

Her tone was as light as a breeze.

“Mm-hmm. Every single one of them.”

At his unwavering answer, Ottilie smiled brightly, looking satisfied.

“May everything happen according to Your Highness’s wishes.”

Ottilie stood up, slightly lifted the hem of her skirt, and bowed her head.

It was such a polite and formal greeting that it could hardly be considered something exchanged between lovers.

Arno blinked and hurriedly stood up as well, but Ottilie lightly raised her right palm to stop him.

“Since I’ve said everything I wanted to say, I’ll be leaving now, Your Highness.”

She briefly looked Arno, who was standing awkwardly, up and down before giving him an ambiguous smile, as if he were an unavoidable nuisance.

“I don’t need an escort. You’re too disgusting, you see.”

After saying that, Ottilie gave him the sweetest smile she could manage and turned away without a trace of hesitation.

Arno couldn’t take his eyes off her back as she walked out of the glass greenhouse with the gentle steps of a warm spring breeze.

And Ottilie never once looked back.

Even after she disappeared and the door of the glass greenhouse closed, a long time passed before Arno slowly turned his head and looked at the seat where Ottilie had been sitting.

The tea in the teacup resting there hadn’t gone down by even a single drop.