Chapter 12

It felt as though her limbs were stiffening from tension. Just entering this far was enough for rumors to spread if anyone wanted to make them.

She had the assignment as an excuse, so she could give some kind of explanation, but rumors were things that could spread even if they weren’t true—and rumors about a celebrity like Damien Xsanov were even more so.

Fortunately, the dormitory corridor was empty since it was dinner time. If they had worked on the assignment in the dormitory from the very beginning… Ugh, I don’t even want to think about it.

At the end of her spiraling thoughts, the place where the two arrived was in front of a door that looked like it belonged to a professor’s office. Tislin pulled Damien’s coat tighter around herself, terrified her school uniform might show.

“What is this place?”

“The Royal Guards’ lounge.”

“Is it okay for an outsider to come in?”

Even as she said that, Tislin followed Damien inside. Going inside anywhere felt safer than standing out in that corridor, after all.

The inside of the door was decorated like a reception room in an ordinary noble mansion. It was a bright room where, in the early morning, the sunlight would reach deep inside and make the gold thread on the sofa sparkle—a room that didn’t suit the rigid Department of Knighthood dormitory at all.

“No one uses it anyway. It was originally made for students belonging to the Guards, but since there’s a dormitory lounge, no one bothers coming all the way here.”

Damien added that the adjacent rooms were also similar Guards’ lounges, so there was no need to worry about people coming and going.

“So a place like this existed…”

Stepping into a room with a familiar setup made her tension relax a little—except for the fact that the table wasn’t large, making her sit close to the seat opposite hers. Tislin buried her body into a plush chair and rested her hands on her thighs.

Heading further into the lounge, Damien brought back a steaming mug.

“Huh?”

“It’s what you like. Isn’t it?”

It was thick hot chocolate. Tislin nodded blankly.

The Grand Duchy of Luxen was located much further north than the Ermiz territory, and whenever Tislin visited Luxen in the winter, she wrapped a blanket tightly around her shoulders and lived with warm milk and hot chocolate in her mouth to fight off the cold.

After Adelinde—who insisted on imitating everything Tislin did—pestered to drink hot chocolate as well and got a cavity, Tislin had to stay away from it for a while. However, once Adelinde’s cavity healed, Tislin carried it around with her for quite a long time again.

She had made it for Damien a few times back then, but she never imagined he would remember it.

“That’s right! It’s been a while since I had this.”

It tasted exactly like the one she used to drink in Luxen.

But why was this in the Royal Guards’ lounge? Even when he was in Luxen, Damien wasn’t someone who enjoyed sweet drinks like hot chocolate. Could it be…

No.

Tislin decisively cut off the branch of imagination that was trying to stretch out against her will.

It was probably just a coincidence. Or maybe simple politeness. There was no way it was anything more than that.

“Thank you.”

Tislin simply said that and dropped her gaze onto the chocolate.

For his own share, Damien brought over plain tea. It was the same tea he used to drink in Luxen. There were likely many other good teas in the royal capital, but he probably reached for what was familiar to him.

In truth, their engagement was probably a similar matter. Because a familiar person was comfortable. Because someone close to Adelinde was good. Because she was a trustworthy person, at any rate.

And now… well, probably because undoing an already decided engagement was a bother?

But to have such a reason for something this important?

“I don’t understand.”

Tislin muttered, her eyes fixed on her cup.

“I mean, I must have fit some condition of yours or His Grace the Grand Duke’s. But I’m not the only person with those conditions, are I?”

Damien didn’t answer. That in itself was as good as an answer.

See. Tislin flashed a bitter smile.

“Then why won’t you let me break off the engagement?”

“Tis. Even if I withdraw my intention to marry you, the engagement won’t be canceled right away.”

That made no sense. While Tislin’s parents had agreed to the engagement immediately without even asking her opinion, there was no way the Grand Duke of Luxen would force Damien into an engagement against his will.

“Just as you think, His Grace asked for my opinion when making the engagement. But breaking an engagement requires far more reasons than that—because it’s a decision that has already been made.”

“You mean something like political reasons.”

However, there was no way such a thing could exist between the Count of Ermiz family and the Grand Duke of Luxen family. To put it simply, the two families had no political relationship whatsoever.

“Right. Whatever it may be, a justification that makes continuing the engagement impossible.”

Tislin blinked blankly. Damien spoke as if emphasizing it once more.

“Even if I were to agree with your desire to break off the engagement, I have no intention of actively participating to the extent of making up a justification for you.”

It was a far more definitive and resolute refusal than simply saying he wouldn’t break off the engagement.

She couldn’t understand it at all.

Tislin had genuinely thought that if she just asked to break off the engagement, Damien would agree to it. Since it hadn’t been officially announced yet, couldn’t they end it by mutual consent?

Yet right now, Damien was saying there would be absolutely no breaking off the engagement unless she brought a justification.

‘You don’t even like me!’

In an instant, anger surged to the top of her head. Tislin sprang up from her seat and glared at Damien.

“You, you—are you really going to marry me then?”

“Yeah. I am.”

Her mouth was silenced by the answer that came out without the slightest hesitation.

“You…!”

“Why. Is that not allowed?”

When their eyes met, Tislin flinched. Unlike his smooth, elegant face that showed not a hint of disturbance, there was heat in Damien’s blue eyes. She couldn’t wrap her head around it.

Her surging anger died down completely. Tislin squeezed her eyes shut and slumped back down into her seat.

What on earth is all this?

“Why me of all people in the first place? I heard there were plenty of other people. There were even people arranged by His Grace the Grand Duke.”

She had heard that he rejected all those well-positioned young ladies, but that part wasn’t what was important right now.

“Did you choose me? Why?”

“Well…”

Looking down as if selecting his words, Damien replied after a brief silence:

“Because our eyes met often.”

For an answer to something she had been curious about for so long, it was far too hollow. The strength drained from her body.

‘Just that?’

That was no different from saying he picked just anyone. There was no way that was the real reason in the first place.

“Though I didn’t expect you to dislike it to this extent.”

Of course I would. Right before Damien chose Tislin as his betrothed, Tislin had confessed to him!

‘But if you were going to remember that, shouldn’t you also consider the fact that you turned me down on the spot?’

It wasn’t as if he was playing with her, either.

Clearly, when they first started the conversation, there had been so many things she wanted to pry into. Yet, after going in circles only to hear that it was a ‘no,’ all her motivation evaporated. For a split second, the thought even crossed her mind: Rather than being forced to live with some worthless guy, wouldn’t it be better to live with the person I like, no matter what?

Even though she shouldn’t think like that.

“So, Tis. Why do you hate the engagement?”

At the question that felt like a sharp poke at the thoughts rolling around in her head, she almost opened her mouth without realizing it. Flustered, Tislin narrowed her eyes into triangles and tightly pressed her lips together.

If they were to interrogate each other, Damien would obviously have the upper hand over Tislin. But this wasn’t a prisoner interrogation. Holding tightly to the skirt of her dress, Tislin turned her head away.

“I can’t tell you. …It’s an embarrassing reason.”

She meant it from the bottom of her heart.

A reason that was endlessly important in her own life, but was bound to be dismissed as ‘just something like that’ by others.

A reason that would diminish her the moment she uttered it aloud, making it something she could never tell the person she liked.

There really were such things in this world—though Damien Xsanov might not know it.

Damien stared at her intently as if gauging the truth of those words. The gaze brushing against her cheek felt almost tactile. Tislin turned her head to avoid those eyes. Her face burned hot once again.

After scanning her wandering eyes, reddened cheeks, and earlobes in sequence, Damien soon lifted the corners of his lips.

“Fine. If you say so. Then I’ll tell you another reason why we can’t break off the engagement.”

Another reason?

Along with those words, what Damien handed over was a letter envelope. Tislin took it reflexively, only to almost scream.

The sender of the letter. The name written clearly on the envelope.

“Adelinde.”

The world before her turned pitch-black.

Opening the envelope with trembling hands, Tislin checked the end of the short letter. Just as she had thought.

“She’s on her way right now…!”