74 – The princess celebrates her birthday.(4)

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Not being able to meet someone’s expectations is more heartbreaking than you think.

Human beings always have expectations, and the bigger the expectations, the bigger the disappointment that comes later.

How could it feel good to bring such disappointment to a certain person?

How much more, if that particular person is someone I love.

“······Did you wait a long time?”

“····.”

Rebecca did not open her tightly closed mouth despite my question.

She thought it would be better for her to be angry as usual. Being angry also means that there is room for forgiveness.

If you were annoyed by why you were so late, you could have responded calmly as usual.

At least now, Rebecca didn’t seem to be angry with me.

“····.”

“····.”

A time of silence like an eternity where we only look at each other.

Does my fiancee know? She knew that even though she was putting on such a serious tone, her stupid fiancé thought she was pretty.

Really, no matter how many times I look back, my fiancee is really beautiful.

Although she must have been mad at her fiancé for being late for her own birthday, which happens once a year. Because of that, she remains expressionless.

Seeing her show off her own beauty as if her title of the best beauty in her empire wasn’t given for nothing.

Besides, now it blends in with the background of the night sky where the moon is starting to rise, creating a more mysterious atmosphere than usual.

Isn’t this kind of carefree thinking even in the current situation that may be very serious?

It was Rebecca who first broke this eternity of silence.

“······If I ask you, will you answer?”

“Yes?”

“Why are you late. If I ask you why you are late, will you answer?”

Rebecca’s voice is completely devoid of emotion and has an unclear pitch.

Obviously the sentence didn’t contain any sharp words.

It felt like every word of his words cut through her heart.

As if I didn’t expect you to tell me at all. As if I had no expectations from you.

Rebecca’s sweet voice that pierced my ears was enough to clear my head of carefree thoughts.

“······It’s okay. Something happened to you too.”

“····.”

“Thank you for coming today. I’m a bit tired, so I need to go to bed.”

When I couldn’t answer, Rebecca slowly started walking toward me.

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Not exactly towards me, but towards the door behind my back.

“I will answer you.”

“····.”

“Why am I late? I’ll answer as you wish.”

If I hadn’t stopped, my fiancée, who is colder than anyone else when it’s cold, really wouldn’t have gone to bed.

I’m sorry, but I couldn’t let it go like that.

Today, before going to bed, the person I have to think of as having the happiest day is my fiancée.

***

“Why am I late? I’ll answer as you wish.”

“····.”

Her fiance called and stopped her.

As usual, he brought out an answer that should have been given to her question earlier.

Why is her fiancé always late?

If she had said earlier that she would answer why she was late. If she had arrived at the duke’s house from morning long ago and was by her side as her fiancé.

If you received a sincere congratulation from your fiancé.

Maybe I didn’t feel bad for people celebrating her birthday falsely.

If you don’t feel bad.

Maybe he didn’t listen to the comforting prince who was annoying because he was unnecessarily mysterious.

If your fiancé was still by your side.

He might have spent the day arguing with her fiancé instead of listening to Isabella’s chatter.

······She might have been able to spend today very happily.

She was angry at her fiancé who always controlled her mind, showing a lacking side at every important moment.

She meant it when she said she was tired and was going back to her room.

She was too tired to fight with the masks all day and at the same time keep waiting for her fiancé.

If her fiancé hadn’t held her back to answer, she would really have been lying in bed by now.

“······Please answer.”

“····.”

“Why are you late today? Why are you late for the birthday of the fiancée you love so much? Tell me.”

So it was.

What made her voice sound strangely nervous?

Her fiancé’s heart, who always said that he loved her and that she was beautiful.

To find out if it was all sincere, or if it was all her vain words, just to make fun of her.

“·······Three years.”

“····.”

“It’s been over 3 years since the princess and I met.”

Her fiancé said that he would answer the reason for his delay, but then suddenly spits out meaningless words.

“Do you think it’s important now?”

Unsurprisingly, her reaction was not good.

That wasn’t what her fiancé had to say.

Why was it late, why was it forced to be late?

In this way, even if she gave a convincing answer, she was bringing up words of unknown meaning.

Hope for her reaction was too much greed.

“What kind of person was I to the princess for the past 3 years?”

“····.”

Even as her expression deteriorated, her fiancé steadfastly carried on with her.

Like she said earlier, as if that wasn’t the important thing, as if there was something important between her and herself.

In the end, she couldn’t figure out the hidden meaning behind her fiancé’s words, so she had no choice but to recall them in her head.

What kind of person was her fiancé to her?

“······A nasty person.”

The first thought that came to my mind was, of course, that I was a nasty person.

If I risked something on her and only won the match, she would always win her victory with a narrow margin.

A nasty person who makes fun of her more than anyone else in the world.

“And… He’s also annoying.”

What followed was the idea of an annoying person.

Didn’t you have an accident that made you look forward to it and ruined everything just thinking about it today?

There were even a few times in her past that made her cry. It was natural for her to feel that, on her part, she was an annoyance.

As such, Albert Zernias was a very nasty and irritating person to her.

“······So, am I someone that the princess doesn’t like?”

“····.”

But why can’t she answer that?

She just said that she was a nasty and irritating person. Why can’t I say that I don’t like people?

“Since you can’t answer, let’s change the question. When the princess and I first met, did the princess hate me?”

“······It was like that then.”

There was no need to deny the fact that her fiancé didn’t like her from the first impression of her.

If I liked her first impression, there’s no way she would have argued with her first.

She apparently hated her fiancé when they first met.

“Then how about now?”

“····.”

“Does the princess hate me now?”

However, she was unable to answer her fiancé’s questions this time either.

Even though I blatantly hated it when we first met, even though I still get annoyed when I think of what I went through today.

In the end, the words that she hated her fiancé couldn’t come out of her mouth.

Come to think of it, she couldn’t even understand that she used words like ‘at that time’ when she answered earlier.

Even though those words obviously came out of her mouth.

I thought it was like that then.

Doesn’t this seem like a statement based on the premise that now is different from then?

As if making an excuse for her fiancé. As if making an excuse that he doesn’t hate you.

Why is her heart trying to make excuses to her fiancé?

“·······I don’t hate it.”

In fact, she knew better than anyone why.

I didn’t want to be hated by my fiancé. I want my fiancé to continue looking at me.

I hate to admit it, but I want to be loved by my fiancé.

That’s why I couldn’t say no. Because I thought it would be nice if the usual days could go on forever.

“Then, let me ask you again. What kind of person am I, Princess?”

Hearing her answer, her fiancé asked her the same question again.

As if he were sure that if I asked her the same question by now, her answer would be different.

I kept saying it, but he was such a nasty and irritating person.

Where does that unfounded confidence and confidence come from?

“······The fiancé who will marry later.”

Of course, what annoyed her even more was herself, who had changed her answer as her fiancé expected.

She couldn’t say that she didn’t like her fiancé, but she could tell her several times that she really didn’t like him.

“······Is that so?”

Her fiancé, who eventually changed her answer, was troubled for a moment, but then she resumed her conversation with a new subject.

“Do you remember?”

“······What do you remember…”

“That’s the request I made for Princess Princess on her birthday.”

“····.”

I remembered.

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No, I couldn’t remember.

Please make sure to accept any gift you give.

Isn’t that the reason why she was looking forward to today in the first place?

“Perhaps now is the time for the princess to listen to that request.”

“Now?”

“Yes. Right now.”

“····.”

Does this person remember the fact that his fiancée had been expressionlessly angry with her until just now?

I haven’t even properly told you why I’m late.

But it was also true that she agreed to do her fiancé’s favor.

It was also true that her damn heart, which did not always know her heart at all, began to beat slowly and rapidly in anticipation of the request at that time.

“······Can you give it now?”

The only expression that could come out of her mouth was affirmation or permission.