Chapter 1 - Part 1
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***
That night…
Kalix laid down on the bed, but couldn’t sleep all night. It was because of his thoughts about Lelia.
From what he has seen, she was a very nice person. He felt the same way when he visited her before and talked to her about the secret.
“You… Ah… What happened last night, you shouldn’t let anyone know about it.”
“… Of course. Do not worry. By the way, are you okay?”
“Uh… Well, I’m okay.”
He was there to warn her just in case she tells Romeo about his seizures. Lelia nodded her head as if it was natural, but looked very worried about him.
His confidence grew even more.
She is a very loyal and trustworthy guy.
‘I didn’t know there would be such pain…’
Anyway, every time he saw Lelia, she reminded him of Leo, So Kalix liked Lelia.
‘Somehow, even though she’s a woman, she doesn’t feel so gritty.’
Kalix knew that he had a hard time conversing with women from an early age. He was very simple at best, but was also the worst because his behavior was terrible.
In front of women, he felt like he had to be more polite and modest, so it was difficult to deal with them.
But he felt comfortable with Lelia from the beginning.
Maybe it’s because she resembles Leo?
After thinking about Lelia all night, Kalix came up with another hypothesis.
‘Or maybe he was originally a man, but was raised as a princess?’
When he was a former mercenary, he had heard similar stories somewhere.
It happened a long time ago in a country where only men can succeed the throne. They said that there were men who were raised as women in fear of being a threat to the throne.
It was a pretty plausible hypothesis.
If Romeo was right next to him, he would have said, ‘Stop writing novels in your head and grow up.’
But Kalix was very serious in his own way.
Kalix spent the night burning his imagination just like that.
***
“What is all this?”
“This is a letter to Sir Raymond….”
When she asked the question again, the servant replied as if she was in trouble.
Lelia was stunned.
When she woke up in the morning to eat, she found that her attendant came with a basket full of envelopes.
At first, there were dozens of them.
The attendant said she was supposed to deliver some of these yesterday. She said that it was the accumulation of the new letters that came today and what she couldn’t hand over yesterday.
She exited Lelia’s room and left the basket of letters on the table of her parlor.
“…….”
Lelia, who was left alone, carefully opened her letters one by one.
The letters were things like “I was amazed at the courage you showed us at the ball.” or “I want to build a friendship.”
All of them were letters from the female nobles who participated in the ball.
Perhaps they took a good look at Sir Raymond’s approach to Miss Grace, who was standing alone.
“Was it enough to look like a playboy…?”
She murmured as she read and opened the rest of her letters one by one.
There was a knocking sound.
After allowing the person to come in, Romeo entered.
“What?”
Romeo approached with a stern expression and glanced at the letters Lelia was reading. Then he sat on the sofa as if it were his own room, and called the attendant to bring the food tray.
“…A lot of letters. It seems that there are a lot of young girls who liked you at the ball.”
In the past, Romeo would have giggled, saying, ‘Hey, you must have done a pretty good job playing the role of a playboy.’
But now, he knows that Lelia is a ‘man’.
And that is also thanks to Kalix.
Kalix grabbed Romeo’s arm yesterday and held it the whole time while explaining in detail.
Because of that, Romeo naturally accepted the fact.
There were also other reasons behind it.
Lelia had no magic, so she couldn’t have used fantasy magic, and there’s no possibility of using alchemy drugs.
There was no such thing in the world.
As conceited as it may be, Romeo never thought there would be a great alchemist he didn’t know of.
Let’s just say Lelia is a real wizard or an alchemist.
Then an Emperor who can sense magic, he would’ve looked a little silly… Still, it was enough to deceive Kalix who had tremendous power.
Even if she was able to deceive the Emperor and Kalix, she couldn’t deceive Romeo.
Romeo did not detect any trace of magic or alchemy from Lelia.
So, as Kalix said, he came to believe that Lelia had a male ‘genitalia’.
“Yes, you… yes.”
Romeo nodded as he was about to say something.
“But what about Kalix?”
“Oh, he went out for business. Griffith will be in the capital in a few days.”
“Really?! In a few days?”
When Lelia asked in delight, Romeo’s eyes became strange.
Lelia smiled awkwardly.
“It’s just… He left too quickly last time. Leo… My brother told me a lot about him too.”
“Oh, really?”
“Yes, he’s cold on the outside, but… But he’s a kind-hearted person.”
Listening to Lelia’s answer, Romeo smirked and thought to himself.
‘It wasn’t Leo, it was you.’
‘I’m not sure yet, but if it’s not…’
‘No, you’re Leo.’
***
While Lelia was drinking tea with Romeo, someone came to her room all of a sudden.
When Lelia expressed her welcome at the knock, Romeo asked, “Were you expecting someone?”
“…Yes, I have something for Sir Ruth.”
“…….”
However, it wasn’t Ruth that opened the door and came in.
“Ah, Princess?”
It was Princess Julianna.
Lelia walked a few steps towards Julianna in embarrassment. Julianna had an icy look on her face. Her ice-cold expression seemed like it could put out any flame just from the cold steam she was emitting.
There was actually a surge of anger in her eyes.
Julianna stared at Lelia for a moment, then strode in and suddenly hit her on the cheek.
[T/N: WHAT THE-]
‘Oh my god!’
It didn’t hurt, but the sound was startling.
But just because it didn’t hurt didn’t mean she wasn’t shocked. Lelia was so embarrassed that her mouth was left open.
There were tears in Julianna’s eyes.
‘I’m the one who got hit, why are you crying?’
Lelia wanted to ask but soon closed her eyes.
This is because Juliana’s palm was flying again headed towards the other cheek.
Snap!
But the palm did not reach Lelia’s cheek. This is because Romeo, who came closer, grabbed Julianna’s wrist.
“What are you doing?”
“How dare you grab my wrist?! Let go of me!”
“What kind of be-”
“Let go of me! Let go! Hey!”
When Julianna struggled, Romeo grabbed her arm and lightly pushed it away. However, the wind almost knocked Julianna over while stepping back.
Perhaps because of a memory, Lelia quickly grabbed Julianna’s arm.
“…….”
Thanks to her, Princess Julianna didn’t fall, but the situation became a little funny.
Lelia let go of her hand as soon as Julianna got her posture back.
Romeo was amazed to see Lelia not fall from being slapped, not even thinking about herself.
The word ‘idiot’ was imprinted in his mind.
“…….”
Lelia stepped back, touching her swollen cheek.
She also had her own reasons.
As soon as she saw Julianna almost fall, she remembered a terrible memory of the past. As a child, Lelia had to make a huge apology for pushing Julianna.
The memory of that day remained a trauma and was the reason why she caught Julianna.
She was afraid it was going to happen again.
Of course, that’s not going to happen because it was Romeo who had pushed Julianna. There is no way she can punish Romeo, the prince, with the same punishment they gave to Lelia years ago.
But Cedric, Damien and Emperor Perseus were the ones who lost their reasoning when it came to the personal safety of Julianna.
She wanted to prevent any harm to Romeo.
So she really didn’t think they would forgive him.
“What a rude man!”
Julianna exclaimed then suddenly shouted at Lelia.
Lelia didn’t know why. It would be less frustrating if she knew why she had to be slapped.
Fortunately, Julianna soon explained why.
“It wasn’t enough to take Grace’s side to get me in trouble.!”
Tears dripped from her eyes filled with tears. Princess Julianna looked like she was being falsely accused.
“…Have I done enough rudeness to be slapped on the face?”
“It’s more ridiculous not to know that!”
Princess Julianna clenched her fist.
It was the first time she has been so hurt.
In fact, she wasn’t so angry when Lelia openly took care of Grace at the ball.
It was rather funny and cute then.
It was interesting to think that he was trying to get her attention.
That’s why she wanted to talk to him, so she asked to take him as a fiancé candidate.
Sir Raymond is said to have suddenly returned with compliments for Ruth.
He even asked them to connect Ruth and Julianna.
When she heard the story, she was dumbfounded and her pride was extremely hurt.
In fact, it was almost a blatant rejection. Besides, what’s the big deal? How dare he meddle with her wedding?
In the first place, Julianna was fond of Ruth.
[T/N: Oh, please! -_-]
Still, she was trying to give Raymond a chance.
With all this coming out, Sir Raymond really didn’t feel anything for her.
As soon as she realized that she had been under the illusion alone, she couldn’t raise her head because of the embarrassment.
Ever since she heard the news yesterday, she had to suffer alone without being able to talk to the ladies.
Nevertheless, she didn’t hear from Sir Raymond, let alone get an apology.
That’s why she couldn’t stand it.
She had a very strong pride because she had been raised as a princess since she was young.
“…….”
She thought he wasn’t interested, but she was confused when she saw him supporting her when she was about to fall.
[T/N: Anyone would have done that, Julianna -_-]
If he really didn’t like her, he would not have caught her when she was the one who slapped him on the face.
‘Are you hiding your heart because of your friendship with Ruth?’
If so, she hated it even more.
She hated stupid men with no courage.
Julianna huffed for a while and then turned away.
Lelia and Romeo, who were humiliated, looked at each other from behind.
Romeo crumpled his brows and asked.
“You… you don’t really like that young lady, do you?”
He asked just in case. He was a man with “it,” so he was wondering if he was just out of his mind because he liked Julianna.
“…No.”
Lelia answered, grabbing her cheek.
To be honest, she hated her.
Emperor Perseus, Cedric, Damien and Julianna.
She hated them terribly.
It was then.
The door that Princess Julianna just slammed, opened.
When Lelia shrank in reflex, Romeo took a step forward and blocked the front.
Fortunately, it was Kalix who opened the door and came in.
Lelia sighed with relief looking at him. She flinched again because she thought Julianna was coming in…
However, at the same time that Kalix and her eyes met…
Firecrackers and fanfare rang out in Lelia’s ears.
Bba-bba-bba-bba-bba-bba!
- [Quest complete! ✧*.◟(ˊᗨˋ)◞.* 보상을 Rewards are received!]
<Reward Items>
- 10 tickets for checking favorability
- Five special recipe puzzle pieces
- Lv.3 Two random gift boxes[?]
- Quest jumping coin
***
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