“Now then, what is my lady’s first plan?”
“Since I’ve already told Leonhardt we should break up, I intend to let that shock linger and build upon it.”
“How?”
Elise’s mouth curved into a smirk as she slowly rose from her seat.
“Your Highness, Crown Prince of Devlun.”
Though she wore a playful expression, her voice carried not a trace of playfulness.
“So suddenly?”
Wondering what she was planning to do next, Demian quietly watched her actions with eyes sparkling with curiosity.
Then, Elise bent one knee before him and extended her palm outward.
“Would you do me the honor of being my partner for the Ariaton Spring Festival?”
He would naturally accept. That was what she thought when she looked up at Demian’s face.
‘Ah…?’
Her startled eyes flickered faintly.
Over Demian’s face, which had been relaxed all along, an indefinable fluster swept past.
Standing up abruptly from his seat, he immediately helped her up by taking hold of her shoulders gently, taking care not to hurt her.
“The honor is mine, My Lady.”
While casually tossing out words of acceptance, Demian’s gaze remained fixed on Elise’s knees.
“Demian?”
“However, never do such an action in front of me again.”
“What action do you mean? Kneeling on one knee?”
“Yes. You could get hurt.”
He lightly snapped his thumb and index finger.
At that, moisture floating in the air gathered to form water droplets, which neatly wiped away the dust clinging to her dress.
“Ha, I won’t get hurt from something like this.”
Come to think of it, people used to say Demian had a mysophobia bordering on obsession.
Judging by his actions, it seemed that rumor alone wasn’t false.
“Even so, your body is more precious than anything else in this world. Not a single grain of dust should easily touch it.”
Whether his behavior stemmed from mysophobia or simple concern, she surprisingly didn’t dislike his exaggerated actions.
“Alright. I won’t do it again. Happy?”
In the end, Elise gave a quiet laugh and nodded her head.
Then, before long, her eyes turned toward the teacup that Demian hadn’t even touched.
Come to think of it, he hadn’t taken a single sip of the tea she had brewed for him.
“By the way, why aren’t you drinking the tea?”
Was he unable to drink tea brewed by others because of his mysophobia?
Elise looked at him fixedly, expecting an honest answer from Demian.
“Ah.”
What was strange in the midst of it was that despite quite some time having passed while they talked, steam was still rising gently from it.
“Besides, it still hasn’t cooled down?”
“Because I cast magic so the tea will never cool down. Ah, and so it won’t spoil either.”
“Pardon?”
Magic to prevent tea from ever cooling down—it was something she had never heard of in her life.
Furthermore, why cast a spell to prevent tea from spoiling when it was meant to be drunk right away?
“Isn’t magic power originally an extremely rare resource…?”
Magic power was basically an innate talent, and each empire’s Magic Tower had an average of about a hundred mages.
Among them, mages who could freely wield magic made up the top ten percent, while the rest utilized weak magic power to craft magic tools for sale or conduct research.
Yet casting a spell with such precious magic power merely to preserve a cup of tea?
“Not as much as divine power, though.”
Demian shrugged casually.
“Besides, this is the very first teacup and tea you’ve ever brewed for me.”
“And so?”
“I plan to take it with me as a memento. Just as it is.”
Seeing him smile shamelessly, Elise blinked rapidly, thinking he truly was extraordinary.
“I can take it, right?”
“Do as you wish.”
She nodded her head with a small laugh.
Once permission was granted, Demian neatly picked up the teacup with both hands as if it were something immensely precious.
“I’ll take it just like this.”
Soon, the teacup held in his hands vanished in an instant.
It seemed he had used teleportation.
Curling the corners of his mouth in satisfaction, Demian dusted off his hands and stepped closer toward Elise.
“Excuse me.”
He then lightly placed his hand on her shoulder.
“What are you doing?”
“Protection magic.”
No sooner had those words fallen than a feeling akin to a transparent, cool liquid cascading down from the top of her head began to wash over her.
“If it’s three months from now, it means they won’t do anything to you within that timeframe anyway. So there’s no need for me to keep watching over you continuously either.”
As he continued casting the protection magic, Demian met Elise’s eyes squarely.
“Like a stalker.”
“…Ahem, you didn’t take that to heart, did you?”
Though his face was full of playfulness, she stole a glance at Demian’s reaction, feeling a bit guilty for no reason.
“It’s a joke. If it’s in your lovely voice, you can call me a stalker as much as you want. Even those words will sound sweet.”
“Understood, Mr. Stalker.”
“…Hearing it in person actually feels a bit odd, though.”
“Pfft, I’m joking too.”
The two faced each other and laughed comfortably.
To think Demian was someone who could make a person feel this at ease.
Never in her wildest dreams had she imagined that his image in her mind would flip so rapidly.
After all, Elise and Demian’s very first meeting had been nothing short of the absolute worst.
She gave a small laugh and briefly recalled that day.
It was the day of a party held at the Ariaton Imperial Palace.
Perhaps because she wasn’t accustomed to high society, she felt exceptionally exhausted that day.
Wanting to relieve her fatigue a little, Elise slipped out of the Great Hall and headed toward the garden.
As she rested alone in the garden where darkness had fallen like fog, finding peace, a unfamiliar shadow began to slowly approach from far away.
“So you’re Elise.”
It was an unfamiliar voice using informal speech right off the bat, and she was already hyper-vigilant due to his eyes glinting even through the thick darkness.
Then, the moment he finally drew close to her.
“S-Stay away!”
Elise threw a punch right into his face on the spot.
Right after, the moon hidden behind the clouds emerged, shining a beam of light downward.
The moonlight slowly revealed the identity of the person she had punched.
“Gasp, you are…!”
She had ended up throwing a punch at Demian, the Crown Prince of the Devlun Empire who was notorious as a villain.
Overcome with shock and fear, Elise had turned her face, distorted with contempt, and fled at top speed.
That was their first meeting—one that could not be described as anything less than the absolute worst.
Yet to think he had actually fallen in love with her at first sight because of that very punch.
It was amusing, but on the other hand, she was deeply grateful.
She had always made a habit of avoiding Demian, yet he had come to save her at the cost of his life.
“Thank you, Demian.”
“It’s only natural. If you ever find yourself in danger, don’t worry, for I will come running immediately. Also, as soon as I return, I will send guards you can trust, so feel free to use them however you like.”
“Yes.”
She didn’t know why Demian’s voice, which had once sounded so cold, brought such peace now.
Elise softly caught hold of his sleeve as he seemed ready to leave.
“You see, are you going back using teleportation?”
“Why. Should I stay?”
Demian playfully ran his hand up through his red hair lazily.
Though it was an action done without any ulterior motive, it was a posture so seductive that young ladies who had just made their debut would have screamed upon seeing it.
“It’s not that.”
She turned her head to the side for no reason to hide her blushing cheeks.
Then, as if finally resolved, she stared intently at him with a resolute face.
Not knowing what was going on, Demian tilted his head slightly with question marks floating over his head.
In that instant, however, Elise suddenly grabbed both of his shoulders and stood high on her tiptoes.
Soon, with a mwah sound, her lips pressed against Demian’s pale cheek and pulled away.
“Have a safe trip back.”
Elise peeked up at him, her face completely flushed bright red.
She wondered if leaving a kiss on his cheek was still too early, but in high society, it was merely a greeting customarily shared between close acquaintances.
So it was an act she gathered the courage to perform as a token of gratitude and greeting in her own way.
However, Demian wore an expression even more composed than when Elise had kneeled on one knee earlier.
“Right. Then I shall take my leave.”
He bowed his head composedly to offer his farewell.
Leaving behind Elise, who was looking at him with an incredulous expression, he swiftly activated teleportation magic.
“Haa…”
Having returned to his office in the Devlun Empire, Demian’s steps were beyond unnatural—they were stiff as a board.
Forcing his legs, which felt as heavy as boulders, to move, he slumped into his desk chair.
Slowly suppressing his subtly exposed excitement, he ran a hand through his hair as if nothing had happened.
“It’s nothing major, just a simple greeting.”
Muttering to himself that it was no big deal, Demian’s face was flushed bright red, all the way from his ears down to his neckline.
