| 7. Do You Really Love Me?

Daphne felt steam hissing above her head.

‘All his circuits are Psyche Denver, Psyche Rodriguez. That damn Psyche, Psyche.’

She thought there might be some special reason for his long pause. But there was no twist. Daphne instinctively knew that this man loved Psyche, and it would probably be forever.

“Yes, that’s right. Not surprising, is it?”

Impressive.

The prince’s impressive one-sided love that wouldn’t reach anyone but Daphne in this novel.

* * *

Daphne called the eagerly waiting servants and asked them to just clean up the scattered glass shards. They were overjoyed, almost jumping with excitement that they finally had something to do.

Sitting amidst the chaos of people bustling back and forth, Daphne reached out to tidy his clothes.

“You tried to kill me.”

He quietly accepted Daphne’s touch. The kingdom’s gossips were spreading rumors that Celestian was very good in bed and that’s why Daphne loved him, but in reality, Daphne had never slept with him.

“If you just don’t run away, you won’t have to die.”

She started buttoning up his shirt from the bottom. Despite only eating and sleeping, the lines of his hard-muscled torso and the prominent vein near his lower abdomen remained unchanged.

Daphne used her willpower to prevent her gaze from drifting downwards as her head tilted.

“You held the gun and pulled the trigger.”

“Thanks to that, we can see the Angel River clearly now.”

She had shown him the Winchester rifle to see if Celestian’s background in the novel were still the same.

‘But it doesn’t seem like much of a trauma.’

Celestian looked out the window behind Daphne’s head. He seemed momentarily lost in thought, perhaps due to the unrealistically beautiful view contrasting with the chaos here.

“Beaucater.”

“Yes?”

“Do you really love me?”

Daphne nodded silently and thought.

‘To be precise, I love you when you’re desperately in love with Psyche.’

“Even though I’ve done this to your room?”

His tone and gaze were full of cuteness. It felt like someone inside Daphne was constantly tempting her to commit crimes backed by her wealth.

“Oh, geez.”

“Ah.”

Having successfully buttoned up to his neck, Daphne grabbed his collar tightly, pretending it was a mistake, then quickly let go.

“I thought you might do something like this once.”

There was a part where he would destroy Psyche’s house and rebuild it when his feelings got twisted, even though he claimed to like her.

When she had read it in the novel before, she hit the wall saying “look at this guy’s obsession,” but experiencing it firsthand made her want to punch his perfect face.

“It was about time for a change anyway.”

Even though she hadn’t squeezed hard, Celestian rubbed his neck and turned down the corners of his mouth. He was pretending to be in pain when it didn’t hurt at all.

“Even though your face became a beehive?”

He was referring to the portrait she had been deliberately ignoring.

“Hah……”

When she sighed, Celestian smiled brightly.

“Cele.”

His gentle green eyes looked straight at Daphne.

“Do you know who painted that?”

“Someone painted you?”

“Yes.”

“Well.”

Celestian grinned again.

“I can tell it’s a rather crude and poorly painted picture.”

“What, poorly painted?”

“Did you perhaps have court painters do it?”

“No. My grandmother painted it.”

The lies flowed smoothly. Her maternal grandmother had passed away when Daphne was too young to remember.

“That’s her final work.”

Celestian tilted his head once more. Then, belatedly opening his eyes wide, he made excuses.

“I meant it couldn’t capture your real beauty. I know a bit about oil paintings, and judging by the meticulous and delicate coloring technique, I expected it to be painted by an amazing artist.”

“Nice try.”

She rubbed the area near her temple with her palm, which had been covered by his large hand that was big enough to cover her entire face and then some.

‘Your competitive nature is really making you bleed.’

She thought he might rest a bit after going out at dawn and coming back in the evening, but he was using up his energy again.

“Cele, I’m busy. I’m really tired when I come home.”

“I know that.”

“If you know, then behave yourself.”

Isn’t this the line the regretful male lead says when he’s accumulating bad karma?

“Don’t subdue the Shashas and play with them while I’m gone just because you’re bored. If you want to move around, have a sparring match or something. Also, if you want something to eat, politely ask Narid.”

Even as Daphne spoke, she kept feeling a sense of déjà vu. She thought she should ask Psyche later. If she had ever heard Romeo say such things.

“Should I, a prince, make requests, not orders, to knights or maids? And politely at that?”

Her back and calves stung, as if glass shards were embedded in her clothes.

“Yes.”

Daphne continued speaking while untying the shirt ribbon and unbuttoning her clothes. As she yawned, a sudden drowsiness washed over her.

“The reason my people call you ‘Your Highness,’ and why Mariel didn’t rashly shoot you even with a fully loaded gun when you acted out like today, is because I, their master, ordered it. I am the owner of this house. Not you.”

“I understand, Beaucater. But why are you taking off your clothes?”

“You need to know your place, Cele.”

As she unfastened her pants buckle and grabbed the hem of her trousers at her thighs to pull them down, Celestian raised his voice from beside her.

“I get it, I understand. But why are you undressing?”

Daphne turned to look at him, startled by his agitated reaction.

“I’m wearing underwear underneath.”

When she showed him her lingerie by pulling open her shirt, he hurriedly clenched his fist to cover his eyes.

“Can’t I even undress in my own bedroom? And look outside. It’s night. It’s time to sleep.”

As soon as she said it was time to sleep, Cele’s Adam’s apple bobbed.

“Are you going to sleep with me?”

“Did you get shot?”

Daphne, who had become an indecent woman just by taking off one piece of clothing, muttered with a sulky expression.

“Why have you been asking to sleep together lately? Are you seducing me? Even though your heart is elsewhere.”

She just flopped down sideways on the bed and snatched Celestian’s nightgown from the other side.

“I didn’t.”

“What?”

“…I didn’t seduce you.”

“Oh my, what a shame.”

Leaving her pants and shirt that had fallen beside the bed, she got up and put on the gown. It felt strange to smell the same scent she used on his clothes. She tied the ribbon with the string and put her hand in the pocket near her waist, feeling a soft silk cloth.

‘These are my gloves.’

To be precise, they were the gloves Daphne had lied about being Psyche’s. Anyway, she didn’t know he would pick up and keep what she had dropped as false merchandise.

“What should I do if you act like you’ve been ravished by me?”

“You are irreverent.”

“And you, Your Highness, are completely lacking in manners.”

Is he inexperienced because he’s the sub-male lead who’s devoted all his purity to his unrequited love? It was quite a reasonable suspicion, but there was no way the social hyenas wearing fox masks would leave such a delicious-looking handsome man alone.

“Just shut up and sleep with your beloved gloves.”

Daphne threw the gloves at the prince’s face with a thud and left the bedroom. Her face kept throbbing as if it was going to bruise.

* * *

As expected, an unsightly blue bruise had formed on her face.

“Did the Grand Duke hit you?”

Misha, whom she met in front of Count Konya’s mansion, held Daphne’s face in both hands and made a fuss.

As people passed by, glancing at us, he quickly pulled me into a secluded balcony.

“It was an accident.”

“You should have covered it up or something. No, why didn’t you kill him for touching your face? It’s not like you, Miss.”

“Didn’t you see yesterday? It was a lover’s quarrel.”

“Ah.”

The secretary removed his hands from Daphne’s face as if that explained everything. It felt oddly like being pushed away.

“Misha, are you emotional right now?”

“It must be your imagination. Your seat for today is on the second floor, they say.”

Misha skillfully changed the subject. Daphne nodded and then paused. Did she hear wrong? She raised one eyebrow and asked again.

“Second floor?”

Misha took out the invitation from his pocket, looked it over, and nodded.

“Yes, the left balcony.”

“Wait, really the second floor?”

“Yes. The second floor.”

Seeing his confident gray eyes made her feel even more bewildered.

“Why? I usually sit next to Stella.”

“Today, it’s Miss Psyche’s seat. This party is a dinner for the engaged couple, after all.”

“Ah, so the marriage market waste should just get lost?”

Countess Konya, that is, Stella’s main items were whiskey with an excellent heavy taste and champagne with a fresh grape scent.

Daphne had come with an excited heart, planning to have a drinking party with the maids at night after receiving a box of each.

“My seat is on the second floor?”

Stella was the same age as Daphne, and they were also good business partners. When she greeted her earlier, she didn’t notice anything unusual. It felt like she had been completely pushed to the back room.

As Misha said, it was natural for the protagonist to sit next to the host at such parties. Also, although Daphne was famously known as Psyche’s rival on the surface, that was now just a thing of the past!

“Boss, it seems the Crown Prince has come today as well.”

Misha whispered, having spotted his admired idol. Daphne, whose focus was completely off, sipped champagne without even looking at the floor and muttered very quietly.

“Mr. Male Protagonist, you’ve returned without even dying.”

“Miss, there are many ears listening, so be careful… But if that happens, who would the steel industry go to? Does His Highness have insurance?”

“He probably does. But I’m not the beneficiary.”

Misha exclaimed loudly.

“What a shame.”

It was Romeo, who had gone to Hervon as an envoy. Wasn’t he talking about laying railroad tracks that could cross all the way there?

‘The Duke has no ambition. If it were me, I’d capture that bastard and keep him as a prisoner.’

Daphne tasted something rotten in the wine instead of grapes. She couldn’t share this kind of alcohol with her employees. Moreover, she didn’t want to introduce such wine to her customers either.

“Let’s cut ties with Konya from next quarter.”

“That’s quite sudden, isn’t it?”

“The wine has no taste. They’ve lost their original passion.”

Misha sipped the champagne, tilted his head, and added his opinion that it tasted the same as before to him. Daphne pouted her lips.

She put down her wine glass on the low table and leaned on the railing to look down at the floor. The male protagonist with black hair was much taller than all the men here.

Daphne’s cousin was frighteningly handsome. He had the kind of looks that could make anger dissipate just by looking at his face, even after doing something regrettable – that’s why he was the ‘male protagonist’.

And next to him, clinging closely and receiving his escort, Psyche, small but with an extraordinary presence, walked into the center.

Wavy lemon blonde hair, blue eyes that resembled the color of the sea. A face as pretty as a peach, full of love, as if boasting that she was always loved by the man she loved.

“She’s pretty.”

Psyche, radiantly beautiful as always, was wearing a dress Daphne had never seen before.

The twelve dresses Daphne had gifted her before seemed too few for the future Crown Princess who would be attending parties one after another before her wedding.

The secretary quickly went down the stairs, saying he would convey greetings on her behalf since she didn’t seem to want to greet them.

Psyche, arm in arm with Romeo, looked around the hall as if she was searching for someone. First floor, landing, then the right side of the second floor, and finally the left.

Their eyes met. When Daphne smiled brightly and waved her hand as if she had been waiting, Psyche hesitated.

Psyche rolled her blue eyes back and forth, then pretended not to see, lowered her gaze, and bit her pink lips inward.

‘What’s this?’

And then she hid behind her fiancé’s back.