Rosia’s closest friend Betty Odor was a romantic lady who had believed in destiny since childhood. At first, she believed destiny would naturally find her, but lately she seemed to have become quite anxious and started actively pursuing destiny herself. She showed such an aggressive attitude that even Rosia naturally ended up participating in her bold plans. Meeting her after the long cold winter had ended, Rosia found herself in danger of being dragged to Lake Park.

“They say there are so many handsome men at the lake. Come on, Rosie! Please, I’m begging!”

Betty grabbed onto Rosia’s dress sleeve and hung on. Rosia tried to refuse again with a troubled expression, but she was already tired from the long back-and-forth. The weather was nice too, and since it had been quite a while since she’d been to the scenic Lake Park, she thought it might not be bad.

“……Alright, but stop begging. We’re just taking a quick look around, okay?”

“Thank you, Rosie. You really are my only friend!”

Betty hugged Rosia tightly. Rosia patted her back lightly with a resigned expression. They had planned to enjoy a light tea time at the Odor viscount mansion, but somehow ended up taking a carriage to the outskirts.

The Lake Park, which they visited after a long time, was bustling with countless people. Everyone seemed to have finally regained their vitality after spending the gloomy winter indoors. Newly sprouted buds covered everything, and a flock of ducks swam leisurely across the blue lake. The dust that had accumulated seemed to have been washed away by the rain, as a clean, fresh scent tickled their noses.

“The lake is always so wonderful.”

Betty, who had been stretching and humming beside her, suddenly poked Rosia in the side.

“Wait, isn’t that man quite handsome?”

“Where?”

“There!”

Rosia narrowed her eyes and looked where Betty was pointing. Two tall men were standing side by side, looking their way while talking. To be honest, Rosia didn’t receive a good first impression from them, but Betty whispered in an extremely excited voice.

“They’ve been looking at us since earlier. They must be interested.”

“We don’t know who they are. They could be bad people.”

Though Rosia liked meeting new people and lived believing everyone had their good points, she considered first impressions quite important. Even from quite a distance, the men’s impression didn’t look good. Especially when she made eye contact with the man with short brown hair, she wanted to run away from there. He seemed like someone visibly full of greed at first glance. The men were dressed in clothes made of materials too expensive to be wearing for just a short walk, and they surveyed their surroundings with gazes that seemed to look down on others. But Betty seemed to have already fallen completely under their spell.

“Don’t they look just like honorable nobles?”

“Well, Betty. I’m not so sure.”

Though Rosia conveyed her reluctance indirectly, Betty was unstoppable as always.

“I’ll go check first. You wait here.”

“Betty, wait……”

Rosia hastily reached out her hand, but Betty was already far away. Left alone, Rosia sighed and leaned against the lake railing. As she took in the calm lake scenery, the things that had been bothering her for days seemed to gradually fade away. However, Nigel’s existence suddenly intruded into her thoughts. She remembered how he had unilaterally announced they would meet today.

Nigel had left the mansion acting as if he hadn’t heard Rosia say she had prior plans. That point didn’t sit well with her. Though his first impression hadn’t been quite so terrible, he had now become more uncomfortable than anyone else. Just then, Betty called Rosia’s name.

“Rosie! Over here!”

“Betty?”

Rosia stared bewilderedly in the direction the voice came from. Betty was standing proudly between the two strange men. Rosia glanced up at the two men with their unsettling expressions before approaching Betty. She deliberately stopped at a slight distance.

“Would you explain what’s going on first?”

“These gentlemen asked if we’d like to ride a rowboat together. What do you think? Hm?”

Betty seemed to think she had finally met her destiny, unable to contain her happy emotions. On the other hand, Rosia considered that signal extremely dangerous. Betty often lacked a sense of reality, and whenever that happened, she caused big accidents. This was exactly such a moment.

“You really……”

Just as Rosia thought she should pull Betty away and return to the carriage, the man standing behind suddenly spoke up.

“Miss Berthe, we’ve met before. Don’t you remember?”

It was that man from whom Rosia had received a bad impression. Seen up close, his clear green eyes were quite beautiful. However, the uncomfortable feeling was hard to shake off. Rosia looked up at him and answered slowly.

“I’m sorry. I don’t have a very good memory.”

“Well, I understand. I’m Davion Gragford.”

Davion Gragford. The moment she heard that name, Rosia naturally thought of Nigel. However, she couldn’t remember at all where she had met Davion. She looked at Davion with an apologetic expression.

“I’m sorry I didn’t recognize Your Highness.”

“To be precise, I’m the Crown Prince. Unless I drown in the lake, I’ll inherit the throne.”

Davion smiled kindly while easily making such a frightening joke. Rosia smiled back and looked for Betty, but she was already walking toward the dock with the other man. Could she really let her go like this? What if they had bad intentions…… As Rosia watched Betty’s retreating figure with worried eyes, Davion waved his hand in front of her face and said,

“We met briefly last year. Really don’t remember? I sent several party invitations too.”

“As I mentioned, I don’t have a very good memory.”

Rosia smiled slightly and apologized again. Actually, she remembered now. It was when Rosia’s condition had suddenly worsened and she was briefly hospitalized at the Royal Hospital. The Crown Prince had stopped by briefly to encourage the medical staff and patients, and Rosia had only exchanged brief greetings when their eyes met. Because she tried to erase the memory of her severe illness as much as possible, she hadn’t recalled Davion immediately upon seeing him. She was just surprised that the Crown Prince remembered her. As for the party invitations, there was no way she could have received them since Viscount Berthe had handled them himself.

Davion stared down at her for a while, then smiled until his eyes disappeared.

“It’s alright. We can get to know each other gradually.”

There must definitely be something wrong with the men in this family. Otherwise, how could two brothers take turns tormenting Rosia like this? Rosia looked with dull eyes at Betty, who had already reached the dock and was waving her hands enthusiastically.

In the end, Rosia joined them as she couldn’t let Betty be alone with the two men. Riding a rowboat on the lake on such a bright, clear day was quite enjoyable. It would have been much more comfortable if it had been just her and Betty, but since circumstances weren’t favorable, Rosia tried to treat the two men as if they didn’t exist.

“Are you seeing anyone?”

If only Davion, sitting next to her, hadn’t kept talking to her constantly. Rosia dipped her hand in the cool lake water and answered.

“No. I’m not interested in dating or marriage yet.”

“I see.”

Davion smiled ambiguously. Rosia judged that he was either a very mysterious person or someone whose outside demeanor didn’t match his inside. Either way, it definitely wasn’t a personality type Rosia liked.

In fact, looking at their appearances, Nigel and Davion were so different they could pass for strangers. But their personalities of hiding their true thoughts and testing others felt similar. The rowboat lazily circled around the lake.

Rosia wanted to get off now, but Betty was enjoying this time far too happily. She stayed glued to the red-haired man at the bow, their laughter never ceasing as they discussed whatever they were talking about. Rosia pulled her hand out of the lake water and asked Davion.

“May I know that gentleman’s name?”

“Why, have you developed an interest?”

Davion asked while pulling out a snow-white handkerchief from his coat pocket and offering it to her. He was smiling with his eyes hidden like before, but his attitude was strangely guarded. Rosia took it reflexively and wiped her wet hands while answering.

“No. My friend seems very interested.”

“Ah, if that’s the reason, I can tell you. Leo Palena.”

The Palena marquis family had traditionally held the position of Royal Finance Minister for generations, wielding real power. Being such close associates, that’s probably why he came to Lake Park with the prince. Rosia silently observed Betty and Leo sitting stuck together like one body before returning the handkerchief to Davion.

“Do you go around without separate guards?”

“I’d like to give you the handkerchief as a souvenir. As for guards, I find it uncomfortable having people watch me. Though they are standing by over there.”