As she stared at the two with an absurd expression, the crown prince’s gaze soon turned toward them.

He approached them with the lady attached to him, taking large strides.

More precisely, in front of her.

“So you were here, Lady Sharofe.”

“…… Your Highness, are you feeling alright?”

“I’m fine thanks to you. I should have thanked you earlier, but I’m a bit late.”

You’re just realizing that now.

She swallowed the complaint that had risen to her throat and smiled magnanimously.

The lady, who was tightly attached to the crown prince’s arm, looked back and forth between them and smiled with narrowed eyes.

“That’s right. Thank you for saving His Highness the Crown Prince, lady.”

Oh my, anyone listening would think they were something to each other.

It wasn’t a very pleasant thing to receive thanks from the lady for saving the crown prince.

She deliberately changed the subject to avoid reacting to the lady.

“But how did you end up falling into the sea?”

“The ship suddenly shook like crazy. As if waves were hitting only beneath us.”

The crown prince answered with a furrowed brow. She momentarily turned her gaze to the lady, who flinched.

“That’s strange indeed. Lady, has it been discovered why the ship shook?”

“Ah…… they said it seemed to be momentary because many fish gathered around the ship.”

The lady gave an answer that felt strangely insufficient.

No, but why did the fish gather.

‘…… But speaking of fish, I remember what the crown prince said.’

After I went to the trouble of saving him and laying him on the ship, he said I looked like a fish.

Suddenly annoyed, she put strength in her eyes and stared at the crown prince. He flinched at receiving her gaze, then pushed away the lady’s hand and said.

“Let’s talk alone for a moment.”

“Yes.”

She obediently followed him out of the banquet hall. They went out to the deck where night had fallen and stood facing each other.

Candles placed here and there and light flowing from the banquet hall gently illuminated the surroundings.

“I’ll say it properly again. Thank you so much for saving me despite the danger.”

“It’s nothing. Although Your Highness said I looked like a fish, and although you’ve only been sticking with Lady Celsior. I did it because I wanted to.”

As she answered with a bright smile but full of lingering resentment, he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with an embarrassed expression.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to say that on purpose.”

“Then what?”

Let me hear what you were thinking when you called me a fish.

When she shot him a look demanding a more detailed explanation, the crown prince pondered for a long while before finally opening his lips.

“Actually, rather than a fish…… you were like a mermaid from a fairy tale.”

The tips of his ears turned red. He added while brushing his lips as if embarrassed.

“But at that time I was out of it, so the word mermaid didn’t come to mind.”

Hmm, a mermaid, not a fish?

That pleased her, so her mood naturally lifted without her realizing it. Of course, it wasn’t completely resolved, so she put strength in her eyes again.

“I understand. That aside, why are you sticking so close to Lady Celsior? I’m the one who saved you.”

“The lady is sticking to my side and won’t leave. I clearly rejected her marriage proposal too, but I don’t know why she’s acting like that.”

The crown prince sighed and replied in a troubled voice.

She was shocked by his words.

“…… Marriage proposal?”

Boom. She heard a hallucination like lightning striking her ears.

Lady Celsior proposed marriage to the crown prince?!

She felt dazed, wondering when things had progressed that far without her knowing.

“Ah.”

The crown prince touched his forehead with a face that showed he had misspoken. She urgently asked.

“Did Lady Celsior really propose marriage to Your Highness?”

“Yes, but I rejected it immediately.”

It was fortunate news in the midst of misfortune.

As she patted her chest in relief, a question suddenly arose.

This attitude of seeming to want to hide such facts from me, and the fact that he rejected the lady’s marriage proposal.

That’s a hundred percent green light for me, right?

“Why did you reject it?”

Feeling this was an opportunity to advance her relationship with the crown prince further, she deliberately threw out the question.

“Because I want to choose my own person. I don’t want a political marriage either.”

The crown prince answered immediately without hesitation, glanced at her, and continued.

“Most importantly, there’s someone else I have in mind.”

“Could that be—”

Me? It’s me, right? The female lead, me?!

Before she could drive the point home asking if it was her, an intruder appeared.

“Your Highness, the sea breeze is cold. Please come inside quickly.”

The lady, who had poked her head out from the banquet hall door, gestured toward the crown prince.

Then she glanced sideways at her and said as if doing a favor.

“Lady Sharofe, come in too.”

“……”

She really knows how to ruin the mood.

In a situation where a sigh naturally escaped, the crown prince gestured with his chin.

“Let’s continue this conversation later. Let’s go in for now.”

“…… Please go in first. I’ll look at the sea for a bit and then come.”

She needed time to calm her mind while looking at the night sea, having lost all momentum.

Eventually, after sending only the crown prince away and remaining alone on the deck, a system window appeared.

— Ding!

【Crown Prince Linus’s favorability has increased by 10P.

※Current favorability 95】

It was welcome news.

‘I was secretly worried because the lady kept interfering so much.’

Pushing aside the tower master, the crown prince reclaimed first place in favorability.

The peak of 100 is right before my eyes.

Just as she was thinking such thoughts and about to tidy up and go inside.

‘Huh? What’s that sound?’

She heard what sounded like an argument from somewhere, so she went to check and was startled.

‘Huh? That’s my bondservant?!’

***

Carl, who was leaning against the outer edge of the deck connected to the banquet hall, let out a sigh.

His mood was really bad.

Rather than because of Shailyn jumping into the water for another man, it was due to deep self-loathing toward himself.

‘Really, what kind of person am I…… disgustingly pathetic.’

Carl clenched his fist tightly and touched his forehead in self-mockery.

When Shailyn had entered the water, what stopped him from instinctively trying to follow was Mandy’s words.

‘No, Carl! Hold back! How are you going to swim while wearing a mask……!’

More than anything else, he hesitated at the words pointing out the mask.

As she said, to swim he would have to remove the mask since it would be in the way, and then his face would be revealed in front of everyone.

Especially to Johanna Celsior.

Thinking of that point, Carl momentarily hesitated.

In the meantime, Shailyn had saved Linus on her own and climbed onto the ship.

Carl felt disgust toward himself for prioritizing the mask over her life.

If something had happened to Shailyn, what use would this d*mn mask be.

As he was only sighing deeply with a troubled heart, a staggering shadow fell beside him.

“Hey.”

A young lord who had drunkenly exited the banquet hall through a side door discovered Carl and approached.

“Hey there.”

But Carl, lost in thought, didn’t hear the call.

Then the young lord, thinking he was being ignored, got angry and grabbed his collar.

“Hey! Are you ignoring me right now?!”

Only then did Carl notice the young lord’s presence and slowly looked at him.

“Ha, where does this bastard get off arrogantly wearing some mask?”

The young lord, who looked disapprovingly at Carl with his face hidden by a white mask, suddenly reached out his hand.

“I bet you’re trying to hide that you’re nothing special……”

The moment his rough hand, coarsened by alcohol, slightly touched the mask—

“……!”

Carl immediately grabbed the young lord’s arm and subdued him. The young lord, whose wrist was slightly twisted, screamed.

“Agh!”

“Don’t touch my mask carelessly.”

Carl, who had warned quietly, released the young lord. Since he had controlled his strength, there shouldn’t be any serious injuries.

The young lord, whose pride was hurt more by being pushed around by a knight he looked down on than by the brief pain he felt, fumed.

The smell of alcohol was thick in his breath.

“How dare you touch me?! You’re not affiliated with the Celsior house, are you? Which house are you from, tell me right now!”

He grabbed Carl’s collar again.

‘Bad habit with his hands.’

Carl was about to twist his arm again but held back.

If he caused trouble, the person who would suffer would be Shailyn.

“I said tell me, you bastard!”

So even when the young lord continued asking about his affiliation, he exercised his right to remain silent and kept his mouth shut.

He could endure whatever they did to him, but not to Shailyn.

The young lord’s hand tightened with more force at Carl’s attitude.

“You’re going to keep your mouth shut, is that it? Fine, you’re in for it. I’ll beat you so badly that you’ll come to your senses……!”

It was the moment he raised his fist.

“Excuse me!”

A clear and crisp voice flew sharply.

Shailyn, who had suddenly popped out from around the corner, said with a hardened face.

“What are you doing to my bondservant right now? Let go of him immediately.”