The Prince Is Dead, So Let’s Start Over Everything Again! - Chapter 2.11

“Well then, shall we… play with blocks?”

Emphasizing the words ‘play with blocks’ before closing the door, I slammed it shut.

Of course, I didn’t forget to lock it thoroughly.

This way, no one in the Rudbekia court would imagine that the 3rd Prince and I were having a secret meeting.

Well, how many people would suspect such a thing seeing two eight-year-old children together…

But you never know, right?

That An… what was it again?

Anyway, the attendant with a name like anchovy was suspicious enough. It never hurts to be careful.

Walking into the room, I approached the cabinet that was visible as soon as we opened the door.

Inside the cabinet were three boxes filled with colorful blocks.

“Who was that person earlier?”

I asked the 3rd Prince about the attendant from before while taking out a box of blocks from the cabinet.

The 3rd Prince, who had been trembling finely since entering the playroom, calmed his shoulders unbelievably quickly. However, he didn’t answer my question.

He just smiled weakly.

It seemed like there was quite a backstory from any angle.

But while I was curious, I also didn’t want to know.

The secret inner workings of a romance novel’s sub-male lead. It smelled like trouble at first glance.

There was no need for me to know such complicated things.

The female protagonist would surely take care of it.

“Well… if you don’t want to talk about it, that’s fine. Then, Your Highness, shall we start playing with blocks?”

“…Playing with blocks? Are we really going to stack blocks?”

“Of course. The blocks of our lives, that is.”

I meant it as a joke, but the 3rd Prince’s reaction was utterly cold.

How chilly. Is this what they call a generation gap?

My old friends used to love my jokes, but kids these days are so heartless…

Pushing past the awkwardness, I poured the blocks onto the bare floor.

The hard blocks made a loud noise as they hit the wooden floor.

But no matter how long I waited, there was no rattling at the door.

“Good. Seems like there’s no one outside the door. Now, let’s get to the main point.”

Only then did I take out the contract I had hidden in my pocket.

“…What is this?”

“What else? It’s what Your Highness gave me yesterday.”

“What I gave you didn’t look like this…”

The 3rd Prince blinked his large eyes repeatedly as he saw the contract I handed over.

He quickly took the contract with nimble hands like a squirrel finding an acorn, and read it over and over for a long time.

When the long hand of the large wall clock in the room had moved exactly ten spaces, the 3rd Prince clapped his hands and exclaimed.

“…This is the easiest document to understand I’ve ever seen! It’s amazing!”

“Is that so? Actually, it’s not that well-written.”

A contract is originally supposed to be written verbosely, listing difficult terms to deceive the other party, you know.

I swallowed the unnecessary explanation that I didn’t need to tell the 3rd Prince.

The naive 3rd Prince couldn’t take his eyes off the contract, seemingly fascinated by the modern document format he was seeing for the first time.

“Ah! But there’s one thing I don’t understand.”

“Please ask.”

“What are these ‘Party A’ and ‘Party B’ written here?”

“Ah… ‘Party A’ and ‘Party B’?”

“Yes. I’ve never heard these terms in the capital. Is it perhaps a Lurupel dialect?”

Oh dear. I thought he would ask about other trivial things first, I didn’t expect him to dig into the core right away.

I rolled my eyes around looking for an excuse, then lied without even wetting my lips.

“It’s a term of endearment.”

“…A term of endearment?”

“Yes. We’re becoming engaged, even if just formally, so don’t we need at least one pet name? To appear as a sincerely engaged couple to others, you know.”

“…Indeed, that’s true.”

The 3rd Prince nodded obediently and innocently, his cheeks reddening.

Somehow, he seems to like it…

The 3rd Prince, blushing to the tip of his nose, proceeded to ask the next question.

“Um, I, I have something else I want to ask. Um…”

“It’s okay. Ask as much as you’d like.”

“…Do, do you want to have a ha, happy engagement life with me, Miss Lurupel?”

This question was sharp too.

I secretly hoped he’d just let it pass, but the 3rd Prince didn’t miss a single trap I had set.

I clicked my tongue softly. But this time, I had prepared an answer for the question I received.

“That’s just written there as a formality.”

“…As a formality?”

“Yes. It’s like wedding vows. Everyone promises to be faithful to each other for life when they get married, but in the end, hardly anyone keeps that promise, right? It’s similar to that.”

“…I see.”

The 3rd Prince’s face, which had seemed slightly excited until just now, was instantly filled with a gloomy expression.

What’s this? Was that not the answer he wanted?

My mind started racing.

The 3rd Prince had clearly said that he came all the way to Lurupel looking for someone who wouldn’t love him.

It wasn’t from a long time ago, it was just yesterday, so my memory couldn’t be wrong.

He needs someone who won’t love him. Doesn’t that mean the 3rd Prince isn’t interested in a happy engagement life either?

“Didn’t Your Highness not particularly want a happy engagement either?”

“…Yes, I don’t desire such a thing.”

“Then why are you making that expression?”

“…Is there something strange about my expression?”

“No, well. Rather than strange, it’s…”

A disappointed expression? A bitter expression? A resigned expression?

I really couldn’t figure out how to describe it.

It’s strange that an eight-year-old knows how to make such a complex and subtle face… Oh, that’s the female protagonist’s role to think about.

This wasn’t my concern.

Instead of continuing, I fumbled for something else to say.

“Then now I just need to sign here?”

The 3rd Prince broke the silence first, while I was still trying to choose my words.

He took out a fountain pen from his front pocket, gripped it, and suddenly scrawled his signature on the contract.

Do princes practice signing separately or something?

His signature was grand and stylish, befitting his status as a prince.

Yes, it’s stylish, but…