I felt my body sinking downward, followed by the sensation of landing on a soft cushion.

When I carefully opened my eyes, Detrian was standing with his hands on his hips, looking down at me.

“…Am I dead?”

Detrian shook his head with a smile.

I let out a sigh of relief.

“No, but you barely squinted your eyes falling from that height. How are you going to manage going forward?”

“What? What do you mean?”

“You said you wanted to fly around freely like me. Then you need to be able to jump down from that height without any hesitation.”

I shifted my gaze to where his finger was pointing.

At the end of his finger was a tree that seemed dozens of times taller than my height.

“…Then can you jump down from there?”

Hearing my words, Detrian glared at me as if a student was disrespecting a teacher, then leaped high, quickly climbed the tree, and reached the top he had pointed to earlier.

Then he jumped from that tree without any hesitation.

It was so fast that I gasped in surprise.

“What… what is this……”

With that, Detrian landed lightly on the spell-protected ground and smiled smugly at me.

“If you can’t do at least this much, you can’t even dream of flying around like me.”

Hearing those words, I felt like I could see a dark future right before my eyes.

So Detrian and I continued training to eliminate my fear of heights.

Detrian was a much better teacher than I had expected.

He alternated between carrot and stick, and came to my room every night to take me to this forest.

Three nights had passed since we began training together.

Finally, I too was able to stand at the top of the tree from which Detrian had jumped without hesitation.

“…But this is really on a different level from other trees in terms of height.”

Detrian smiled at my words.

“You must never close your eyes while falling. That’s the first shortcut to overcoming fear.”

I looked at him, thinking to myself, ‘Isn’t it strange that you can keep your eyes open while falling from this height?’

“Now, jump when you’re ready.”

Detrian sat down beside me, telling me to jump whenever I was ready.

But my feet refused to leave the thick branch.

I felt like I was at the highest point in my life so far.

No, it wasn’t just a feeling—it was actually true.

After hesitating for a long time, Detrian spoke to me,

“Whatever you do, whenever you climb to such heights, I’ll always be by your side.”

At his unexpected words, I shifted my gaze toward him.

“So just try jumping once. If it’s dangerous, I’ll come save you like last time.”

Somehow, Detrian’s words felt like a strong rope wrapping around my body.

Encouraged by his words, I took one step at a time into what felt like a cliff.

Then, taking a deep breath, I threw my body into the void.

As the ground grew closer and closer, I could feel it.

Ah, I must like the crown prince after all.

Why I was so angry that he hid his identity from me, why I hated it so much when he volunteered to do dangerous things instead of me.

And why I gained courage from his words now.

It was a feeling too certain and undeniable.

At the same time, knowing it was an impossible love pained my heart.

Just before my body made contact with the ground, I suddenly felt myself floating, and then Detrian gently wrapped his arms around me.

He smiled brightly at me, but then put me down on the ground with a bewildered expression.

“Why… why are you crying…? Was it that scary?”

At his words, I ran my hand across my face and found something wet thoroughly soaking my hand.

Once again, our eyes met under the soft moonlight.

It was impulsive.

Perhaps the release of tension prevented me from thinking clearly.

Or perhaps his eyes reflected in the moonlight were simply too captivating.

I stood on my tiptoes and pressed my lips against Detrian’s, who stood much taller than me.

He seemed surprised and hesitated for a moment, but then wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me into his embrace, and continued with a deeper kiss.

And at that moment, I was certain that this would be the most ecstatic moment of my life.

* * *

How much time had passed like that?

After kissing deeply until we were both breathless, we finally separated our lips and caught our breath.

My face was burning red from the ticklish yet overwhelming embarrassment.

A long silence fell between us.

Detrian tried to say something to break the atmosphere, opening his mouth several times, but he only managed to gape without starting to speak.

“So, so then……”

I was the first to speak.

“Now that… I’ve overcome my fear of heights… starting tomorrow, teach me the technique to fly around like you do.”

Detrian nodded at my words.

“Then… shall we go back for today?”

With that, Detrian approached me.

As he came closer, I unconsciously stepped back, and seeing this, he stopped in his tracks and awkwardly scratched his head.

Then I finally realized that to return to my room, I would have to be in his arms again. So I took another step toward him.

He lightly took me in his arms, and before I knew it, we had arrived at my room.

“Then… I’ll come again tomorrow.”

Detrian disappeared more quickly than usual, and as soon as he vanished, I drew the curtains and buried my face in the bed.

My face was so red it felt like it might burst.

In the end, I couldn’t sleep at all that night because the sound of my pounding heart was too distracting.

According to Grace, I had been staring blankly at books at the academy as if I were under some spell.

Then, I happened to run into Leila on campus.

After being ostracized at the academy for some time due to the muddy water incident with Grace and me, Leila had recently begun making friends by flaunting her relationship with Veltune.

And Pelena and the others were still sticking by Leila’s side, hoping for some crumbs to fall.

Seeing Leila’s triumphant appearance helped me regain my focus.

Whether my feelings for Detrian were mere passion or true romance, I was suddenly struck by the realization that now was not the time.

After the academy, I sat alone in the basement of the Arme Trading Company and thought about many things.

And then night came.

Knock-knock—

As always, there was a rhythmic knocking on my window, and when I drew the curtains, Detrian was looking at me.

When I went out to the terrace, he skillfully took me in his arms and headed to our usual place.

“So today……”

Just as Detrian was about to start the lesson, I carefully grabbed his cloak.

“…Rowenloa?”

“Just talk with me for 10 minutes…. Just 10 minutes.”

Hearing my serious voice, he seemed a bit surprised but soon nodded, and I began to speak.

“About yesterday……”

Hearing my words, Detrian was startled and then his face turned red.

His reaction made me feel like my face was burning too, but I tried hard to ignore his expression.

“I… you……”

Just as I was about to pour out my honest feelings to him, he heard my words and then covered my mouth with his palm to prevent me from saying anything more.

“No.”

I rolled my eyes at the crown prince’s words.

What did I do wrong…?

When I made a dumbfounded expression, Detrian seemed startled and hurriedly removed his hand from my mouth.

Then, after hesitating for a moment, he seemed to make up his mind, raised his head abruptly, and looked at me.

“I should be the first one to say I like you.”

My thought process completely froze at his words.

The empress had clearly said that the crown prince had a chosen partner….

So was the crown prince having an affair… or something like that with me?

Whether or not he knew my complicated thoughts, the crown prince continued speaking.

“You probably don’t remember, but it was an alley leading to a fairy’s workshop.”

Hearing that, I immediately knew that the fairy he was talking about was Mafi.

“I found you under the pretext of searching for the person who took the fairy power, and I deliberately tried to get involved with you. I intentionally approached you with my identity hidden… But in the end, those were just excuses I made because I wanted to talk to you even just a little more.”

The crown prince, who had been rambling for a while, finally closed his mouth due to my interruption.

“Wait. Wait a minute, Detrian.”

“…Do you hate me like this?”

“No, it’s not a matter of liking or hating!”

I stood up from my seat and looked down at him as I spoke.

“You already have a fiancée!”

The crown prince stared at me stiffly for a long time after hearing my words, then sprang up from his seat like a spring and looked at me.

“I… have a fiancée?”

I gave an incredulous laugh at his tone, which suggested he knew nothing.

“Clearly, the Empress previously told me that you already have a chosen partner, so I should give up……”

“I have a chosen partner…?”

Perhaps because we were each talking about something the other didn’t know about.

The crown prince and I looked at each other with eyes full of complexity and bewilderment.

Then he looked at me and said with certainty,

“I don’t know what you heard, but I don’t have any chosen partner. How could I do such a thing while having you?”

My cheeks grew hot again at his words.