Chapter 4

“You’ve been like this lately……”

“That’s enough. Even if you knew, Your Highness, it wouldn’t matter.”

“Oh my, Young Master Ramantus treats the Empire’s Second Princess so lightly. Even though Ramantus’s power rivals the Imperial Family and our factions are opposed.”

“……That’s not true.”

Alexei muttered with a deeply miserable expression.  

He never thought lightly of her; in fact, he’d only ever made himself seem ridiculous because he couldn’t.  

Thinking that, he sighed again.

“There you go again, there you go.”  

Avgenia made a fuss, but thinking his words were just courtesy to his lord, she smiled bitterly.  

She had no idea that Alexei was suffering from a fever that made it impossible for him to ever take her lightly.

For a moment, Alexei was tense, but soon he buried himself in paperwork whether his lord was nearby or not.  

He showed with his whole body that work was more important than this trivial chat—how could she think he didn’t take her lightly?

Seeing her old friend’s unchanged attitude, Avgenia grew stubborn.  

What, even if they’d been friends so long, didn’t they still have a clear hierarchy?

“Why, what’s going on?”  

Avgenia twisted her upper body to face Alexei directly. Her hand nearly knocked over an inkwell on the desk, but Alexei quickly caught it. His sensitive touch reacted to her every move before she even noticed.

“Hm? You never know.”  

Avgenia kept drawing out her words. Alexei didn’t realize it, but it was a childhood habit that only appeared around him.

Alexei looked up at his lord with a dry expression.  

“Lexie, hm? Between us, hm?”

Her eyes curved deeply into a radiant smile.  

Her vivid pink eyes shone so beautifully in the dim light behind her. Wasn’t that the color of the roses blooming in the palace garden they wandered as children, or the stained glass in the church perched on the cliffs of the estate’s most beautiful beach, or the pink garnet adorning the statue at the palace entrance when the sun hit it…….

Entranced by her face, Alexei unconsciously set down his pen and murmured.  

“Um, I……”

Of course, Avgenia’s eyes brightened. Swept away by that dazzling heat, Alexei was helpless.  

Just for this moment, and in truth, his whole life.

Words he’d never planned to say slipped from his well-shaped lips.  

“I… have a woman I’m in love with.”

“Oh my.”  

Avgenia’s eyes widened.

In love?  

Caught off guard, Avgenia couldn’t respond. She exaggerated her expression to delay replying, but what welled up in her chest was confusion.

“So…….”  

What is this strange feeling?

“Has spring come for you too, our Lexie?”  

She was making a fuss. Otherwise, she’d have no choice but to show her frozen expression……

Her face wore a bright smile, but since she hadn’t put any effort into it, it was really a blank expression.

“What? Who is she? Why is that something to sigh about?”

“Well……”  

Avgenia’s smile grew even deeper. Her voice trembled with confusion, but Alexei, surprised by his own words, didn’t notice.

Both were flustered, and a short silence fell.  

When Alexei realized he couldn’t dodge anymore, he spoke in a crawling voice.

“I want to try courting her, but I don’t think I have any charm as a man……”

What?  

Avgenia forgot her fake smile, her eyes crumpling, but Alexei didn’t notice as he hung his head.

Was that shyness?  

Avgenia felt her heart drop. At the same time, her stomach churned.

‘No, what’s wrong with our Lexie, what does he mean he has no charm as a man?’

If he’d ever seemed interested in her, she’d have snatched him up ages ago, right?

Not realizing she’d ruined Alexei’s self-esteem, Avgenia’s confusion quickly turned into resentment towards the imaginary young lady.

‘And Lexie, shyly thinking of someone else……’  

She’d never imagined this.

Since Duke Ramantus sided with the First Prince, Avgenia had accepted that she could never be the partner of her stiff, shy companion. That was seven years ago, so she’d long since assumed Alexei would someday marry another woman.

‘It’s one thing if Lexie doesn’t like me, but……’  

Right. While she was ruining her reputation as the most notorious flirt in society, she’d vaguely imagined Alexei marrying a proper young lady and making her the Young Master’s wife of Ramantus…… But that was just a passing thought, like night following day. Never had she imagined Alexei confessing, shyly, to secretly loving someone.

Unaware of the confusion flickering in Avgenia’s rosy eyes, Alexei kept his blue eyes lowered, unmoving.

Avgenia, gazing at the tip of Alexei’s nose poking out from under his hair, asked in passing,  

“Charm as a man……?”

“Well, romance and such……”  

So shy, Alexei kept his head down, mumbling.

Lexie, so bashful.  

Lexie, so lacking in confidence.

Though they’d been close for nearly twenty years, Alexei had never shown such emotion because of her.

Avgenia barely managed to raise the corners of her mouth, fighting back the urge to burst out. Her next reply was clearly forced, but she had no choice.

“There’s no gentleman as well-mannered as you, Lexie.”

At that, Alexei slowly raised his head. His blue eyes, meeting Avgenia’s, were filled with a confusion like the waves of a stormy sea.

“A well-mannered…… gentleman.”

“Well. I don’t know much about ordinary romance, but isn’t manners important……?”

Ordinary romance……. Like learning a foreign word, Alexei’s lips moved, repeating Avgenia’s words.

That the precocious boy since age five could look so dazed because of someone else made Avgenia’s insides twist. Though her lord’s gentle face and innocent smile were fixed like a mask, all sorts of ugly emotions churned beneath.

“No, what I’m worried about is.”

Alexei’s face froze as if it had cracked. He regretted speaking so hastily.

Avgenia was also displeased that Alexei was showing such agitation in front of her.

“What?”

Her question came out sharply.

“Well……”

“Maybe I could help?”

Even as she said it, Avgenia knew it was nonsense. In truth, she didn’t know how romantic feelings worked between men and women. She’d spent countless nights with men, but those relationships weren’t as wild as others thought, and above all, she’d never exchanged feelings with any of them.

Being the late Empress’s daughter, her reputation as a promiscuous princess was enough. As long as she paid the price men wanted, it was fine.  

There was no room for romance or feelings.

She refused a political marriage to stay in the Empire and dedicate herself to her half-sister’s reign.

To avoid losing Alexei forever.

A brief standoff followed.  

Avgenia wore a smile full of bravado, while Alexei, cornered by his slip of the tongue, only trembled his eyes.

Avgenia didn’t like that, either.

That the proud and dignified Alexei Ramantus would make such a face.

What did charm as a man matter? He was the Young Master of Ramantus.

No, there was no way Alexei lacked charm as a man. What kind of unlucky young lady was so blind as to act indifferent with Alexei in front of her?

Just as Avgenia’s lips were about to twitch in confusion, a strange light flashed in Alexei’s blue eyes. His next words sounded as if he’d made up his mind.

“No, what I’m worried about is… things like, um, nighttime matters.”

“What?”

For a moment, Avgenia wondered if she’d misheard.

Of everyone she knew, Alexei was the most conservative, the most fastidious, and above all, the most restrained.

As the heir to the powerful Duke of Ramantus, he never indulged in excess. Despite his handsome looks, he never dressed up. He never showed unnecessary pride.

All of this was proven by the man sitting in front of her. His suit was plain but high-quality, his eyes weary from hard work, his hair unstyled for years as her aide.

There were ladies who approached him for his looks or status, but Alexei always fulfilled only his duties.

He ignored women who pursued him, his private life as spotless as bleach.

Yet now, he was worrying about nighttime matters?

And in front of her?

Avgenia’s eyes narrowed.

‘Is he really that desperate……?’

Showing off a bedroom where she’d spent nights with men was nothing special for Avgenia, who’d lived as a princess her whole life.

But her aide consulting her about nighttime matters was something else entirely.

Especially if it was Alexei.

‘Nighttime matters…… Is there anything else that could mean?’

……There probably wasn’t, but maybe in Alexei’s dictionary it meant something else?

So, Alexei Ramantus, who never saw her as a woman, was worrying about intimacy with a woman?

Her embarrassment quickly turned to displeasure, then to petty anger.