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I am currently more nervous than I have ever been since my birth.

Thump thump—

The pounding of my heart, ready to burst, is the proof. I had never experienced such a heartbeat even during my first monster hunt with my father, but just the presence of that woman before me instinctively heightened all my senses to the extreme as I realized the crisis facing me was beyond anything I had encountered before.

But no matter what, it wouldn’t be proper for the heir of the Kraus family to look a fool in front of a lady, right? With great effort, I calmed my heightened senses and faced the woman before me.

Her skin was a pure white as white as snow, and her long hair flowed like a waterfall. Her eyes, resembling perfectly crafted amethysts, were clear and transparent. Just the slight upward turn of the corners of her closed mouth could stir the empty fantasies of the men around her.

Her beauty truly deserved the phrase “a beauty that could topple a nation.”

Seeing her reality only highlighted how lacking my imagination had been when picturing Elena Edelweiss based only on written descriptions so far.

For a moment, I was overwhelmed by her stunning beauty, but perhaps due to my firm sense of purpose, I quickly regained my composure. If I, who was so cautious around her, could feel this way, I could only imagine how utterly defenseless the original male characters were.

So that was the reason those brats were willing to give up everything.

Even Ken, who had experienced all the world’s affairs by my side, was staring at her in a daze, which was to be expected for teenage boys in their prime. They must have been buzzing like bees drawn to honey with her in front of them. In fact, it was written that after her engagement was broken with Damian, a flood of marriage proposals arrived for her from most of the boys at the Academy.

Looks like I’ll have to deal with letter bombings starting from the Academy’s entrance ceremony.

“Nice to meet you, Lady Edelweiss. I am Damian Kraus, the heir of the Kraus family,” I introduced myself.

“….Nice to meet you too, Young Master Kraus. I am Elena Edelweiss, the eldest daughter of the House of Edelweiss,” she replied, slightly hesitating but smiling in response to my greeting.

That smile detonated bombs inside my heart that had been carefully held in check. I really ought to get this engagement annulled quickly. At this rate, I might genuinely fall for her and end up doing something foolish.

I stepped on Ken’s shoe, signaling him to leave. Luckily or unluckily, he looked at me with a face full of misunderstandings and winked at me before leaving with the maid that Elena brought along.

Now that they were gone, the room contained just the two of us—Elena and me.

Though I had wanted to relax and have a chat, the tension increased now that we were alone. To ease the tension, I poured the tea I had prepared into cups and handed one to her, taking a sip myself before speaking again.

“Though we’re engaged, this is actually our first meeting, isn’t it? Lady Edelweiss.”

An engagement known throughout the Empire for her beauty and, on my part, for being the scion of a famous swordsmanship family, our union was surrounded by mysteries. It made little sense why we got engaged when we had never even met before, but there was a trivial backstory to our unusual relationship.

My father, Count Arthur Kraus, and her father, Duke Joachim Edelweiss, were longstanding friends. In an era where political marriages are a given among noble families, these two, who were close friends, made promises like, “Once your child is born, let’s marry our kids off!” When my father and Elena were born, they both happily arranged our engagement.

However, they respected that it was a one-time marriage and thus verbally agreed, without formalizing the engagement ceremony.

Therefore, this meeting was meant to take place before a formal engagement ceremony occurs. In the original story, it was written that they had already had a formal engagement ceremony without such explanations, but for me, it worked out nicely. If luck were on my side, I might be able to annul the engagement right here and now.

One might think Damian would have had some manners, especially since it was before the original starts, but it’s easy to question Elena’s decision-making for agreeing to that engagement after meeting that guy. But, knowing her character, it would make sense.

“Yes…”

She answered softly and fidgeted with the teacup I poured for her.

As can be seen from this, at the beginning of the novel, she had a weak sense of self and an introverted personality. If the main female character had continued to develop in such a way, it would’ve been a complete bore 100% of the time, but her character did eventually shift due to certain events leading to the annulment of the engagement, which is quite a sad matter.

It wasn’t as though she developed this personality from childhood abuse; Duke Joachim Edelweiss was such a doting father he could be called foolish, and her mother was kind and nurturing as well.

Personality is not determined solely by one’s environment, and so her behavior stemmed from the disposition she was born with.

Despite her beautiful looks that brought admiration without any effort, her inherent weakness became a burden she carried, making her smaller. In contrast to Damian, who was arrogant and full of himself from birth, she was the complete opposite.

Perhaps this led her to follow along with whatever Damian said. He probably proposed as soon as he met her in the original story, and the timid Elena would have been unable to refuse, reluctantly accepting the proposal.

Others might have found it difficult to approach her due to her noble aura, but considering it was Damian’s unflinching behavior that solidified the engagement, one could almost call it comedic given the situation. Yet this character, after being annulled from her engagement with Damian, did change and became capable of rejecting all marriage proposals that came her way.

It was just that her initial state could only express a timid peep, but right now, she was in no position to make even that sound.

What should I do in this case?

In the original, the changes she underwent were due to her negative feelings regarding being tossed around by Damian as if he were her puppet master.

It wasn’t just one thing, but many complex reasons would be involved. Nevertheless, it was undeniable that “Damian” acted as the trigger.

So, should I act as thoughtlessly as the original Damian and make her change through my insensitive behavior?

That is something I wouldn’t want to do.

I’m not going to voluntarily press my self-destruct button. I’ve resolved to live a life for myself, not one for her.

After all, even without my intervention, countless scoundrels at the Academy would stack negative feelings toward her anyway, and those candidates from the original male characters would handle that. My role is merely to maintain a neutral image and secure an annulment of this engagement.

“…..”

“…..”

It seems there needs to be at least some change to establish a conversation.

Since I hadn’t spoken at all, she hadn’t started the conversation either. It wasn’t that she didn’t want to talk, but she simply didn’t know what to say, fidgeting awkwardly with the teacup. Speaking of which, she hadn’t even taken a sip yet…

I have no choice but to lead the conversation myself.

I removed the silver food cover that had been prepared alongside the tea.

Inside were various desserts, mostly sweet ones. These were the treats I had prepared in advance, as I recalled she liked sweet things from the original. As expected, her eyes lit up as soon as the cover was lifted, so it seemed she was pleased.

“I usually enjoy sweet treats, so I prepared these in advance, embarrassed as I am. Do you perhaps also like sweet things, Lady Edelweiss?”

“Ah, yes. Yes, I do.”

Perhaps too enraptured by the delicious-looking desserts, she answered while keeping her eyes glued to them. Indeed, they were made by the chief chef of our lord’s castle, so there was no way her gaze wouldn’t be caught. I’ve heard he was a skilled individual who worked in a famous restaurant even at the Imperial Capital.

I grabbed a pair of tongs and plated one type of dessert for both Elena and me before handing it to her.

“Thank you…”

Is it that delicious-looking?

While I had mentioned she enjoyed sweet things, it was merely an excuse to present desserts to her; personally, I wasn’t one who especially liked sweets. Anything excessively sweet felt sickening.

Ew.

As I haphazardly took a bite of a cake, it was so sweet that I couldn’t continue eating. Quickly, I took a sip of the tea set beside me to neutralize the sweetness lingering in my mouth.

I wonder what people find good about this anyway?

Of course, I knew I wasn’t as good with sweets as others. That’s why I could only handle chocolate with a high cocoa content and not the average sugary stuff on the market. I once thought that since I commonly ate 99% cocoa, everyone did, and I was ridiculed for offering it to others.

I lost track of time reminiscing about the past and missed Elena’s reactions. While the desserts looked like works of art, they were far too sweet. Even someone as fond of sweets as Elena might not enjoy them.

“Do you like it, Lady?”

“Nyum~”

Mumbling as she indulged in the cake, Elena had the kind of expression that made me momentarily speechless, as if she held the world in her hands like a monarch.

Just the slight upward curve of her lips was enough to send my heart racing, but the sight of her genuinely happy face held an indescribable power of destruction. I had never harbored prurient desires towards another person throughout my life until now, but her smile stirred a longing that made me want to gaze at her alone.

Should I really still go through with an annulment? I seem to be different from the original Damian…

Crack—

My whining thoughts crawled back in, and in a bid to keep them hidden from her, I pinched my thigh.

The pain restored my rationality, cemented my feelings deep inside, shutting them away.

‘This is unbearable.’

Every tiny action of hers seemed to have a colossal impact on my emotions. My feeling of being enchanted by her at first glance felt absurdly strange. Is it madness to feel possessive because a pretty lady smiles at me?

It seems having her near me is more perilous than I thought.

 

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