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The sweetness lingers in my mouth. At this point, even my saliva tastes sweet. Yet, despite that, I continued to shove desserts into my mouth.

‘How can I refuse this…’

It’s not just that it’s delicious to the point of not being sickening, but more importantly, he’s the one giving it to me—how can I reject it right in front of him? I must eat. Typically, I thought men don’t like it when a woman eats this much, but apparently, I still passed his standards, as he beamed and placed more desserts onto my plate.

Of course, being a woman, Elena was sensitive about her figure, and even if it was Damian giving it to her, she felt it was becoming too much and wanted to refuse.

‘How cute.’

With just this single phrase from Damian, she was struck down and without any further protest, she beginning to pop the desserts stacking up on her plate into her mouth.

It was undoubtedly a small utterance that Damian himself may not have even been aware of, but such sincere words meant the world to Elena and motivated her enough to keep indulging.

Eventually, all of the once-plentiful desserts vanished into her mouth. No matter how many lives she had lived, for someone like Elena, who had always lived as a noble, it wasn’t exactly the image she wanted to display to the one she had feelings for. But what could she do? The price had already been paid.

In the end, it was her who couldn’t refuse his words and smile and ended up eating.

‘It was delicious… No! Still! But still!!’

But regardless, the embarrassment didn’t fade away, and the heat in her head couldn’t be helped. Adding to that, having heard those words from Damian, it was set in stone that Elena’s face would turn red.

“Ugh, ughhhhh….”

I couldn’t bear to lift my face out of embarrassment. However, aggravatingly, the cause of all this—Damian—was laughing, apparently finding her current state amusing. Although that expression was quite pleasant to view, it didn’t stop the irritation from bubbling within her.

“It seems Lady Edelweiss enjoys sweets more than I thought. I’m glad I prepared a lot in advance.”

“Ughhhh! Th-thank you… I’m sure the Prince liked these a lot too, but you gave them all to me… I-I’ll be sure to bring back one of each type from the famous parfait shop in our territory when I come next time!”

Was this her weak rebellion born from that mindset? Even though she knew he didn’t like sweets, she still voiced it. Damian seemed momentarily taken aback, and the smile on his face stiffened at her words. She could already imagine how his face would look if she forced him to eat a parfait later.

Would he refuse? Or would he begrudgingly eat it? After all, it was a gift from his fiancée; he couldn’t reject it.

As she envisioned him grimacing while silently eating the parfait she served, her mood lightened a bit. Right. She could always get her revenge later! Thinking back, she realized she already knew quite a bit about him.

What he likes and what he doesn’t.

Having become a Swordmaster capable of even cutting the heavens, he still feared ghosts and was incredibly weak with alcohol, barely able to hold his liquor yet intoxicated to the point of being quite drunk—if she used these bits of information she had learned, she might be able to see various sides of him she never noticed before.

With that thought, her motivation began to blaze like a campfire, fueled by logs.

Before she knew it, even being here alone with him didn’t feel so awkward anymore, and she could feel her heart’s pounding slowly stabilizing. It was still beating faster than usual, but she was no longer in danger of being swept away by unclean desires, unable to think normally.

Damian seemed to notice her calming atmosphere, as he slowly began to speak about their meeting. She had a pretty good idea of what he was going to say, and she already knew what he wanted.

But no matter how much she loved him, she had no intention of giving in to his wishes.

He surely wanted to break off their engagement.

He opened his mouth.

“Um, Lady Edelweiss. Excuse me, may I call you by your name?”

“Ah, yes! Of course! Then can I call you Prince Damian?”

“Yes. That will be fine. Though I’m just a fiancé, so you may call me however you like as long as it’s not something rude.”

“Ah, engagement… Yes. We, um, are engaged, right?”

Hearing him affirm their relationship made her heart swell. She wanted nothing more than to slip rings onto each other’s fingers right then and there to solidify their bond, but it was regrettable that he hadn’t yet freed himself from the shadow of destiny.

Right. That damned destiny.

This world did have something called fate (運命). It referred to inevitability, things that must happen. Everything that exists in this world is woven into the web of destiny. Even supernatural beings that transcend human perception or gods.

The talents I possess. The broken engagement with Damian in my first life. The various incidents I experienced. All of this was a manifestation of fate as determined by the heavens.

And Damian, who stood before me now, or rather ‘he’ was aware of the destiny he was destined to meet.

He knew how he would perish and the kind of life he would live. However, he was not reborn like the Damian Elena once knew. The current Damian was essentially a different existence from the original Damian. This could be confirmed by the brilliant, shining soul that lay before Elena’s eyes.

The holy essence (神聖) of the foreign beliefs that had been snatched away in a previous life indicated that he was a being from another world.

Essentially, destiny was originally allotted to those born in this world.

Thus, there was her—who defied the heavens—and him—the foreigner who came from outside. And like those foreign beliefs, he was someone who was farther away from the oppressive force of fate than anyone else.

He himself was still unaware of this, and because he was still weak in breaking free from the constraints of fate, exactly like everyone else, he was wary of his destiny. But he didn’t know that she knew.

That he had become a transcendent entity, free from the fate of being ‘Damian.’

Though it was still early days, he would certainly become that way, and by any means, she would make it happen.

Thus, knowing his struggles would pose a hindrance to her, she felt an overwhelming urge to clear them away in advance, but being too impatient would only ruin things. She would carefully guide him to discover it for himself, and she was sure he would soon come to understand—because he was a perceptive man.

But still, she wouldn’t say that.

“Elena. I understand how you feel. It must be difficult to be engaged to someone who is almost a complete stranger to you.”

No.

“Ah. Th-that’s not it!”

If you truly understood my feelings, please don’t push me away.

She hastily tried to deny it, but her heart didn’t reach him. The distance between them was still too great for her true feelings to get across, and she was far too inexperienced to convey her heart over that distance. Despite having lived for so long, love was a realm that felt so distant from her.

In her first life, she didn’t know love.

In her second life, the moment she realized love, she lost it from her hands.

And now, in this third life, she could truly feel the power of love.

“I don’t think it’s necessary to phrase it that way. It’s the same for me.”

Even though she knew that the sight of him rejecting her would surely come, it still hurt; why was that? She already knew the answer: it was love. The reason she was in pain was because she loved him. But even if it was derived from love, pain was still pain, and despite knowing why he was pushing her away, she asked him.

“Does that mean you, Prince Damian, dislike our engagement…?”

“No. That can’t be. How could I dislike being engaged to you? A marriage with you is like a dream for all the men in the empire.”

Hearing this, she felt unexpectedly uplifted. She knew that it was just empty words.

Love truly makes people emotional.

His words continued.

“However, I desire a marriage where not just I, but also my partner can be happy. Please, be honest with me. Elena Edelweiss, do you love me right now?”

In that moment, she wondered if she should answer his question honestly. However, this was the first time they were meeting. The lack of a narrative with time closed her mouth.

Still, thankfully, he wasn’t directly talking about a breakup. Instead, he was trying to guide her towards breaking off the engagement. Certainly, this wouldn’t work on the version of himself from the first or second life, but she was already well aware of his intent.

So this trick wouldn’t work.

“I don’t believe a marriage will be unhappy just because the two people involved don’t love one another. My parents did, and so have many other families. But we can make a choice unlike those families.”

“What do you mean?”

“Choosing a lifetime partner without ever speaking to each other is incredibly difficult. Even if arranged marriages are all the rage among the nobility, our relationship is not a simple arrangement, is it? Unlike those forced into marriage by their families, Lady Elena and I have the right to choose one another.”

At this, she instinctively understood. The climax was approaching.

As expected, he soon told her she should make a choice.

“Whatever answer you give, I will respect it. Please don’t feel pressured, and do speak honestly. This meeting serves not only to get to know each other but also to express our thoughts regarding this engagement.”

With the stage set like this, it was time to speak.

This was purely about expressing opinions on the engagement. The basis for the answer could be love or economic gain; it was something he couldn’t judge. So, whatever he had said about ‘love,’ she could step outside of that realm and simply choose between breakup and engagement as he had suggested.

Naturally, the answer was already decided.

“Then shall we get engaged? Formally.”

“Eh?”

She heard his stunned voice. Just hearing it blew away the frustration she had been feeling.

Anyway, he had asked her to choose, and this was her choice. And just so you know, there’s no going back.

 

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