FMV 07

Chapter 7

“So, what’s the lady’s first plan?”

“Since I’ve already told Leonhardt that we should break up, I intend to keep the shock going.”

“How?”

Elise slowly rose from her seat, the corners of her lips curling upward.

“Your Highness, Crown Prince of Deblin.”

Her expression was playful, but there was not a trace of playfulness in her voice.

“Suddenly?”

Wondering what she was planning to do this time, Damian quietly watched her with eyes sparkling with curiosity.

Then Elise knelt on one knee before him and held out her palm.

“Would you be my partner at the Ariatton Spring Festival?”

Of course, he would accept. That was what she thought as she looked at Damian’s face.

‘Ah……?’

Her startled eyes trembled slightly.

For the first time, a hint of bewilderment crossed Damian’s usually composed face.

He abruptly rose from his seat, gently grasped her shoulders, and immediately helped her back to her feet.

“It would be an honor, my lady.”

While casually accepting her proposal, Damian’s gaze remained fixed on her knee.

“Damian?”

“But never do that in front of me again.”

“What are you talking about? Kneeling on one knee?”

“Yes. You could get hurt.”

He lightly snapped his thumb and index finger together.

The moisture floating in the air gathered into droplets, which then wiped the dust from her dress clean.

“Huh? I’m not going to get hurt from something like that.”

Come to think of it, Damian was said to be almost obsessively clean.

Judging by his actions, that particular rumor seemed to be true.

“Even so, your body is more precious than anything else in this world. You shouldn’t let even a speck of dust settle on it.”

Whether his behavior stemmed from his obsession with cleanliness or simple concern, Elise strangely did not dislike his exaggerated actions.

“All right. I won’t do it. Happy now?”

In the end, Elise smiled softly and nodded.

Then her eyes fell upon the untouched teacup.

Come to think of it, he had not taken even a single sip of the tea she had brewed for him.

“Why aren’t you drinking the tea?”

Was it because his obsession with cleanliness prevented him from drinking tea prepared by someone else?

Elise stared at Damian, expecting an honest answer.

“Ah.”

What was even more curious was that despite all the time they had spent talking, steam was still rising from the tea.

“And it hasn’t even cooled down yet?”

“I cast a spell to keep the tea from ever getting cold. Oh, and it won’t spoil, either.”

“What?”

A spell that kept tea from ever getting cold? She had never heard of anything like that.

And why would anyone bother casting a spell to keep tea from spoiling when it was meant to be drunk immediately?

“Isn’t mana an extremely rare resource?”

Mana was fundamentally a talent one had to be born with, and each imperial magic tower had an average of about a hundred mages.

Among them, only the top ten percent could freely wield magic. The rest generally used their weaker mana to create and sell magical tools or conduct research.

And yet he had used such precious mana to preserve a cup of tea.

“Not as rare as holy power.”

Damian casually shrugged.

“Besides, this is the first tea you’ve ever brewed for me, along with the teacup.”

“So?”

“I thought I’d take it with me as a keepsake. Just as it is.”

At his shameless grin, Elise blinked rapidly, once again thinking that he was certainly no ordinary man.

“Can I take it?”

“Do whatever you want.”

She smiled softly and nodded.

The moment he received her permission, Damian carefully picked up the teacup with both hands as though it were an incredibly precious treasure.

“I’m taking it just like this.”

The teacup in his hands disappeared in an instant.

Apparently, he had used teleportation.

Damian curled his lips upward in satisfaction and dusted off his hands before approaching Elise.

“Excuse me.”

He gently placed a hand on her shoulder.

“What are you doing?”

“A protective spell.”

No sooner had he said this than Elise felt something like a transparent, cool liquid flowing down over her from the top of her head.

“If it’s three months from now, that means they won’t do anything to you before then, at least. So I don’t need to keep watching you myself.”

As he continued casting the protective spell, Damian looked directly into Elise’s eyes.

“Like a stalker.”

“Ahem. You’re not holding that against me, are you?”

His face was full of mischief, but Elise felt oddly guilty and cautiously watched his expression.

“I’m joking. If it’s your lovely voice, you can call me a stalker as much as you want. Even that word would sound sweet coming from you.”

“All right, Mr. Stalker.”

“……Hearing it for real does feel a little strange.”

“Pfft. I was joking too.”

The two of them looked at each other and laughed comfortably.

Who would have thought Damian was someone who could make people feel so at ease?

She had never imagined that her image of him could change so quickly.

After all, the first meeting between Elise and Damian had been nothing short of a disaster.

She smiled faintly as she briefly recalled that day.

It had been the day of a party held at the Ariatton Imperial Palace.

Perhaps because she was unfamiliar with high society, she had been particularly exhausted that day.

Wanting to escape her fatigue for a while, Elise had quietly left the Great Hall and headed toward the garden.

She had finally found some peace in the garden, where darkness had settled like fog, and was resting alone when an unfamiliar shadow slowly approached from the distance.

“So, you’re Elise.”

The voice was unfamiliar, and the man had spoken to her informally right from the start. Naturally, she had been on high alert, especially because his eyes had glimmered ominously in the thick darkness.

And the moment he finally came close to her—

“G-Go away!”

Elise had immediately punched him in the face.

Then the moon, which had been hidden behind the clouds, emerged, casting a ray of light down upon them.

The moonlight slowly revealed the identity of the person she had just punched.

“Gasp! You’re……!”

She had just punched Damian, the Crown Prince of the Deblin Empire, a man infamous for being a villain.

Terrified and shocked, Elise had twisted her face in contempt and immediately fled.

That had been the first meeting between the two of them—a meeting so terrible that calling it the worst imaginable would not have been an exaggeration.

And yet he had apparently fallen in love with her at first sight because of that punch.

It was absurd, but at the same time, she was incredibly grateful.

She had always done her best to avoid Damian, yet he had risked his life to come and save her.

“Thank you, Damian.”

“It was only natural. If you’re ever in danger, I’ll come running immediately, so don’t worry. And as soon as I return, I’ll send you guards you can trust. Use them as much as you like.”

“Yes.”

She did not know how Damian’s voice, which had once sounded so cold to her, could now bring her such peace.

Elise gently caught the sleeve of the man who seemed ready to leave.

“By the way, are you going to teleport back?”

“Why? Do you want me to stay?”

Damian teasingly ran a hand lazily through his red hair.

He probably did it without thinking, but if young ladies who had just made their debut in high society had seen him like this, they might have screamed at his seductive appearance.

“That’s not what I meant.”

She turned her head to the side, deliberately hiding her flushed cheeks.

Then, as though she had finally made up her mind, she stared at him with a determined expression.

Completely unaware of what she was thinking, Damian tilted his head slightly, an invisible question mark seemingly floating above him.

But at that moment, Elise suddenly grabbed both of his shoulders and rose onto her tiptoes.

Then, with a soft peck, her lips touched Damian’s pale cheek before pulling away.

“Goodbye.”

Elise’s entire face turned bright red as she glanced up at him.

Perhaps it was too soon to kiss him on the cheek, but in high society, it was nothing more than a greeting shared between people who were close.

So she had gathered her courage and done it as both a token of gratitude and a farewell.

Yet Damian looked even more composed than he had when Elise had knelt on one knee before him.

“All right. Then I’ll be going.”

He calmly bowed his head in farewell.

Then, leaving Elise behind as she stared at him in disbelief, he quickly activated teleportation magic.

“Ha……”

Back in his office in the Deblin Empire, Damian’s gait was so awkward that he looked almost mechanical.

He forced his legs, which felt as heavy as rocks, to move and collapsed into his chair.

Then, slowly hiding his barely concealed excitement, he casually ran a hand through his hair as though nothing had happened.

“It was nothing. Just a greeting.”

Even as he muttered to himself that it was nothing special, Damian’s face had turned bright red—from his ears all the way down to his neck.