Chapter 20: A Person I Don’t Want to Meet

“Unfortunately, this man is mine.”

Edmund felt his heart sink at Clea’s response.

Even though they had already kissed several times and done even more than that.

Right now, his face was burning just from the kiss.

Though he wanted to look at her, Edmund’s eyes wandered, finding it difficult to meet her gaze.

‘I keep showing such uncharacteristic sides of myself.’

Clea found this side of Edmund cute.

She thought that, true to his cold impression, he wouldn’t feel any embarrassment about his actions.

“What right do you have to be by Edmund’s side!”

“I suppose if you love someone, you can be by their side.”

“You already have a fiancé!”

“Oh my, haven’t you heard? My relationship with him ended long ago.”

It had ended.

From the moment Grit, the head of the family, had declared she should leave the house, Clea was essentially excommunicated.

There was no reason for her relationship with Lloyd to continue once she was freed from the family’s constraints.

She had become completely free and could proudly say the relationship was over.

“I never heard about this!”

But Aria wouldn’t accept it.

She openly showed her attitude of completely refusing to accept the current situation.

With a face full of discontent, she started questioning Clea rather than Edmund.

As if she couldn’t accept their relationship.

“Well, now you’ve heard.”

But Clea paid no attention to whether Aria made such expressions or not.

Even if she went back and spread the news, trying to sway others,

For Clea who faced death, this was like any other day, and she had no intention of giving up her relationship with Edmund just because of some criticism.

Rather than backing down, she would rather give the female lead some trials.

‘Unless you choose to leave first.’

Looking at him who was still docilely caught by her collar, she felt like patting his head.

However, Aria still couldn’t accept it and approached Clea.

Clea didn’t avoid the gaze of Aria who was aggressively approaching her.

“What did you say?”

“Logically speaking, if we like each other, what business is it of yours?”

“Edmund and I are best friends!”

“Oh really?”

She scoffed at the words ‘best friends.’

It was ridiculous to her that someone who was merely a best friend would talk about marriage and such things.

“But what can you do? I’ve already taken him.”

She said it to provoke Aria further. It seemed to work as her face reddened unusually.

With a displeased expression, she looked ready to charge at Clea at any moment.

That’s when Edmund called out to Aria.

“Aria.”

“Edmund, tell me it’s not true. This doesn’t make any sense, right? Right? You were supposed to marry me!”

“That’s enough.”

“E-Edmund?”

Watching this scene quietly, Clea frowned this time.

For someone talking about marriage, Edmund seemed completely unaware of anything related to it.

Even if Edmund had really intended to do so, Clea wouldn’t have cared.

Meanwhile, Edmund felt increasingly frustrated while listening to Aria’s words.

Though his anger had subsided slightly thanks to someone cooling him down briefly, it hadn’t completely disappeared.

“When did I ever say I would marry you?”

“If not me, who are you going to marry?”

“That’s not for you to decide, Aria.”

In the past, he wouldn’t have said anything else when she visited.

He too knew that Aria Hersher would be the best choice.

But now it was different.

Edmund no longer cared about any benefits that might come from marrying Aria.

What he truly wanted was right in front of him. Someone who wouldn’t be swayed even if she was offered the entire empire.

“You’ll regret your choice today.”

Tears flowed from Aria’s eyes.

Others would have caused an uproar just because Aria was crying, but unfortunately, there was no one here to take her side.

She glared at Clea one more time.

Clea, who was slightly taller than her, smiled while looking down at Aria.

Seeing that smile, Aria bit her lip and roughly opened the door to leave.

“Such a child.”

“Well, she was raised preciously.”

“That’s no reason to storm into the Crown Prince’s palace though.”

Edmund sighed as he gazed in the direction where Aria had left.

She had always been willful.

She was the type who never asked others’ opinions and thought if she liked something, others must like it too.

What would he have normally done here?

Edmund tried to predict his usual way of handling things.

‘I would have immediately contacted the Hersher family. Asking what this rudeness was about.’

Even if they were loyal to the imperial family, they were still subjects.

A duke’s family? While they certainly could exercise considerable influence in the empire, this was one-sided rudeness.

And it’s especially unacceptable from a pro-imperial family.

But Edmund wasn’t feeling as bad as expected.

“Are you alright?”

“I’m more worried about how you feel.”

“Me? I actually feel fine since I got to say everything I wanted to.”

For her who had wanted to teach Aria a lesson, she actually felt good.

Though she was slightly annoyed by the rude words Aria had said in the middle.

Still, the fact remained that she had successfully given Aria a taste of her own medicine.

However, she was concerned about the man before her.

“I’m more worried about you.”

Edmund met Clea’s gaze.

Meeting her eyes, Edmund wasn’t angry.

Rather, like Clea, he too felt better.

“Are you worried about what she might do to me?”

“Yes, I am.”

“Don’t worry. They can’t do anything anyway.”

Edmund liked those blue eyes.

Those eyes that only worried about him, without any calculations or ulterior motives.

“But you were quite bold. I was honestly surprised. I didn’t expect you to say such things in front of others.”

“There’s nothing wrong with calling my man my man, is there?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Even if you had been engaged to Aria, I wouldn’t have cared, Edmund.”

Though she spoke with a smile, making it seem like a joke, Edmund thought…

That Clea wasn’t joking right now.

“I’ll try to finish work earlier today.”

“Won’t you be tired if you finish early?”

“I’m not that weak.”

“Alright then, I’ll look forward to it.”

With those final words, Clea kissed Edmund’s cheek and left.

Edmund silently watched her leave until the end.

He felt completely different emotions from when Aria had left.

‘It’s a shame. I wish we could have talked a bit more.’

He was the Crown Prince, and mountains of work awaited him.

Edmund sighed briefly and sat back down to look over documents.

But Clea’s words kept coming to mind, making it difficult to concentrate.

He smiled, remembering her words calling him her man.

Meanwhile, outside the door, Oberon pondered.

Whether he should belatedly reveal that Aria wasn’t the only person who had visited this place initially.

* * *

“Clea, I missed you.”

Not long after leaving Edmund’s office, Clea had to face another unpleasant person.

Unlike with Aria, Clea openly frowned.

“Clea, wait.”

She attempted to ignore him and head to her room, but he called her name, refusing to let her leave.

Feeling disgusted just from his voice, Clea turned to face him.

“I don’t think there’s anything left between us.”

“Clea, how long are you going to be like this? Stop this and come back home.”

As if he had forgotten the words he had thrown at her recently, Lloyd stood before her with a consistently confident attitude.

While Clea felt increasingly irritated at his demeanor, she also found it strange how he had entered the imperial palace.

‘Can anyone just enter the Crown Prince’s palace? Why do these people come and go like it’s their own home?’

She complained internally, but then laughed thinking about how he was the next grand duke.

Deeply worried about the empire’s future, she lifted her head as Lloyd took a step forward.

“I was wrong, so please leave the Crown Prince’s palace now.”

“What exactly did you do wrong?”

Clea had no intention of conversing with him.

To begin with, conversation only happens when the other party is someone you can actually talk to.

However, the person before her was just listing his demands and ordering her to comply.

She asked him, finding it absurd.

Was he saying such things knowing he had done wrong?

So she demanded him to say exactly what he had done wrong. Lloyd frowned.

“Are you really going to be like this?!”

‘See, he starts yelling right away when things don’t go his way.’

This was one of the reasons why Clea was sick of Lloyd.

Had he ever shown consideration for her even once?

Ever since she possessed this body, she had never seen such behavior from him.

If he had any awareness of his wrongdoing and was truly repentant, Lloyd shouldn’t have spoken to her this way.

Her expression turned cold as she had noticed his complete lack of remorse from their first encounter.

“So, what exactly did you do wrong?”

“Clea!”

She had no thoughts of going back.

She looked at the back of her hand.

The clock drawn on her hand didn’t even tell her how much time she had left. It just kept ticking.

Was there any reason to waste her precious time on people she didn’t want to face?

She felt her chest tightening.

Feeling her condition rapidly deteriorating, she looked at the back of her hand.

She could see the clock on her hand suddenly moving faster.

“You know what, Lloyd?”

To Lloyd, who was glaring at her, Clea said one of the things she had been keeping inside.

“I really regret wasting my precious time on someone like you.”

With those final words, Clea quietly walked away without looking back.

“I said wait!”

“Ah.”

But Lloyd, unable to hold back anymore, chased after Clea and grabbed her shoulder.

For a moment, Clea tried to shake off the hand that touched her body but couldn’t.

“What is this…!”

She was too busy trying to stop something hot coming from her mouth with both hands.

Lloyd looked at her with surprised eyes, but Clea looked at the blood on her hands and sighed, saying,

“Get out of my sight, Lloyd Persi.”

Lloyd called out Clea’s name as she walked away, but his body was completely frozen, unable to move at the sight of the bright red blood on the floor.