Chapter 16. I’m Proposing to You Right Now

‘For now…… let’s just endure until the social season.’

Lottie’s resolution to remain unmarried was firm.

And now, if possible, she wanted to protect her family with her own hands.

If she suddenly brought this up, the adults, including her grand-aunt, would only feel confused.

When the adults were somewhat mentally prepared, that’s when she would tell them her real plan.

Why she didn’t want to marry, how she would live afterward without marrying. Calmly and with certainty.

Lottie rationalized her guilt about deceiving Isabelle this way. And she smiled back at Isabelle.

Like a child who had done something wrong, Lottie’s smile was slightly timid.

“If there are no more visitors, I think we can go out for a walk now.”

Isabelle put away her needlework and prepared to go out.

“Why don’t we go to Bates Square this time? If we’re lucky, we might find a spot where we can see the Contra River at a glance.”

“Anywhere is fine with me.”

The open outdoors would be better than indoors to clear her stuffy mind. Lottie quickly rose from the sofa.

Isabelle stared at her flowing dress and said:

“The square will be very crowded. You might get your favorite dress stepped on. Wouldn’t it be better to change into something you care less about?”

“No, I’ll go in this dress. Wearing clothes I like makes me feel good, and the weather is especially bright today, so no other dress would make me shine as much as this one.”

Lottie wore a dress with subtle blends of white and blue, and playfully twirled around once. Isabelle laughed at her innocent behavior and agreed.

Lottie realized that her grand-aunt hadn’t properly toured the capital because she was busy looking after her, so she decided to be a dedicated guide today.

Though it was only for a time, Lottie had been a queen for whom the capital and royal palace were home. There couldn’t be a better tour guide.

After thoroughly exploring the clock tower and buildings of Bates Square, Lottie and Isabelle settled at an open-air café.

She had been so enthusiastic about guiding that she didn’t even notice her swollen legs. Lottie wanted to lift her skirt and massage her calves.

If not for her grand-aunt sitting across from her with perfect posture and not a hint of fatigue, she would have done so immediately.

“It would be better to take a carriage back. I’ll go call for one while taking a walk, and in the meantime, compose yourself a bit.”

Isabelle stood up. She slowly walked away, crossing the First Bridge over the Contra River.

Only then did Lottie relax. She took off her tight shoes and hid them under the hem of her dress, then looked around absently while enjoying the gentle breeze.

Construction sites were scattered throughout the square in preparation for the World Exposition a few months away.

Well-dressed pedestrians walked in groups of three or five, and the Contra River flowed beneath the First Bridge.

The atmosphere was chaotic yet peaceful.

Trying to recall when she had last been alone without her grand-aunt who had been by her side 24 hours a day, Lottie felt her eyelids growing heavy.

Until her grand-aunt returned, it would be fine to close her eyes for a bit.

Lottie closed her eyes while sitting upright. She thought she wouldn’t be able to fall asleep in such a bustling atmosphere, but surprisingly, she fell asleep quickly.

The early summer breeze pleasantly wrapped around her freed feet.

Come to think of it, she seemed to have felt a similar sensation before. When was that?

Why had she taken off her shoes then? Ah…… she couldn’t remember.

“……”

The slanting sunlight pierced Lottie’s closed eyes.

Just as she was about to wake up, the sunlight that had been bothering her eyelids suddenly disappeared.

A considerable amount of time passed like that. Or perhaps it was just a moment that felt like a long time.

“……”

When she opened her eyes, Calyx Valdea was there.

He sat so naturally that for a moment she wondered if this was a dream.

With one hand shielding Lottie from the pouring sunlight, and the other propping up his chin as he looked toward the square, he turned his head when he felt her gaze.

When their eyes met, he smiled like a painting.

“Did you have a good dream, my lady?”

He slowly lowered the hand he had been holding up. The shadow that had covered Lottie’s face disappeared.

Her eyes, filled with bewilderment, shone green in the sunlight.

‘Why is this man here?’

She was confused. The drowsiness hadn’t completely faded, and her thoughts weren’t properly organized.

What she had only meant to think came out of her mouth.

“Have you perhaps set someone to follow me?”

“No.”

Despite the rude question, Calyx smiled instead of getting angry.

But that’s not right. If he hadn’t set someone to follow her, there’s no way they would keep running into each other like this.

“You seem unbearably displeased to see me again.”

“……”

“I’m happy to see you again.”

Whispering words that couldn’t possibly be sincere, he smiled again.

It had been two weeks since the kissing incident.

Just as he had disappeared without a word after taking one of her gloves at the royal ball, he hadn’t appeared since causing the worst scandal.

Even though news of her broken engagement must have reached his ears, he remained silent. He didn’t apologize for his rudeness that day, nor did she demand compensation for the damage she had suffered.

Acting as if nothing had happened, he suddenly appeared before her, just like when he had shown up in the park holding a blue number tag.

Back then, he had naturally started a conversation with the lost glove, then turned her world upside down by asking for a date. And now……

“If I had known we would meet like this, I should have brought the handkerchief I borrowed from you that day. I’ve kept it safely in my desk drawer along with the white satin glove, and I’ll be sure to return it to you next time.”

Starting the conversation with the handkerchief, Calyx naturally promised a next time.

With this, Lottie could be certain. Whether with good or bad intentions, this man was deliberately trying to approach her.

Why did this man, whom she never wanted to be entangled with, persistently hover around her?

The answer could only be one.

Everything she had seen and heard in that secret room that day should never have been discovered by an outsider, and no one should have caught on.

Meanwhile, she kept evading his question about why she was in the secret room that day, and even threatened him about his presence there.

‘Either he’s trying to find out how much I know, or…… he wants to silence me forever.’

Lottie looked at the man before her with this chilling conclusion.

The man smiling under the afternoon sun now seemed as bleak as a predator poised to pounce on its prey.

Should she tell him now that she hadn’t seen or heard anything?

No, perhaps all of this was futile? What if he had already decided how to dispose of her?

Just as her past life, when he had kissed her, was repeating itself, what if he had decided to kill her to silence her……!

“Properly speaking, I should visit the house where you’re staying, explore each other through conversation, and then bring up the matter…… But I heard a rumor that no gentleman has succeeded in staying at Blue Brick for more than 15 minutes.”

Calyx’s words didn’t properly register with Lottie, who was beginning to sink deeply into her own convictions.

Explore each other? Explore what? Then kill me?

“Please forgive me for bringing this up suddenly in an inconvenient place. Though the situation is inappropriate, all the words I say are sincere beyond doubt.”

“W-wait.”

“I understand that I bear great responsibility for your broken engagement. Please allow me to take proper responsibility.”

Calyx’s voice gained strength. When their eyes met, he smiled playfully. If she could, Lottie wanted to grab that cruel man’s mouth and prevent it from moving forever.

“Please marry me, my lady.”

This unnecessarily kind man added a clarification, as if worried she hadn’t understood his words.

“I’m proposing to you right now.”

The first impression of a woman who had just received a proposal from a man she thought was trying to kill her was succinct.

‘What the hell is this nonsense.’

“Did you just say…… proposal? Are you serious? Not joking?”

Lottie asked again. Her head spun from the conversation taking an unexpected turn.

Her whole body ached, suggesting she had been extremely tense until just now.

“Forgive my presumption, but if you view me as some fashionable item to be discarded after a season……”

“Then I wouldn’t have bothered with a proposal. It would have been easier to play with you for a season and then discard you.”

Calyx closed Lottie’s argument with a confident tone. Then he lowered his gaze briefly to examine her.

In her lace dress with subtle blends of white and blue, with orange hair flowing down, Lottie looked just like a bouquet wrapped in paper.

Among the scarlet flowers, her green eyes, like tender leaves, captured Calyx.

He couldn’t tell whether her eyes were trembling, or if it was his reflection in them that was shaking.

“This is not some vile bet between men over a woman, nor a proposal made under some sudden intense impulse. Right now, I am as serious and as rational as I can be.”

As he said the last words, his mouth tasted a little bitter, like when he told lies as a child.

“I understand that your family is currently facing some difficulties in succession, considering there’s no legitimate heir. Unless you bring in a son-in-law or adopt a son, your family will, regrettably, disappear into the annals of history, leaving behind the glory of your ancestors.”

“However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that you and I, Your Highness, must marry.”

Lottie, who had been frozen, flared up and blurted out.

“What if I alone, and no one else in the world, can offer you a benefit?”