Chapter 41: I Will Never Let You Go

 The atmosphere at the Hersher family’s dining table was subdued.

 This was because Aria, their flower and hope, didn’t look happy.

 The Duke and his wife were very curious about what Aria had experienced outside.

 Until she left to play with friends, she had been forcing a smile.

 But now she looked completely gloomy.

 While the two were quietly observing Aria’s mood, new information arrived.

 “Duke, the young grand duke has come to see the lady.”

 “What time is it now, coming without any notice like this.”

 The new information further irritated the Duke’s already poor mood.

 The Hersher family wasn’t a low-ranking family that someone could visit without notice.

 Rather, within the Empire, they were among the top five.

 Those of high rank are accustomed to being conscious of each other’s positions and showing mutual respect.

 Unless it was to openly disrespect them, like the Hersher family and the Odoi family, who had completely different political orientations.

 The Hersher family and the Persi family weren’t on bad terms.

 They were rather close, being on the same emperor’s faction.

 Despite this, Lloyd continued to behave in a manner that made others frown, without observing proper etiquette and formality.

 Until now, they had overlooked it because the Grand Duke and his wife had sent apologies afterward, but the Duke was displeased that Lloyd showed no signs of reflection, unlike his parents.

 “Lloyd is here now?”

 Aria also showed signs of surprise, as if this was something she hadn’t expected at all.

 The Duke was pleased with Aria’s reaction.

 No matter how close they were, there were lines that shouldn’t be crossed.

 So he postponed answering Lloyd and brought up what he wanted to say.

 “Aria, His Highness the Crown Prince has granted an audience.”

 When the topic of Edmund came up, Aria’s gaze turned to the Duke.

 She didn’t seem very pleased with the Duke’s words.

 Surprised by this unexpected reaction, the Duke continued,

 “Have a serious conversation with His Highness the Crown Prince that day.”

 “Ah, Father.”

 “So please grant my request.”

 “What is it?”

 Recently, all the rumors spreading throughout the capital were related to Edmund.

 They were about him walking the streets with another woman, or engaging in skinship like kissing.

 Even the Duke, who had intended to observe quietly, now felt desperate.

 After requesting an audience several times a day, they finally had this golden opportunity, and the Duke made a request to Aria.

 “Can you cut ties with Lloyd Persi?”

 “With Lloyd?”

 “Yes, as you know, that child has a fiancée.”

 Hearing the Duke’s words, Aria almost narrowed her brows for a moment.

 She recalled what Clea had told her during their days at the academy.

 It was a question about why she was so close to him when he clearly had a fiancée.

 At that time, Aria had answered that she was just meeting him happily as a friend without any particular intention.

When her father, the Duke, brought up the same words, Aria found it uncomfortable to resist.

 The Duchess, who was watching from the side, wanted to take Aria’s side, but she was also conscious of public perception.

 “Someone might spread false rumors about you and that child being so close.”

 “But Father.”

 “And I believe you know that child isn’t approaching you simply viewing you as a friend.”

 A simple friend.

 Aria wasn’t unaware.

 She knew that the strange gaze he sent her was the same as the gazes of other men who looked at her.

 However, Aria herself didn’t have feelings beyond friendship for Lloyd.

 This wasn’t just the case with him.

Aria enjoyed gaining goodwill from those around her and subtly confirming those feelings in various moments.

 She didn’t cross any lines, nor did she do this only with specific individuals.

 So everyone thought it was just the one-sided feelings of those clinging to her, not considering it a scandal involving her as well.

 Enjoying affection directed at her from a safe position was pleasant. Whether others got hurt reflexively because of it wasn’t Aria’s concern.

 It was enjoyable, and she thought this relationship would later help with Edmund too.

 But after hearing the Duke’s words, her thinking began to change.

 “I’m saying this for your sake. Aria, cut ties with Lloyd now. Otherwise, I’ll have nothing to say in front of the Crown Prince.”

 “Yes, I will.”

 “Really?”

 It was a relationship that had continued for several years already.

 Thinking it might not be easy to break off the friendship, he was contemplating how to persuade her, but Aria answered briefly and concisely.

 That she would cut off the relationship.

 The most important person to her was Edmund, not Lloyd.

 The situation had changed.

 Seeing Edmund’s unintended actions, she felt desperate.

 Now was the time to focus solely on Edmund.

 If it were her original personality, she wouldn’t have changed her mind, but as Clea took Edmund, Aria also began losing her composure.

 She wanted to somehow secure the position of crown princess and stay by his side.

 Aria made a firm request in exchange for cutting ties with Lloyd.

 “In return, you must keep your word.”

 “I will do my best.”

 The Duke smiled at her words asking him to help her and Edmund be together.

 With the troublesome young grand duke about to disappear from sight, he felt like years of indigestion were clearing up.

 Separate from the Duke and Duchess’s joy, Aria thought as she drank water:

 ‘Lloyd will definitely grant my request.’

 Surely Lloyd would do anything for her.

 Even if she asked to end their relationship.

 Until now, he had never once refused Aria’s requests.

 But there was something Aria hadn’t considered.

 That Lloyd’s feelings toward her were much stronger than she thought.

 * * *

 Lloyd was very perplexed upon hearing Aria’s words.

 “Don’t meet anymore, what does that mean?”

 He forcibly opened his mouth, which wouldn’t drop from shock, and asked.

 Why did she suddenly say such a thing.

 Aria wiped tears from her eyes and said nothing.

 Feeling frustrated by Aria who wouldn’t give any answer, Lloyd, as if his patience had reached its limit, spoke somewhat irritably.

 “Tell me why you’re suddenly saying such things!”

 Lloyd grabbed the iron-barred gate and shouted.

 At that sight, Aria looked at him with slightly surprised eyes.

 Lloyd had always shown only a gentle smile in front of her.

 It was quite different from her expectation that if she said this, he would respond with a soft voice filled with regret.

 Aria looked at Lloyd, taking her time, and then finally spoke.

 “You have a fiancée.”

 “I no longer have a fiancée, Aria.”

 “But you haven’t officially broken off the engagement yet.”

 “Is it because of Clea? Is the reason you’re trying to distance yourself from me because of that woman!”

 Seeing a side of Lloyd different from what she had seen until now, Aria wondered if the person in front of her was someone else.

 But the person in front of her was indeed Lloyd, her close friend.

 Lloyd was angry like someone who had malfunctioned.

 “……Yes, you’re going to marry her soon.”

 “What? Are you seriously saying that?”

 “From the beginning, your fiancée is Clea Odoi.”

 “I’ve never acknowledged that woman as my fiancée.”

 “Don’t take the engagement between families lightly.”

 “Aria!”

 Lloyd called her name in a booming voice. Aria frowned from the pain in her ears.

 Lloyd’s heart was being torn to pieces as he watched this.

 “Maintain your pride as a noble, Lloyd. Neither you nor I are innocent children anymore.”

 “Is that your wish?”

 “Yes, Lloyd.”

 At the words that finally came, Lloyd was dumbfounded before eventually laughing.

 When he started laughing, Aria felt pity.

 She honestly hadn’t thought he would show such a broken appearance because of her.

 Seeing him falling apart, Aria, out of sympathy, was going to whisper to him.

 That once she became the crown princess and then the empress, they could return to being friends like before.

 But before that, she was blocked by Lloyd’s words.

 “Do you think I don’t know your intentions?”

 “L-Lloyd?”

 “I know everything too. I know that from the beginning, you liked Edmund, not me.”

 Lloyd’s expression changed.

 His eyes were filled with anger and hostility.

 Perhaps because she had never seen Lloyd with such eyes before,

 Despite knowing that Lloyd couldn’t come through the iron-barred gate, she stepped back for a moment.

 Seeing that action, Lloyd hardened his expression even more.

 “That’s not what I meant.”

 “Did I look like such a fool who wouldn’t even know that?”

 “Lloyd!”

 “Aria, Aria.”

 Like a drunk person, Lloyd kept calling Aria’s name.

 Getting goosebumps at the sight, Aria felt fear beyond bewilderment.

 But Lloyd didn’t think about her feelings.

 “Both your father and you. Have you forgotten that I am a person of the grand ducal family?”

 How could they not know that.

 The Persi grand ducal family—the most prestigious family in the Empire after the imperial family.

 It was because he would inherit the Persi grand ducal family that Aria approached him and wanted to be friends.

 But now Aria was somehow regretting that action.

 “You and Edmund will never be together.”

 “Lloyd, don’t do this. It was all a joke, all a joke!”

 Under Lloyd’s pressure, Aria brought up words to appease him.

 She thought that persuading him somehow was the priority now.

 But at Lloyd’s next words, Aria closed her mouth.

 “I will never let you go. Never.”

 With those final words, Lloyd boarded the carriage he had arrived in.

 Aria couldn’t move from her spot even after he had left.