***
I turned my head slowly and looked at him.
I immediately saw the villain, who looked very unhappy.
“…… I was on my way back from my trip.”
“Is that so?”
He really lived. He also led the empire to victory in just six months and returned.
He was really monstrous.
“I’ll take you home.”
“I can go alone though?”
“I want to go with you. I have to see His Majesty too.”
He held out his right hand in front of me.
Judging from what he said, he did not go to the castle as soon as he returned.
No, I didn’t understand how he knew that I was here.
“…But how did you know I was here?”
“I saw you on the way.”
“……”
Lie. It was an obvious lie.
This was quite far from his residence.
It is also a place far from the castle.
And above all, he smelled like soap instead of blood.
As soon as he came to the capital, it seemed like he went home and washed up.
Seeing that his clothes are clean, he must have changed.
“I need to go to the castle, so I’d like to go with the princess.”
“……”
“Isn’t it fate to meet like this?”
I glanced at the male lead behind me.
“I think I should go now…”
“You don’t have to worry about me.”
“I’m sorry. When I had time later…”
I wanted to say let’s meet again, but I closed my mouth.
There was the villain behind me.
Even though they were friends, if I made such remarks in front of the villain, he seemed like the type to kill his friend casually.
I can’t let him die.
I tried to say something else, but I heard the villain’s voice behind me.
“Don’t approach the princess again.”
“I just ran into Her Highness. Unlike you.”
“Does that mean I didn’t meet by chance?”
I thought the two would fight if I left it like this.
Weren’t you two friends? Why are you growling at each other?
“I’m going now.”
I held the hand he held out.
He stared down at the hand I held and smiled slightly.
“Sure.”
It was fortunate that he stepped down.
Originally, the imperial carriage was supposed to come here in the evening, but things went wrong.
I was going to play a little bit in the capital and come back home, but my plan was ruined.
My nice and happy memories of the trip disappeared, and I felt tired already because the villain, which made my head throb, was in front of me.
“Yulia.”
“……”
“You can meet other people, but don’t ever get close to them, especially Duke Blair.”
“……Why? Weren’t you two friends?”
Aren’t you still friends? The villain and the male lead only began to be enemies when they fought for the female lead.
“I can’t say that he’s not a friend, but he’s someone you can’t ever get close to.”
The person I shouldn’t ever be close to should be the villain in front of me.
“I missed you, Yulia.”
Why is he smiling like that? It looked good, but at the same time gave me eerie vibes.
It looked good when he smiled like that with a handsome face, but the fact that he’s a villain came to mind and that smile felt eerie.
It reminds me of someone who will harm me with such a smile.
“Did you enjoy your trip?”
“It was nice.”
I was so happy that I didn’t have to think about anything.
But now, my forgotten worries are coming back.
It felt like I’m back to reality.
Of course, there was no certainty that the ending would change even if the original story had changed.
The ending of the female lead and male lead is the only thing that possibly won’t change.
I was afraid as I didn’t know how my ending would be.
“Is that so?”
“That’s a relief. Then, how did you like it?”
“…Yes?”
“Didn’t you like going around outside?”
“I don’t know.”
“After we get married, we’ll travel around. It’s good to go before marriage.”
“I like traveling alone…”
I just liked travelling alone, with no one to interfere with it.
I don’t know what will happen if I go with the villain, so how can I enjoy my trip?
“And… getting married right away is a little burdensome.”
I took a peak at the villain.
If I really signed the marriage registration form, I couldn’t turn back.
And the villain doesn’t love me from the beginning.
Everything he said to me was just a lie.
“Let’s just get engaged first. Because you might change your mind.”
“Yulia.”
“What?”
Will he say no? My fingertips trembled with nervousness. I hurriedly continued my words.
“If I get married, I don’t think I’ll have much time to see my dad and brother!”
“……”
“Before marriage, I want to spend more time with my dad and brothers…”
It was questionable whether these words would work or not, but it wasn’t a lie.
Because I really wanted some time with my family. I wanted to be by their side even a little longer.
He smiled brightly.
“If that’s what you want, sure, but it won’t change my mind.”
“…….Really?”
“Well. I didn’t say I will cancel the marriage.”
“……”
“If we are engaged, we can postpone the wedding. It would also be nicer to make the wedding grand enough to go down in history, right?”
“…I’ll discuss that with my dad.”
“Yes.”
I rolled my eyes and looked away from the villain.
It felt like he was looking at me all the time, so it felt very burdensome. But I can’t say anything about this.
“Yulia.”
“……Yes?”
“Call me by my first name.”
“Ah… If you forgot my name, I’ll tell you again. Call me Chester from now on.”
“……”
“Yulia. Go ahead and say it.”
“……”
“You say well before.”
I kept closing my mouth. In fact, I didn’t have the courage to make eye contact with him.
“Don’t you think it’s too late to pretend you can’t call my name now? In the future, I will kiss you whenever you don’t call me by my name.”
“…Chester.”
My gaze was fixed on the scenery outside the carriage and reluctantly say his name.
Why does it feel like my face is getting hot just because I called out his name?
However, he spoke as indifferently as possible as if nothing had happened.
“That’s enough.”
“Please call me that in the future, Yulia.”
“……”
“Do you have no intention of looking at my face? I missed you so much.”
“Don’t say things like that.”
I already know everything. It’s all fake. I don’t know what he wants from me.
“I’ve always thought of you even on the battlefield. Yulia.”
“I know it’s a lie.”
“What?”
“The words you said you loved me. It was all a lie.”
“………Did you think of it as a lie? Until now?”
“I think that’s possible. I didn’t expect it to be true in the first place.”
Actually, I was shaken.
I was shaken by his actions that looked sincere.
No matter how many times I thought about it, I was like a fool to be shaken for a while.
But it felt really sincere, so even if it wasn’t for that time, I would have been shaken.
“…I don’t intend to break my promise. I’ll get married as promised. However, please postpone it.”
“……Yulia. Who said that?”
“……”
I blankly looked out the window.
It was a familiar landscape, that means, we will arrive at the castle soon.
“Is it Idrian?”
Why is the male lead’s name mentioned here?
Well, I overheard it secretly. There’s no way you’d know.
“That’s what you said yourself.”
“……”
“That’s what you said yourself. Do you look like a person who will do love?”
I said vaguely, and I was curious about the answer.
I was very curious about what kind of expression he had, but I couldn’t confirm it. I was too scared.
“Yulia. It’s a misunderstanding.”
“That’s what anyone would say.”
“……At least I mean it when I say I love you.”
It’s obviously a lie.
If he had given a plausible excuse, I might have believed it.
“I don’t believe you.”
“Yulia.”
Suddenly, I noticed a slight bloody smell.
The carriage was filled with bloody smell mixed with soap scent.
I didn’t have a wound. And there are only two people in the carriage.
If it’s not me, there’s only the villain left.
The gaze that had been fixed outside the window for a long time was moved to the villain.
There is no way that the villain was injured.
“……Did you kill a person before you came to me?”
The fishy smell clearly smelled like blood.
He shook his head at my question.
“No.”
Well, his clothes were too clean to kill someone.
Or it might be that he changed his clothes without washing up.
So it should smell like soap, but there is still a smell of blood.
I had no choice but to ask just in case.
Because he kept using only his right hand.
“…….Are you hurt?”
I looked at his left arm.