I mumbled and crushing the crumbs of cookies with my fingertips.
"Men are..."2
"Cough!"
Perez, who heard me talking to myself, coughed beside me.
I met Perez after a long time and came to the Palace to play my role.
But it wasnât in Poirak Palace that I met Perez.
It was the garden of the Central Palace, which was opened to all visitors.
I didnât commit a crime, and thereâs no reason to be stuck in Poirak Palace all the time.
Caitlyn and Kylus set the tables and chairs in the best sunny spot near the fountain.
This time again, the cake I bought from âCaramel Avenueâ was put on a pretty plate.
White milk was placed instead because I donât like the drink that much. Perez or the tea, both are growing.
But now I didnât feel like eating cake.
I stared for another piece of bread and flicked it far away with my fingertips.
"...Tia?"
Perez called me with a slightly bewildered look on his face, but I didnât answer.
Seriously, Vestian is trying to create distrust of men.
The wind with that smiling face.
"Well."
Perez looked at me in low pressure for a moment and suddenly looked around.
Then he got out of his seat, walked a little far away to a flower bed, and picked up many flowers.
It was a flower with soft, small white petals blooming like a round bouquet.
And hold it still in my hand.
To be honest, I couldnât stay anymore.
Heâs so kind-hearted.
Perez, who looks closely into my eyes, is literally "a crazy beauty that relieves anger."1
I sighed softly and smelled the flowers with a half-surrendering.
The sweet but long-lasting scent of flowers on the tip of my nose seems to calm my swollen stomach a little.
"Thank you, Perez."
"Are you feeling better now?"
I feel a little sorry.
I feel like I shouldnât have taken it out on Perez.
I explained with embarrassment.
"I didnât get mad at you from the beginning."
"I know."
"Then why did you give me the flowers?"
"If sweet things donât work out, I wonder if flowers that look good will make you feel better."
"Ahh."
"Tia loves flowers."
Well, thatâs true.
It was a little strange because Perez seemed to read my mind.
Especially when those red eyes look at me without any movement, I think theyâll reveal all the secrets.
Itâs going to make me feel weird again.
I sipped the milk, sneaking away from his gaze.
Then I looked with my side eyes, Perez was shaking off the grass on his clothes while picking flowers, and Caitlyn, standing next to him, was helping.
Some say that 16 years old is going through a period of upheaval and look ugly.1
Far from that, Perez was getting more and more handsome.
Even now, it feels like heâs just rubbing his clothes, but his nose and sleek jawline like sculpted ones keep catching peopleâs eyes without realizing it.
Looking at it, I said half impulsively.
"Perez, you shouldnât cheat later."4
Stopped.
Perez and Caitlyn stopped moving.
The same with Kylus, who was organizing the cake bowl he had eaten.
Three people looked at me without saying a word.
Why. What.
Kylus was the first to respond.
He bites his lower lip, swallows his smile with emoticon-like eyes, and hides his face.
Caitlyn opened her eyes round and blinked a few times, looking surprised, and took turns looking at me and Perez.1
And Perez.
"Are you... are you okay?"
I tapped the back of his hand and asked.
Then his icy face caught fire in an instant.
It was really about to blow.
The white skin heated up from the bottom of the neck to the end of the ear.
"Oh, yeah...."
Perez nodded slowly.
Whatâs wrong with everyoneâs reaction?
Did I say something I shouldnât say?
"Your face... Itâs really red. What if you catch a cold?"
Is it a little cold to sit outside?
"Oh, no. Itâs okay."
Perez replied, covering his face with his hands.
His hands are so big that his face goes in.
"Iâm surprised."
"Donât cheat?"
"Uh...?"
What about it?
"But now Perezâs at that age, isnât he?"
"That age?"
"Hmm. Age to be interested in women?"
Itâs time to hit puberty.
Perez slowly lowered his hand that had covered his face and asked me.
"So what?"
"So if you ever get into a relationship, you should never cheat."
"...thatâs what you meant."
Perez murmured in a low voice.
"Whoa."
"Sigh."
Kylus and Caitlyn sigh at the same time.8
"Whatâs wrong with everyone?"
I asked, but Caitlyn and Kylus avoided my eyes.
Perez, who seemed to have regained his composure, asked me instead.
"Is that why you were in a bad mood today?"
"Yes, I have some matter to do."
"Man?"
Because Vestian is a man.
I nodded.
But Perez asks again.
"...a man?"
Oh, I told you so.
I nodded again.
But Perezâs atmosphere was strange.3
I think itâs cold and burning.
The breezy wind stopped and the air became heavy.
"Tia."
"Huh?"
"Your boyfriend...? Did you have?"
What is he talking about?
"What did I have?"
"A man."
"No, not yet."
Iâm only 11 years old.
"Then what did you mean a while ago?"
"Oh, not me. Someone I know."
I didnât want to talk about the family to someone outside Lombardy, so I roughly talked about it.
"Ahhhh."
Perez washed his face with one hand and gulped down the milk.
I looked at Perez and said.
"You shouldnât hurt a womanâs heart. All right, Perez?"
Perez eventually emptied a glass of milk and wipe his mouth with the back of his hand.
And he replied in a slightly sour voice.
"I donât think you have to worry about that."
"I know, I know. That youâre not such a bad person."
Of course, of course.
Heâs no match for Vestian.
I explained quickly before Perez misunderstood.
"But..."
"But?"
"Iâm advising you as a friend just in case. Youâve been growing up a lot lately."
When I think of the first time I met him, Peres changed so much that I couldnât think of him as the same person.
Now, he has a certain appearance of a Prince.
It wasnât just about height or appearance.
"At the Pellet banquet. I hear a lot about you."
Being young was comfortable.
Unlike Lombardy adults, who are persistent in their eyes wherever they go, I was still relatively free.
So I could hear the conversation at the banquet.
Astana and Perez were frequent topics for the aristocrats.
"Most of them picked you up because Astana hasnât been officially named Crown Prince yet."
"...me?"
Perez looked a little surprised.
Well.
Peres didnât realize he was a Prince so far.
"Like the last incident, your academic achievements seem to be leaking out quite a lot."
I donât know if it leaked out or someone was spreading it on purpose.
Other than my grandfather, who was supporting Perez, there were a few who could benefit from such rumors.
For example, the Emperor, who is weighing Astana and Perez and getting a lot out of Angenas.
"And thereâs nothing we can do from the beginning. Anyway, besides Astana, you are the only surviving Prince who has grown up."
The Emperor didnât have a concubine, but his lover has been steady.
There couldnât have been only Astana and Perez.
But Perez is the only one who âsurvivedâ.
The Empress was as thorough and heartless as she was.
She would do anything to make his son the next Emperor.
For such an Empress, Perez is an unbearable thorn.
"Is she put more pressure on you to go to the academy?"
"...The Empress called me not too long ago. And she told me to go to the academy."
Perezâs voice speaking is unusually low.
"Did that happen?"
Sneakily, I read Caitlyn and Kylusâs minds.
Iâm sure there was more to it than that, seeing their faces visibly stiffened.
Perez said no more.
He didnât seem to want to mention it again.
If so, thereâs nothing we can do.
I nodded with a sigh and said to Perez.
"Maybe that will happen more often in the future. Until you get out of the Palace and head for the Academy."
"But I donât want to go to the academy."
"Yeah, thatâs your choice, by far. No matter how Empress is, she canât force you to enter the Academy."
The law was designed to prevent those who were pushed out of the familyâs succession structure from being forcibly handed over to the Academy as if they were accepted.
Academy admissions must be made by âselfâ.
Otherwise, the Empress would have thrown Perez into the Academy a long time ago.
"So Sheâs trying to convince you."
"...Then it doesnât matter."
Perez answered silently.
"If she doesnât force me, I wonât be admitted to the academy."
It was a tough stance, unlike him.
The conversation was cut off for a while.
Perez is lost in thought, what heâs worried about.
I wondered if there was any way I could cheer Perez up, and suddenly I remembered the gift in my bag.
I was brought it to give to Perez.
I took out a black palm-sized box, put it in front of him, and sipped the milk nonchalantly.
"What is this...?"+
Perez asked bewilderedly.
I didnât answer.
"I picked it up on the way."