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King Alexander remained silent even after the odd 8 year old girl had left.

“Your Majesty.”

He heard his chief secretary call for him and turned slightly.

“Why didn’t you agree?”

Alexander didn’t reply immediately. He tilted his head in thought then he turned to face his chief secretary.

“Lohan. That girl, she’s just like me, isn’t she?” He watched as his secretary’s expression turned odd and he laughed, “You think I should have agreed?”

Lohan adjusted his monocle, “She dared to raise her voice at Your Majesty. I understand a pass because of her age but I doubt she deserves the honor of being the Crown Princess.”

“Hm,” Alexander nodded, hiding his mirth, “What do you think of the kid?”

“…Quite mature for her age.”

Alexander smiled. He thought the same. “Very composed, wasn’t she?”

“Yes…” Lohan trailed off, wondering where the king was going with this.

“Like I said, she’s a lot like me.”

“I apologize but I do not see it, Your Majesty.”

King Alexander burst out laughing, a sight that was very common for Lohan. He had a twinkle in his eyes and lowered his voice to a whisper, “I didn’t get to do it, so why should she?”

Lohan stiffened.

“Do you think I’m petty?”

“...I wouldn’t dare, Your Majesty.”

“Ugh, you’re so uptight, Lohan. Learn to loosen up.”

“…I think I’ve loosened up enough, Your Majesty.”

Alexander made a face. He glanced at the gold doors where the girl walked out of and said, “Watch her.”

Lohan followed the king’s line of sight and realized, “You think she might run? She’s a child. I think you overestimate her.”

He shrugged, “Perhaps. But it wouldn’t hurt to make sure.”

“….I understand,” the man looked like he wanted to say something but was holding back.

“You know I won’t do anything. Speak.”

“Why go through so much trouble…?” Lohan adjusted his monocle for the second time.

Alexander gave a flimsy smile, “I’m merely curious,” he turned to look at the gold doors again. An odd light flashed through his eyes.

“Will she have a change of hearts…?” or like me, “will her heart remain the same?”

Lohan was silent for a while then he asked, “Your Majesty. Would you like to make a bet with me?”

“Oh?” Alexander raised a brow, “About?”

“Lady Lydia. I shall bet she will not have a change of heart.”

“You seem confident.”

“I am confident.”

Alexander chuckled, “I don’t make bets to fail so I’m going to have to refuse.”

“I thought you were curious, Your Majesty.”

“Life is unpredictable, Lohan. The unpredictability makes it fun.”

“You are contradicting yourself, Your Majesty.”

“Well, someone’s snappy today.”

“You asked me to loosen up,” Lohan retorted, and Alexander burst out laughing again. Lohan sighed and glanced at the paper in his hand, “You won’t rethink it?”

“No.”

“I see. Well, I have to go attend to an urgent matter, Your Majesty. I bid you farewell.”

Alexander waved nonchalantly while Lohan bowed and exited the room. Alexander remained alone in the quiet throne room, drumming his fingers on the armrest.

‘What an interesting little girl.’

Prince Edmund’s engagement to Lydia Blackburn was in a way, Alexander’s apology to the Duke. But he later realized the apology was useless; his relationship with the Duke would never be the same.

So when the kid asked for an audience, he had an inkling as to what she would ask for. And he was initially going to agree. Perhaps use the chance to banish the Duchess of Blackburn along with her daughter.

But when he saw how much the girl wanted to not marry Edmund, Alexander suddenly changed his mind.

It had reminded him of how much he didn’t want to marry Rowena.

Alexander didn’t hate Rowena, but he didn’t love her either.

His marriage with her was a peace treaty between both kingdoms. As royalty, they had no choice in their marriage partners. Marriage was their responsibility and they had to perform that responsibility. So even though the love of his life was by his side, Alexander had no choice but to marry another woman.

That said…

Alexander had no idea why the little girl didn’t want to be engaged with Edmund. Sure, he knew they weren’t lovebirds, but they got along fine. When he said he and Rowena had noticed their lack of harmony, he was talking about how estranged they were.

He would be hard-pressed to call them friends with how distant they were. The children were now 2 years into their engagement and they still interacted like strangers.

Alexander knew his son was putting in effort so the one causing that distance was none other than Lydia herself. From the very beginning, she did not want to be engaged. The Prince hadn’t had any previous interaction with the girl so he couldn’t be at fault.

His fingers stopped drumming on the chair.

‘Do I look into it?’

Perhaps there was someone around the girl who had caught her eye first. A childhood crush was nothing new. Only this time, the girl was infatuated enough to want to destroy her future.

‘It didn’t seem like that though.’

Indeed. It didn’t seem like that at all. Her eyes were clear, and she knew exactly what she wanted. Despite knowing she was a child, Alexander felt like he was facing an adult.

‘Why does she hate the engagement so much?’

That was the true mystery here.

* . * . *

After my tiny bout of madness at the royal palace, my maid, Hazel, was understandably spooked. She stood some distance away while I sat at my vanity table.

I stared at the mirror and the person inside stared back. I tilted my head to the right, they tilted their head to the right.

Once I was done admiring my beauty, I closed my eyes to think.

The event at the royal palace really threw a wrench in my plans. I had already began to save up money by selling the fabrics set aside for my dresses. Of course, I hadn’t sold them personally, I made my maid do it.

I trusted her as far as I could throw but I had no other person to use. She didn’t understand why I was making her sell them, but she did it anyways. And surprisingly, she gave me the full amount back. I thought she’d set aside some for herself.

Anyways, now that my engagement to Prince Edmund was very unlikely to be broken by the King, I had to think of a new plan.

Funny enough, whenever I tried to think of a plan, the first thing to pop in my head was always ‘run away’. But I couldn’t run away. Especially not now. I was visually way too young, and a majority of my actions were monitored.

The Duke didn’t know I was going to the palace before, but he sure as hell knew now. The monitoring wasn’t because he cared. It was more so I don’t fall into a ditch and die. Such a stupid death would give the Duke a bad reputation.

「But you are still children. All of you.」 

The king’s words popped in my head and my face fell. Everyone seemed to want to hammer my age into my head.

‘I get it, I’m a child now. I have limitations.’

After thinking for a while, I came up with something. The king said he would allow it if Edmund wanted to end it. I knew Edmund would want to end it later but later didn’t work for me. I wanted it gone now. So I thought of a new plan; annoy Prince Edmund within an inch of his life.

The question was, how though?

I didn’t know how to be annoying. I knew how to be haughty, proud, arrogant, overbearing… Actually, that sounds pretty annoying.

I sighed and massaged my head. Although I used to be all that, I was no longer any of that.

‘Prison is a humbling experience. No one can tell me otherwise.’

But acting arrogant and haughty….I didn’t want to do that. I already lived a lifetime acting like that and I think one lifetime is enough. But if I didn’t annoy the Prince directly, how would I do it?

‘Spike his tea with laxatives...? No. That would just get me executed.’

I plopped my head on my palms, squishing my face.

Nothing was coming to mind.

 ‘Do I flat out ask Edmund to break the engagement?’

….I might as well.