Anyway, the four of us met, drank tea, swapped handkerchiefs, made small talk, and went our separate ways.
Perhaps because the café was always bustling, the next morning’s front page featured a photo of the four of us sitting together, along with an article claiming I had caught the eye of Periose and become the Cinderella of the Empire.
Cinderella, of all things.
I never imagined that the age-old story from my original world—of a poor girl meeting a prince and climbing the social ladder—would turn out to be my own.
I chewed on a cookie Becky had brought while scanning the newspaper article.
“Pfft.”
At the part claiming Periose and Crown Prince Lloyd had reconciled, I wondered when the two of them had even fought in the first place. And at the claim that she had introduced the Grand Duke to me specifically for my benefit, a dry laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it.
“Honestly, these reporters are the same everywhere.”
I suspect it’s a profession that only employs geniuses at imagining things that never happened.
“There’s a rumor spreading that you gave the Grand Duke a handkerchief. Is that true, My Lady?”
Becky asked as she watched me.
“The article didn’t mention anything about a handkerchief, but that rumor is going around?”
“People who saw you in person are saying so.”
Well, fine.
It was such a popular café, and since we hadn’t made a reservation, there were quite a few nobles around. I even saw some young ladies squealing over Lloyd and Theor, which made me slightly curious about which of them was the Empire’s most popular man.
“Becky, which side are you on?”
I threw a pointless question at Becky, who was standing right in front of me.
“Which side, My Lady?”
“The two of them. His Highness the Crown Prince and the Grand Duke. Which one is more your type?”
“For me, it’s His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“Why?”
As soon as I asked, Becky looked flustered.
“W-well, because he is much more beautiful…”
“You’re still young, so you might not know, but a pretty face is useless.”
“Pardon? No, and besides, he will be the next Emperor…”
“Does the Emperor do everything by himself? The Emperor only survives because he has a smart and strong right hand like the Grand Duke, don’t you think?”
“That may be… Then, My Lady, is the Grand Duke more your type?”
Becky leaned in, asking as if she were genuinely curious.
I answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“Think about it: the sharp jawline that looks like you’d get cut if you touched it, that bridge of his nose, the black hair and red eyes that suit his pale face perfectly, and a pair of eyes and lips that look like they were crafted by a god. His beauty is on a completely different dimension compared to the Crown Prince, who is just delicately pretty.”
“…….”
“A man ought to look like that. That way, even if you fight and get angry, looking at that face makes it melt away…”
“But he looks scary.”
Becky interrupted me and shook her head.
I was so dumbfounded my jaw dropped.
“Oh my, scary? Do you really not know the definition of scary?”
I told her that “scary” meant being so hideous or bizarre that everyone would scream, “It’s a monster!”, or having that suffocating, strict aura from head to toe. Becky just chuckled and said:
“It’s not that kind of scary. He’s just cold and heartless. They say no one has ever seen him smile. There’s a rumor that he’s a man who never laughs.”
He doesn’t smile? I’ve seen him smile, though.
Wait, have I?
At Becky’s words, I started to doubt whether I had actually seen Theor smile.
Anyway, that’s beside the point.
“The Grand Duke is a person, too; how could he live without ever smiling? All those rumors are baseless, so don’t get close to people who spread such nonsense.”
“Yes, but I’ve really heard that no one has ever seen him smile to this day.”
After thinking about it for a moment, I reached out my hand.
“……Alright, I suppose I’ll be the first person to see his smile. Could you go get the contact orb?”
At my words, Becky nodded quickly and stepped outside.
Since I didn’t know his contact information, I figured I’d contact Periose and ask for Theor’s speed-dial number. I had reached out to Periose for that very reason, but she assumed I was calling because of the front-page article. She became flustered and flew into a rage, threatening to burn down the newspaper company.
[Really, I had nothing to do with this! To think that I would try to make you a Cinderella, what kind of nonsense is that…!]
“Calm down, Unnie. I already know that you didn’t do it.”
[…Why do you trust me so much?]
Periose asked with a pout, sounding a bit mollified.
It was one of her expressions that I found particularly cute, so I watched her pouting face to my heart’s content with a warm, motherly smile.
“I trust you because you’re my absolute favorite. And the version of you I know isn’t the type to boost your standing through articles like that. Maybe if you were shouting it from the rooftops, but…”
From the start, Periose—who considered herself the most noble person under the sky—wasn’t the type to rely on someone else’s schemes to assert her superiority.
[Then why did you call? It wasn’t because of the newspaper article?]
“No. Unnie, by any chance, have you ever seen the Grand Duke smile?”
[The Grand Duke? No. Why?]
“No, the rumors… is it really true that he never does?”
[The Grand Duke, smiling in front of me… Ugh, just imagining it gives me goosebumps.]
Perhaps because she had tried to picture the Grand Duke smiling, Periose’s face contorted horribly.
For some reason, I felt my other options for Periose starting to fade away. I had sensed at the café that she didn’t particularly like him, but to hate the thought of him smiling that much?
No, he’s a hundred times more handsome than Lloyd and seems to have a personality two hundred times better, so I don’t understand at all why she hates him.
Is it because he’s so expressionless?
Well, when you’re facing him, a cold wind does naturally blow. I often get the feeling that I can’t tell what he’s thinking because he has no expression.
“E-either way, I got curious because of that rumor. Could you give me the Grand Duke’s contact information?”
[Ah, so that’s why you contacted me?]
At my words, Periose—who for some reason instantly brightened up—brought her face close to the contact orb and began tapping away at something.
I watched her beautiful red eyes, the bridge of her nose, and her smooth forehead, smiling contentedly.
[Found it. I’ll connect you, so press the green button.]
As per Periose’s instructions, I quickly pressed the green button, and a speed-dial number shimmered to life at the bottom of the screen before vanishing.
[Go ahead and contact him.]
“Thank you, Unnie. What are you going to do now?”
[Just contact him quickly. We’ll talk again after you’re done speaking with the Grand Duke.]
“Yes!”
I was reluctant to end the call, but since Periose asked me to check back later, I nodded with a joyful heart.
After the call ended, I was about to dial Theor’s number without hesitation, but I stopped, thinking we weren’t really on the kind of terms for such things. If I had business, I could just use letters like everyone else; it wasn’t an urgent matter, so I wondered if it was really appropriate to use the orb.
That was when it happened.
Outside the window, a flock of crows suddenly took flight in a swarm.
The sound of their wings, which I usually didn’t hear, sounded unusually loud—*flapping!*
‘That’s strange.’
Lately, I’ve been having these ominous feelings more and more often. In the original work, nothing much happened around this time, but for some reason, a strange tension seemed to be hanging over the entire Empire.
‘Is it because the Hunting Festival is approaching?’
Lost in thought, I stared at the innocent contact orb without pressing the button, when suddenly, it began to ring.
I instinctively flinched, my shoulders trembling as I pressed the call button. Since Pere was the only one who knew my device number, I was certain the caller was her.
“Si—”
[Lady Ellinea.]
But it was someone completely unexpected.
“Grand Duke…?”
Theor, whom I had intended to contact first, filled my vision so completely that for a moment, I mistakenly thought I had been the one to press the call button.
[How fortunate that you picked up immediately. My apologies for using the communication device without prior notice.]
“No, I, well, how did you…”
My mind went blank, and against my will, my mouth began to stammer uncontrollably.
[Have you seen the newspaper articles?]
Ah, so it was because of that.
Only then did I realize why he had contacted me so urgently. I let out a short sigh and nodded.
“Yes, it seems I’ve become the Cinderella of the Empire. And you, Grand Duke, are my Prince Charming. How do you feel about that?”
[I am pleased. However, I worried that you would not be happy because of the articles, which is why I called.]
“Yes, of course, I am… wait, what? You said you’re pleased?”
Wondering if I had misheard him, I asked again.
“Did you just say you were pleased?”