episode_0001

They say that when someone is too absurd, you don’t even get angry, and that’s exactly what happened to me.

He looked at the torn pieces of paper strewn across the floor like a puzzle, then turned his gaze back to the person who had sent him this letter.

“… What the hell is this.”

I thought about it for several days.

I kept losing sleep over the thought of writing that one paperwork to break up our engagement… the thought of accepting our breakup.

One, the results of that long struggle have now been reduced to mere scraps of paper.

But Aria opened her eyes wide with tears still streaming down her face, and spoke bluntly.

“Are you saying we should break off the engagement? Why are you deciding that on your own, Eugene?”

“I decided on my own… Wasn’t that what you always wanted? To break off the engagement that was entered into without our consent.”

Let’s tell the truth as it is. Aria was silent for a moment, then quickly turned her gaze to the side.

It’s like a puppy that has messed up the whole house, but when you try to find out, it desperately tries to turn away from the mistakes it has made.

“… When did I? Have I ever thought of something like that? Have you ever heard me say out loud that I want to break off the engagement?”

“What? No, that’s it.”

Of course, I never heard her directly say that she wanted to break off the engagement… .

For example, they express things metaphorically, make excuses to avoid meeting, or on days when they are lucky enough to meet face to face, they just have a blank expression and don’t say a word.

Haven’t you always maintained an attitude that allows you to guess what someone is thinking even if they don’t say anything?

Even though she should know this fact better than anyone else, Aria shamelessly expressed her opinion as if she were selling her guts.

“Anyway, I absolutely cannot agree to this breakup. If you really want to break up with me… just kill me here and now.”

Judging by the atmosphere, I couldn’t help but hesitate at Aria’s momentum as she casually blurted out words that didn’t sound like a joke at all.

But it was not something I could just back out of.

I don’t know her true intentions for stubbornly refusing to give her what she so desperately wanted, but… I had no intention of being swayed any longer.

What if I just fell for her words and as time passed she went back to her old ways? It wasn’t something I could just laugh it off and let it go.

but.

“… You hate being with me so much, that you’re going to break off our engagement? Are you sick of me?”

I never thought I would see her, who always had a cold expression on her face, crying so pitifully with my own eyes.

Strange as it may sound, today’s Aria seemed like a completely different person from the one I had known all along.

Did something happen while I was away for a while? I don’t know how things could change so much.

“Your Majesty, dinner is ready.”

The story didn’t progress that way, and while we were running on parallel lines, I sighed when I heard the butler’s voice coming from outside.

It seemed like both I and she needed to take a breather for a moment.

“First… Let’s eat first and then talk. You probably didn’t eat because you came all this way.”

“No. I don’t want to move one step from here until I finish this story, until I hear you say with your own mouth that you won’t break off the engagement… .”

Gulp!

As Aria was expressing her opinion with a face full of tragedy, the belly clock on her stomach started to ring loudly.

“… … Huh!?”

Her haughty face, which was like the embodiment of cold, turned red like a carrot, and Aria hurriedly covered her stomach with both hands.

Her red earlobe, peeking out from between her long, silky hair that flowed down as she lowered her head, spoke volumes about her feelings.

“Rice, are you going to eat?”

The rare appearance of my fiancée that I had never dared to imagine.

At this, I burst out laughing without realizing it and asked.

She expressed her silent approval by moving her small face up and down.

***

We moved to a restaurant and started eating dinner.

However, thanks to the advance notice that the guests were coming, the chef put a lot of effort into preparing the dishes, which were served one after another in a sumptuous manner.

“… … .”

“… … .”

There was silence inside the restaurant, with only the sound of dishes clinking.

Not only did I have nothing to say, but I also couldn’t open my mouth because her attitude changed overnight and I felt awkward and couldn’t understand it.

Aria was still embarrassed by what had happened in the reception room earlier, so we didn’t say a word to each other and just moved the dishes.

‘I think I’ll get sick.’

I used a knife to cut a large piece of meat in front of me and forced it into my mouth.

I couldn’t even tell if what I was chewing was meat or rubber.

An atmosphere so frozen that you can’t taste the food.

I glanced at Aria, who was sitting across from me, and unlike me, who was eating in a combative manner, shoving food into her mouth.

There was a noble lady there, slowly savoring her food in a beautiful posture that was a classic example of dining etiquette.

‘Is this a regional cultural difference?’

Unlike the north, where people had a culture of eating quickly because they didn’t know when the enemy would invade, the capital, where she was born and raised, was a peaceful region where nobles could live like nobles.

Still in my memories is the past, at least the time when meetings were more active than now.

At that time, I clearly remember Aria looking at me with cold eyes as if she was looking at me as a savage when she saw my behavior and manners.

‘That left a scar, so I tried to fix it somehow. Well, we never had a chance to eat together again after that, so it was useless.’

While I was smiling bitterly, I suddenly wondered how I was reflected in her eyes right now, so I turned my gaze forward again.

And then, at some point, Aria stopped eating and stared at me, and our eyes met.

“… Do you have something to say?”

I barely managed to suppress my surprise and asked that while pretending to be calm.

Aria then stared at the nearly empty plate in front of me for a while without saying a word, and then asked an odd question.

“Eugene, you like meat.”

“Suddenly…? Well, that’s kind of the case.”

Is there anyone in the world who hates meat in the first place?

Aria nodded as if she understood the answer, then asked while looking at the small amount of salad and mushrooms left on my plate.

“Do you dislike vegetables?”

“Rather than saying I don’t like it… I feel like I can’t get my hands on it.”

“I see. Yeah, I understand.”

I don’t know what her true intentions are, but for some reason, she raised the corners of her lips with a satisfied expression.

I missed the chance to ask why he was asking that question, so I decided to just continue eating what I was doing.

Fortunately, judging from her expression, I felt a sense of relief when I thought that she didn’t look as savage as before.

After finishing the meal that seemed so uncomfortable but not so uncomfortable, I realized that it was later than I thought.

It seemed difficult to continue the story of the broken engagement that had been interrupted and send her home.

“It’s getting late, and I’ll prepare a room for you, so you can sleep there today. Let’s finish talking about what we’ve been putting off tomorrow.”

***

“The guest room where Young-ae will stay is this way.”

Aria’s steps toward her room, guided by the old butler, showed no sign of shyness; rather, she seemed strangely familiar with the geography of this place.

The butler was slightly suspicious, but he didn’t show it outwardly. How long had it been since they walked? The two arrived at the room at the end of the hallway.

“Then, rest comfortably. If you need any assistance, just ring the bell inside.”

After checking the butler’s retreating gesture with restraint, Aria went into her room.

Squeak- boom!

The door closed tightly, and Aria, left alone, slid down, leaning against the wall.

“Ugh… .”

The tears that I had barely held back flowed out as if I had reached my limit.

I covered my mouth with both hands to keep my cries from escaping.

Then she recalled the moment today when she finally faced her fiancé, Eugene, in the living room.

‘It’s been a while, Aria. I called you today because I have something important to tell you.’

The villainess, ‘Aria Floris’, saw a scene from the past in his appearance.

– Long time no see, Aria. I called you today because I have something important to tell you.

… no, maybe a memory of the future.