After I, a Penniless Noble, Entered a Fake Engagement with the Most Elegant Duke’s Daughter at the Academy, For Some Reason She Started Showering Me with Love - Chapter 04.2: A Chase Through the Rose Maze

Chapter 04.2: A Chase Through the Rose Maze

“I see.”

Yuri murmured, sounding completely uninterested, and lowered the hand that had been reaching for her teacup.

Her previously sulky expression vanished, replaced by a calm and unreadable look.

“So about His Highness—”

“Let me guess. He asked you to convince me to get engaged to him, right?”

“…Yeah, that’s right.”

She cut me off mid-sentence.

She wasn’t wrong, so I nodded—

But that wasn’t what I wanted to talk about.

“Anyway, just hear me ou—”

“So? What did he offer you? Oh, wait—let me guess. Support for your family? You’ve been working to restore your house from the beginning, after all. If Prince Lionel promised to back you, that’s a deal too good to pass up.”

“Wait, wait, hold on!”

She was jumping way ahead.

“Can I just explain for a second—”

“There’s no need. It’s a fake engagement, right? Even if you break our agreement, it won’t hurt you. On the other hand, turning down a royal’s request would put you at a disadvantage. You don’t need to worry about me. Do whatever you—”

“I already turned him down!”

“…What?”

Finally, she stopped talking.

I let out a deep sigh.

“I don’t know if you’ve figured it out or not, but yeah—it was Prince Lionel. He asked me to convince you. I said no.”

“…Why? You had no reason to refuse. I don’t know exactly what kind of offer he made you, but Prince Lionel isn’t the kind of man who forces people using power. I’m sure he offered something worthwhile. So then… why—?”

Her blue eyes wavered with hesitation.

“…Why?”

“Haaaah…”

I let out a long sigh, trying to push out the growing frustration in my chest.

Yuri flinched slightly, startled—

But I’d apologize later.

I stepped around the table and stood beside her.

She looked up at me, her eyes filled with uncertainty.

So even Yuri can make a face like this…

It wasn’t the usual confident or teasing look.

She looked… fragile. Like a nervous girl unsure of what to do.

It was such a rare side of her that it actually caught me off guard—

But at the same time, I couldn’t help but think:

I really don’t want to see her looking like this.

“Cru…? Ow—!”

“Idiot.”

I flicked her forehead like I would with my little sister.

“Dummy.”

“What was that for—!”

“Airhead.”

“Quit it!”

“Duke’s daughter.”

“You can’t just keep smacking a lady on the head like that! And don’t say duke’s daughter like it’s some kind of insult!”

Holding her forehead, Yuri let out a small whimper.

She looked a bit teary-eyed, but her scolding glare was back to normal—

Which made things feel a lot easier on my end.

“You said something stupid, so I had to call it out.”

“…It was the logical conclusion based on the situation.”

“Then you’ve got bad logic.”

“That’s the same thing!”

“Still better than assuming you don’t trust me at all.”

Yuri, who had been complaining just moments ago, now clamped her mouth shut with a pout.

“You totally jumped to the conclusion that I accepted Prince Lionel’s offer from the start.”

“That’s…”

“So you didn’t trust me—how sad. I’m hurt. I might cry.”

“…Well, if I hear you talked with Prince Lionel, of course I’d think that.”

“Exactly.”

“Hey.”

Yuri glared at me as I casually flipped my stance mid-conversation.

But honestly, I wasn’t the one in the wrong here.

“That’s why I tried to tell you right away that I turned him down. But you cut me off and started overreacting. That’s on you.”

“…It’s not like I ever thought you’d actually refuse.”

“Would’ve been nice if you had a little faith in me.”

Maybe it was hard to imagine someone turning down royalty, sure.

But still, thinking I’d go along with some political marriage and ignore the actual person involved—

Yeah, that stung more than I expected.

“The reason I enrolled in this academy in the first place… was so I could stop my sister from being forced into a marriage she didn’t want. There’s no way I’d turn around and force you into one.”

“But still… you had no idea what might’ve happened if you upset the prince. It could’ve ended even worse than your sister being forced to marry someone.”

“…Yuri, you really are an idiot.”

“I’m not an idiot.”

“Yeah, you are.”

I mean, when I turned down Prince Lionel’s offer,

I never once thought he’d retaliate or anything.

“You’re the one who said it, remember? That Prince Lionel is a wise man. That he’s not so petty he’d punish someone over something like this.”

“Ah…”

Yuri finally let out a quiet breath, as if just realizing it.

“You trusted my words?”

“I don’t really know what kind of person Prince Lionel is. But you… I feel like I know you a little. At least enough to believe you’re someone I can trust.”

…Well, sure—she teases me all the time, almost every time, really—

But even with that, she’s probably the person I trust most at this academy.

Which is why, honestly, I was a little disappointed.

“I’m not saying, ‘trust me just because I trust you.’ But it did sting a bit when you wouldn’t even hear me out.”

“…Yeah. You’re right. Ah, I see.”

Yuri let out a soft, almost breathy laugh, like all the tension had finally left her.

“Looks like I really am an idiot.”

“…Okay, but when you admit it like that, I don’t know how to feel about it.”

“Fufu… So I’m an idiot, huh. A big idiot. Fwhahaha…”

“Uh… okay, now you’re creeping me out.”

What is even happening right now?

Yuri started giggling nonstop, her mouth half-covered in that refined, elegant way—

But no matter how graceful she looked, the way she just kept laughing out of nowhere was honestly kind of scary.

I had no idea what part of all this hit her funny bone,

But seeing her like that—even with her gorgeous appearance—was straight-up unsettling.

“Fufu… I wonder when I last felt this great.”

After laughing to her heart’s content, Yuri wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

“My dear husband, may I hug you?”

“…Wait, what? No, absolutely not. Where is this coming from?”

That was way too sudden—I couldn’t keep up.

Even when I replayed the conversation in my head, I found no reason why she’d want to hug me right now.

“I just really, really want to hug you. Like a strong, warm, squee-eeze of a hug. Right now.”

“Where is this random urge even coming from!? No way—that’s scary and embarrassing!”

“Hmm… what a shame.”

Yuri lowered her eyes.

I actually believed—for just a second—that she was going to let it go.

And that made me the biggest fool of the day.

“Then I’ll just do it by force!”

Yuri suddenly lifted her face with a flash in her eyes, bright and sparkly like she was up to no good.

My cheek twitched harder than it ever had.

“H-Hey! You’re a duke’s daughter! You can’t just go hugging guys like that!”

“It’s not just anyone—it’s my husband! So it’s perfectly fine!”

“Fake husband!”

“Fufu, I haven’t heard you say that in a while.”

“It hasn’t been that long—whoa!?”

She threw her arms open and lunged at me, and I barely dodged in time.

“Don’t run so seriously—It just makes me want to chase you more!”

“Your eyes! You’ve got beast eyes right now!”

A game of tag through the rose maze.

No matter how much I thought about it, I couldn’t figure out what part of our conversation triggered Yuri like that.

Still, watching her—chasing after me with that joyful grin, her usual refined lady act completely gone, looking more like an innocent child—

I honestly thought, “Well… this isn’t so bad.”

…That feeling didn’t last long, though.

As for what happened afterward—

Let’s just say, I’ll be keeping that memory to myself.

◆◆◆

Ever since that chaotic chase through the rose maze, something about Yuri had changed—just a little.

“…Morning.”

“Good morning, dear husband.”

She greeted me with a bright smile.

That by itself wasn’t unusual.

What was unusual… was that it happened in front of the boys’ dormitory—

And that a duke’s daughter was standing there, clearly waiting for me.

Behind me, I could feel the murmurs and commotion of the other guys picking up fast.

Yeah…

“Just a little” change might’ve been an understatement.