Chapter 18…
…Was he always this ill-mannered?
She hadn’t been expecting polite words, but this was a situation where an apology wouldn’t have been strange at all. Clarissa’s lips twisted crookedly.
The man she’d known from the book had been rough with his words, yes—but he’d still fallen on the gentler side.
If she had to describe him, he’d been the “Kang-author” type.
He was my favorite kind of male lead. But experiencing it firsthand… ah, I see. That kind of gentleness is strictly reserved for the heroine.
A bitter taste rose in her mouth.
Fiction really was best left as fiction. Meeting it in reality was nothing short of a disaster.
Just then, a thought popped into Clarissa’s mind—one so satisfying it deserved a round of applause.
I didn’t get to meet Delvina, but this isn’t bad. Crown Prince Adria can’t possibly dislike Aryan.
Which meant that, even if he wasn’t quite like the original’s mentor figure, he could still become a reliable pillar of support.
Clarissa lowered her head and smiled to herself.
While Clarissa was busy drafting a new plan, Adria had already turned his back and was walking away.
She didn’t panic. First, she took a deep breath. Then—
“Ahh! My head—where I bumped it earlier—ah… my back too!”
She screamed at the top of her lungs.
It didn’t matter who came running.
“It hurts so much. Sob—!”
A marquis’s daughter sitting flat on the ground, crying her eyes out, and a coldly departing crown prince.
And this was the imperial palace, no less—a place where eyes and mouths gathered whether one wanted them to or not.
Adria didn’t stop, even at the sound of her sobbing.
Clarissa, unfazed, dabbed at fake tears and cried even louder.
“Oh dear! Oh dear, even His Highness the Crown Prince ignores me… I see, this is how I die… Ah, what a good life it was. Father, Mother, this unfilial daughter goes on ahead.”
At last, Adria couldn’t take another step. He turned around.
He shot Clarissa a look that clearly said, What in the world is that?
He strode toward her, anger in every step, his lips twisting coldly.
“Stop exaggerating.”
“Oh! Your Highness! Have you come to help me? How kind of you!”
“Where on earth did something like you crawl out from?”
He’d been spewing harsh words since the moment they met, but Clarissa chattered on, genuinely enjoying herself.
A long sigh slipped from Adria’s lips.
Then he grabbed the back of her neck and hauled her upright.
It was a rough, almost animal-handling motion, but Clarissa didn’t complain pointlessly.
She looked up at his handsome face with the most pitiful expression she could manage.
“Thank you!”
“D-don’t be a nuisance.”
Adria squeezed his eyes shut and shook his arm as if she were an insect.
Before he could flee again, Clarissa quickly grabbed his sleeve.
A breeze swept by, brushing their foreheads.
Adria’s red eyes and Clarissa’s golden ones collided sharply.
His gaze finally dropped to the sleeve she was clutching.
“Are you deaf?”
His ice-cold voice reached her ears.
Clarissa tilted her head slightly. She folded her hands over her chest and replied with a face full of schemes.
“Mm, my hearing’s fine… I just don’t know the way, so even if I want to disappear, I can’t.”
“You’re unbelievable.”
With a scoff that sounded like a laugh, he turned away again.
For a moment she thought he was ignoring her once more—but the direction he chose was clearly different from before.
The corners of Clarissa’s lips lifted in satisfaction.
Step one of securing backup for Aryan: success.
The crown prince walked in silence for quite a while.
Clarissa followed behind him, keeping her mouth shut—for a short while.
“Um, Your Highness the Crown Prince.”
“…There isn’t.”
Adria cut her off cleanly.
The glimpse she caught of his profile looked thoroughly irritated.
If you’re going to look that annoyed, you might as well ignore me from the start.
He was strangely earnest in the oddest ways.
And of course, that made him an even better opportunity for Clarissa.
“If you don’t want to answer, I think it’s better not to answer at all.”
She added the remark sincerely, just this once, for his sake.
But the speaker’s intent and the listener’s perception were rarely the same.
Adria turned his head slightly and began glaring at her as if he wanted to kill her.
Clarissa realized her words could be misunderstood, but she made no effort to correct them.
She continued calmly.
“Anyway.”
“I said there isn’t.”
Adria ground his teeth and snapped back fiercely.
His threat was useless.
Shrugging, Clarissa finally said the words she’d been holding back.
“Don’t you need a friend?”
His shoulders twitched, but he didn’t stop walking.
Taking that as a silent affirmation, Clarissa swallowed a laugh.
Adria lifted his chin as high as he could, as if refusing to even show her his handsome profile, and answered sharply.
“I don’t keep women as friends. It gets troublesome later.”
A line perfectly befitting someone destined to compete for the male lead role—and the title of the empire’s most eligible bachelor.
Still, she couldn’t help thinking he was starting early with that mindset.
Without realizing it, Clarissa muttered under her breath.
“…Living up to that face, huh.”
Well, she hoped Aryan would at least live up to half of his face value.
“What?”
Adria’s expression twisted strangely.
Clarissa, fully aware of her slip, simply curved her eyes gently.
A radiant, delighted smile bloomed on her face.
“Oh, I was just talking to myself! Anyway, you don’t seem like you have any friends… am I wrong?”
Adria made an indignant sound and glared fiercely at Clarissa’s vividly smiling red lips.
How do I shut that mouth properly—so properly that people will talk about it?
A violent thought crossed his mind, but he didn’t act on it.
The name of the Asgard Empire resting on his shoulders wasn’t so light that he’d let himself be toyed with by some nameless noble lady who seemed to lack both brains and character.
Biting his teeth hard enough to make a sound, Adria replied coldly to the Clarissa who clearly had no intention of listening.
“I don’t need one.”
So stubborn.
His pace quickened.
Clarissa pouted, rubbing her still-sore backside.
She decided to change her approach.
Clearing her throat, she spoke to Adria in an even more pleasant voice.
“I’m sure you’ll get along with him.”
“I already hate you.”
“I haven’t said who ‘he’ is, though?”
Clarissa remained unfazed by his blunt declaration of dislike.
Rather, she shrugged as if she’d expected it and shot back calmly.
Adria seemed done dealing with her.
In Clarissa’s field of vision, a familiar sight appeared.
Imperial palace maids hurried about their business.
Adria lifted his chin lazily and dismissed her.
“Call anyone and go back.”
Darkness that had settled even in broad daylight brushed past Clarissa.
His red gaze lingered entirely on the path he’d already walked.
This time, Clarissa didn’t grab his sleeve.
Sometimes, a single sentence was stronger than a hundred actions.
Sorry, but I’ve already finished my character analysis of you.
Clarissa’s lips curved upward.
It was a smile only someone who knew the road ahead could wear.
“I’m willing to bet.”
“…What?”
Adria’s steps halted once more.
When he turned back, his face was thoroughly distorted.
See? Easier than he looks.
Readers had loved him, calling him “gentlemanly” despite his rough speech—but honestly?
Resting her chin on her hand, Clarissa slowly spoke to the Adria who was still glaring at her.
“If I lose, then… let’s see. How about this?”
Her pale finger tapped lightly against her cheek, tap, tap, in a steady rhythm.
“If ‘he’ is judged unable to become your friend…”
Adria’s face stiffened, but he was clearly listening.
Clarissa heard bells of delight ringing in her ears.
“I’ll crawl around the imperial palace on all fours, like a dog, three times.”
