IAYATP CHAPTER 9

Episode 9

Hasn’t everyone, at least once, imagined something like this?

Imagined yourself as a princess, with a delicate body, so clumsy that you frequently trip and fall, only to end up in the strong embrace of a man?

Of course, I too once had such daydreams.

But that never meant I was willing to throw myself into the arms of just any man.
Especially not someone as awkward to be around as Lankea.

“……”

I didn’t even need to lift my head to know who had caught me.

The person standing closest to me had been Lankea, and the deep, sweet scent of his cologne brushing past the tip of my nose confirmed it beyond a doubt.

Damn it all—!

“Are you all right?”

After a brief silence, when I didn’t say anything, Lankea was the first to speak.

“I–I’m fine, Your Grace.”

Seizing the moment, I quickly slipped out of his arms, letting out an exaggerated, awkward laugh.

“I just felt a little dizzy, that’s all.”

Lankea nodded as if satisfied with that explanation.

“Your Highness!”

Then another voice called out to me.

Another familiar voice—deep enough, with a clear diction that struck the ear immediately.

Never before had I been so happy to hear Ribed’s voice.

“Well then…”

Still watching me as though he had more to say, Lankea fell silent, and for the first time of my own volition, I quickly made my way to Ribed.

“Nice timing!”

“N–Nice? Ti–Timing? What on earth does that mean?”

“Oh. I mean, you came at just the right time.”

It was a slip of the tongue, born from my relief.

Every now and then, foreign words would slip out of my mouth without me realizing. I would just laugh it off, and by now Ribed was so used to it that he usually let it pass without question.

“What happened?”

“My sto—”

“Your stomach?”

With the tension easing now that I was away from Lankea, a wave of hunger crashed over me again.

“My stomach…”

“Your stomach—! Are you hurt?!”

As I clutched my stomach and spoke slowly, Ribed frowned deeply, worried.

—Growl.

My stomach answered for me before I could finish.

“I’m starving to death.”

Even in a romance fantasy, nothing can move forward on an empty stomach.

Lunch was just a simple sandwich, but it was still better than eating nothing at all.

Ah… with snow falling like this, a cup of instant noodles and a bit of kimchi would be perfect…

My eyes unfocused, I stared into the air while taking a bite of the sandwich.
It had been twenty years, and though I had grown accustomed to this world, the memories of my previous life only grew clearer with time.

Back when I’d lived as a beggar, I was far too busy trying to get food to even think about personal preferences.

What I liked, what I wanted—those were luxuries I couldn’t afford when I barely had enough to survive.

But living as a stand-in for the princess had gradually brought me an abundance of fine meals.

Really living the high life, aren’t you, self.

By now, I thought of myself more as Princess Eos than as Siha. Shaking my head, I forced myself out of that tangle of thoughts.

“Do you not have an appetite?”

Next to me, Madam Hayley, who was also eating a sandwich, noticed that mine was disappearing far more slowly than hers.

Well, I had told Ribed I was starving, but once I actually started eating, I craved stronger flavors rather than this mild sandwich.

“No, it’s not that…”

“It’s just that your sandwich isn’t getting any smaller. You said you were hungry earlier. If it’s not to your taste, I can—”

“No!”

Madam Hayley’s lips parted again in disbelief, and she even started to stand, probably intending to go search for something I’d like better.

“Would you like some hot tea?”

Ribed, having already finished his sandwich, looked between us and offered me a cup of tea.

“It’ll help stimulate your appetite.”

For a moment, his image overlapped with Lankea’s.

It wasn’t as though everyone here learned about the benefits of jasmine tea, yet somehow his words matched Lankea’s exactly.

“Why are you smiling?”

“It’s nothing.”

“The properties of jasmine tea are not funny.”

“I said it’s really nothing!”

Ribed pounced on the moment with a quick question, but as always, I shut down his suspicion instantly.

Then I felt a strange gaze on me and turned my head.

“?”

Was it just coincidence? Among the gathered soldiers of the ducal household, my eyes met Lankea’s.

His jet-black eyes stood out most starkly against the white background of snow.

I waited to see if he’d speak, but he simply looked at me.

So I kept looking at him as well.

Between us, a cold wind blew past—yet oddly, not all of it felt like winter air.
Somewhere in that breeze brushing my cheek was a trace of warmth.

After lunch and a bit more rest, the journey resumed.

With my stomach full, the motion sickness was less severe than before, though the bumpy road still tested my patience.

“Are you feeling any better now?”

Once again, Lankea’s calm, unwavering voice reached me.

He was still holding the same newspaper as before—did it contain some endless article?

“Ah… I think eating helped a bit.”

“That’s a relief.”

His unexpected question flustered me, and I answered without thinking.

At the wedding, he’d seemed nothing but rude.

But if he keeps checking on me and watching like this… maybe he’s not as unpleasant as I thought.

Lankea nodded at my answer, then turned his gaze back to the paper.

What was in that newspaper?

Curious, I snuck a glance at it.

I caught snippets—news about the imperial family, a new prophet, various noble scandals, and some advertisements.

“Would you like to read it?”

Noticing my interest, Lankea lifted the paper slightly toward me.

His awareness was annoyingly sharp; he’d realized immediately that I was looking.

“Um… is that okay?”

“If you wish.”

His expressionless face looked like it would never part with it, yet he readily handed it over.

With nothing else to do and a long road ahead, I accepted the paper and began to read.

The things I’d glimpsed earlier came into full view, and I skimmed through the rest, but nothing in particular caught my attention.

Still, this is a hundred times better than awkward silence.

I stole a glance at Lankea looking out the window, then went back to read more carefully from the first page.

Ugh.

Right there on the front page was, unsurprisingly, a huge photo of Lankea and me.

[The Grand Duke’s wedding finally takes place… Are they already dripping with sweetness? Two angels descended from the heavens!]

Cringe.

The reporter couldn’t have been more wrong. In the photo, we were looking at each other—but that moment had been me firmly telling him to stay far away from the north.

Princess Eos… are you watching this?

I prayed that this newspaper would somehow reach her, so she would see how hard her stand-in was working and hurry back soon.

“—ss… Your Highness, Princess Eos!”

Someone was gently shaking me awake.

“Mmm…”

The next day’s journey was exactly the same as before, and like Lankea, I spent most of it reading the paper.

It had been boring at first, but the more I read, the more I discovered new tidbits—or found amusement in spotting overblown lines.

At some point I dozed off, only to be awakened by that voice.

The carriage had stopped.

Turning my head, I saw Lankea politely opening the door to step out.

“We’ve arrived.”

“!”

We’d gotten here faster than I’d expected—daylight was still left.

Taking his hand to get down, I was stunned by the grand mansion behind his shoulder, and even more so by the rows of servants lined up on both sides.

At the wedding, the guests had filled the temple, but counting the servants here by sight, their number seemed almost as great.

“Welcome back, Grand Duke Lankea. And welcome to you as well, Princess Eos—now to be the mistress of this estate.”

The moment my foot touched the ground, the servants spoke in perfect unison to greet us.

…Was I stepping into another kind of hell?

That uneasy feeling crept up on me, and I couldn’t entirely ignore it as I allowed myself to be led into Lankea’s mansion.

“So… this is when the real thing starts?”

Walking slowly, I whispered to Ribed, who—as always—was right behind me.

“Yes. Now you really have to be careful with your behavior and your words.”

“I understand.”

I nodded firmly at his warning.

This would be the greatest, and perhaps last, performance of my life.

My heart was pounding—but whether from fear or excitement, I couldn’t tell.