Chapter : 08
I thought the original story was over, but—Episode 8
There was no way. Eveline was the type to get interested in everything easily—and just as easily lose interest.
“Titi, this—”
Eveline was about to say something to me when suddenly the sketchbook she was holding slipped from her hands and fell to the floor with a soft thud.
Her eyes widened as if she had seen something unbelievable. Eveline’s large green eyes weren’t looking at me—they were fixed on something behind me.
“……Huh?”
Her face slowly flushed red. There was only one person who could make Eveline react like that.
“Y-Your Highness.”
The male lead of this novel—Leopold. And Eveline, at this point in time, had already fallen for Leopold at first sight.
“?”
“…….”
I turned around, puzzled, and sure enough—there stood Leopold.
Fourteen-year-old Leopold hadn’t quite shed his boyishness yet. His height was about average, but his face was already perfectly formed.
Even early in the morning, Leopold looked almost excessively beautiful. His brilliant silver hair and sharp golden eyes made his presence overwhelming, as always.
He wasn’t wearing the formal clothes I usually saw him in at the imperial palace, but casual attire instead—and it made him incredibly cute. Maybe because his expression didn’t change much, he looked even more like a doll.
Startled by Leopold’s sudden appearance, Eveline only moved her lips soundlessly.
“Y-Your Highness, why are you here—?”
Murmuring as if she were seeing an illusion, Eveline suddenly jolted as though struck by lightning and blurted out,
“I—I don’t know! Your Highness! Please wait just a moment!”
Leaving only those words behind, Eveline dashed away. As she ran past me, I saw that her face was red enough to burst.
There was only one reason. She must have been embarrassed to meet the person she liked while still in her nightclothes.
I’d also been dragged out by Eveline the moment I woke up, so I hadn’t even wiped the sleep from my eyes or washed my face, and I was still in my pajamas—but I wasn’t particularly embarrassed. After all, the other party was Leopold, just a fourteen-year-old kid.
“…….”
“…….”
After Eveline vanished like the wind, only Leopold and I were left in the room. I quietly looked at him.
Eveline seemed flustered by Leopold’s sudden appearance, but I wasn’t surprised at all. I was already used to this guy barging into a count’s residence.
After Eveline was invited to the Empire, she had been staying at our house. And Leopold would occasionally visit the count’s mansion, claiming that as the crown prince, he was simply checking whether Eveline—the princess of another country—was doing well.
It had happened in the original story too. For some reason, though, every single time he came, he always narrowly missed Eveline and left empty-handed.
And each time, I had to keep him company instead. Just because we were the same age.
Today was the first time those two had actually run into each other. A mistake that didn’t suit the normally meticulous and thorough Leopold at all.
…Then again, don’t people get a bit stupid when they fall in love? That was how I understood it.
Maybe Leopold had come all the way here early in the morning without warning just because he wanted to see Eveline.
Thinking nothing of it, I spoke to him casually.
“Welcome, Leopold. Don’t just stand there—come sit down. Eveline will be back soon. Um… probably in about thirty minutes.”
“…….”
It would easily take thirty minutes for Eveline to wash up and change her clothes. If she cared about her appearance, it could take even longer. I couldn’t just leave Leopold standing awkwardly by the door that whole time.
“Here, sit.”
I stood up from the best sofa in my room and offered him the seat.
Honestly, I didn’t want to. I wanted to tell him to just sit on the floor somewhere. But since he was royalty—no, the crown prince—I couldn’t very well make him sit on the floor.
“…….”
But instead of moving, Leopold just stared at me blankly.
What. Why are you looking at me. What. I’m being considerate here, you know.
Meeting Leopold’s expressionless golden eyes, I urged him impatiently.
“Why are you just standing there? Leopold—”
“Titi.”
“…….”
Until then, Leopold—who had been silently watching me without saying a word—finally spoke, briefly. I had no choice but to shut my mouth.
In an instant, chills ran down my entire body, and I stared at Leopold in shock.
Since when had this bastard been listening to my conversation with Eveline?
“…….”
Seeing my stunned expression, Leopold curled the corner of his lips into a slight smile. He rarely changed his expression, but he clearly seemed to find my flustered reaction amusing.
“…….”
I had a bad feeling about this. I slowly backed away from Leopold.
With a faint smile, as if savoring the process of cornering his prey, Leopold stepped closer to me and opened his red lips once more.
“Titi.”
“…….”
I sharply turned my head away and ignored him. I stared at the pattern on the wall and even covered my ears, but that couldn’t block out the voice speaking right next to me.
“Titi…….”
“…….”
Leopold’s voice was so soft it felt like it could melt eardrums—a voice the citizens of the Empire praised endlessly. But the way he was teasingly calling my name like that was absolutely not okay.
My face flushed slightly with embarrassment, and I snapped at him.
“Don’t call me that.”
“Why? Titi.”
“Ugh…….”
Leopold spoke with a rare hint of excitement on his face, clearly enjoying himself.
Every time Leopold called me “Titi,” I felt like I was fainting and coming back to life all over again.
If the countless noble ladies who secretly adored Leopold had heard this, they might have fainted on the spot from happiness.
And I was just about to faint too—though for a completely different reason.
It wasn’t because I liked Leopold. On the contrary, I felt like I was dying of shame and awkwardness.
How old did he think I was, giving me such a cutesy nickname?
Outwardly, I looked fourteen, but inside, I was a full-grown adult. Even for a real fourteen-year-old, it would have been embarrassing. For someone with an adult mind like mine, it was unbearable.
And Leopold wasn’t the type to call anyone by a nickname in the first place. He was never that friendly.
He was definitely enjoying my reaction. Even now, he kept chanting “Titi” like some kind of mantra.
“Titi.”
“…….”
Of course, I never responded. I just pretended he was calling someone else and mentally censored his voice.
Even so, my body kept inching backward, while Leopold continued to move closer.
Soon, I felt the cold wall against my back. With nowhere left to retreat, I stopped and looked straight ahead.
Leopold was right in front of me. Before I knew it, I was trapped between the wall and him.
His face—beautiful enough to far exceed a lethal dose—was right before my eyes. Up close, the sight of delicate silver lashes lowering over his golden eyes was breathtaking.
Even someone like me, who had no interest in Leopold, couldn’t deny that his face was dangerously captivating. Reflexively, I squeezed my eyes shut.
“Titi.”
“……Ngh.”
Leopold whispered the nickname by my ear in a gentle voice, as if calling something precious. Even though there was no way he meant it that way.
How long was he planning to keep this joke going? Unable to endure it anymore, I snapped my eyes open and glared at him.
“Stop calling me that.”
Leopold looked back at me without so much as blinking, then asked with genuine curiosity,
“Do you hate it that much?”
“Do you think I’d like it?!”
I spoke as if telling him to put himself in my shoes. Every time he called me that, I felt my mental strength being shaved away.
Leopold frowned slightly and spoke in a sulky tone,
“But you let Eveline call you that.”
“Hey, that’s different…!”
How could he possibly put Eveline and himself on the same level?
I looked at Leopold with that very expression and lightly pushed him away. He didn’t resist and stepped back easily.
“…….”
Once again, I was reminded that this guy really didn’t like me.
Nicknames were something you used only with people you were close to. For Leopold—who wasn’t close to me at all—to call me “Titi” just sounded like mockery.
Fuming, I glared at him indignantly.
“……?”
Leopold looked down at me, narrowing one eye slightly, as if he couldn’t understand me at all.
But then, as though he had suddenly thought of a good solution, he returned to his usual calm expression and spoke.
“…Then, if it’s that unfair.”
“?”
Leopold paused, hesitating as if thinking. Since it was the first time I’d ever seen him hesitate, I watched him with no small amount of tension.
…What. What is he about to say? Even this arrogant guy is hesitating?
I stared at him. After a brief moment of contemplation, Leopold parted his lips.
“…Can I call you Leo, too?”
“What? No way!”
