Chapter 11
Liriope didn’t want anyone to see her face burning with heat, so she refused to continue the conversation and turned her gaze out the window.
Teo had been staring at her for a while, but when Liriope still didn’t look at him, he let out a small laugh and turned his head toward the scenery outside.
Liriope, too, was soon captivated by the view outside.
Looking at the vast plains and the scattered enormous mansions, she suddenly realized that this place was exactly like the world she had read about in her romance novels.
As she thought about how necessary transportation must be in such a large land, and how developing teleportation as public transportation could make a fortune, Teo asked her a question.
“What are you looking at so intently?”
When Liriope turned to look at him, he was gazing at her with his chin resting on his hand, like a model in a magazine photo.
“There’s nothing particularly interesting outside.”
The thought that he had been watching her like that for who-knows-how-long made her heart heat up instantly.
She was grateful that she was a rational adult, otherwise, if she had been even a little more instinct-driven, she might have grabbed Teo’s hand and… well, done something reckless.
‘Right… I want to grab it, I want to grab it. And of course, his hand is exactly my type.’
Liriope glanced at Teo’s hand and licked her lips in thought.
Then, she suddenly shivered at her own thought.
‘No, no. Don’t fall for him. He’s the male lead. He belongs to Rosearine!’
Liriope composed herself, reminding herself that she had almost fallen for his beautiful face, and answered his question.
“I’m not really looking at anything in particular.”
“Then why are you going into town?”
Teo asked her that.
‘He asks so quickly,’ Liriope thought with a half-lidded glare.
“To get some tea leaves.”
“Tea leaves?”
“I lied, saying I got some new tea leaves from across the sea to invite Lady Rosearine over to my house.”
“…Lady Rosearine?”
The moment Teo uttered Rosearine’s name, an inexplicable, uneasy feeling washed over Liriope.
It was a strange, complex feeling that she couldn’t explain. Hearing the heroine’s name come from the male lead was genuinely perplexing.
“Yes.”
When Liriope nodded and answered, Teo tilted his head in curiosity and asked,
“You even lied to invite the Countess over?”
Fearing that he might misunderstand her intentions as some kind of scheme to harass Rosearine, Liriope quickly began to explain herself.
“I just wanted to become friends. I like Lady Rosearine quite a lot, actually, a lot. But I hardly have any chance to meet her, so I wanted to get closer that way.”
Teo’s brows furrowed slightly, his expression one of confusion.
“You might know already, but Lady Rosearine really likes tea. She even collects unusual tea leaves.”
“Why would I know what the Countess likes?”
“Then just remember it from now on.”
“Why?”
“Just remember it. Everything I tell you will be useful to you.”
Teo’s expression changed slightly at Liriope’s words.
Since he hadn’t yet had any interaction with Rosearine, Liriope assumed he found her words strange.
But the next thing he said made her realize his expression carried a completely different meaning.
“So you’re already doing housewifely duties, huh?”
Liriope’s face instantly turned incredulous.
“Huh?”
Teo, seemingly unaffected by her expression, smiled faintly and said,
“Well, it’s not bad.”
“It’s not like that at all. It’s not housewifely duties.”
Liriope let out a humorless laugh and turned her gaze back to the window.
Though she felt his stare on her, she deliberately ignored it.
Still, Teo’s persistent gaze made the carriage increasingly uncomfortable and awkward.
She wondered just how long he intended to stare; it felt as if her face might be pierced.
Finally unable to bear it, Liriope turned sharply to look at Teo. He only slightly narrowed his eyes and smiled.
“Why are you looking at me like that?”
Teo’s subtle, teasing eye-smile left Liriope flustered and stammering.
He still gazed at her with his chin perched high.
Caught in the burden of his stare, Liriope didn’t know what to do and rolled her eyes.
“This didn’t feel like this before.”
Hearing this, Liriope looked at Teo.
His jet-black eyes glimmered strangely.
“You’ve changed, it seems.”
“Me…?”
“Yes, you.”
‘What is this guy… does he know something? No, he couldn’t know Liriope…’
“When did you see me?”
Liriope narrowed her eyes suspiciously at him.
When she admitted that she liked him, he had flatly said they had never met. Why was he speaking as if he already knew her?
“Don’t you remember?”
“Huh?”
‘Did he actually meet me before?’
A chill ran down her spine.
If they had met, he should have mentioned the place when she acted out her affection for him. But every location she mentioned didn’t trigger recognition—it was odd.
Could it be that he already knows she’s not Liriope? A bead of sweat formed on her forehead.
“Did… we meet before?”
Liriope asked, tense. She tried to smile but a small twitch appeared at the corner of her mouth.
“You told me yourself.”
“…Huh?”
“The day you confessed your feelings to me.”
Teo’s next words turned her tension instantly into mild annoyance.
“I must have seen you that day too.”
It seemed like he wanted to play a word game. Definitely a word game.
Instead of panicking, Liriope smiled as widely as she could.
“At that time, I was pretending to be coy because I had just fallen for you.”
“Well… you were fierce.”
However, Teo’s quick retort erased all laughter from Liriope’s face.
“And quite arrogant.”
“Me…?”
“Yes, you.”
“…Ah, right. I was arrogant, huh…”
“Well, back then you seemed to ignore everyone except that foolish crown prince.”
“Oh, so I seemed to only notice the foolish crown prince… ah, scratch the foolish part. Slip of the tongue.”
Only someone who grew up with the crown prince, like the Duke of the North, could call him foolish without consequence.
Even though Liriope was of noble rank, saying that aloud bordered on treason, so she quickly corrected herself.
Teo, however, didn’t seem pleased by her correction and lifted one corner of his mouth in a crooked smirk.
“You can call him foolish in front of me. Not calling him foolish doesn’t make you look any less foolish.”
Despite how many times he said “foolish,” Liriope couldn’t argue. She occasionally thought the crown prince was foolish herself while reading the story, so Teo’s remark wasn’t entirely unreasonable.
“Well, anyway, the reason you see a different version of me now is mostly because I no longer like the crown prince.”
Trying her best to present a polished smile, Liriope attempted to clarify the situation. Teo lazily narrowed his eyes and said,
“Exactly. Now you like me.”
She didn’t know why he kept coming on so strongly, but she knew if she didn’t pull herself together, she would be completely swept away by his charm.
‘No… more importantly, this feels… strange.’
Liriope glanced at Teo, who was looking at her with a mischievous smile.
The Teo Artein in front of her felt different from the male lead she had read about.
In the original story, Teo showed playful mischief only toward Rosearine.
But now, even Liriope caught glimpses of that same playful side, which naturally flustered her.
Teo Artein had never shown such behavior to other noble ladies, which is why he had been considered a distant, cold, and high-class male lead, only admired from afar.
‘Right, he even had that nickname… so why…’
“So, I’m curious,”
Teo asked, his smile brimming with teasing intent.
“What exactly did you fall for, Lipe?”
