Chapter 68
Alferen tried hard to ignore the unnecessary anxiety.
The servants’ chatter.
The way Rodellia was checking off date spots like solving problems on a test sheet.
He convinced himself that none of it had anything to do with a breakup.
But if, by some chance, she wanted to end this contract…
Crack.
Just imagining it made the armrest of his chair splinter, and Alferen let out a bitter laugh.
“That absolutely can’t happen.”
He’d already given her his body and heart completely.
To let her take what she wanted at her whim and then say it’s over, let’s go back to how things were—that was nonsense.
But the intuition of a man who’d been in unrequited love for so long told him this was a dangerously sweet signal.
And his hunches were rarely wrong, but he failed to notice it.
No, even if he did, he decided to pretend he didn’t.
* * *
I had no idea a week could pass so quickly.
With the afternoon tea time approaching, the two of us were dressed up more than usual as we enjoyed our date.
It was a day no different from any other, yet a strange tension hung in the air.
That’s when Alferen, propping his chin on his hand, stared straight at me and asked.
“Come to think of it, a whole week has already gone by.”
At the mention of a week, I hunched my shoulders like a thief with a guilty conscience.
“Yeah. Time flies.”
I nervously chewed on my lemonade straw for no reason, and he reached out to caress my cheek.
“Have you done everything you wanted to now?”
“Thanks to you. …Wait, you knew?”
I answered thoughtlessly and then realized, asking back in surprise, which made Alferen flash a grin.
“I saw you checking things off in your notebook every time we went on a date. I figured you had a lot you wanted to do.”
He nodded toward my bag. I’d thought I was being sneaky, but apparently he’d seen it all.
I clutched my bag to my chest, making an excuse.
“Uh, it’s nothing big. I just jotted down things couples do, in case I forgot.”
“Really?”
“Yeah, yeah. Thanks to you, I got to do them all to my heart’s content?”
“If that’s the case, you should’ve told me. I could’ve planned a more perfect itinerary. Didn’t we rush through it too much?”
The deadline was a week, so I had no choice.
From Alferen’s perspective, it must have felt like a crammed schedule of dates.
“Was it tough?”
“Not tough, exactly…”
Alferen lowered his gaze.
He looked deep in thought, but soon composed his expression and said warmly.
“I felt regretful.”
“Regretful?”
“Yeah. So, how about we start over from the beginning and do it properly this time?”
As if he’d been waiting for this, Alferen held something out.
It was a long itinerary compiling all the places I’d been checking off over the week.
Below that, it even listed bucket list items I hadn’t checked yet.
At a glance, these were date spots that would be hard to cover all in one year.
“Wh-what is this?”
“It ended up being a lot once I organized it.”
“You did all this by yourself?”
If my bucket list was like regular coffee, Alferen’s plan was like a gourmet blend.
‘No, more than that—today’s the last day, so there’s no way we can do this.’
I wanted to go along with it, considering the effort he’d put in, but today was the day Summer was arriving.
“Ren oppa, listen…”
I was just about to mention ending the fake relationship when.
“Delly. I need to use the restroom.”
Suddenly, Alferen stood up and disappeared somewhere.
Again.
Earlier, too, right when I was about to say something, he’d gone to the restroom and cut off the flow.
I’d thought it was just a coincidence then, but after the same evasion twice, I couldn’t miss it.
‘Did he figure it out?’
Is that why he brought these plans?
Why go to such lengths?
Back when I’d suggested setting a deadline, Alferen had been skeptical.
I’d felt there was some truth to his words that a person he liked wouldn’t suddenly appear.
But now, it’d been quite a while since we started the fake relationship, so breaking up wouldn’t seem strange at all.
In fact, ending it cleanly at a good time would be better for both of us than dragging it out.
My mind was a mess.
A little later, when Alferen returned, we moved to the carriage.
It was almost time for the tea time.
“…”
“…”
The silence stretched unusually long. Alferen stared blankly out the window, and I gazed intently at him.
The way he avoided my eyes confirmed it.
“Ren oppa.”
“Don’t say it.”
He cut me off before the words were even out.
Still, he stubbornly refused to look at me.
As if he knew exactly what I was going to say.
“Listen…”
“Don’t say it today. Please.”
His voice seemed to tremble faintly. That reaction was so heartbreaking and intriguing at the same time.
“How do you know what I’m going to…”
I had just grabbed his arm when.
Neigh-!
With a whinnying sound, the carriage jolted violently.
He reflexively pulled me into his arms to protect me.
It was because the carriage had come to a sudden stop.
Holding me close, Alferen asked the coachman.
“What’s going on?”
“Ah, sorry about that. Some kid suddenly jumped out. Just wait a moment. …Hey! Don’t you know you could get seriously hurt jumping out like that?!”
It seemed a child had unwittingly wandered into the carriage path.
Having missed the timing for our conversation, I slipped out of his embrace.
As if waiting for that, he said.
“I’ll go check.”
The coachman had already gone, so there was no need for him to check personally.
“Yeah, go ahead.”
But I didn’t bother arguing against it.
I knew he wanted to escape this moment right now.
However, when the carriage door opened and I saw the woman apologizing to the coachman along with the little boy, it felt like I’d been hit over the head.
A woman with twin braids of blonde hair under a wide-brimmed straw hat.
Her attire was subtly different from the capital folk, as if she’d come from out of town.
In her arms was a sniffling boy.
She held her brother protectively and kept apologizing.
“I’m so sorry! It’s our first time in the capital, so I didn’t know there were separate carriage lanes!”
“Well, you must be from the provinces. Anyway, be careful! Do you have any idea who the person in the carriage is?”
The coachman was awkwardly lecturing her when.
“What’s the matter?”
As Alferen approached them, the woman’s face, hidden by the hat, lifted.
Vivid green eyes reminiscent of a forest sprite.
A delicate frame that stirred protective instincts, and long straight hair evoking first love.
She blinked as if encountering an unexpected face.
“…Alferen?”
At the familiar voice calling his name, Alferen wore a puzzled expression.
Soon, recognizing her, he said her name.
“…Summer Clopen?”
“Oh my gosh, it’s really you!”
Summer beamed brightly and extended her hand in delight.
He stared at her hand for a moment before taking it.
“You’re here already? I thought the day I asked you to come to the Magic Tower was still ahead.”
“I came early to find a house. I brought my little brother too. Anyway, I can’t believe the important person in the carriage was you—what a relief. I was wondering how to properly apologize.”
Summer let out a sigh of relief and introduced her brother Winter as well.
Their conversation looked intimate at a glance.
Seeing that, I hid against the carriage wall and clamped my hand over my mouth.
‘So Alferen knew Summer was coming to the Magic Tower.’
As the Tower Master, it would’ve been stranger if he didn’t, but that wasn’t what mattered.
The heroine’s unannounced appearance was more than enough to amplify my confusion.
My face twisted uncontrollably.
Because of the strange emotion surging up inside me.
I wanted to jump out of the carriage right now, pretend to be Alferen’s lover, and disappoint Summer.
Just like in the original story, when Summer hid her feelings upon learning he had a fiancée.
I felt an impulse to sever the thread of fate connecting them with my own hands.
‘Wanting to disappoint her? I’m really the worst.’
