My Engagement was Cancelled so I will stop Pretending to be a Fool

After her talk with the queen, Olivia was heading to the library in the rear garden.

The paperwork that was assigned to her was finished in the morning and she has already planned to read something in the library in the afternoon.

Cyrus has sword practice in the afternoon and it seems that he will join her once he’s finished. Cyrus isn’t as good as Alan with his sword but ever since the incident where their carriage got attacked a while ago, he has been taking his sword practice more seriously. According to Colin, his escort, it seems that he wants to be able to protect Olivia in case something happens. Personally, Olivia doesn’t care about the cool aspect of the sword-wielding Cyrus so as long as he doesn’t get hurt in the process she’s fine with it——-even so, hearing the reason behind his effort is still making her blush a little.

After reaching the garden, Olivia takes out a parasol. The reason she made sure to have it with her is that whenever she tried to walk outside without one Taylor would always get noisy saying [What are you going to do if you get a sunburn, My Lady!]

Since it is a little windy today, the pleasant scent of the rose garden wafted to her nose as she approached the library. When she turned herself in the direction of the rose garden to catch more of the scent, her feet stopped as she spotted someone there.

It appears that Princess Florencia likes the roses here. She looked very gentle as she stared at the flowers.

When Olivia greets her, the princess slowly turns around and gives her a small bow.

“Good morning Olivia-sama. Did you come to see the roses as well?”

“No, I was heading to the library…….”

Shifting her gaze from the rose garden to the nearby library, Princess Florencia shows a soft smile.

“Fufu, that’s right. Olivia-sama loves books after all. I’ve seen you reading in the library with His Highness Cyrus before. The two of you are about to get engaged, aren’t you? You get along so well.”

Hearing about her relationship with Cyrus, Olivia’s cheeks immediately reddened. She doesn’t affirm nor deny it but her bashfulness says it all. Why her gaze wanders as she tries to come up with a reply, Princess Florencia who has been staring at the library continues in a small voice.

“…….how envious.”

Olivia cocked her head. Does Princess Florencia also like books?

She can’t invite her there since she herself also needs permission to enter it but she should be able to obtain permission for the princess if she asks Alan or Cyrus.

When Olivia offered to do so, the princess’s eyes widened a little then she showed a bitter smile.

“Right……..if the opportunity arises then.”

It was quite an evasive answer.

After that, since the princess says that she wants to look at the flowers in the garden more, Olivia bids her goodbye and heads to the library.

After entering the forbidden section with the key she got from Cyrus, she took the book she was reading last time and headed to the reading space.

From the window there, she can see Princess Florencia.

“She really likes roses huh.”

Olivia doesn’t dislike them either but she doesn’t like them enough to be able to pass her time just by staring at them.

Cyrus also noticed that so he stopped giving her any more flowers after giving her a bouquet every time he came to see her at first.

“….it’s not like I want a bouquet but, once in a while I also want him to give me one too………is this what being selfish feels like?”

“Selfish?”

When she muttered to herself as she stared at Princess Florencia, the voice from behind her made her shoulders jump.

Turning back, she saw Cyrus entering the room. It seems that his sword practice has ended earlier than she expected.

Olivia’s face then turned crimson.

“It, It’s nothing……..”

“I only heard the part where you say you want something once in a while, care to clue me in on what this something is?”

Seating himself next to Olivia, Cyrus asked as he stared into her eyes. He then pecked Olvia’s red cheek before smiling mischievously at her.

“You were looking at the rose garden, right? Do you want roses?”

“No, well, uhh…….”

“A single word from you and I would give it to you any time you want you know.”

With every thought in her head vanished, Olivia realized that there’s no use trying to deceive him so she shyly nodded.

Seeing that, Cyrus pulls out a white rose from the vase on the table, carefully plucks off the thorns, and wipes it with his handkerchief before putting it on Olivia’s ear.

“Put up with only this for today okay.”

Olivia was unable to form a coherent reply as her face heated up as though she was about to breathe fire. Seemingly enjoying seeing her blushed face, Cyrus continues his offense.

When Olivia covered her face with both hands, Cyrus hugged her with a smile.

“Sorry, sorry. I teased you too much again huh.”

Cyrus who said that with a smile doesn’t seem like he has reflected on his actions at all.

From the gaps between her fingers, Olivia glared at him.

Then, as though to soothe the sulky Olivia, he placed a kiss on her head.

“So, why did you suddenly want a rose?”

“It’s, it’s not like I want one…….it’s just, I was looking at the roses and remembered that Your Highness gave me rose bouquets before…….”

“So you started to want one now?”

“It’s, it’s not like —-”

“You want one right?”

It seems that Cyrus wants her to say that [She wants one] so when Olivia replied with [Yes…..] in a small voice, he immediately smiled in satisfaction.

“This time I will get the one with a bunch bright red roses—–”

“J, Just one is enough! Please…..!”

“Is that so?”

Olivia herself knows that she likes books more than flowers and she doesn’t seem as feminine as Princess Florencia. The figure of the princess staring happily at the roses just made her recall the ones she received from Cyrus in the past. That’s why she only wanted some flowers from him. She doesn’t need a whole bouquet. One is enough for her. That’s why she’s already satisfied with the one white rose he put on her ear.

“This is, plenty enough.”

While touching the rose on her ear, Olivia shyly said that with a smile. Seeing that, Cyrus let out a sigh as he hugged her.

“Just a word from you and I would give you whatever you want. You really don’t have that much desire for anything, Olivia.”

“That’s not true you know……?”

Even Olivia has a desire of her own. However, since she already received permission to enter the library and access to the forbidden section by Cyrus, she’s already happy enough. Right now, Olivia is already very satisfied with what she’s got.

As Cyrus hugged Olivia, he suddenly lifted his head as though he just remembered something.

“By the way, I’ve got a message from Father.”

“From His Majesty……?”

“Yeah. 5 days from now, Princess Florencia will head south to visit the ruins but it seems that we will have to accompany her there too. Aniue was ordered by Mother to accompany the princess so Father wants us to act as a third wheel.”

“His Majesty……..”

The King seems to want to get in the way of Alan and the princess’s relationship no matter what. Even if he doesn’t act that desperate, the relationship between the two isn’t going to go anywhere in the first place though. Perhaps he wants to make it a clear cut.

(Still, the south huh…….)

The ruins in the south probably mean the ones near the border between Brior and Karzol. Recalling the map in her head, Olivia’s expression turned cloudy. Frankly speaking, the relationship between Brior and Karzol is pretty delicate right now. Since there was a skirmish near the border only some ten odd years ago, a high wall has been built on the border between the two countries with soldiers always standing guard. It’s not like they are at a boiling point but the relationship is certainly not a friendly one so it’s doubtful why such a place is the destination of Princess Florencia’s visit.

Perhaps noticing what Olivia is thinking, Cyrus made a small bitter smile.

“It seems that Princess Florencia wishes to go there herself. She wants to see the ruins from the old dynasty or so I heard.”

“I see……”

During the rule of the ancient dynasty, Brior, Levanor, and Philarush were once a single country. The royal palace of the said dynasty was located to the south of Brior near the Karzol border. However, the location of the royal palace of the ancient dynasty has changed several times and the one near Karzol is the royal palace from the middle era of the ancient dynasty. It is at least a thousand years old and its state is far from its heyday since it was destroyed in the war that triggered the collapse of the dynasty. Most of its ruins are currently buried underground so excavation work is currently underway. Such excavation work often is hard labor so most of the work is being carried out by convicted criminals. It’s not like the town in the area has bad public security but since the whole area is under a lot of surveillance in caution of escapees. Still, even if the princess herself wished to go there, it’s hardly a place that Brior would allow such a VIP to visit.

(But, an archaeological site huh……)

Despite her worry about Princess Florencia, Olivia couldn’t calm her racing heart. She’s learned a lot about the ancient dynasty from the books but she has never visited such ruins. When she expressed her wish to visit the digging sites, her father, the Duke objected to it. Olivia was Alan’s fiancee at the time so she was told that the Crown Princess should not visit such a place where her life might be at risk. Still, with an order from the King, her father wouldn’t object to it this time.

(I heard that there’s also a museum that has the excavated objects from the ruins, there might even be some new discoveries that are not yet recorded in any books……..!)

She was itching to go. At the excavation site, the researchers in the field should be there as well. Will she be able to ask them about their work? Can she get a copy of their research? Are they going to show it to her? The middle era of the ancient dynasty was when paper was first invented. Maybe there are some interesting findings there? If it’s the ancient language then she can read it to some extent.

“Rather than roses, it seems you prefer the ruins more huh, Olivia.”

When Cyrus looked down on Olivia’s face and pointed out that her eyes are sparkling, Olivia immediately covered her cheeks.

“If you are like this then I guess you don’t hate the idea of accompanying the princess’s visit huh. I’m relieved.”

Cyrus strokes Olivia’s head.

“…..well, we wouldn’t meet that person anyway. I guess it’s fine huh.”

Cyrus muttered so but his words went unheard by Olivia who was on cloud nine to see the ruins.