Chapter 24

“I can’t call you that. I am also of the age of majority.”

“That’s right, Irene. You grew up so beautifully during that time.”

To my reply that I couldn’t call him by his first name, he replied like that. However, the tone of his voice when he said that was somehow too vague. Even so, I could feel the admiration toward a certain beautiful object, as well as the burning passion in his eyes as he looked at me, so I took a half step back, no, one step back.

“But Irenye. It’s me, Martin. They call you Irenye. Before I was Prince of the Empire, I was always your Martin.”

“You are.” So affectionate, so unrestrained. We had been apart for a long time, but the moment we just looked at each other, we broke down all the bolts, casually touched our cheeks, and acted as if it was natural to call each other by the nicknames given to us by blood families. He, who should be in the imperial palace, is standing in the courtyard of our house, such an unrealistic situation.

Not caring about it, and continued to treat me as before. “No. Your Highness the Crown Prince. I’m just Irenia del Thieri, so it doesn’t matter if Your Highness calls me Irenia or Irenye, but… I don’t dare call the crown prince that way.”

After I resisted until the end, he strode forward, one step at a time, with a firm expression on his face. I couldn’t take any more steps back.

Because just by looking at his hardened face, my heart sank endlessly to the floor, thumped and was agitated. I was concentrating on trying not to get caught up in all the whirlpools inside me.

“To meet you, I asked you to hold an imperial banquet today. In private villages, the Pietra Festival continues to be held, but the imperial family did not bother to celebrate the festival. But I want to invite you to the imperial family, so as soon as Obama recovers his health, a banquet inviting all the nobles is held. I made a special request.”

Then he took another step toward me. “But you didn’t come. To show you, I told you to plant more densely packed delphiniums full of backing. And besides the delphinium, I also… I wanted to show you. Me, who grew up like this.” He said that while deliberately showing off his wide and hardened chest. He really has grown several times in size and raised his head in height.