Forgotten by Fiancée, Fake Engagement with Crown Prince Of Neighbouring Country - Chapter 37
Chapter 37
**In the Kingdom of Distoria back then.**
Prince Easton, the first prince, visited the residence of the Duke of Tarrant and had his attendants carry numerous gifts.
Dresses, jewelry, sweets. Boxes filled with rare items from foreign lands were piled one after another in the salon.
Seeing this, Aria’s eyes sparkled.
“Prince Easton, thank you for all these gifts! But why all of a sudden?”
“I was worried that before I lost my memory, I might have been cold to you because of Leefe’s watchful eyes. I probably didn’t give you many gifts, did I? So, these are to make up for that.”
“I don’t know how to thank you enough… Will they all fit in my room? I really love you, Prince Easton.”
“Just seeing your happy face is enough for me. I love you too, Aria.”
“Hehe, I love you too.”
Seeing his fiancée’s innocent joy, Easton recalled the letters and magic potions he found in his room the other day.
(In my desk drawers and closet, there were many letters and magic potions concerned about my health. I haven’t read them all, but they’re probably from Aria, who secretly cared for me. I have no memory of Aria, but it must be her.)
Each of them was sealed by the House of Tarrant.
The modest and wise Aria must have sent the letters in her family’s name out of deference to Leefe, Easton thought.
“By the way, Aria, I’d like to hear about the new magic potion mentioned in the letter.”
When he asked, Aria widened her eyes and tilted her head.
“?..Prince Easton, what are you talking about? On the day of the engagement party, it was revealed that it was my sister Leefe who was skilled at making magic potions, wasn’t it?”
“No, but surely you can make potions too, right? The Duke of Tarrant boasted that his daughter was an excellent potion maker.”
“Ah, that daughter must be my sister, Leefe. I can’t make potions. I have always lived in my sister’s shadow and could never do such a thing.”
“…But…”
Easton wanted to continue, saying that otherwise the content of the letters and the potions wouldn’t make sense, but Aria looked genuinely puzzled. Seeing this, a chill ran down his spine.
(Aria knows nothing? No, that can’t be. I wrote replies to those letters in my room. So, those letters must be from Aria. They can’t be from anyone else.)
He had a very bad feeling. To dispel it and solidify the belief that Leefe had come between him and Aria, Easton pressed further.
Sweat began to form on his forehead.
“You know my great-grandmother is spending her later years in a castle near the Tarrant Duchy. She said she wanted the usual potions from the young lady of the House of Tarrant.”
“Oh. Your great-grandmother isn’t in the capital? What kind of castle does she live in? I’d love to visit it.”
Aria’s caramel-colored wavy hair swayed as she narrowed her large eyes and smiled, which might have seemed endearing to an observer.
However, it wasn’t an answer to Easton’s question, making their conversation incoherent.
In Easton’s eyes, it seemed terrifying.
“So, about the potions—”
“As I’ve been saying, I can’t make them.”
“But my great-grandmother said she liked the young lady of the House of Tarrant who visits regularly. She’s not very noticeable compared to her sister, but she’s gentle, kind, and a perfect fiancée for me.”
“…?”
Seeing Aria genuinely puzzled, Easton felt a chill down his spine and stood up.
“I-I understand. I’ll find another way to get the potion. I’ll take my leave for today.”
“Oh, you’re leaving already? You just arrived.”
“I’ll invite you to the palace again. Please wait until then. I promise I will definitely invite you.”
As he wiped his sweat and said this, Aria responded sweetly with a delicate smile, “Okay.”
Even that smile felt eerie to Easton as he turned to leave.
(What is this sense of discomfort? Not long ago, I would have wanted to protect that smile.)
“Prince Easton!”
Just as he started walking down the hallway, Aria came running after him.
“You mentioned the letters earlier, right?”
“Yes.”
“Please dispose of the letters with the pink wax seal in your room. They are probably from my sister Leefe. I love my sister, but I am sad that I can’t see her anymore since she left the country. I want to erase any physical reminders of her from around me.”
Seeing her teary-eyed, the discomfort he had just felt started to fade away.
“Yes, you wouldn’t feel good about me keeping letters from my former fiancée, right?”
“It’s not that… I’m just sad that my sister is gone.”
“Aria…”
He wanted to embrace his pitiful fiancée. Just then, the memory of being slapped by Leefe at a party flashed in his mind.
The dull thud had hurt more than he had expected. Just remembering that pain made him gasp.
(My head feels light… What was I thinking just now?)
It wasn’t the first time that Easton had noticed contradictions in Aria’s words and actions like he did today. However, whenever he was with Aria, such concerns seemed to become insignificant.
Realizing he was zoning out, Easton hurriedly shook his head, touched the cheek that had been slapped before, and left the Duke of Tarrant’s house.
Bothered by Aria’s words, Easton immediately began searching his room for the envelope sealed with pink wax when he returned to the palace.
He searched everywhere—in his writing desk, the closet, even the bedside chest—but could not find it.
“A letter from Aria’s sister, Lady Leefe. Why can’t I find it?”
As an official fiancée’s letter, it should have been in plain sight, not hidden away. Yet, in the past month, he hadn’t seen a single envelope with pink wax.
(If it was something he didn’t want anyone to see…)
Where would he hide it? As he scanned his room, his eyes landed on the bookshelf with doors. He opened a drawer and ran his fingers over the top.
“…Found it.”
There was a hidden compartment containing a box just the right size for letters. When he opened it, he found letters sealed with pink wax.
“…Aria Emery Tarrant.”
The name written was not Leefe’s, but his beloved fiancée Aria’s.
“What is going on?”
(Aria said the letters with pink wax were from Lady Leefe. This is the opposite.)
Driven by a sense of urgency, Easton opened the bundle of letters and read them. What he found was:
――“I am Aria, the sister of your fiancée. Since you are marrying my sister, I hope we can be friends.”
――“That wasn’t my intention… I just love my sister and was worried about whom she would marry.”
――“I respect you, Prince Easton. I can’t do much, but I want to support you. However, my sister is your greatest support. I’m fine with being second.”
The letters grew more familiar over time, and imagining his responses made him feel nauseous.
(This is the complete opposite of what I was told. The idea that Lady Leefe, as the Duke’s eldest daughter, was driving a wedge between Aria and me… was a lie?)
“Hey.”
He called his aide with a trembling voice and ordered:
“Until I say otherwise, do not grant any requests for an audience from my fiancée, Aria. Absolutely not.”
