After eating the cookies Fiancée had made, we fell into a few seconds of silence.
Everyone seemed unsure what to talk about, as if my presence had made them cautious. Looks like I had no choice but to start a topic myself, so I turned to the Crown Prince.
"Your Highness, I'd love to hear about any interesting stories from the academy. Would you mind sharing some with us?"
I didn't really have a topic, so I tossed the ball to the Crown Prince. Maybe Fiancée would make a scary face. The Crown Prince, who had suddenly been put on the spot, looked genuinely shocked.
"Brother, I want to hear it too."
Good. The princess is on my side.
"Your Highness, I'd like to hear it as well."
Even better. My fiancée is on my side too. Though her expression was a little strange—almost shy.
With three against one, the Crown Prince clearly didn't dare to object and could only give in.
"All right. At the academy…"
As I listened, I secretly observed Fiancée's expression. She listened very intently to the Crown Prince, her gaze never leaving him.
The Crown Prince had originally been sitting stiffly beside me, barely daring to move, as if I might devour him at any moment. But as he kept talking and got more into it, he gradually returned to his usual personality and relaxed.
However, when he got carried away talking about a certain female classmate, Fiancée's expression changed. It was subtle, but she clearly looked displeased. Based on my many years of experience, Fiancée was definitely jealous.
Then I noticed her gaze turn cold, and her lips began to tremble slightly. I didn't understand it, I had never seen an expression like that before.
Suddenly, the Crown Prince's speech became hesitant and unclear. I quickly looked back at him, only to find him staring at Fiancée with a frightened expression. Could it be that this was the "scary face" everyone talked about?
I looked at Fiancée again and carefully studied her expression, searching for more decisive evidence. After all, I was observing her under the assumption that she liked the Crown Prince.
And sure enough, I found it. Her ears had turned bright red, and as if she felt the heat caused by her embarrassment, she occasionally brushed her hair behind her ears.
It seemed my assumption was correct. If I assumed she didn't like him, the situation would be strange. If she didn't care about the Crown Prince, she wouldn't look displeased just because of his interaction with another woman. If I forced an explanation, it would be that the Crown Prince was flirting with another female student again, and as his fiancée, she felt embarrassed by his behavior.
Next was the so-called scary expression. It clearly appeared when she made eye contact with the Crown Prince. That expression was likely her attempt to hide her emotions, though she couldn't fully control it. If I forced an explanation under the assumption that she didn't like him, it would be something like: "Can you stop looking at me? Just the thought of marrying an idiot like you makes me furious", so furious my ears turn red.
So the conclusion was obvious: Fiancée liked the Crown Prince—liked him a lot. Shy just from making eye contact. This was my first time seeing something like that.
It was about time to make the Crown Prince shut up. Coincidentally, he still hadn't recovered from his frightened expression and was stammering. It was the perfect moment to interrupt him.
"Your Highness, I'm sorry to interrupt while you're enjoying yourself, but I suddenly need to use the restroom. Unfortunately, I don't know where it is. Could you please show me?"
When I spoke to him, the Crown Prince's expression changed instantly, as if he had just seen a ray of hope. He stood up immediately.
"Understood. I'll take you there right away."
I stood up as well and apologized to the Princess and Fiancée.
"Princess, Ms. Putley, I'm sorry for interrupting the conversation and for showing you such an unpleasant side. Please forgive me."
"I-It's fine."
"Mr. Karen, I understand. Please go quickly."
"Thank you. Your Highness, let's go."
After we had walked some distance away, I stopped and motioned for the Crown Prince to stop as well.
"Your Highness, stop. I have something to say."
The Crown Prince turned to me with a puzzled look.
"Didn't you need to use the restroom?"
"That was just an excuse to bring you out."
"I didn't say anything bad about you! I really didn't! In fact, I didn't even talk to Elena at all!"
The moment he realized it was just an excuse, the Crown Prince immediately raised his voice and began pleading with me. Thankfully, there was no one nearby.
Still, the fact that he hadn't exchanged a single word with his fiancée was infuriating. Wasn't I the one who told him to get to know her better?
"I'll ask you about that later. And please keep your voice down. First, I want to ask: when your speech suddenly became hesitant earlier, was it because you saw Ms. Putley make a scary face?"
"Yes, Mr. Karen—you saw it too, didn't you?! I just glanced over at her, and she made that terrifying expression! Do you already figured out what kind of person she is?! Please tell me!"
He answered in a low voice, but he was way too excited. Was he hoping I'd say she wasn't suitable for him? I held back my conclusion for now. It was still too early to decide.
"I'll tell you later. I still have another question. If she actually likes you very much—so much that she gets shy just from making eye contact—would you still think she's scary?"
"Shy just from eye contact? That is very cute. …Wait, are you saying that was her being shy? Then why did she make such a scary face?"
He actually understood?! Did he suddenly get smarter? And on top of that, he thought her behavior was cute. That probably raised his affection toward her quite a bit.
Fiancée had made that "scary face", and the only explanation I could think of made sense to me.
"People's expressions reveal their feelings, but those feelings can be hidden. Can you tell what I'm feeling right now?"
I smiled, but inside, I was angry—angry enough that I wanted to immediately force the Crown Prince and the Princess to tell me what bad things they'd said. The Crown Prince looked utterly confused.
"Uh… happy?"
"I may be smiling, but I'm very angry inside."
"I really didn't say anything bad about you, please don't hit me!"
The Crown Prince begged again, this time dropping to his knees. I quickly helped him up, and he looked relieved, thinking I had let him off. I replied to him calmly.
"I'll decide after I hear your testimony later."
"Wha… what!?"
The Crown Prince froze in surprise, letting out a weird little sound—but at least he kept his volume down, so that was good. I ignored him and continued.
"Getting off track—your Fiancée doesn't want to show her shyness on her face; she wants to hide it. But her feelings were stronger than her control, which is why that expression appeared. Do you understand?"
"I understand that because others were present, she couldn't show shyness. But when I'm alone with her, she still made a scary expression. Why is that?"
"I suspect it's because of you."
"Because of me?"
"You said before that you hadn't tried to understand her, right? That might have made her think you're not interested, so she doesn't dare show her feelings, afraid of causing you trouble."
The Crown Prince was destined to become king, which meant his life would be busy serving the country. Fiancée believed she couldn't let trivial personal emotions burden him.
"I… see."
The Crown Prince's face turned guilty, and I waved my hand to dismiss his thoughts. I told him:
"This is just my speculation, nothing is certain yet. Now I'm going to have a private conversation with her. Please take the princess out."
Everything was speculation; I had no way of knowing Fiancée's true feelings, so I had to act. After all, this was someone I might not meet again. If things went wrong, so be it.
"But didn't you bring us here because you didn't want to talk to her alone?"
"That's because I had nothing light to talk about. Now, what I want to discuss is something she won't say if others are present."
With the Crown Prince in the room, Fiancée definitely wouldn't speak freely.
"What is it?"
"You'll find out. You and her highness the princess can listen outside the door."
"What excuse should I use to get Sophia out?"
We were outside the room, and coming up with an excuse was easy. I felt disappointed in the Crown Prince's improvisation.
"Just make something up. Say his majesty the king wants to see you for something."
"Understood."
We returned to the sitting room door. The Crown Prince called the princess out, but seeing me there clearly startled her. I crouched down and whispered quickly.
"Your Highness the Princess, his majesty the king wanting to see you is a lie. Please stay here with the Crown Prince, and don't say a word no matter what you hear."
I pressed my finger to my lips, silently asking her to stay quiet.
"…I understand."
Hearing her response, I smiled at her.
"Thank you."
Then I stood up again and waited a few seconds before opening the door and stepping inside.