CH 1

【 Prologue – The Hanging Prince 】 

“Let’s stop dragging on.” 

Esadien looked carefully at the woman who was sitting opposite him. 

They had already met so often that they could recognize their face, but she had eyes as if she were seeing someone she had met for the first time.

Small nose, thick lips, and light eyebrows matched her small face.

‘She was like when we first met… There’s nothing else.’

However, the light sky-blue eyes, which always contained a bright smile, were now looking at him with a frown.

His heart throbbed at the thought she didn’t show him the smile that seemed sweet like the one she showed to the attendant who brought their tea.

While Esadien swallowed the pain, the opponent urged him as if she was annoyed by the wait.

“Say something. I came out because the Prince kept asking me to meet, so we’ll have to wrap it up today.”

The mere thought of it made him infuriated.

The Prince who followed her wherever she went. The Prince who takes his place at an uninvited tea party and waits for her to get up from her seat.

“Minuelle.”

Minuelle.

At the sound of her own name that came out of Esadien’s mouth, Grand Duchess Karinen’s youngest daughter, Minuelle Karinen, let out a deep sigh openly.

“I’m sorry, Prince. We’re not in a relationship where we call each other’s names. Please refrain from making me feel uncomfortable.”

“Why… that’s not it. You’re my fiancée, Minuelle.”

A tendon sprang up on Minuelle’s fine forehead for a moment. Subsequently, a delicate hand wrapped in lace gloves slammed on the table.

“That’s right! I told you to break off the engagement, break off the engagement! Don’t you know what breaking the engagement means?”

Despite her fierce stare, Esadien did not take his eyes off Minuelle.

There was no break-up in Esadien’s dictionary. It’s been a long time since he erased it.

However, the stiff appearance made Minuelle’s heart burst. Are you the bamboo or what?

“Ah, really! Just do it youself!  I don’t like the moment when I’m in a relationship with someone like you. Let’s break the engagement. Break the engagement! Break! Engagement!”

For a brief moment, Minuelle like the sound of popping corn uttered her words and breathed heavily.

Her shoulders moved deeply up and down, her light pink hair flowed down. Esadien’s hand was about to reach it gradually, firmly shaken off.

“Don’t touch me!”

Minuelle’s face, who spoke coldly, looked overlaid with her former appearance.

“Wow. He’s so handsome. I can’t believe this was my fiancé. I’m glad I’m alive.….”

Minuelle blushed as she looked at him as if she had been possessed the day she first met him.

“Prince, today too, I missed you again.”

Minuelle smiled brightly.

“Prince, I love you!”

Minuelle, who hugged him without hesitation.

Why I didn’t know the importance of that sweet affection back then? Why I pushed her away?

“Minuelle….”

Esadien’s voice trembled, unable to bear the weight of regret.

But whether Esadien regretted it or not, Minuelle took a piece of paper from his arm and waved it in front of his nose.

“Stop calling my name and sign the engagement annulment paper. Now!”

“No.”

After hearing incomprehensible words, Minuelle’s head tilted to the side very slowly.

“What?”

“I said no.”

Minuelle’s head tilted in the opposite direction.

I’ve heard the same thing twice, so I don’t think my ears are wrong. Why? Why do you say no?

“Haah… Why, did you break your arm? You look fine.”

As she made sarcastic remarks, Esadien asked solemnly.

“Will you let it slide if I break it?”

Minuelle touched her forehead and shed a weak smile.

“What nonsense…”

But Esadien’s face, glancing at her, was more serious than ever.

Minuelle immediately realized that it was not empty words as much as she had watched him and tried to refine her voice calmly.

“What are you saying like that? And even if you break your arm, I won’t fall for it.”

“Minuelle.”

“I told you not to call me by name.”

Esadien couldn’t stand his heart pounding and bit his lip.

‘How on earth can I get your heart back? Will you forgive me for my mistake?’

Esadien pushed out his upper body and approached Minuelle.

His chest barely touched the edge of the macaron tower, which had been piled up for more than ten stacks.

“I like you.”

“What…”

The contract of engagement annulment fell from Minuelle’s hand.

“What are you saying now….”

While she was so surprised, Esadien continued to confess in a desperate voice.

“I love you. I realized too late.”

“Now I….”

Minuelle’s chest rose and fell sharply.

It used to be the words I wanted to hear the most. But now, the more I chew, the more my blood pressure rises.

“How can you be sure of that?”

“Sure?”

“After experiencing it, the Prince was right. Love is an uncertain feeling. If you turn around, it’s over.”

Oh. Esadien, who was beaten by his words in the past, closed his eyes tightly. If I could, I wanted to go back to that point and throw a stone at myself.

“But you let me know that feeling. Didn’t you say you’d wait until I’m certain?”

“No, so what, is that my fault?”

Let’s listen. Let’s listen to it.

Just before Minuelle exploded again, Esadien shook his head quietly.

“Minuelle, it means that you have tamed me.”

The breathtakingly beautiful eyes of Esadien filled with desperation and moistened.

“So don’t abandon me…. Can you accept me one more time?”

Little by little, his face got closer to Minuelle.

‘I mean, he’s damn handsome….’

It’s a thing of the past that I liked about Esadien. Saying “no” to him is not a word that would come from the depths of her heart.

However, even after he fell in love, his beauty was so dazzling that it gave her goosebumps.

Minuelle, who was momentarily dazed, came to her senses only when his mysterious golden eyelashes were visible.

“Don’t, don’t use your face!”

She pushed Esadien’s face with her palm and showed her irritation without hiding her anger because she was angry at herself, who had been possessed for a while.

“Did the carriage left? It’s ridiculous, really!”

If she stays like this, she might get involved with Esadien again.

She was going to end it neatly, but at this point, it seemed that it would be better for her just to fold her mind neatly.

“Never mind. I won’t beg you to sign the engagement annulment paper anymore, so try living alone somewhere for the rest of your life!”

“……”

Esadien squeezed her little hand, which pushed him away. As if he didn’t feel humiliated, he buried his cheek in her hand and murmured lowly.

“If I don’t agree to break off the engagement, you won’t be able to marry anyone else either.”

“Oh, I don’t care if I don’t get married. I’m going to scratch the handsome men from all over the country and live happily ever after.”

I will build a mansion in a faraway place and enjoy it for the rest of my life. There is also land that has already been selected.

Minuelle, who snorted, stood up from her seat, shaking off her caught hand.

“Oh, and I don’t like sweets? And yet, seeing the set up of this table…..”

The sky-blue eyes coldly scanned the macarons and the chocolate pie.

Esadien’s heart sank when he noticed the gaze.

It was an obvious mistake. When Minuelle said she liked mangoes, he prepared a dessert with mango added.

“I can feel very well that the Prince was not interested in me.”

“Minuelle, this is….”

“It’s done.”

She didn’t want to hear anymore. Minuelle, who stopped him at once, stood up from her seat.

Unlike her lovely appearance from head to toe, she was a person who changed her mind once she did determine.

Her appearance closely resembled her father, but her tenacity was inherited from her mother, Grand Duchess Karinen.

“Then now. It’s been dirty all this time, so let’s not see each other again, regardless of contact. It’s a request.”

“Minuelle.”

“Oh, don’t hold out at other people’s tea parties without an invitation anymore.”

Finally, Minuelle, who bowed her head and greeted him, turned around coldly.

“Minuelle….please…”

Esadien’s voice that followed was wet as never before.

Minuelle closed his eyes with a groan. When she first sent her breakup, she secretly called her out to her sister’s friend…. That’s because I remembered the request of Crown Princess Lumiere.

“I’m ashamed, but I have no choice but to ask you this because he’s my younger brother.”

‘I’m sorry, Sister.’

Minuelle muttered to herself.

“Please break up as gently as you can.”

The Crown Princess had asked her to do so, but she made the Prince cry and knelt on his knees.

Minuelle turned around with an unknown sigh.

“Get up.”

Esadien lifted his wet face. A faint hope flashed through his eyes.

Pride was thrown out together when it tore up the first consent form. All he has left is the idea of catching Minuelle.

“Minuelle…..”

Minuelle’s blood pressure couldn’t help but rise as he kept kneeling down and calling her name.

As she frowned and pointed to the chair, Esadien, who was looking around, stood up and sat down on the chair.

“Wipe it.”

Minuelle also sat next to him and held out her handkerchief.

However, Esadien’s eyes, which seemed to have stopped crying for a while, became teary again. It was the moment of the explosion of tragic love.

“No, why are you crying again? Wipe it off.”

But it didn’t work for Minuelle. Then Esadien leaned his head on her soft shoulder, calling her name as if hanging on.

“Minuelle, Minuelle…….”

“Oh, really.”

Minuelle gave up, but did not push him further, only making a painful sound.

The soft scent of rose like the color of her hair calmed him down. Esadien, who was a little relieved, slightly rubbed his face. One of the reasons he couldn’t give her up was this warmth.

‘I can’t afford to throw away my clothes. As soon as I get home, I will ask the maids to wash it twice.’

Warmth? Of course, it was an illusion, as Esadien didn’t know how Minuelle felt.