The dinner was surprisingly good.
All kinds of foods that I didn’t expect to find in such a small town were served on the table, and they tasted great.
Maybe I was just more hungry from the tiring journey.
I tried most of the dishes without much resistance and left hardly anything behind.
The amount I ate surprised Leoprick, who dined at the same table, Betty who was serving us, and even myself.
“We should give the chef a reward.”
“Really, miss- I mean, Your Highness, I’ve never seen you eat this much before!”
Leoprick looked at the empty plates with a satisfied expression.
Beside him, Betty nodded encouragingly.
It was just that my appetite was better than usual.
I shook my head awkwardly with a forced smile.
“I guess I was hungry from the long journey.”
“The schedule must have been tiring. I was thoughtless. Let’s move at a more leisurely pace tomorrow.”
Leoprick apologized with a serious face in response to the excuse I had made up.
No, this isn’t something to apologize for…
“No, it’s not like that, Your Highness.”
“But you said you’ve never been outside the capital before, right?”
“I don’t think that has anything to do with my appetite?”
“If we take our time looking around, you might find things to enjoy besides just food.”
“It’s alright, Your Highness. I can’t let the schedule be delayed because of me.”
I firmly shook my head at his suggestion to find other pleasures in the journey.
The trip was already behind schedule due to the change in destination.
If we were to travel slowly by carriage from here?
The future events would also be pushed further away from expectations, just like the delayed schedule.
Most of what I did right after marriage in my previous life was to solidify Lloyd’s position.
Considering that fact, Lloyd probably thinks I will act on his behalf.
The ball hosted by Marquis Perje, the hearing to win the imperial-sponsored project, the tea party of Duchess Alois who is the core of the anti-emperor faction…
I had to attend all the events that would take place exactly one month from now.
I don’t know how long he’s planning this trip to be, but we must return to the capital before the Marquis Perje’s ball that marks the beginning of all these events.
After all, isn’t a gathering of pro-emperor nobles the perfect place to ask for support for him?
I stood up, thinking I would need time to reorganize the upcoming events.
“I’ll excuse myself first, Your Highness. Please take your time.”
“Hm? No, I’m finished as well. Are you going up to your room?”
“No. I was thinking of looking around a bit.”
“Then let’s go together. It’s dangerous to be alone outside when it’s dark.”
“Yes, that would be nice.”
I was about to head out to clear my head a bit by looking around.
It shouldn’t be a big problem to have a companion tag along.
When I nodded readily, he blinked his eyes again.
Did he not expect me to agree this time as well?
“It’s strange, Your Highness. Why do you keep thinking I’ll refuse…”
“Perhaps it’s because, as you said, we have an unconventional relationship.”
He smiled somewhat bitterly.
Then he held out his hand to escort me as I stood there blankly.
“Shall we go, Amelia?”
Leoprick, who was smiling with a slight bow, looked just like a prince from a children’s fairy tale book.
…Well, he is an actual prince.
I took his hand while inwardly making silly remarks.
The hand that grasped mine and the footsteps leading the way somehow felt excited with anticipation.
It was funny, and I even thought it was cute.
…Cute?
I hesitated to follow him for a moment at the sudden thought.
No matter what, Leoprick is at least a head and a half taller than me.
To call such a person cute.
Startled by the sudden thought, I hurriedly took a step as if being chased by something.
Inwardly repeating to myself not to become complacent to this degree, I struggled to hide my bewildered feelings.
While trying to smile calmly so as not to be noticed by him waiting a few steps away.
* * *
The area around the inn was ordinary without anything special.
People on the streets could be seen returning home one by one as darkness fell.
The streets were filled only with light seeping out from buildings, aided by the faint moonlight.
An endless silence filled the space between us two as we just walked without saying anything.
It was a very long silence that had started from inside the carriage.
Is it strange that I don’t find it uncomfortable?
When I was with Lloyd, my constant chatter trying to gain his agreement or sympathy filled the space between us.
Lloyd had only given appropriate responses of agreement.
Even though the conversation was somewhat one-sided, I had thought it was better than silence.
With Leoprick, I felt that even this long silence wasn’t bad.
Maybe it’s because their personalities are so different.
Unlike Lloyd, who is sociable and casual with everyone, Leoprick was more serious and reserved.
It might seem natural that someone like him would be less talkative.
At the sudden thought, I turned my head to look at Leoprick and our eyes met, as if he had been watching me the whole time.
“…Ah.”
The moment our eyes met, his gaze that had been quietly fixed on me wavered slightly.
And from that wavering, Leoprick’s face gradually turned red like paint spreading.
I wasn’t the only one surprised by the sudden change.
I too was so flustered seeing him turn his reddened face away that I quickly averted my gaze in the opposite direction.
What on earth was he thinking while looking at me to make his face turn so red?
In that moment, when the silence felt heavy and I couldn’t turn my gaze or open my mouth to say anything.
“…I’m sorry.”
After a slightly long pause, the words that escaped were an inexplicable apology.
His deep voice, which still seemed to have a faint blush, made my heart flutter for no reason.
I pressed down on my fluttering chest and slowly exhaled.
“I don’t think you’ve done anything to apologize for, Your Highness.”
“It’s just, I didn’t expect you to be so startled…”
It was more that I was flustered rather than startled.
But I didn’t interrupt his awkward continuation.
“I’m sorry if I made you uncomfortable.”
Leoprick, who seemed like he was going to say something more, strangely closed his mouth.
I too closed my mouth after leaving a short word that it was fine.
A heavy silence, different from before, filled the space between us.
Feeling strangely awkward, I rolled my eyes while he quietly walked looking ahead.
“…Um,”
“…Uh,”
It was the moment I opened my mouth, thinking I should say something.
As if on cue, our eyes met again and we both immediately took a step back from each other.
“You go first, Your Highness.”
“No, you first.”
“It really wasn’t anything…”
“I still want to hear it.”
He urged me with a lightly smiling face.
I hadn’t opened my mouth with any particular purpose.
I had only opened my mouth wanting to ease the awkwardness of this moment.
Under Leoprick’s gaze looking down at me, I desperately wracked my brain.
“Um. I was just curious what Your Highness wants from me.”
“What I want from you?”
“Yes. Since Their Majesties have given orders, I thought it would be good if we coordinated our stories.”
“Coordinate our stories?”
“You said they wanted us to become closer, right? Since that can’t happen instantly, we should play along appropriately in front of them.”
I thought it was a fairly good topic.
Since opportunities for just the two of us to be alone like this would be rare in the future.
It would be even better if I could find out specifically how I needed to help him gain stronger imperial authority.
I know everything about Lloyd Alois, but I don’t know as much about Leoprick Reinhart.
However, Leoprick kept his mouth shut for a long time in response to my question.
At the strangely prolonged silence, I turned my gaze back to him.
“You seem to have concluded that we can never become close.”
His heavy tone, falling like a thud, left me speechless.
I couldn’t say anything in reply as he looked straight at me with eyes that seemed somehow resentful.
Was it because that gaze felt somehow hurt?
Why?
For what reason would he…
For a moment, I thought he might resent me.
Even though there was no reason for it, just because memories from my past life overlapped.
“I…”
The sound of shoes scraping the ground was heard.
Unable to meet his gaze, I looked elsewhere.
Without realizing it, I had been stepping backwards.
“I, I’ll head back to the inn first. Please look around more if you’d like, Your Highness.”
“Amelia.”
I rushed back to the inn, turning my back on him as he reached out towards me.
I needed time to think.
Time to think about the husband who kept acting like a different person.
* * *
“No matter how I think about it, this isn’t right…”
Hadn’t I regressed?
Hadn’t God given me another chance to save him?
Then shouldn’t everything be unfolding as I knew it would?
Why does that person seem so different, and why do I keep feeling swayed?
After frantically fleeing from Leoprick, I was pacing behind the inn, unable to enter my room.
It was because I was afraid I might run into him again.
An ominous feeling that something kept going subtly wrong enveloped my whole body.
The scenery, which had grown quite dark by now, should have been frightening, but I couldn’t even think of looking around.
I just kept pacing, trying desperately to shake off this ominous feeling.
That’s why.
That’s why I muttered to myself for a long time, unaware that someone was constantly watching me, unaware of how he was looking at me.
If the person in the distance hadn’t called out to me and just kept standing there, I probably would have been startled to the point of fainting.
That’s not to say I wasn’t surprised when my name was called.
“Mel.”
The moment I heard my name called in an uncharacteristically low voice.
I was truly surprised in many ways, even staggering in place.
A person who shouldn’t be here.
A voice I never thought would be here.
I turned towards him very slowly, with an unbelieving expression.
“…Lloyd?”
Male lead is a Love-Obsessed Merman
When he discovers she has gone, he risks everything to pursue her on land, enduring agonizing pain to transform his tail into human legs…
One-line summary: Male lead chases female lead. The male lead’s love is a bit sick, an invincible love brain.
Synopsis
During a voyage at sea, Jiang Yang accidentally captures a merman.
Servant: I heard that mermen are fierce and brutal.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman obediently rubbing her palm like a puppy: “You call this fierce and brutal?”
Servant: I heard that mermen have no human nature.
Jiang Yang looks at the merman with wet puppy eyes, obsessively calling her ‘A Yang’ like a childish infant: “You call this having no human nature?”
With great difficulty, she releases the merman back into the sea and returns to shore.
Who would have thought that in less than half a month, the merman, who should have been freely wandering in the South China Sea, would shed his scales, endure the pain of losing his tail, transform into human legs, and come ashore to find her?
He kneels at her feet, rubbing her palm, with merman tears rolling down: “A Yang, don’t abandon me.”
_____
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