Finally, it was time for the auspicious meeting. The meeting place was none other than the Villa of Marquise Hearts!

Because it was in between the capital and the fief where charlotte resided, the king had asked for this favor of lending the place for a bit.

(Coincidence? I think not.)

Today, Lia had neatly done her hair with the hairpin Charlotte wanted and make-up, but as per charlotte’s request, it was thin and simple. The perfume she used was of a lavender fragrance, not too strong. She wore simple not too high heels and a not too flashy white dress.

Pure and simple; that was how she was currently being described by the servants even though they usually avoided her gaze.

Duke Adrian didn’t accompany her and left her safety to Walter.

Charlotte stepped into the carriage. Iris and Lilly as well as Cecilia accompanied her as her attendants. The carriage sped off into the distance and the Duke silently watched from his window.

“I leave her safety to you, my friend.”

The inside of the carriage was rather awkward. Cecilia was still as nervous as ever around Charlotte and Walter wasn’t the talkative type. To break the silence, Charlotte began to play around with Iris and Lilly’s ears.

Cecilia instantly tensed up, seeing her like this, Walter finally spoke.

“What is it Miss Cecilia? If it’s the young miss, then you should have already adjusted to her strange behavior over the past few weeks.”

Cecilia glanced in front of her at Lady Charlotte and two beastkin girls joking around “Still, it feels weird. Everything about her is weird lately.” She whispered to him.

Walter cracked a smile “I suppose that is true. Having known her all her life and then she suddenly changes without warning. Even the master is worried, but seeing her improve, he decided that it was for the best.”

“Well she did improve in a lot of ways I suppose…”

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The carriage came to a stop. The driver announced their arrival, and his voice was like an alarm bell to Charlotte’s ears.

She still hadn’t thought up of a plan to avoid their engagement…..

One by one, they got off the carriage. A servant of the villa then guided them inside. Charlotte was instructed to go alone to the rose garden to where the crown prince was.

(They say brats are always the most difficult to deal with. Let’s just hope that’s not the case here.)

She took a deep breath as she walked closer and closer.

There, a young boy of 12yrs old dressed in simple attire of royalty sat by the fountain. He had golden blond hair and azure blue eyes. The perfect image of a prince.

 “Greetings your highness. My name is Charlotte Ionesse, it is a pleasure to finally meet your acquaintance.” Charlotte slightly lifted the hem of her dress and politely curtsied.

“Lady Charlotte, the pleasure’s all mine.”

Charlotte then went to take a seat opposite Prince Leonard.

“…….”

“…..”

None of them spoke any further. Or rather, he didn’t know what to talk about while Charlotte was wrecking her brain to come up with something to escape this place.

“I heard that you got injured when you were on your way to our last meeting. I hope you have already healed properly.”

Charlotte who had her head lowered looked up slightly surprised. She didn’t think that he was such a good mannered kid, or at least, that he would even pretend to be nice.

She smiled “Thank you for your concern. Thanks to everyone’s help, I have already recovered without a problem.”

“That is good to hear. Although I must apologize that that all happened while you were on your way to see me.”

“No no no. it wasn’t your fault. Since the wound has been healed, let us forget about it.”

(And while you’re at it, please forget about our engagement as well. But that would be asking a bit too much huh.)

At some point in time, the two started chatting about meaningless things such as their hobbies favorite color etcetera.

(Damnit! This guy is really likable to have as a chatting buddy, that I completely forgot my original objective!)

They were complete chatting buddies at this point.

“Lady Charlotte, it has been fun chatting with you.”

“You as well, your highness.”

“You can just call me Leo. That is what people close to me call me.” He flashed her a charming smile.

That smile was probably something he does to everyone. No wonder all the girls she knew (young maids she was eavesdropping on again) always talked about how charming he was.

(Poor Leila must be having a hard time huh.)

“My, I feel honored that you consider me as such. Then, please just call me Lotte as well.”

“Very well, Lotte.”

(Well, making friends isn’t such a bad idea…)

As far as she knew, the only ones she could actually think of as friends in this life were Iris and Lilly. She didn’t make any contact with other noble daughters, and she probably would have a hard time too.

“Um, Leo….”

It was time to return. Charlotte was already going back when she suddenly called out to him. She wanted to tell him, but stopped.

Leo just stared at her, puzzled.

“Never mind. Then, until next time.”

The two parted ways after that and didn’t meet until two weeks later.