Chapter 18

The white cream was gently scooped up with a fork before disappearing into the Prince’s mouth.

I watched him anxiously.

“Mmm… It’s delicious.”

The Prince’s eyes widened in surprise as he said it. I mentally pumped my fist in triumph.

In my previous life, I used to bake sweets quite often. …Though they were always simple things, and the only ones I could make without looking at a recipe were strawberry cake and cookies. I’d had a long break from baking, so I’d been worried, but thankfully, I still remembered how.

For my birthdays in my previous life, I usually made my own birthday cake.

I remembered experimenting quite a bit, making the cakes sweeter because my younger sisters liked that, while cutting back on the sugar because my younger brothers didn’t like overly sweet things. So, of course, I’d made this cake less sweet too.

“It isn’t too sweet, so it’s easy to eat.”

“Really!? Will praised it too!”

I was so happy to be complimented that I couldn’t help bragging a little. The Prince listened to me with an amused, happy expression.

When he acted like this, he really did feel like an older brother.

I let out a silly little “Hehe.”

As the two of us enjoyed the cake, the Prince suddenly lifted his head as though he had just remembered something and stared at me.

I tilted my head while bringing another bite of cake to my mouth.

“Hey, Bell. Did you come to the royal palace by yourself?”

“? Yes, of course. Only the fiancée of a member of the royal family is allowed into the royal palace, after all. I wanted to come with Will, but I couldn’t.”

I shrugged, and the Prince made a face like he had bitten into something extremely bitter.

“You came all the way to my room by yourself?”

“I had a guide show me the way, at least. …Is something wrong?”

The Prince looked a little pale.

He seemed about to say something, but closed his mouth again. After a moment, as if he had finally made up his mind, he stared intently at me.

“Did you meet my elder brother… the Crown Prince?”

“…The Crown Prince?”

I tilted my head and thought about it.

Had the Crown Prince been around while I was being escorted here? I had been paying attention, but I hadn’t noticed anyone like that.

“No. I didn’t meet him.”

When I answered, the Prince visibly relaxed.

“Good… Really…”

The Prince let out a long breath.

Did he hate his brother so much that he didn’t even want him to meet me?

I supposed that was understandable. After all, the Crown Prince was the one who had made the innocent Prince suffer.

Maybe the Prince should try getting back at him sometime. Something like a little prank that wouldn’t get him caught.

I shook my head at my own thought.

Nope. That wasn’t like me.

“Stay away from my brother. Absolutely.”

“Yes. It’s not like I want to get anywhere near him.”

The words came out honestly, and I immediately covered my mouth, wondering if I had gone too far.

“Ah, but there’s going to be a birthday party in a few days, right? I’ll have to talk to him then, won’t I?”

I really didn’t want to meet the Crown Prince, who was currently at rock bottom on my personal likability scale. And on top of that, I’d have to greet him and talk to him for a little while.

I was his fiancée, after all.

The Prince seemed to have forgotten about that too, because his brows furrowed deeply.

“You don’t have to come.”

“I’d love to do that too, but… you know. I’m your fiancée.”

I smiled awkwardly, but the Prince stubbornly puffed out his lips.

“It’s fine. You don’t have to come. I’ll take care of it.”

“That really won’t work…”

I stated the obvious with an exasperated sigh, but the Prince continued muttering under his breath.

It was unusual.

For such an intelligent Prince, he was surprisingly stubborn about this.

He really hated his brother that much.

Just how terrible was this Crown Prince?

Was this kingdom going to be okay…?

“Then stay with me. Don’t leave my side, okay? Absolutely not. I won’t allow you to talk to my brother alone or anything like that.”

“If you’re okay with it, then I’ll do that. It’ll be my first party too, so I’m a little nervous.”

I smiled wryly, and the Prince seemed relieved.

“It’s a promise, okay? Bell, you’re only allowed to tell him your name. No matter what he asks you or what he says to you, just say, ‘I’m Bertia Tybus.’”

That was a conversation that absolutely wouldn’t work.

“What if I get executed for being rude?!”

“…Well, then we’ll die together.”

“Let’s focus on avoiding that outcome.”

As I answered immediately, even the Prince gave a wry smile.

“Anyway, that’s how it’ll be at the party. As for the Crown Prince, I’ll do my best to deal with him.”

“Hehe. I’ll escort you perfectly, Princess.”

The Prince was amazing. He could say something that sweet so casually without even blushing.

That was probably a privilege reserved for handsome men.

I smiled back brightly at the Prince’s smile and bowed my head.

“Please do.”

“Oh, we finished the cake. Let’s play a game next! A game!”

I excitedly showed him the board.

At the mention of a board game, the Prince suddenly spoke up.

“We have chess.”

“This time, it isn’t chess! I can’t handle something that requires that much thinking!”

“I think all board games require thinking.”

The Prince laughed in exasperation.

I gave him a quick glance before taking a round piece with black on one side and white on the other from the basket.

The Prince stared at it intently.

“What’s this? Another foreign game?”

“That’s right! And it’s called… Othello!”

“Othello…?”

He repeated the unfamiliar name curiously.

Othello—

Players took turns placing black and white pieces. By surrounding the opponent’s pieces between their own pieces horizontally, vertically, or diagonally, they could flip those pieces to their own color. The player with the most pieces of their color at the end won.

It looked simple, but it was actually a surprisingly deep game.

“Hehe. With such a simple game, I finally have a chance to win!”

I proudly puffed out my chest with a smug expression.

The Prince ignored me and continued examining the black and white pieces with interest.

“The black and white pieces aren’t any different from chess.”

“That’s true.”

“Oh, I just thought of something.”

The Prince lifted his head as though an idea had suddenly occurred to him.

He stared at me and smiled darkly.

“Hey, Bell. Playing normally is boring, so how about we add a penalty? The loser has to do whatever the winner says.”

“What!? A penalty…?”

I’d never once managed to beat the Prince after thinking I could, so I didn’t want to take such a risky gamble…

“Is that a problem? It’s my birthday, you know.”

“Ugh, that’s true… Fine. Let’s have a penalty.”

Now I really couldn’t afford to lose.

There was no telling what this surprisingly mischievous Prince might make me do.

I stole a glance at him.

He was wearing a confident, knowing smile.

I had a very bad feeling about this…

“…It’s over. There are only two places left where I can put my pieces…”

“Don’t give up.”

There were only a few of my pieces left on the board, while the Prince’s pieces had nearly covered the entire board.

And I only had two possible moves left.

At this point, I had completely lost the will to fight.

“If I retire, can we just skip the penalty?”

“No.”

“Ugh…”

I placed one piece with a click and flipped one of the pieces over.

The Prince placed his final piece.

“Okay, that’s the end. Who won?”

He obviously knew the answer, but the fact that he deliberately asked anyway was so mean.

I puffed out my lips in a sulk.

“The Prince.”

“So Bell gets the penalty.”

The Prince deliberately crossed his arms as though he were seriously considering what penalty to give me.

It was supposed to be that the loser had to do whatever the winner said, right?

I just hoped he wouldn’t make me do anything unreasonable.

I was pretty confident I could imitate a dog, though.

“Then you’ll grant my request, okay?”

“Request?”

“Yeah. Next year, the year after that, and the year after that too… Will you keep celebrating my birthday for me?”

“…Huh?”

That was what he had wanted to say badly enough to win the game for?

“That’s all you want? Is that even a penalty?”

“Who knows? Maybe it isn’t a penalty for Bell.”

The Prince giggled and shrugged.

“Then do you want to make a different request?”

“No, it’s fine. I’ll be happy to celebrate your birthday.”

“Oh, then my birthday is also our engagement anniversary, right?”

“Then we can celebrate both at once.”

When I nodded, the Prince pointed at the empty cake plate.

“The cake was really delicious. I want to eat it again.”

“Thank you. I’ll make it for you anytime.”

When I smiled softly, the Prince also gave me a gentle, blissful smile.