Previously
Cecilia prepares for her first meeting with Leoport, the grandson of Duke Ornbach, while her maids Mary and Batisha tease her about his potential as a future husband. When Leoport arrives, he is a shy and angelic child who is initially intimidated by Cecilia's royal guards.
“…Pardon?”
Leoport’s eyes looked as if they might pop out, they went so wide. A glaring question mark hung over his face, as though he hadn’t understood a single thing he had just heard.
‘It’s only natural for a late bloomer like Leoport to fall for someone precocious. And when that someone looks like Cecilia…’
Yes, it was best to nip any suspicious feelings in the bud.
I was completely satisfied with my life as a minor character who held a diamond spoon, and above all, I had no intention of getting swept up in romance and dragged out of this comfortable imperial palace.
It might sound like jumping to conclusions for a seven-year-old child, but I wasn't really seven….
I had to draw the line right now.
“I mean, since I’m pretty, did you fall for me?”
There was a sharp, stubborn edge to my tone.
Whenever Mary and Batisha went overboard, or whenever I saw the imperial guards puffing out their chests with pride just walking through the garden with me, or when the new maids and chefs at Freesia Palace greeted me with stars in their eyes….
Whenever everyone in the imperial palace looked at me with such overwhelming adoration and handled me gingerly, like a piece of precious glass—
in moments like that, the same thought always crossed my mind.
‘Nothing inside me has changed, yet I’m only treated this way in this life. In the end, it all comes down to appearance.’
I was receiving love beyond imagination, and whenever that felt unnatural, I could only justify it by looking in the mirror.
Though my question might have seemed blunt, Leoport answered with shining eyes,
“Y-Your Highness… you’re wonderful!”
“Well, I admit I’m wonderful. But the way your heart fluttered when you saw my face today was just a normal reaction to being startled, not because you have a crush on me.”
Leoport was still staring at my face with his mouth hanging open, clearly not following my point.
‘Smart as he is with his studies… he’s never thought about these things before. Interpersonal relationships are a different matter altogether.’
Fearing the impact of Cecilia’s face, I earnestly brought out the words I had prepared in advance.
“When you truly like someone, you hear the sound of a bell ringing.”
“Pardon?”
“If you don’t hear a bell, it isn’t love.”
“The sound… of a bell?”
The confusion on Leoport’s face deepened.
In truth, I hadn't just pulled this out of thin air.
“‘From the moment I first saw you… I felt as if a bell was ringing, telling me you were the angel who would teach me love.’”
Because he was the one who would say those very words later when confessing to Emily.
Since he was going to say it himself, it had to be true, right?
‘This should convince him, and then I can relax.’
I looked at him as if to say, ‘You didn’t hear anything just now, did you?’ But he only kept staring, mouth slightly agape.
It wasn't hard to imagine that sheer awe toward a princess who spoke so eloquently was running through his head.
“You might not get it now, but later on you’ll see how right I was.”
Relieved, I took a sip of the cold fruit tea Mary had left.
Just then, Leoport tilted his head and spoke up tentatively.
“But, Your Highness… do you really think people only love you for your looks?”
“Yes. What else would it be?”
I answered without hesitation.
“Even your family?”
“Most likely.”
Leoport hesitated for a moment, then ventured cautiously,
“I… I think I would like you no matter what you looked like.”
What was this now? His face had flushed red just looking at Cecilia’s face, so what did he know?
I glared at him, making no effort to hide my irritation, but despite his hesitation, he gave a bright smile.
“The people of Freesia Palace spend every day with you. Your family even more so. They say a person's looks have nothing to do with the love of family and friends.”
‘I doubt it. Looks are everything to people.’
Wasn’t the reality that I was loved now only because my appearance had changed, even though the inside remained the exact same?
‘Not all families love like that.’
Soured by the thought, harsh words slipped out of my mouth.
“Isn’t that just because you’re handsome too? You seem to think the love you receive is the same as what I get.”
“No, I never thought that. How could I dare….”
Leoport spoke in a voice on the verge of tears, overcome with fluster.
I had meant to throw him off balance, but seeing him hurt right in front of me gave me a pang of guilt.
…Lashing out wouldn't make up for my past life anyway.
As a brief silence settled over us, Leoport carefully spoke up.
“I was very sick until recently, but my family said just having me alive and healthy was enough.”
Right, Leoport’s character background included being frail in his childhood—probably to rationalize why the duke’s heir grew up so soft-hearted. That was why this was his first time traveling such a long distance.
“They said I didn’t even need to study, and that this kind of love is something any family member should receive.”
“Pretty children look pretty even when they’re sick.”
I retorted coldly.
The thought of a sickly child brought back memories of my younger sister in my past life, who was delicate and commanded all of our parents’ attention.
My brow furrowed without me realizing it.
Leoport didn’t shrink back despite my reaction, and pressed on.
“When I heard there was a princess my age who was so much braver and more mature than me, I truly wanted to become your friend. That’s why I pleaded with my father. Was it wrong of me to want to be close to you, even before I’d ever seen your face?”
By the time he finished, he looked ready to burst into tears.
“Ah… well….”
The faces of my current family flashed through my mind—gazing down at my newborn face, still red and wrinkled, yet calling me lovely all the same.
‘Truth is… I know I’m being stubborn.’
Even so, I couldn't readily concede to Leoport’s sincere, sweet words.
Watching a child blush and struggle to say something that might sound rude made me let out a deep sigh.
In any case, I shouldn't have been so hard on Leoport.
‘Some adult I am….’
I had boasted about having an adult mind, but in reality, I was taking out the bitterness of my past life on my present one.
When he had done nothing wrong….
And so, my first meeting with Leoport came to an awkward, unresolved end.
Feeling guilty, I pushed all the biscuits and chocolates the maids had brought toward him, at which point he finally worried he might have said something out of turn, his eyes brimming with tears.
‘Shouldn’t a seven-year-old be past this sort of thing…?’
Though I didn't really know how seven-year-olds behaved, I tried to treat him as kindly as I could out of guilt.
“Aren’t you having any more, Your Highness?”
“No, watching you eat is enough for me.”
Even as I spouted ridiculous nonsense like that,
“By the way, sweets ruin your teeth, so be sure to brush them the moment you get home.”
“Brush… my teeth?”
I would slip right back into lecturing him.
‘Either way, we’ll keep seeing each other, so we’d better get along.’
Watching the rounded back of Leoport’s head as he rode away in the carriage with the Duchess of Ornbach, who had returned to Freesia Palace, I mulled over what he had said.
‘Truth be told, even if Leoport had looked completely different, I still would have felt comfortable around him.’
Though a romance novel hero’s childhood could hardly be anything but adorable.
‘I assumed my parents and siblings were sweet just because they were beautiful, and that’s why the imperial family was so harmonious. I thought I received all this overflowing love purely because Cecilia was cute….’
Perhaps if it hadn’t been me, but the original Cecilia of the story, she would have grown up just like Leoport—bright and unburdened by these complexes….
Having an adult mind had certainly helped my life as a princess, but for the first time, I realized it could also make me misjudge other people’s feelings through my own twisted biases.
“Your Highness, you’ve already finished studying political theory? That’s incredible!”
“How can you tell all these apples apart? Your sense of taste must be amazing!”
“How do you take medicine so easily? I always struggle with it….”
Whenever Leoport visited twice a month, he found every possible way to shower me with praise.
Every time, his bright green eyes looked so completely pure.
“Just as I thought, you’re so mature because you read the ancient scriptures.”
“Leo, you don’t have a crush on me, right? You haven’t heard any bells, have you?”
“No, not a single one.”
As time passed and our visits grew too numerous to count on both hands, we started calling each other by nicknames.
‘In the original story, there’s a scene where Emily gets jealous over these nicknames, so it’s fine… this is supposed to happen.’
Confident that these pet names held no romantic feelings, I began indulging Leoport’s clinginess to a certain degree.
It felt like clinginess to me, but perhaps on his end, it was just a natural expression of affection….
Yet with each boundless display of friendship, I found myself hesitating.
‘Is it because he thinks Cecilia is pretty, making everything about her seem greater, and that’s why he wants to be closer?’
Or was he simply kind by nature…?
Or was it that I had never experienced such sincere friendship in my past life? I caught myself constantly remaining wary of Leoport’s intentions.
‘I don’t want to cause any cracks in the world of The Violet of the Duchy.’
This world needed to stay on track so that I could live a peaceful life free of misery.
This world that had visited my dreams endlessly since I was small, promising to be my salvation….
“Your etiquette seems even more flawless than my mother’s!”
“More than the Duchess? Does that even make sense?”
“You’re already this perfect, so imagine how wonderful you’ll be when you grow up to be my mother’s age!”
“I’ve been learning since I was two.”
“Still… and your clothes are always so clean. I’m always tripping or spilling things on mine, and I feel so bad for the servants.”
At times, his compliments went a bit too far.
“Wow, my tutor said no other seven-year-old is as advanced in logic as me, but you’re the best in the whole world!”
“Wh-what are you talking about? But my sister is….”
“Your sister?”
“No, slipped of the tongue.”
Every now and then, those unprompted praises brushed against the old vulnerabilities of my past life.
Because of that, the conviction that had rooted itself deep within me during all my years as Cecilia—that everything came down to her beauty—gradually began to waver.
It wasn't easy to tear down a belief held for over seven years in a single moment.
Yes, perhaps it had been a form of defense.
As long as Cecilia’s appearance didn't change, the love and attention I received wouldn't change either….
Yet that defense was steadily dissolving because of Leoport, like clothes quietly soaking through in a fine drizzle.
Then, one day.
“Cecil, do you have some time?”