Chapter 18│Read translated stories and daily updates at: Awebstories.com

Stephan let out a small sigh one day, a while after the entrance ceremony, as he and Sharon went about their work as crown prince and advisor.

“Your Highness, Stephan, Is something wrong?”

Over the past few years, the language had become more polite, and Sharon had not been as comfortable talking to him as he used to be.

Stephan complained about it several times, but was advised to be reasonable and gave up.

“It’s… no, it’s nothing.”

Seeing Stephan’s expression clouded, Sharon personally made the tea that the maid had prepared and placed the cup in front of Stephan.

“Shall we take a break?”

“Ah, yes.”

He had always been a fair and considerate man.

And a man with good instincts.

“Your Highness, if I may be so bold, may I say something?”

“What…What is it?”

He was a little surprised. He knows that he usually admonishes him when he begins his remarks with those words.

Sharon paused for a moment before slowly opening his mouth.

“Your Highness… you remember the vows you made when you were provisionally engaged to Miss Lumina, don’t you?”

Surprised

Stephan surrendered, knowing he couldn’t hide anything from Sharon, who was getting to the heart of what he didn’t want to be touched right now.

“I have a good memory.”

“Then I hope you will continue to love and respect Miss Lumina as your fiancée.”

Stephan scratched his head at the words, sighed loudly, and then covered his face with both hands.

“I wonder…what love is.”

He vowed to make an effort to love her. That’s why he sent flowers, jewelry, and dresses, and went out with her many times.

He could easily whisper that he loved her.

But what is love, which Stephan lost sight of as the years went by.

But on that morning of the entrance ceremony, when he held Sophie, Lumina’s sister, in his arms, he remembered the thrill he had felt once when he was a little boy.

Sophie’s pretty smile, like a flower opening, made his heart beat faster.

“What kind of a man am I…”

He remembers Lumina’s eyes.

Her eyes, who don’t believe him, who smiles but is cold at the same time.

——Every time she looked at me with those eyes, I was proud that I wasn’t the untrustworthy man Lumina believed I was, but now I’m afraid to look into her eyes every day.

Thud!

In the next moment, Sharon gave Stephan a good slap on the back.

A loud thud echoed through the room, and Stephan groaned in pain as he bent over in sudden pain in his back.

Sharon looked at him and said.

“Is the Crown Prince going to contradict his own words? As a man, it’s only natural to take good care of his woman! How many times did Miss Lumina tell you? She wants to create a loving and loved family! And yet, it was you who tied her. Don’t you realize that?!”

Stephan breathed heavily and looked up, feeling nostalgic at his friend’s rebuke, which he had not heard in a long time.

“I’m sorry… Thank you, Sharon.”

“No, I’m sorry. I will accept punishment in some way.”

“Ha! You wouldn’t be here right now, if that’s the case.”

They smile at each other and go back to work as if nothing had happened.

——I swore an oath.

——There’s nothing I can do to change that now.

Stephan put a lid on the feelings that were growing in his heart.

---