Palimony

Chapter 83 – What a start for the day…

(Prince Rudnick’s PoV)

My fiancee is getting prettier with each passing day. Her shy smile in particular is especially cute.

At first she used to just smile when she was scheming something, but nowadays her smiles are getting cuter and cuter… It can’t be helped that I want monopolize her a bit, can it? I should have that right, she is my fiancee after all.

However, asking her out on a date would usually just lead to us doing business-related stuff, as Yulias always wants to make the best use of any money-making opportunity she can find.

It was saddening that the highest amount of time we could spend together, was when we were getting evidence on Lamore’s affair back when he was still Yulias’ fiance.

Though the last date I had with Yulias was going great… She had even dressed up just for me… And then disaster befell us, as we met up with the dragons.

We didn’t have an opportunity for time alone since. She’s always with the dragons somehow… And I’m always so busy with work too, so it’s hard for me to find time to spend with my own fiancee…

I sighed in frustration. I’ve gotten really greedy since we got engaged. At first I was just happy to hear her giggles, but now I want a lot more from her.

And just as I thought that, I heard knocks on my office’s door. When I gave permission for the person to enter it, I heard the voice that I wanted to hear the most.

“Why don’t you take a break, your highness?” Yulias asked. She had a basket on her hands and looked particularly cute… I wanted to hug her.

“You alone today?” I asked her.

“Yes, I wanted to talk with you for a bit.” She answered… My fiancee is so cute that it hurts.

“When did you start saying such lovely things?” I said with a small blush.

“What do you mean?” She tilted her head, then said, “It’s about lady Vanette.” She started preparing some tea and sweets as she said that.

… About dragons again?

“I think Michael is starting to be more aware of lady Vanette, but I still don’t quite get how men’s feelings work, so I wanted to get advice from your highness.” She explained.

Why does she have to ask me about the feelings of other men at one of the rare times we can spend together…? This is so frustrating…

“When did you even start caring about things that didn’t make you money…?” I asked her, then drank a bit of her tea.

… Wait, what did I just say?

There were tears in Yulias’ eyes, “Wait, Yulias, I’m sorry, I-”

“So your highness thinks that I only care about money?” She asked me.

“No, not at all, I-” I tried apologizing properly, but…

“I’m sorry, I’m not feeling too well… Please excuse me.” Yulias turned around and rushed away from the office, escaping my hand that desperately tried to grab hers.

Why did I have to say that…? I’m so stupid. I hurt Yulias with jealousy… I made Yulias cry because I was envious of her spending more time with dragons than with me… I’m such a worthless fiance.

But then, my office’s door was suddenly opened without my permission. I thought Yulias had returned, but it was just Michael.

“Huh? Where’s the young lady?” He asked. His words hurt…

“Yulias woke up early to bake some sweets for you, didn’t she come to deliver them?” Roland, who came in right after Michael, said that.

“I’m the worst…” I told them that, then explained the story of what had just happened shortly after.

After I was done, they stayed silent for a while, but eventually, Roland heaved a sigh, then said, “As Yulias brother, I do want to push you out of a window right now, but I sort of understand what jealousy does, now that I’m together with Manika…”

“You should apologize to her as soon as possible.” Michael said. He had a troubled smile on his face.

… It was his fault though. If it wasn’t for him, Yulias wouldn’t be spending as much time with the dragons… But I can’t even tell him this much, as it would get in the way of Yulias’ plans, so I had to just endure it without saying anything.

I took a deep breath, then said, “I’ll go look for Yulias.”

Roland smiled when he heard that, then said, “It’s a good idea, but… Your highness still has a lot of work to do.”

“Huh?” I said. He isn’t seriously going to-

“Michael, do it.” As Roland said that, Michael immediately started tying me down to my chair.

“Sorry, brother. I can’t really go against Roland.” Michael said.

“Don’t mess with me…” I replied.

“That’s my line. You’ve been flirting with Yulias too much these days, so this is your time to repent.” Roland told me.

And Michael patted my head, as if he was dealing with a child… “Don’t worry, I’ll comfort you.”

These two are the worst friends ever…

And then Michael left the office… Such comforting he did. I sighed.

“Well, you can try solving things with Yulias after you’re done with work, so do your best.” Roland said.

… I suppose those are my just desserts for making Yulias cry.

Sighing one more time, I started focusing on work.