NOVPUB‘What the hell is this guy thinking?’
Meredia, who had gone unusually quiet and was now following behind Whitney while staring at the spot he had pointed to, found herself lost in thought, her eyes fixed on his back—unfairly distant tonight.
‘He pulls this now? Out of nowhere?’
The only reason Meredia had initially thought better of Whitney, even when she didn’t care for him, was because he wasn’t one of those men who lusted after her body.
From her point of view, she had seen far too many fools recklessly drawn to her just for her looks. (Of course, those fools had a tendency to disappear without a trace.) She’d grown sharp at sensing that kind of energy.
And at least until now, Whitney had never shown the slightest interest in her body.
That he even dared to say he loved her had been curious. Maybe even a little amusing. And before she realized it, she'd begun to fall for him too.
‘Men really are beasts.’
Gazing at Whitney’s back with half-lidded eyes, Meredia wore a frosty expression as she muttered inwardly.
‘They act all sweet at first, but in the end, they all end up like this.’
Even though she’d cursed this truth to herself countless times while in the theater, she found herself once again trusting her handmaid—the one who’d learned romance only through books.
‘...Right. No point in just standing around. I’ll show him exactly what I think.’
She stopped walking for a moment, determined to give Whitney a taste of fire. But then her eyes wavered.
“...U-Urgh.”
Now that she thought about it, it somehow felt like if she did show him that fire, Whitney wouldn’t be able to handle it.
She was half-convinced he was hiding some terrifying power. Still, she wasn’t sure he could handle a surprise attack.
‘If he tries to force anything... I’ll just beat the hell out of him then.’
Changing her mind again, she moved to step forward—but then her eyes flickered once more.
‘...Wait, why should I even be doing this?’
Her relationship with Whitney had started with the assumption of marriage. If she truly had a future, then this moment would come sooner or later anyway.
Besides, today’s date—she had prepared it because she wanted to take things a step further.
She had even, unknowingly, bought that from the boutique. There was no real reason to back out now.
“...Ugh.”
The moment she reached that conclusion, her face flushed bright red.
‘No, but still... Isn’t this something that needs time...?’
Just a few hours ago, she had reached a new high in physical affection with a daring “head-on-shoulder” move.
Up until then, the most they’d done was hold hands or a quick peck on the cheek. And now this huge leap?
“Lady Meredia, what are you doing?”
“...Ah.”
“Why are you just standing there? Aren’t you coming?”
Startled, Meredia snapped her head up at Whitney’s voice from ahead. She hadn’t even realized how anxious she looked.
“Lady Meredia?”
She was thankful it was nighttime, so she could quietly lower her head.
“Are you feeling unwell?”
“...No.”
“Then what are you doing back there?”
Had it been daytime, Whitney might have seen that humiliating expression she was making.
“...Coming.”
“Pardon?”
“I said I’m coming!”
Trying to keep calm and hide her emotions, Meredia snapped back in a shrill tone, finally losing her composure.
— Thump. Thump. Thump...
Her heart had been pounding violently for quite some time now.
***
How much time had passed?
“Lady Meredia, we’ve arrived.”
“...Huh?”
Whitney’s voice snapped her out of her daze. Meredia looked up, only now realizing they had reached their destination.
“W-What is this place?”
“Why? Don’t you like it?”
“No, I mean...”
Looking around blankly for a moment, she finally opened her mouth in confusion.
“This is... an observation deck.”
“Exactly.”
Strangely enough, it wasn’t the lodging he had pointed to earlier. Instead, Whitney had brought her to a hilltop deck overlooking the Empire’s streets in full view.
“Oh, this isn’t just any observation deck. A new one was built recently, so no one comes to this one anymore.”
“......”
“So only those who know about it come here. Haha. Actually, calling it an observation deck might be generous. All the buildings were torn down—only the hill remains. ‘Hilltop’ might be more accurate...”
While Whitney rambled on cheerfully, Meredia glared at him with hazy eyes and bit her lower lip.
The underwear she’d tried on at the boutique earlier was starting to feel uncomfortably tight for some reason.
“...No way.”
With her head cooling down a bit, she finally realized what Whitney had meant when he pointed earlier.
‘He meant the hilltop all along...’
Thinking back, there was a large hill with an observation deck right behind the building he had gestured toward.
Given Whitney’s nature, it wasn’t hard to piece together what he’d been referring to.
It was just that, with her head still hot from all that skinship at the theater, she had jumped to a ridiculous conclusion.
“Ugh...”
The fact that she’d made a complete fool of herself over a stupid misunderstanding made her grit her teeth.
“We haven’t even started, and you're already making that cute face?”
Yet even that frustration seemed adorable to Whitney, who smiled without a hint of self-awareness.
“...So, what now?”
“Hmm?”
“You said you were going to prove your pure love. Go ahead. Show me.”
Her voice was cold, her gaze steely. ⊛ Nоvеlιght ⊛ (Read the full story) She was clearly daring him to go through with it.
“Haha, let’s lie down first.”
“...What?”
“Unngh—ah, this is nice. Didn’t we walk around a lot today?”
Already used to Meredia’s moods, Whitney flopped down on the grassy hill and patted the spot beside him.
“...Sigh.”
For a split second, she considered killing him. But in the end, Meredia let out a deep sigh and lay down beside him.
She was genuinely tired, and also a bit curious—what kind of nerve did he have to act like this?
As she lay beside him, blinking quietly for a while, she eventually let out a sigh and turned toward him with a tinge of annoyance.
“I’m lying down. Now what?”
“Haha, you don’t see it?”
“See what?”
With a chuckle, Whitney leaned in and whispered.
“You’re too busy staring at my face to notice.”
“......”
“Do you like me that much?”
Still facing him, Meredia blushed and turned her gaze away at his teasing.
“Look up at the sky.”
“...The sky? Ah.”
Her eyes widened slightly as she turned her gaze upward.
“Isn’t it beautiful?”
The night sky, glittering with countless stars and a bright moon, filled her vision.
“...It is.”
Meredia replied in a low voice, watching the sky as if in a trance.
Though she owned enough beautiful jewels and accessories to fill entire vaults, the night sky she was now seeing with Whitney—this scene—was something far beyond all of that.
“...I actually used to hate stars.”
“Why?”
Still lying beside him, Meredia spoke again in a hushed tone.
“No matter how much I wished on them through the window as a child, they never gave me happiness.”
“......”
“That’s when I realized—happiness is something I have to seize with my own hands.”
When she was younger—meek and kind—there was a time when she’d nearly starved to death, locked in a room by the Duke of Embergreen. She remembered praying as the starlight poured through the iron bars.
But it hadn’t been the stars that saved her. It had been Maier, who, not wanting to be caught for leaving leftovers, had tossed her some scraps like a dog.
“I like stars.”
“...Why?”
Meredia frowned slightly at Whitney’s reply, her expression shadowed by the memories.
“...It’s a faint memory, but the night before I died in my previous life, I made a wish while staring at the stars.”
“......”
“And now that I think about it, I think it came true. Perfectly, even.”
As Whitney spoke, smiling more brightly than usual, Meredia stared at him with a flat expression.
“What nonsense are you spouting?”
“Haha, was the joke that bad?”
He tried to laugh it off, but something about his smile caught her attention.
‘That felt... sincere.’
Could it be—he knew her even in his past life?
But even in a world full of magic and fantastical beings, Meredia had never heard of something like a “past life.”
Regression, possession, reincarnation—those were things of legend, reserved for stories about heroes and demon kings. No magic could reproduce anything like them.
‘It’s probably just one of those cheesy lines of his, like "I’ve loved you since my past life."’
Deciding not to overthink it, she gave a dry chuckle and muttered softly,
“...Maybe for me too. It finally happened, even if late.”
“Huh?”
“...No need to explain it to you.”
The idea that someone could love her selflessly—even from a past life—maybe that was the happiness she had always longed for.
But she still had her pride as a noblewoman. She wasn’t about to voice something so embarrassing aloud.
“So... is this it?”
Regaining her composure, Meredia finally asked what had been nagging her for a while.
“I don’t really see how this proves anything about ‘pure love’...”
But before she could finish—
“...Mmph?”
The moment she turned her head toward Whitney again, her soft lips were pressed against his.
“......!?”
Startled, Meredia instinctively tried to pull away, thinking it was a mistake—but Whitney’s hand was already gently cradling the back of her neck.
“Mmmph, nn...”
Of course, with her strength, she could’ve thrown him off and slammed him into the ground without effort.
But instead, she simply chose to weakly pat his arm, until even that came to a stop.
“......”
Then, her shy tongue reached out, mingling with his. Their arms wrapped around each other.
“...Haa, haa...”
“......”
After who knew how long, Meredia finally pulled her head back. A thin string of saliva stretched between them. Wiping it with her sleeve, she panted heavily, glaring at Whitney with a flushed face.
“...That’s cheating, you bastard.”
Indeed, it was cheating.
A flawless proof of pure love—sealed with their very first kiss.
“Ahaha...”
