Male Lead, Don’t Push, Pull! - Chapter 2

“Kyle, tell me. Is it night now?” Titania said, stretching her neck.

 

“No……”

 

“Then why are you already in bed?  I already said that indolence is a vice that must be avoided in order to become the Crown Prince.” Her words could be interpreted as thoughtful advice, but they sounded like a threat.

 

Kyle’s shoulders shrank. His chest was starting to sting, like when he saw the wound on Vivian’s knees.

 

Kyle hesitantly opened his mouth, managing to squeeze out, “Well, there´s something I want to think about for a moment…”

 

“Excusing your own behavior is also a wrong thing which should be avoided as a ruler of the empire. Have you forgotten your education?”

 

“I was wrong, Mother.”

 

“Nonsense. A prince can’t be wrong. It was my negligence that allowed Kyle to go out today. Can you forgive me, Kyle? Let’s go to the training room.”

 

For a moment a shadow appeared on Kyle’s face. But soon enough, he followed Titania helplessly.

 

***

 

“Unbelievable.”

 

I had sent a desperate reconciliation letter with consideration that I wrote after struggling for hours.

 

“And I don’t even get a reply,” I grumbled.

 

I was mercilessly ignored by Kyle.

 

‘Didn’t I expect this to happen?’

 

Feeling a little down, I dropped my forehead onto the tea table. The cool breeze gently swayed my hair.

 

It should’ve been a leisurely afternoon tea time, but with delicious-looking snacks in front of me, I was shivering.

 

I blankly tapped the pudding served as a snack with a teaspoon. The deliciously chewy custard pudding danced softly in response.

 

‘Kyle loves pudding.’

 

I was going to give you a taste of our chef’s pudding, the most delicious in the world, if you had responded to my request for reconciliation.

 

“Lisa.”

 

“Yes, Miss.”

 

“If the other person doesn’t reply to my letter for a week, it means he’s ignoring it, right?”

 

Lisa made an embarrassed face.

 

She was clearly thinking that I’d be disappointed to hear a yes, so the right answer would have to be no.

 

I sighed and rested my chin on my hand.

 

“Is he upset with me?” I groaned.

 

“Um, Miss, I’m not sure about that, but he seemed a little surprised,” Lisa countered gently.

 

“Aghh, we should have played tag in moderation!”

 

Kyle, who will be chosen as the crown prince and will become the emperor in the future, is like a golden rope for me and the Marquis of Rosiere.

 

It was only in the original story that the Marquis of Rosiere made a wrong choice and collapsed, but now I know the future, right?

 

I wanted to make good use of the childhood friend position, which was a pre-existing setting, to make him a strong future emperor.

 

‘This is all because I was too keen on playing tag.’

 

If my memory was going to come back, it should have come to my mind as soon as I was born so that I could avoid these doom flags.

 

“Don’t worry too much. His Majesty the Prince is busy. You will get a reply soon.” Lisa tried to comfort me.

 

I pouted my lips, feeling a sense of injustice.

 

‘It was Kyle who knocked me over in the first place. Why do I have to send a letter first, asking us to reconcile and get along again?’

 

Kyle didn’t even answer.

 

“Hah…”

 

‘I’ll leave the disobedient dog alone and eat a snack.’

 

With a grumpy expression, I scooped out a large spoonful of pudding and put it in my mouth.

 

As soon as the dessert hit my tongue, it melted sweetly, its rich flavor dancing on my palate.

 

Oh, my gosh.

 

‘As expected, our chef is a genius,’ I thought while savoring my spoonful of pudding.

 

Sweet desserts make people think positively.

 

Surprisingly, the foreboding feeling I had a little while ago disappeared completely.

 

‘Okay. I´ll be patient.’

 

“Lisa, will my father enter the palace tomorrow?”

 

“Should I go and ask him right away, Miss?”

 

“Yes, please.”

 

Lisa hurriedly left the room to find out for me. I leaned against the back of the chair, feeling a little more comfortable and at ease.

 

Yum..!

 

With the splendid taste of pudding strengthening my resolve, I hatched a plan.

 

If the other person was going to ignore my letter, I would simply go to him myself.

 

My father may go to the palace tomorrow, so I would just need to ask him to take me with him.

 

‘Just wait there, male lead.’

 

‘I´m coming!’

 

***

 

Two days later.

 

I entered the Imperial Palace with Marquis Rosiere.

 

My father had told me firmly before entering, ‘Follow this father well in the palace.’

 

And I soon realized why.

 

“Wow.” I gasped.

 

There were so many people in the palace.

 

The Marquis of Rosiere also has quite a large mansion, but the Imperial Palace is unquestionably larger.

 

There were so many people that my eyes were spinning.

 

‘Is there some kind of event today?’

 

Even though it was not the day of a banquet, the courtyard was packed with people. Everyone was clearly busy walking around. After all, this is a place for them to work.

 

‘I’m busy, too,’ I lamented. I took a moment to mourn my circumstances.

 

Today I was allowed to enter the palace with my father, but not to meet Kyle. The reason was that he couldn’t make time in his schedule, which was full of his education classes as a prince.

 

Anyway, since I had already entered the palace today, I definitely wanted to meet Kyle before going back.

 

If the Lady draws a knife, shouldn’t she cut the radish too?

 

I just don’t want to let go of my golden rope, Kyle, for this kind of thing.

 

I saw my father talking to a nobleman I met in the hallway earlier.

 

I didn’t know what they were talking about, but I doubted they would notice if I disappeared because they were having a pretty heated discussion.

 

I peeked at them and slowly moved to the side. Then, I took advantage of the bustling crowd of dutiful people and slipped into a side hallway.

 

“Phew.”

 

‘The escape was a success! Wasn’t it too easy?’

 

Looking furtively around, I ran quickly out of the hallway.

 

Perhaps because of my short height, people passed by without noticing me. Being short and young truly helped in times like this.

 

‘Now, where should I go?’

 

I suspected that Kyle might be in the garden located in the Ruby Palace.

 

It was Kyle’s favorite place in the original setting, and ended up being an important place where various events took place afterwards.

 

But if Kyle was really studying, would I be able to meet him?

 

‘I don’t know. Let’s go and find out!’

 

When I arrived at the Ruby Palace’s garden, I found a familiar back of the head.

 

“Your Majesty the Prince!” I shouted in a joyous and accidentally loud voice.

 

Small shoulders flinched and turned around.

 

Kyle, who found me running towards him, opened his eyes wide.

 

“Vivian?”

 

“Your Majesty!” I panted breathlessly. “Hello– hah…h-hello!”

Such a short amount of running made me so out of breath.

 

‘Should I exercise more often?’

 

Kyle looked surprised at my sudden appearance.

 

“Vivian, why are you here?”

 

“Your Highness didn’t respond to me, so I came.”

 

Kyle´s gaze touched my knee for a moment and fell. The wound had healed and long since disappeared.

 

It wasn’t even a big wound in the first place.

 

‘Really, I´m not hurt at all.’

 

I purposely grabbed my skirt and gave it a lively spin.

 

“Ta-da. It’s a new dress from my mother. Isn’t it pretty?”

 

“…Uh huh,” Kyle answered shyly.

 

“Right? I wanted to brag about it, but your highness ignored my letter, or didn’t answer, so there was no way for me to brag about it.”

 

Kyle’s expression gradually softened as I bragged with a smile about my new dress.

 

‘Are you still worried about it? You are very commendable.’ I thought, giving him extra points for gentlemanliness in my head.

 

“But how did you get here?” Kyle asked, bewildered. “I didn’t even know you were coming today.”

 

“Hehe. I followed my father to the palace. I snuck over here.”

 

“What? If you get in trouble….”

 

“It’s alright. If I leave soon, no one will know.” I beamed with confidence.

 

In situations like these, if someone asks you where you’ve been, you only have to say you got lost while finding the bathroom.

 

The imperial palace is wide, so that’s a convincing excuse.

 

But Kyle still looked uneasy. He checked to make sure that no one was coming into the garden.

 

“Follow me.”

 

Then he led me into the garden.

 

I followed Kyle to a blind spot located in the corner of the garden, difficult to see from the entrance.

 

As I passed through bushes taller than I was, I found a small clearing with traces of someone staying there.

 

“Wow.” I exclaimed and looked around.

 

It was a small place, but it was pretty cute. It was just like a secret hideout.

 

There was a thin sheet on the lawn, on which a worn out wooden sword and a few books were strewn.

 

“Where are we?” I questioned.

 

“Don’t get caught and get in trouble; stay here and then go.”

 

Instead of answering my question, Kyle mumbled some directions and offered me a seat.

 

Anyway, it didn’t seem like Kyle was going to kick me out right away, so I nodded and sat down.

 

In the first place, I came here to meet Kyle.

 

Seeing that he brought me to such a secret place, Kyle must have wanted to apologize to me too, right?

 

“Heheheh,” I grinned happily. I felt better because things seemed to go well.

 

Kyle furrowed an eyebrow, saying, “Why are you smiling so strangely?”

 

“Because I’ve never been here before. But Your Highness, weren’t you busy today?”

 

“No. Why?”

 

“I said I wanted to meet his Highness, but I was rejected because your schedule was already full.”

 

Kyle shook his head.

 

“The morning class is all I have on Wednesday.”

 

What. Didn’t you say you can’t because you were busy studying?

 

It seemed as if it was not an excuse from him to refuse my visit. Kyle clearly didn’t even know I was coming to the palace today, so it seems someone above blocked it first.

 

Were they saying that he shouldn’t play even during breaks?

 

Life as a prince was not easy.

 

I gave him a sympathetic look.

 

Blue eyes accidentally met mine.

 

“…Why are you looking at me like that?” Kyle asked, his voice sounding more subdued than earlier.

 

***