“Of course no problem, Little Fox. Safe travels.”
‘Safe travels? Liuli couldn’t help but laugh bitterly inside. She felt this trip would go smoothly—after all, it wasn’t anything difficult. With Aili’s personality, she wouldn’t really do anything to her, right?’
“Serveyia, I’m heading out.”
For some reason, after hearing Serveyia’s “Safe travels,” Liuli couldn’t shake the feeling that she was marching off to her doom.
Of course, Liuli knew that thought was a bit far-fetched.
Marching to her doom at most meant she’d conjured up some random ideas after hearing Serveyia’s inexplicable “Safe travels.”
The reason was that, while walking down the road, her mind inexplicably started imagining what would happen if she actually accepted Aili’s confession.
Would Aili take her back and do all sorts of things?
Seriously, why would Serveyia say “Safe travels” at a time like this?
“Your Highness, you seem a bit nervous?”
Yuli, who was walking beside her, leaned in with concern.
After all, this wasn’t really an occasion where Serveyia could accompany her, but Serveyia insisted she have a guard when going out, so she had to ask Yuli.
“Maybe a little…”
“Lady Aili isn’t as frightening as you think, so there’s no need to be nervous, Your Highness.”
“That’s not why…”
Liuli felt helpless. Honestly, Yuli’s attempt at comfort didn’t sound like real comfort at all. The actual effect was probably about as good as nothing.
But Liuli wasn’t wrong—she wasn’t nervous because of meeting Aili. It was more because of Serveyia’s words. Maybe that was the power of language (laughs).
The place Aili had chosen to meet was the elven restaurant Liuli and Serveyia had visited during the academy festival.
It seemed Aili also had a favorable impression of that establishment.
“Aili, I’m here.”
But when Liuli stepped inside, she found the shop completely empty. It looked like Aili had already booked the whole place.
And the other protagonist in this story was visibly nervous, sitting in front of a table.
“Y-your Highness, you’re here.”
Seeing Aili stand up nervously from her seat, Liuli somehow felt her own tension ease. See? It wasn’t just her who was nervous.
“I’m truly sorry, Princess. I meant to show my sincerity during the diplomatic visit, but once I returned to the elven race, all sorts of things kept piling up. If you’d be willing to give me another chance to prove myself, I can definitely show you my true feelings.”
“No, there’s no need to go through all that trouble, right?”
“Is that so? I can understand. My actions truly couldn’t meet Your Highness’s expectations, so it’s only natural for you to refuse. I’ll work hard to improve myself and fulfill Your Highness’s hopes.”
“No, no, that’s not what I meant.”
It seemed Liuli’s words had caused a misunderstanding. She hadn’t intended to refuse in the first place.
But judging by Aili’s reaction, she didn’t seem as unable to let go as Dora was.
This gave Liuli an unrealistic thought: what if she actually did use this opportunity to reject Aili? What would happen?
“Actually, my mind was just in a bit of a mess back then. I needed some time to calm down…”
Regardless, since Liuli had already made up her mind to accept, she needed to find a way to clearly communicate that acceptance.
“First of all, I really appreciate that you like me, Aili. Secondly, I’m very grateful that you had the courage to confess to me. But… but I have a lot of flaws. Even this beautiful appearance I have now was obtained later in life. Because of that, I doubt anyone’s affection. I’m not such an outstanding person, and I don’t know how to love someone. Someone like me— do I really deserve to be liked?”
“Your Highness, you’re not—”
“Later, I discussed it with some friends. Instead of burying all these feelings and worries deep in my heart, it’s better to lay them out clearly. If, knowing all this, you still want to like me, then I’m willing to learn slowly— learn how to be a good princess, how to be a worthy lover.”
Liuli had come to terms with it. She had many shortcomings, and they probably couldn’t be fixed in a short time.
Since that was the case, she might as well be open about it. Wouldn’t that also leave herself a way out?
Besides, this was essentially throwing the difficult question back to Aili: What exactly did she like about Liuli, and how much did she like her?
While this choice couldn’t fully explain everything, at least she’d have a rough idea.
“Your Highness, do you truly not know your own charm?”
“In terms of charm, there are plenty of beautiful appearances and interesting souls out there. If someone wants to be in a relationship but the other party has no response and doesn’t know how to love, wouldn’t that be extremely painful?”
“It’s okay, Your Highness. I’ll work through these problems with you. If you don’t know how to love, let me teach you how to love.”
“Is that so? Then… I’ll be in your care, Aili.”
Regardless, since Aili was willing to make that clear, Liuli was naturally willing to give her a chance. And of course, a chance for herself as well.
“Really? Thank you, Your Highness!”
Aili’s expression brightened instantly. She took three quick steps to reach Liuli and pulled her into a tight hug.
“At this point, you don’t have to call me ‘Your Highness’ anymore. Just call me Liuli. And let go of me—I’m going to suffocate!”
“I’m just so happy, Your Highness—no, no, Liuli.”
“I understand, Aili.”
After Liuli said that, an awkward silence filled the air. Liuli didn’t know what to say next.
Hurry, hurry— what’s the right thing to say after accepting a confession?
If she could, Liuli really wanted to pull out her phone and search online for what to do in this situation.
But reason told her that taking out her phone right now would be outright rude.
“Have you eaten here before, Liuli?”
“Yes, I have. I think this place is pretty good.”
There it was. Aili’s question was undoubtedly an olive branch.
However, Liuli also knew that this wasn’t the right time to mention Serveyia.
As long as she still had her wits about her, she had at least that much tact.