The tyrant Wants To Live Honestly – Chapter 17

Author: Chewyy

““How did you come all the way here, though? This isn’t really a place someone could come to alone…”

His voice, not yet changed by puberty, sounded soft and fresh.

Even after his voice had deepened later, it had remained pleasant—but it had been far more seductive than this…

“I’m recovering at a villa nearby.”

“Recovering? Then maybe we should go inside instead of staying out in the wind.”

Ethan said it as if he were worried about my health.

This was his weapon—pretending to be kind on top of that handsome face.

Who could possibly dislike Ethan Brontë when he acted like this?

“No. Actually, I’ve been inside too much, so I felt a bit suffocated.”

“You’ve gotten very thin.”

He said that while looking at my slender wrist.

After the kidnapping incident, several things had overlapped, and I had lost a lot of weight and muscle.

The bones and veins on the back of my hand were now visible.

Ethan looked like he was genuinely worried about me.

Just like he always did.

Even though I had watched Ethan for a long time, I couldn’t tell whether his kindness was sincere or if he was hiding another intention.

Surely he wouldn’t be that cunning already… with a face that pure?

But when I thought about all the things Ethan had done in the past, I couldn’t let my guard down.

I stared straight into Ethan’s eyes.

Ethan tilted his head slightly and raised one eyebrow.

Ah. I see.

“Is there something on my face?”

“Yes.”

I nodded without thinking.

“R-Really? Where?”

Startled, Ethan rubbed his round cheek—still carrying a bit of baby fat—with the back of his hand.

It was Ethan’s unconscious habit whenever he lied with a polite mask on.

If you stared at him silently and pressed him like this, his eyebrow would twitch once.

Usually, almost no one could look directly into Ethan’s handsome eyes for long, and the twitch itself was extremely subtle.

Noticing the habit was nearly impossible.

Even I had only discovered it after learning his true nature and carefully observing him.

‘Later he even fixed that habit, so I couldn’t tell anymore whether his sweet words were fake or not.’

Fortunately, the younger Ethan wasn’t as skilled at lying yet, so his reaction was clearer.

But I couldn’t exactly say that I knew that.

“You’ve got handsomeness on it.”

I brushed it off with a somewhat dry, cliché joke.

At that moment, Ethan’s face turned red.

“Ah—what? I mean… no, that’s…”

His gaze drifted away from me into the air as he began to stammer.

‘Huh? Didn’t he already know he was handsome?’

I hadn’t expected such a reaction from a casual remark.

The Ethan I knew only blushed in four situations.

When standing under red lighting, when eating spicy food, when he had a fever, and when blushing would benefit him.

If it had been the Ethan from before, instead of blushing at being called handsome, he would have shamelessly replied,

“You flatter me. How could I compare to Your Majesty’s beauty?”

And yet here he was, acting shy.

Seeing his flushed face, I let out a small laugh.

That only made Ethan more restless, unsure where to look.

‘So this is what young Ethan felt like.’

I suddenly felt like teasing him a little more.

“Haven’t you heard people say you’re handsome or cute a lot?”

“No, not at all…”

Ethan lowered his head, his face burning red as if it might explode.

Not at all? With a face that looks like it greets the morning with “What a handsome day again!”

“Your Highness is the most beautiful person I’ve ever met.”

“Ah…”

Yes. This was Ethan Brontë.

A snake that lured people in with sweet words.

‘Is he… sincere?’

Before my regression, I had heard people call me beautiful so many times I had grown tired of it.

Since Theon never came to stand beside me, Ethan, the chancellor, often did instead.

People constantly praised our appearances when we stood together.

They called us the most beautiful man and woman in the world.

Some even joked that Ethan and I had conquered the world with our looks and climbed to the positions of emperor and chancellor.

A few even said Ethan and I were a match made by heaven.

Of course, I cut off the head of the man who said that.

But now, I wasn’t sure whether those compliments had been genuine… or merely the whispers of flatterers trying to blind me.

“Thank you. For the compliment.”

Whether it was sincere or not, it was the kind of thing I could simply let pass.

Unlike Ethan, I wasn’t the type to blush over it.

Ethan looked at my smile for a moment, then smiled as well.

The wind in the garden gently swayed his soft hair.

“You’re even prettier when you smile… Ah, wait a moment.”

While looking at me, Ethan reached out his hand toward my face.

His fingers gently brushed across my cheek.

Startled by the sudden touch, I closed my eyes—and heard Ethan let out a small laugh.

“There was a strand of hair stuck there.”

When I slowly opened my eyes, I found him standing much closer than before.

Our eyes met.

‘Oh, you are so pretty, Ethan.’

As I stared blankly at him, Ethan looked up at the sky for nothing, averting my eyes first.

“To be honest, I’m happy that you came to see me, Your Highness. I don’t have any friends.”

“Why?”

“My older brother doesn’t like me going outside.”

By “older brother,” he probably meant “Jonathan”, the one who was said to be at Episteme earlier.

From Jonathan’s point of view, I suppose the stone that rolled in from outside must have looked unpleasant.

And on top of that, the child their father had brought in from outside was handsome too, so people would naturally like him.

I vaguely remembered that Jonathan had openly disliked Ethan.

“And even if I did go out, I wouldn’t hear anything nice anyway… Ah!”

As if he had said something he shouldn’t have, he quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

If he meant unpleasant things, they were probably about his birth.

I looked away as if I hadn’t heard.

The best thing to do in a bad situation like that was to pretend not to know.

Besides… there had been the incident of him crying at the beach.

And if this slip of the tongue just now was intentional, there was also a good chance it was one of Ethan’s calculated mistakes.

Sometimes he would deliberately display his unhappy circumstances to gain people’s sympathetic favor.

I felt a little sorry thinking about the Ethan who had cried his eyes out before, but I still couldn’t trust him completely—not with the Ethan I knew from the past.

“Ah, anyway, that’s why I’m happy you came to see me, Princess.”

Ethan finished speaking shyly and gave a soft smile.

The bright and clear smile looked sincere, and it made me feel good.

What a fox-like guy. That’s exactly why he’s dangerous.

I had fallen completely for these sweet words before, too.

“…If you have time later, come visit **Anastasia Palace**.”

I mentioned it casually.

I had firmly refused visits from children my age, but Ethan seemed like he might be alright.

If I became his friend, maybe Ethan’s life would take a slightly different path.

“Is that really alright?”

“Of course.”

When I nodded, Ethan’s face lit up with genuine happiness.

Then he suddenly leaned in and lightly kissed my cheek.

My eyes widened in shock.

What? A kiss?

It was the first time Ethan had ever kissed me.

In my previous life, when I met Ethan, I was already engaged to **Theon**, and we were both far too old for something like this.

Besides, Ethan wasn’t the type of person who used his lips so carelessly.

He was someone who knew the value and nobility of his lips very well.

As I blinked blankly at him, Ethan showed his white teeth and grinned.

“Thank you, princess.”

At Ethan’s words, I remembered the item I had written on my bucket list:

‘Hear ‘thank you’ three times a week.’

‘I feel like I’ve already heard Ethan say thank you several times today… should that count?’

Since there was a chance Ethan’s thanks weren’t sincere, I decided not to count his words toward completing the bucket list.

* * *

“Knight Stefan!”

One day, after living in a separate palace, Clara mustered up the courage to call Stefan.

Then the big man looked back. He was tall enough to reach the ceiling, and his wide shoulders and back, as well as the muscles that reflected under his clothes, were always overwhelming.

Moreover, Stefan doesn’t speak much, so she gets nervous whenever she talks to him.

Clara swallowed one gulp and opened her mouth.

“Uh, it’s the princess’s birthday soon, so shouldn’t we prepare something?”

“….”

When there was no answer as usual, Clara thought she shouldn’t have brought it up.

But Stefan nodded.

“Are you going to prepare?”

Clara smiled broadly and reconfirmed, and Stefan nodded again.

“What a relief! Actually, I had a lot of trouble figuring out what to prepare as a present for the princess. No matter what the princess got, there was no response.”

“….”

“You’ve been living with the princess as well as the knight. Do you have any gifts that the princess will like?”

“….”

Clara waited for Stefan’s answer for a long time, but his lips were glued together.

“She hasn’t liked gifts so far, and it seems like she likes to read books…”

At Clara’s words, Stefan nodded again.

“ah! Come to think of it, there is a book that the princess likes the most. It’s a story book about a lion warrior…!”

Clara remembered the book Dorothea often read.

It is a story book about a lion warrior who is ignored by all animals and overcomes hardship and adversity to become the most courageous and respected lion king.

In fact, it was Dorothea’s fake cover trying to play at a childish level whenever she read difficult books like astronomy or ancient rhetoric, but Clara didn’t know that.

“Then why not do a surprise event instead of a gift?”

“….?”

“So…”

Clara gestured to Stephan, flapping her hand.

As Stefan stood blinking, Clara pulled his clothes and made him bow.

And whispered in his ear the plan she had in mind.

“how about it?”

After sharing the plan, Clara looked at Stephan with excitement.

“….”

Stefan shook his head quietly. As if that’s not right.

“Princess is nine years old…”

“Prince Raymond said he liked it very much when he was 10 years old! I’m sure the princess will like it too.”