I, Crown Prince Siegwald Fitzenhagen, and my noblewoman fiancée, Lieselotte, were still students, but due to our social positions, there were times when we needed to attend large-scale evening parties together. However, we were still students, so we were merely expected to attend.
It was halfway through autumn, and today, we were at one of those boring parties where our only job was to exist. However, since Liese and I had confessed our feelings the other day, I was secretly elated just to be next to her when she was beautifully dressed up.
There was a break in the wave of people coming to greet us, and Lieselotte took that moment to pout and scold me. “Your Highness, I think it is wonderful you are trying to be liked by everyone as the crown prince. However, I cannot say the same of the way you are deceiving women.”
I hadn’t the faintest clue what she was talking about. “Um, I don’t recall doing that. Was I deceiving people?” I tilted my head.
Lieselotte nodded with an extremely serious expression. “Yes. Your smile is far too dazzling today, Your Highness. Any young woman who is the recipient of such a beautiful smile at such a close distance is bound to fall in love.”
I don’t think it’s bound to happen.
She ignored my confusion and continued with an annoyed look on her face. “You need to be more aware of how attractive your face is. After all, the star of the party is—”
“Basically, she’s just jealous,” Lord Endoh said. “She’s actually praising you a lot.”
“Liese-tan’s saying this because every time she sees your smile, she falls in love with you all over again!” Lady Kobayashee said.
Lieselotte’s “lecture” continued, but the Voices of the Gods spoke over her, clearing things up for me.
I chuckled and took her hand. “I’m sorry for making you worry. However, if that’s the case, won’t it be fine if my fiancée stays close to me?”
Lieselotte tilted her head ever so slightly.
“Then everyone would understand that my smile is brought out by your beauty, wouldn’t they?”
“Lieselotte explodes as Sieg busts out that very same princely smile right in front of her at point-blank range! It’s super effective!”
“The words accompanying it were also extremely sweet. He did a splendid job. Liese-tan’s bright red and weak in the knees, but I’m sure her nervousness and jealousy have been blown away.”
As the gods said, Lieselotte was blushing and trembling.
“Was that on purpose, though?” Lord Endoh muttered. “It’s scary how perfect a prince Sieg is...”
Lady Kobayashee laughed. “He’s a real-deal prince, after all! Sieg’s always saying stuff like that. I think his smooth moves are ingrained in him by now. Either that, or he was born with them.”
I awkwardly scratched my cheek. The reason I was grinning enough today to warrant a lecture from Lieselotte was indeed because she was far too beautiful. So, it probably wasn’t on purpose.
Besides, Lieselotte was the reason I had originally begun paying attention to my language, the way I smiled, how I interacted with people, and minor aspects of my conduct. I had wanted to be a proper prince for her.
I thought back to the day I first met her, when she was five.
At the time, my father was the kingdom’s crown prince. On top of that, I was an only child for a long time, so I’d say I had been quite spoiled growing up.
I remember when I first met her, I was seven years old and not the slightest bit princely; I was a lazy and spoiled child. In order to motivate me to apply myself, I was introduced to Lady Lieselotte from the Riefenstahl Marquisate. Despite her young age, she was already known to be intelligent and sensible. According to my parents, they thought interacting with a capable younger girl would make me worry more about myself.
I had already met her father before. He was a strict and imposing knight, so before meeting Lieselotte, I thought, What if she’s scary? I don’t want to be scolded by a girl younger than me.
When I actually met her, she turned out to be an extremely pretty girl. She was a child, but everything about her was breathtaking, from her gait to the blonde hair neatly arranged at her shoulders, her serious aura, and her doll-like beauty.
The moment she saw my face, her amethyst eyes widened in awe. “A real prince.”
Her sparkling eyes immediately made me think, I don’t want to disappoint her. From that moment on, I vowed to be a prince.
“Don’t be so stiff,” I said, trying my best to sound like a prince. “Let’s play together.”
I distinctly remember my mother smiling fondly as she watched me hold out my hand.
“There’s a tree over there with a lot of small birds,” I said, tugging Lieselotte’s hand. She nodded and followed me.
After walking for a while, she seemed to relax somewhat. “I’m sorry for not greeting you properly earlier,” she said.
She sounded glum, but if she had given me a perfect formal greeting, I might not have found her as cute as I did.
“No, don’t apologize,” I said. “It didn’t bother me.”
Her expression became even more apologetic. “I’m normally better than that. I even take care of my younger sisters. I was just so surprised by how handsome you were, Your Highness,” she said, blushing.
Her words made me feel ticklish. I felt an unbecoming grin coming on, and tried to steer it towards the “refined” smile that people wanted from me.
I chuckled. “Thank you. I’m happy to hear that.”
My attempt seemed to succeed. Her cheeks grew even rosier, and tears rose to her eyes as she nodded shyly.
Feeling even better—and a little embarrassed—I tightened my hold on her hand and brought her around the castle garden. I wanted to attract her attention as much as I could, so I showed her all the wonderful things I knew: trees, flowers, fruit, birds, butterflies... I felt her admiring gaze grow stronger with each sight, and it made me want to act more like a big brother to her.
I wanted to have more things to teach her the next time we met. I wanted to be able to behave more like a prince. I made an effort to smile the way she liked at all times. I began applying myself to the lessons I previously hadn’t cared for.
That day was, without a doubt, the turning point in my training as a prince.
“So, well, I really do think my smile exists for you,” I said without thinking. I felt Lieselotte squeeze my hand in shock and realized how embarrassing my words had been—
“Wh-What are you talking about?!”
—however, seeing her blush and squirm made me feel strangely confident. I grinned. “You like my smile, don’t you, Liese? That’s why I’m always smiling.”
“Please don’t tease me so much, Your Highness! H-How could I possibly say whether or not I like it in a place like this?!” Lieselotte glared at me.
We were in a corner of the lively hall. No one was nearby and people didn’t seem to be paying much attention to us, but we were still in the middle of an evening party. Someone could very well be listening to us.
However, her words contained one key point.
“In other words, she’d be able to say it if you were somewhere else,” Lord Endoh said.
“Liese-tan doesn’t deny that she loooves Sieg’s smile!” Lady Kobayashee said. “In fact, Lieselotte’s Memoir is full of praise for it, to the point where it makes you go, ‘Huh? There are that many ways to compliment something?’ I think you’ll be able to get her to say it when it’s just the two of you!”
I gave a firm nod. The gods’ advice was similar to my own thoughts.
The five-year-old Lieselotte who was very honest with her affection was cute, but the shy tsun de rais Lieselotte was also adorable.
My smiles for her today are as sincere as always.