Two-Faced Princess

Still, it wasn’t easy.

Apollonia trusted and cared for him but she secretly refused to stand by him.

She didn’t see him often when she lived in the Emperor’s Palace and she only focused on two topics whenever they met.

The two subjects were Caelion’s studies and how to avoid assassination attempts.

It was a little different from Uriel whom she always talked freely about music and childhood.

Out of interest, he had provoked Uriel a few years ago that he would win Apollonia’s heart but to this day, it appeared like they had a strong bond that he couldn’t break.

He envied Uriel who could now go to and from the Royal Palace as much as he liked.

“If you have been in love, you will realize that it isn’t easy to do so,” Caelion murmured.

Evangeline tilted her head once again.

There was one more reason why he couldn’t freely express his love to Apollonia.

Caelion had fallen in love with Apollonia much deeper than he first recognized.

“A love confession is important to strengthen each other’s feelings especially if it’s mutual.”

Caelion was fond of Apollonia from the moment he first saw her.

When he overheard Apollonia and Uriel’s conversation and realized her true face, she impressed him for not only escaping Petra’s suspicion for a long time but also for taking all kinds of measures to escape her wedding engagements.

On the cursed day of his parents’ death, Apollonia rescued Caelion from a collapsing building she even got hurt herself.

The tragic memory still horrified Caelion until now that he remembered every single detail of what happened during that day.

He had seen Apollonia’s countenance through the flames, her cracked voice, and the tears streaming down her face.

When she grabbed Caelion’s shoulder and proposed to him threateningly, he immediately agreed.

If he were to form a bond with someone for the rest of his life, he hoped that that person would be Apollonia.

It didn’t take long for him to realize that he really loved her so much.

For the next five years, his admiration deepened like a bottomless well.

Caelion adored her countless times.

From drawing burn scars on her wrist to erase Apollo’s halo in order to avoid Petra’s hunch as well as becoming the wealthiest lady in the continent under the alias of Eileen Idena, Apollonia’s every move never failed to surprise him.

Apollonia was deeply entrenched in Caelion’s mind and never left.

He feared her, respected her, admired her, and sympathized with her at the same time.

But above all else, he loved Apollonia.

Her appearance became even more beautiful every time they meet and it took his breath away.

As his feelings grew and overwhelmed him, he couldn’t bring himself to confess his love to Apollonia.

He neither want to think about their relationship becoming awkward nor did he like being rejected.

He only joked that he missed her as her fiancee.

“Perhaps, you can’t confess because she’s too precious to you.” Evangeline interrupted his recollection. “That doesn’t make sense.”

“You’ve never really liked people.”

Caelion told Evangeline.

She frowned.

He was like a leopard sitting on a fly.

“What are you talking about? Didn’t you hear that I like you?”

Caelion smirked.

A few days after meeting him, Evangeline had been blindly fond of him not long after he had taken her prisoner.

“If I was taken to the Empire like this, I might as well die so I realize I should confess immediately. At least, that person will know what I feel.”

Her ideas were too logical that they embarrassed him as if he should have no worries or concerns regarding her confession.

She merely expressed it because she thought about it.

“You said you like me so what’s with that attitude? Why are you playing ‘love doctor’ all of a sudden?”

“I just asked because I was curious. It’s also natural for me to care about your feelings. Even if you go and confess to the princess, I’m still going to visit you.” She smiled proudly.

Caelion shook his head again.

This woman didn’t understand him at all.

She was weird from head to toe.

Evangeline was dignified as if everything in the world belonged to her and she was reckless like a person who had no desire to live in front of the Emperor or the crown prince.

She collected and tamed monsters that were abominable and harmful to humans as if she was obsessed with them.

She was the opposite of Apollonia in many ways.

If Apollonia lived for the sake of a cause, pretending not to know what she knew and not showing any emotion including anger or sadness, then this woman was just living her life as she wanted to.

She was honest with her feelings and she easily befriend animals as easily as if they were people.

From the first day they met until now, she pretended to be friendly and spoke a lot of nonsense to him, encouraging Caelion to speak to her with the same familiarity.

However, her eyes were terribly focused and intense when she looked at him.

She watched him as if he was her prey and she didn’t bother covering it up or hiding it.