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**~Chapter 04~**
“…Huh?”
Why am I here?
Wasn’t I just taking Idette home?
Flustered, I blinked and looked at Ricardo.
“Where is Lady Idette?”
“Where is His Highness?”
We only exchanged questions neither of us could answer.
Did he really run all the way here?
Ricardo, usually so neatly composed, had his hair disheveled.
He brushed back his sweat-damp hair and slumped into the seat across from me.
Frustrated by his lack of a proper answer, I raised my voice without meaning to.
“Can’t you hear me? Lady Idette is—”
“She went home. After stopping by the place you recommended.”
Ricardo answered through gritted teeth, as if asking whether I was finally satisfied.
Well, if he enjoyed the date… that’s a relief.
But…
Why does he look so angry?
“I answered your question. Now let me ask again: What exactly are you thinking?”
“Nice weather, isn’t it?”
“…”
“Just kidding. Calm down.”
I let out a small sigh.
“I told you. About your love—”
“You said you didn’t care.”
“…”
“Is this how someone who doesn’t care acts?”
…Does he think I’m getting in the way between him and Idette?
Or worse—does he think I’m playing with him?
Well, if that’s what he thinks, I can understand why he’s angry.
“Yes. I said I have no interest in your relationship with Lady Idette.”
“So you do remember.”
“I just… wanted to help.”
“…”
“And no, I don’t have some shady ulterior motive.”
Ricardo let out a short, cold laugh—mocking.
“You? Bianca?”
“Yes. Me.”
I shrugged.
“And you expect me to believe that?”
It was a natural reaction.
People don’t change overnight.
But to be honest, I’m just as confused.
Because you’re not the same person I knew either.
In the original story, Ricardo hated Bianca.
He couldn’t understand why she clung to him so desperately, and he always lashed out at her for getting between him and Idette.
And now that Bianca suddenly supports his love?
Yeah.
To him, it must be too sudden a change.
But if I stay silent, the misunderstanding will only grow.
“Then please believe me now. That I was being sincere.”
“…”
“First love is precious. So… do your best.”
At least those words were sincere.
From the moment I entered Bianca’s body, the story had already begun to change.
Ricardo, originally a sub-male lead, could become the true male lead.
Bianca’s grandfather, who was supposed to die, could meet a different end.
But Ricardo looked at me as if I were talking nonsense.
“If first love really were that precious, you wouldn’t be able to let me go so easily.”
“Ah, sorry to disappoint, but you’re not my first love.”
Bianca’s first love might have been Ricardo.
But mine wasn’t.
So strictly speaking, that wasn’t a lie either.
“That’s why I understand your feelings. The first one is special to everyone.”
First love is like a fantasy, isn’t it?
That’s why in the original story, you could never forget Idette and ended up living alone for the rest of your life.
“So really, do your best for Lady Idette. Our engagement will be broken off soon anyway. All you have left is time.”
A thick, heavy silence fell.
Ricardo stared at me with furious eyes.
…Why?
Didn’t I give you the answer you wanted?
But that reaction—
Yeah.
He actually looked angrier than when I was talking nonsense earlier.
After a long silence, Ricardo finally spoke.
“…You’ve changed.”
Well…
My very soul has been replaced.
That’s a pretty convincing reason, isn’t it?
“Did something happen while we weren’t seeing each other?”
We first met when we were seven.
Thanks to our grandfathers—a duke and a marquis.
If you just count the years we’ve known each other, it’s already been fifteen years.
But for eleven of those years, we barely even spoke.
Ricardo hated even being in the same space as Bianca.
In the original story, the engagement was something Bianca, as an adult, begged her grandfather to arrange.
And the two met again at the engagement ceremony after ten years.
That day, Ricardo looked at her with disgust in his eyes and said:
“You haven’t changed at all.”
And now that same person says I’ve changed.
Isn’t that a good sign?
“I guess I’ve finally matured.”
“So what, you spent that time reflecting and searching for your first love?”
“Is that such a bad thing? You’re not much different from me right now.”
Ricardo’s gaze grew sharper, more dangerous.
I flinched and quickly continued.
“I—I wasn’t trying to be sarcastic. I was just stating the facts.”
I fidgeted with my fingers, hesitated for a while, and finally asked what had been bothering me.
“…But really, why are you so angry?”
“You’re truly strange.”
“Ever since the engagement ceremony, your only interest has been Lady Idette.”
“So?”
Is that something he should be saying himself?
“I’m just surprised you’re angry even though I’m not following you around like I used to.”
Is he finally letting out all the anger he’s been holding in?
That was a plausible guess.
Honestly, I couldn’t think of any other way to explain the situation.
If not anger at Bianca’s sudden change in attitude, I couldn’t understand why he’d react like this.
If I were him, I’d think, ‘Ah, the crazy fiancée finally came to her senses,’ and then go spend time with the heroine.
“…”
I naturally expected Ricardo to cut me off and tell me to stop talking nonsense.
But unexpectedly, he fell silent.
As if he had never once thought of it that way.
“…Because that’s only natural.”
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