"Nngh…"
Elena's face right now was as red as a beetroot.
On the table between me and Elena, there were two empty tea cups and two plates with what looks like crumbs on it.
As I mentioned earlier, I didn't really like sweets. I had cut a small piece of cake and could barely finish it. That said, how did everything on my plate get wiped clean?
What do you mean "how?" This lady over here ate it all.
Have you ever seen a hamster eat sunflower seeds? When you give a hamster a seed, it gobbles on it with its tiny mouth, nibbling the seed into little pieces. It keeps doing it so it makes you want to give it more which is so adorable.
For me, Elena Edelweiss was that hamster.
If this was a webtoon, there would be an obvious sound effect, "nomnomnom" next to her eating. She picked up the snacks one by one with a fork, chewing them slowly. She reminded me of a small animal.
That cute side of hers made me put the desserts from my plate to hers, just as I used to give sunflower seeds to the hamster. Without noticing my gesture, she simply enjoyed the food with a happy expression.
Currently that same Elena was turning red realizing what happened too late.
"You must like sweets a lot more than I imagined, Lady Edelweiss. I guess it's a good thing I prepared some ahead of time."
"Nnngh! T-Thank you… I'm sure you like them a lot, but you gave them all to me… T-The next time I visit, there's a famous parfait store in our region, I'll bring one of each type from there!"
No, it's okay. I can't eat sweet things like that…
She was very embarrassed, but she seemed to be doing better than she was earlier when she was stiff and unable to say a word.
"It's fine, I appreciate the gesture. Rather, the chef would be quite pleased if you told them you enjoyed the desserts a lot. If you would like more, please tell me anytime."
"Really?"
Elena burst into a big smile, looking even happier than before. As a result, strange emotions begin to bubble.
Was it the dessert? The effect which made one satiated and satisfied?
Her appearance was so bright it was to the point that it made me question whether she was the same person as the one who had been fiddling with the teacup earlier.
Maybe it's because they found something in common with each other, which was supposedly liking sweets.
I shouldn't have said that I enjoyed them. Anyway, this is good. We can now hold a conversation.
If things were like it had been before, I probably wouldn't be able to hear her opinion on the matter even if we stayed here all night. It's more likely, I would be the only one to talk and things would end there. I wanted us to communicate, I did not want this to be one-sided.
What I wanted from this opportunity was for her and I to be united in our decision to invalidate this engagement. In order to do so, a conversation was necessary, the most basic communication between people.
To be honest, if I just said, "Let's call off the engagement," it would happen without a hitch.
She wasn't good at being self-assertive and she tended to be swept away easily. If I said that, she would be bewildered, but she would most likely do whatever I want even if it did hurt her pride.
However, that won't do. I don't know if this overreaction was pointless or not, but I don't plan on doing anything that would negatively affect her, even if it is trivial.
This was essentially the world of a novel I used to read and the story was bound to revolve around the main character. It would not be an exaggeration to think of her as the heart of this world.
Of course, not all novels were like that. It depended on the genre and the writer's inclination.
However, the story of "The Princess is Loved" had a world revolving around Elena Edelweiss.
It may be impossible, but what if the world saw me as a villain for any action of mine that could potentially influence her adversely?
Of course, this was an unproven delusion of mine, but if it were the case, I'd suffer a misfortune in some shape or form. It's not improbable for me to get killed off by one of the male leads who loved her.
What I was trying to get at was that in some incident or another, Count Kraus would get obliterated.
That's why, the soundest method was to end matters smoothly with her in the best way possible. If our engagement was broken, there wouldn't be any reason for us to meet.
When the original story commences, an incident would occur that would make her forget her ex-fiancé and past acquaintances anyway. I could automatically slip out of her story then.
Above all, the closer I got to her, the more my body tried to lose control. For the past five years, my body listened to me well. Yet, the moment I met her, I started to feel weird. Particularly in the emotional and mental aspect, it tended to keep steering toward a strange direction.
Perhaps it's luck that Elena Edelweiss was a barrier of sorts. It's clear that I would have been overwhelmed by such emotions.
Was it a good thing that it only happened around Elena?