For You 7

“His Highness said this directly?”

“Yes. That’s correct. Please return.”

I tried standing my ground, but the servant pushing me away wouldn’t change his words. I couldn’t keep waiting here until Persis called for me. It would be better to go home for now.

Even if I waited, if I kept standing here, my young body wouldn’t be able to endure it. If push came to shove, enduring it in the Duke’s office prepared in the palace was also a method, if it could be called that.

Suddenly, irritation surged up. If he didn’t want to meet me, he had sent an audience request in the morning, so couldn’t he have at least sent a messenger before I left the ducal residence? The palace and the ducal residence weren’t that far apart. The Duke’s territory was next to the capital, but because there was so much work at the palace, the ducal residence was located near the palace.

If Persis had conveyed even slightly that he didn’t want to meet quickly, I wouldn’t have needed to come all the way to the palace. Moreover, I wouldn’t have even thought about killing time while being with the Duke, who was uncomfortable to be around.

The thought of returning to the ducal residence had somehow vanished without a trace. Since I had come all this way, I had to see Persis somehow. I had thought I should let the prince live as he pleased since he was still only seven years old, but if I left him like this, he seemed like he would become an adult who would manipulate everything according to his will.

I couldn’t let that happen. I looked straight at the palace servant standing firm in front of me. He too was putting strength in both legs as if he absolutely would not step back, but I wondered how long he could maintain that attitude.

Although I was much shorter than the servant in front of me, I didn’t back down an inch. I had been able to use it anytime if I set my mind to it, but I was thinking of using a method I had been reluctant to use until now. When I approached a little closer, the eyebrows of the servant blocking the way twitched.

He seemed to feel the somehow ominous atmosphere too. I smiled triumphantly and took one more step toward him. Then I used my last resort.

“Hng.”

My lips should tremble slightly, I lower the corners of my eyes and open both eyes as wide as possible. If I didn’t do it like this, proper acting wouldn’t come out.

“Waaahhhhh.”

I hung my head low and screamed loudly. I wasn’t even an actor, so real tears couldn’t possibly come out. However, if I hid my face like this, there would be no way to distinguish whether I was really crying or not.

“I don’t want to! Your Highness! Want to see! Waaahhhhh!”

The strongest method that seven-year-old Andelion Crusay could use. Throwing a tantrum. Hadn’t Persis himself used this very method to come to our house early in the morning? I could also use this method.

And rightfully so, because unlike the core that had aged to the fullest, the outer shell was still just a seven-year-old child.

“Y-Young Master. You can’t do this here.”

“Waaahhhhh!!”

When I collapsed on the spot and poured out my sorrow, the palace servants were at a loss and tried hard to comfort me. Quick-witted Kara quickly approached me and helped with my acting.

“Young Master, please stop crying. His Highness says he doesn’t want to meet Young Master.”

“Hngh, ugh, waaahhhhh!”

“His Highness seems to dislike Young Master. What can we do? Originally, hearts change overnight.”

When I glanced sideways to observe the palace servants, I could see their faces had turned pale white. Since Kara was fanning the flames instead of stopping me, it was understandable that they would be flustered from their perspective. Regardless, Kara didn’t stop and continued moving her mouth.

“It’s alright, Young Master. There are many better friends in the world. Please withdraw today and…”

“No!!”

Right then, the door to the prince’s palace burst open and Persis came running out. It was a voice where I couldn’t properly distinguish whether he was calling me or shouting that Kara’s words weren’t true. Persis, who ran out on short legs, quickly approached me and hugged me tightly.

I don’t know how such strength comes from this small body. I could barely breathe from how much force was in his arms. Moreover, I don’t know how Persis, who had been inside the palace, heard Kara’s voice. It wasn’t like she had spoken that loudly.

When I twisted my body to escape from Persis’s embrace, an even greater force than before enveloped me. It would be nice if he would let go. Persis’s arms holding me showed no sign of loosening.

“Not true! Ana, no, not right. Not right? Huh? It’s not. Right?”

Yes, it’s not, so I’d like you to let go. At this rate, I might leave this world at seven years old without even being able to answer. I can’t die like this without even seeing that person. I tried hitting Persis’s arms with my small hands, but Persis didn’t budge.

Finally, only after Kara, who had been behind us, gently loosened Persis’s arms, was I able to speak properly.

“Yes, it’s not true. It’s not.”

“Hng. Ugh.”

Unlike me who had pretended to cry, Persis was shedding tears and feeling genuinely sorrowful. Seeing this made me feel like I was someone who had done something terribly wrong.

Anyone looking would think I had said I didn’t want to see Persis. The person who told me to go back was none other than Persis himself. Yet here he was, crying as if the world had wronged him.

I forgot about pretending to cry and patted Persis’s arm. I could feel the palace servants standing around looking at me with dismay. They seemed to have noticed that I had been acting. My reputation might get worse, but I didn’t need to worry about others’ opinions.

What was important was Persis, who was crying in front of me, unable to control his emotions.

“I heard you didn’t want to see me.”

“No! No, no! That’s not, not it.”

Even hearing it again, I couldn’t properly distinguish whether he was calling me or saying no. I should take this opportunity to set aside time for pronunciation practice.

“Ana, Ana, hurts.”

“Pardon?”

“Because of me, hurts.”

I blinked because I didn’t understand. No matter how much I racked my brain, I couldn’t understand what Persis was saying, so I gestured with my eyes to the palace servant standing behind. When I earnestly asked with my eyes what on earth was wrong with him, what came back was a deep sigh.

“Because of me, Ana, hurt.”

“Because of me?”

When I asked back, Persis quickly nodded his head. He moved so vigorously that I was afraid his slender neck might snap with a crack.

“I, I, threw tantrum. So, Ana.”

It seems he had kept the incident of collapsing in the garden in his heart. Persis’s intense reaction was bewildering. No matter how I looked at it, losing consciousness then was because of me. I was the one who suggested going to the garden, and I was the one who used Persis.

Just looking at how I smoothly went in without saying anything when Persis threw his tantrum, you could tell. However, this young prince blamed everything on himself. I knew through the original work, but he was truly a prince with too kind a heart.

If he’s this kind, life in the world will be difficult. I was already worried.

“I’m fine.”

“But, Ana.”

“Really. I came all the way here today too.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Persis looked over my body as if to confirm. He really worries a lot. If I had really been unwell, I wouldn’t have come to the palace at all.

Tears welled up again in Persis’s eyes as he worried about me. I naturally thought they would stream down, but the clear water that had gathered in Persis’s eyes showed no sign of falling.

That face was very familiar. A man came to mind who had expressed his heart with honest sincerity. The him from that time was more mature than now and didn’t shed tears, but he was very similar to now.

When adult Persis held that person’s hand and made a vow, right when I thought that only Persis could stand beside that person, Persis had this face.

“Never again, will I make you hurt. Not even me. I promise.”

Suddenly, a surge of moving emotion came over me. I was going well. Even though the days I had spent with Persis in this world weren’t many, wasn’t the face I knew of him already appearing? At this rate, the couple I loved would surely be united very easily.

Please wait. I will make Persis into a proper man and come find you.

“I’ll promise too. As long as Your Highness wants, I’ll stay by your side.”

So Your Highness, please become a man worthy of that person. I smiled brightly while repeating words I couldn’t fully convey to him in my heart.

Persis stared at me intently, then couldn’t endure it and shed tears drop by drop. It was such a beautiful sight that I had the illusion that the gold dust embedded in his eyes was falling.

“Yeah. Yeah. It’s a promise?”

Saying that, I didn’t push away Persis’s gentle touch as he softly embraced me. I have to comfort our prince like this. What else can I do?

Our young prince. Grow up well. You absolutely must grow up well. Repeating words he couldn’t hear in my heart, I patted the back of the child who wouldn’t leave my side.