The Circumstances of Being Chosen as the Villainess’s Favorite - Chapter 216

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————

Special Side Story 29
Meanwhile, Evangeline’s expression had turned icy the moment she heard those words.
“I’m sorry—what did you just say?”
Her sharp blue eyes fixed on the Crown Prince like daggers.
‘Oh.’
Only then did the Crown Prince snap to attention.
“Ah, no, I mean…….”
He scrambled to backpedal, but it was far too late.
Evangeline’s eyes gleamed with sudden purpose.
She lunged forward and seized a fistful of his hair, shaking him violently.
“Ow!”
The Crown Prince cried out.
Her grip was so fierce that tears sprung to his eyes.
Dietrich, alarmed, came rushing over at once.
“Eva, what on earth are you doing!”
“Take. That. Back.”
Evangeline wrenched at his hair with each word, her voice rising to a near shout.
The tea party descended into absolute chaos.
* * *
After that.
Between Evangeline and Endymion lay nothing but cold silence.
It couldn’t be helped.
Neither of them would apologize first—not for anything.
‘What if she keeps ignoring me like this forever?’
The Crown Prince could only fret anxiously behind closed doors.
Unable to bear it any longer, Dietrich offered him a word of advice.
“Eva takes a walk through the Rose Garden every day. Perhaps Your Highness might try visiting her there?”
“Well, I… I know that, but…….”
The Crown Prince murmured hesitantly.
“What if she doesn’t want to talk to me?”
“That’s something only Your Highness can decide, sir.”
……Truly, they were siblings—equally cold-blooded.
The Crown Prince found himself pouting without meaning to.
At the same moment, Dietrich’s mouth curved into a faint smile.
“But who knows?”
His voice fell softly into the Crown Prince’s ear, playful and gentle.
“Perhaps Eva is also hoping you’ll come talk to her.”
In the end, the Crown Prince set out for the Rose Garden, tense with anticipation.
There, in the distance, stood Evangeline.
She stood before the rose bushes as always, gazing at the clustered blooms.
“Um, Lady Claudius?”
The Crown Prince summoned every scrap of courage he possessed and called to her.
At the sound of his voice, Evangeline’s shoulders stiffened. She glanced back slightly.
Her lips pressed together in a petulant line.
“Hmph.”
She turned to leave.
The Crown Prince rushed to raise his voice.
“Wait, please, Lady Claudius!”
…….
Evangeline turned to face him with a frigid gaze.
At least she hadn’t simply vanished—that was something to be grateful for.
The old Evangeline would have slipped away without a trace.
The Crown Prince moved toward her with quick, determined strides.
But then came the problem.
‘What… what do I do?’
He’d rehearsed so many words beforehand.
He’d meant to apologize sincerely, to promise he’d never do it again.
Yet his mind had gone blank as fresh snow.
And so what tumbled from the Crown Prince’s lips instead was:
“Do you… still hate me?”
It was nothing but childish petulance.
Evangeline made no attempt to hide her bewilderment now.
But the Crown Prince could no longer contain himself.
The words tumbled out as if a dam had burst.
“I study well now. My tutors have praised me. And, and—”
This was bad.
His nose stung as sorrow kept welling up inside him.
He’d wanted so badly to face Evangeline with composure.
His lips trembled, and then tears spilled from his wide eyes.
Evangeline, startled, quickly moved toward him.
“You’re… crying?”
“No, I didn’t mean to—”
The Crown Prince mumbled, pressing his lips firmly shut.
But despite his efforts, tears came pouring down again.
Evangeline regarded him with an expression of profound bemusement.
After a moment.
“Sigh.”
She exhaled deeply and reached out her hand.
Her touch as she wiped away his tears was extraordinarily gentle.
“Now, stop that.”
“…Lady Claudius.”
“From now on, you’re not to speak to me like that again. Understood?”
Having driven the point home, Evangeline glanced away.
“Besides, it was wrong of me to pull your hair like that.”
The cold war between the two ended warmly.
Though in the days that followed, they quarreled several more times.
And each time, Evangeline would yank the Crown Prince’s hair—a fact that became an open secret in the Royal Court.
* * *
Late evening.
The Crown Prince and his wife arrived together, belatedly seeking their daughter, both wearing expressions of awkwardness.
“Good heavens, Irene.”
Evangeline shook her head as she looked down at the sleeping Irene.
Indeed.
Irene had poured out her grievances to her grandmother, and in return her grandmother had generously plied her with snacks and delicious meals until her belly was quite full.
Now she lay fast asleep, unable to overcome the drowsiness that follows a good meal.
“The thing is,” said the Empress with a chuckle.
She summarized what had happened between Irene and herself.
Then she added with a mischievous note.
“Watching the Young Duke and Irene bicker like that—it reminded me of the old days somehow.”
“The old days?”
“Yes. Didn’t the two of you used to fight like that all the time?”
A direct hit.
The couple exchanged sheepish glances for a moment.
The Crown Prince, concealing his embarrassment, quickly gathered the sleeping Irene into his arms.
“We should be getting back then.”
“Yes, mind yourselves on the way.”
The Empress sent them off with a smile.
And so, presently.
The Crown Prince walked down the long corridor toward the Crown Prince’s Palace, the sleeping Irene cradled in his arms.
Evangeline followed alongside him.
“The truth is,” said the Crown Prince.
He smiled faintly as he recalled those memories.
“I was afraid that Evangeline would make many other friends besides me.”
“What…?”
Evangeline feigned indifference.
For someone so worried, the Crown Prince had far more friends than she did.
Above all, Evangeline’s first friend had been Larite.
“But setting that aside, Evangeline.”
The Crown Prince glanced at her with unmistakable displeasure.
“Haven’t you been terribly cold toward me all this time?”
“Me? You mean me?!”
Evangeline jumped up as if her tail had been stepped on.
The Crown Prince put on a deliberately wounded expression.
“When I left for the Imperial Direct Domain, I sent you a letter, didn’t I? But what sort of reply was that?”
“What more do you want me to say besides wishing you a safe journey?”
“You could have been a little more affectionate about it, couldn’t you?”
“Well…….”
Evangeline’s words trailed off without her quite meaning to.
Now that she thought about it, she could have been kinder in that letter, but she hadn’t been.
And the reason was.
“……Endymion surely received letters from plenty of other ladies besides me, didn’t he?”
Evangeline shot the words out before she could stop herself.
Even then, the Crown Prince had been the Empire’s most sought-after suitor, capturing the hearts of countless ladies.
At every soiree Evangeline attended, the ladies spoke of nothing but him whenever they gathered.
So why should she have bothered sending a letter when it clearly made no difference to him?
But the Crown Prince’s eyes went wide at those words.
“Were you… jealous?”
“Jealous? Me?”
Evangeline looked horrified at the very suggestion.
“H-how could I be jealous over something like that? I don’t get jealous. It doesn’t matter to me what lady Endymion was involved with, how is that any concern of…….”
“Is that so?”
The Crown Prince narrowed his eyes, studying his wife intently.
“Even if I had been involved with another lady, it truly has nothing to do with you?”

—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————