I, Tiffania had to meet my fiance - the pushover third prince, to talk about the marriage, however, my plan is to find a way to break it off.
"Okay! I will make sure to strongly tell him off that I'm breaking up with him!"
I whispered to myself as I entered the carriage, which will take me to the prince's mansion, I have one of mom's maid, Lizzy accompanying me, she's a girl at her 20's and was incredibly beautiful with her ginger-colored hair that matches the color of her eyes, she is also petite with her hair at shoulder length, she wears a maid outfit together with a white hairband, I chose her because I think we will get along, she's around my mental age after all, by the way, my physical age is 18, my mental age is my age before I was reincarnated.
Following the dramas I watched, maybe I should push her to the prince - the prince catches her, they look into the eyes of each other and fall in love, then I willingly give up being his fiance and it will be happy ever after! Win-win! ... just kidding, as if it would go that easily.
Even I and Kazu who almost had that married couple atmosphere around us as if we are fated for each other still broke up, plus I don't want to become someone who dictates someone's future, if Lizzy wants to get married to a noble and leave her life as a maid under my demon-like mother, then she should have the determination and guts to do it, and not because someone told her to.
As I rode the carriage the scenery outside piqued my interest. I opened the window curtains and saw the bustling town we were passing by, the town is part of dad's domain when they saw the carriage pass by they seem to bow a little to show respect, the women wore dresses while men's clothes varied from simple shirts to elaborate coats.
I entertained myself by seeing the unfamiliar environment, if I was in my old world, such a town could only be seen at western countries and would be somewhere in the 17'th or 18'th century, I don't like history that much but seeing those historical plays and movies, those are indeed a bit accurate, the way they dress, the way they move, the townfolk were indeed very lively.
Finally, I arrived at the prince's mansion, because the prince doesn't have a strong claim to the throne, according to Tiffania's memories, he doesn't even have properly armed guards, there were only two male servants guarding the outside steel gate, opening it to let my carriage in. I inhaled deeply and reviewed again of my strategy.
"First, respectfully decline the marriage before the talks start, if the wimpy prince cries, tell him that I Tiffania does not deserve his love, add a bit of drama to catch his heart, just like the previous Tiffania would do.... and... "
I looked at Lizzy and waved at her.
"Lizzy, what if I push you to the third prince? Can you pretend to faint and let him catch you like a princess?"
Lizzy tilted her head, it's the first time I made a conversation with her after all, but when her mind finally processed what I just said, she immediately panicked, turned red, as she held her cheeks... ahhh Lizzy is so cute that I feel gloomy inside, it makes me really want to do it, should I do it? It's much easier anyway.
My evil thoughts started to leak out through my face, I was beautiful in my past life but I wasn't cute and for some reason, recently remembering cute girls like Yui, bother me 100%.
"What are you saying Lady Tiffania, you shouldn't say improper things like that"
She got out of the carriage first to open the door for me, what a good escape strategy. She assisted me as I went out of the carriage and knocked on the large door of the mansion for me, the mansion didn't stand out much to me, aside from the mansions carefully made architecture, the garden for tea parties, nothing much different from ours, but based on Tiffania's memories, such mansions are a symbol for high ranking nobles, like the Dukes and the princes.
Servants opened the door for me and I entered the mansion with extraordinary dignity and poise ingrained to my body in my 18 years as Tiffania, forbidding even the suggestion of familiarity.
The third prince appeared and in a gentlemanlike manner, he offered me his hand and led me to the living room, he pulled one of the chairs for me as I sat, the first thing that caught my attention was his attire and his aura.
Didn't he tell me that he likes bright colors only? Why is he wearing the opposite color today? And for some reason he looks matured, his round feminine eyes now looked like it was glaring at me, but somehow it looked natural, did something happen? Did he hit his head on the wall or something? How did he even get those mean-looking eyes? Was it magic?
Those eyes, they remind me of someone, if only his hair was black and her eyes were grey I would have mistaken him for an 18-year-old Kazu. For some reason, the third prince didn't look wimpy anymore, the last time Tiffania saw him was just a week ago, and back then he was the usual pushover prince, but right now he looks like a strict and cold prince who have gone in an all-nighter which was why he was having those mean eyes.
I forced a graceful smile, to try and bait him to go back to his wimpy self, maybe he's just putting an act or something, I can't let my guard down on these nobles really.
"My lady, try out these sweets made by my cooks, please enjoy it"
"With pleasure"
I took one of the macarons, in a ladylike fashion, if I can remember Tiffania didn't like sweets that much, she would only take a piece of it and enjoy her tea, so I will do the same.
I put the sweets into my mouth, and savor it and before I knew it it was already gone - it tasted great!
Okay... another one, this will be the last piece, I took another one again, to try to calm down my nerves, but the moment I took the second sweets I yearned for more and more, I ate more macaroons and moved on to the next sweets which looked like small cakes, the entire tray to me looked like a sparkling jewelry set. This is sweetness is just too... addictive! I have never tasted anything like this! It would put my favorite sweets shop in my past life to shame! As I engaged in my mini sweets festival I could see Lizzy smiling at me wryly as if reminding me something, I think I may be forgetting something... but sweets come first! Sweets are justice!
My motto in this new life, after all, is: NO REGRETS!
Feeling that I'm almost full I checked on the prince, for some reason he is crossing his legs and is acting high and mighty, he has an expression as if I made a big loan and I haven't paid him yet, I don't remember Tiffania using money though, her attendants usually get stuff for her, plus she's the daughter of a duke! How could you look at your fiance like that third prince!
"What a glutton, ahhh, you're gonna get fat soon"
I heard the prince mutter and suddenly turned away immediately, while drinking his tea.
What the hell was that?! Did this wimpy prince just call me fat? Is this really the same wimpy Walter? This lowkey insult that seems like a slip of tongue... it feels oddly familiar.
I smile back at him, with a bit of nerve popping at my head, the message conveyed in my smile is as follows.
"If you call me fat again, I'll beat you up that even being a prince won't save you from it," but all of this is, is just in my thoughts, but I hope my message gets through, no one has ever lived calling me fat before... just kidding I have 0% fighting ability. But when it comes to beating up someone who doesn't fight back, I have enough strength, stamina, and guts to pull it off.
I'm not even fat! I'm slim! In this world and in the previous world, I might eat slightly different than other girls but that's because of my fast metabolism, what's more embarrassing is to have people hear a 'guruguru' sound coming from your stomach.
Okay, time to go to business, I wiped away the bits of the sweets left in my hands by hitting it with each other, trying to imitate mafia underlings who were invited to a slugfest after lunch... truth is I didn't bring a handkerchief, so it's my only option. Lizzy seems to be shocked about what I did, I should have asked for her help, but it was too late, I was too focused on my first step towards my freedom and non-puppet life.
"Prince Walter!"
I told him pointing a finger at him for intimidation as I made a bit of a victorious smile, it has to be like this, or he might not take me seriously.
"What?"
Oh, he's responsive, unlike before when he would just stare creepily at my face for hours.
"Break up with me!"
Wait, was that the plan I practiced?! Ah!!! I ate too many sweets I became full-on Yuri, there wasn't a small speck of Tiffania left in the way I brought the topic to him, the finger-pointing, and the arrogant expression on my face, not a trace of being a proper lady.
I sweated a bit as he seemed confused about my announcement, he won't call his guards and have me arrested wouldn't he?
"Huh?! Wait… hmmm that actually works well with me too, OK"
"Huh?!"
I unconsciously, imitated his surprise remark, expression, and tone, he's just okay with me breaking off the engagement?! It works well with me, but this is strange! Am I talking to another person here? Was there a hidden fourth prince that replaces the third prince from time to time?
"Why are you imitating my expression, weren't you the one who proposed it from the start?"
"The wimp who's head-over-heels for me actually accepted the break-up that easily?"
I couldn't believe it, it's very different according to Tiffania's memories, I gasped and covered my mouth, I just blurted out what's on my mind.
"Hey I can hear you, and that's rude you know, why the hell are you so surprised?"
Wow, for a prince his language is as rough as mine, where did your gentleman etiquette go?
Why would he have the same plan like me? Oh, maybe he just found another suitable candidate, and he might have been fooling the innocent Tiffania maybe, in reality, he isn't really wimpy?
Another maid came in and delivered the next batch of sweets, I saw his eyes follow the maid, and traced her curvy body, for some reason it made me more gloomy inside.
DAMNIT! HE REALLY REMINDS ME OF KAZU!!! WHO FLIRTS EVEN IN FRONT OF HIS GIRLFRIEND!!! AHHH I'M FEELING SO IRRITATED.
"Hah! Of course I would break-up with you, hah! So wimpy, a pushover, and a pervert at that!"
I crossed, my hands and puffed out my cheeks, for some reason, I'm feeling the same way I felt when I get jealous when Kazu ogles at other girls even when I'm in front of him. The only difference is that I can't beat up this important public figure here.
"Wimpy? Pushover? Hah! At least I'm not so hungry to make the sweets tray sparkling and clean!"
"Hah! What are you saying! Look at that! It hasn't even been touched yet!"
"Nonsense! It's because the maid just replaced it with a new set! Have some shame! Glutton!"
"G-G-Glutton?! How dare you say that to a frail maiden like me? Ahh the new maid huh? You've ogled at her well, how are her measurements huh? Pervert!"
"P-P-Pervert?! Which part of you is frail?! Don't change the topic! That's because I don't go for little girls like you! My maid's three sizes are way better than yours!"
"To compare women like that, hah! what a sicko! You really are trash! KAZUTRASH!"
"Stop talking, stuff your mouth with those sweets you have there! YURIGORILLA!"
With the words we threw at each other, I instantly stopped when I realized why was I feeling such warmth, familiarity, and jealousness.
"... Kazu"
"... Yuri?!"
And just like that our fates have intertwined once again, as we bickered, our souls may have touched each other once again, that we ended up calling each other's names of our previous lives.
Just how cruel fate is? To meet my ex-boyfriend, even in this life.
I feel amazingly happy when he called my name, but at the same time, I felt like running away... tell me Kazu, why are you staring me with those eyes? I thought you didn't love me anymore?