His hand was on her arm, restricting her because when she had wanted to leave, he had grabbed her hand to stop her.
"Let go, Your Highness. And it is indeed true that I don't love you anymore," Ivy said, her eyes glaring at him. Her voice was high, her tone filled with void, as she tried to intimidate him into letting her go.
She wiggled her wrist, trying to break free, but the prince's hold on her was so firm she couldn't break free.
Prince Levi added with his gaze like a glacier, "That's impossible. If you don't love me anymore, as you say, then what are you doing with my sister?"
"Your Highness, I'm with the princess because she invited me here... Well, I accidentally got mixed up with her," Ivy said, her expression cracking.
The prince was acting like a beast and being too touchy. She didn't like it. When the original Ivy was here, she loved him so much she was ready to do stupid things for him, but he hadn't loved her. And now here he was, pestering her.
What does he want from me? Ivy wondered with disgust.
"Is it?" Prince Levi sneered, his face drawing closer to Ivy as she backed away. His hands held her waist, restricting her.
Ivy wanted to curse, but she couldn't. The prince was being shamelessly evil; in the presence of his own sister, he was acting very inappropriately with her.
"Lucien..." Ivy's eyes widened with panic as she saw Lucien.
Her heart raced, her body trembling. Had he witnessed the whole scene? Might he have misunderstood? Ivy looked at her position with the prince and realized they were very close. She struggled once more against the prince, but she couldn't break free.
To make things worse, Lucien was standing there, and he had witnessed everything.
Lucien walked away, and Ivy's heart sank. She struggled harder to free herself from the prince, even stepping on his toe. Yet, though the prince seemed to feel some pain, he still did not let her go.
"Now you are going to leave me and go with him... I know you can't do that."
"Your Highness, let go. I need to go after my husband," Ivy said to Prince Levi, looking him straight in the eye, hoping he would listen.
What was she expecting in the first place!
"No, I won't let go," Levi remarked, as though she had expected it.
Ivy's heart beat like a raging storm. All her emotions fell.
All her plans for the system mission—her mission—was it going to fail? Ivy felt like she was in a mess, and the prince wasn't helping at all.
At one point, when the prince wasn't looking at her, she used her knee to hit him in the crouch.
Yes, she had hit him there. Lucien was more important. She would face the prince later, after she had gone to pacify Lucien, that is, if he needed pacifying at all.
"Bye-bye, princess. Talk to you next time," Ivy managed to say to the princess as she fled, leaving the prince and princess together.
"You see, brother, she doesn't love you anymore. Accept it," the princess said, keeping her teacup on the table with a clicking sound. She said this to her brother, her face carrying a perfect sneer.
Prince Levi hissed, pointing a finger at the princess.
"Shut up, Claudia. Don't meddle in my business," his voice was raised, trying to inject some authority into it. The sneer on Claudia's face was something that annoyed him the most.
"Your business? Since when is she your business? Brother, Ivy is a nice girl; she has changed. So don't ruin her. There are more women for you to mess with. Or are you tired?" Claudia snapped with elegance, her eyes staring at him.
Her brother should hear the truth and stop being cocky.
"Shut up!" Levi, having had enough of what his sister was saying, sent frozen shards at her.
Claudia was swift, dodging by flying over, then sending frozen spears at him.
The spear hit Levi's face, causing him to hiss.
"Don't you dare, brother. Remember you are not more powerful than me. Only the title of the crown prince makes you think you are powerful," Claudia sneered, lastly looking at Levi's face, from which blood was coming out, then she left.
---
Ivy stood under the night sky full of stars, walking in the castle looking for Lucien.
"Lucien, where are you?" she called, looking around. There was no sign of Lucien; only the palace guards were walking around.
"Host, calm down. The Villain has gone to the roof of the castle," the system appeared, hopping in front of her, encouraging her.
"Which roof, system? There are many roofs in the castle," Ivy asked the system, looking at it like she had seen a savior. There were different roofs in the castle. The system just gave a vague response.
"Host, the highest one. He's there," the system reported, gaining no reply as Ivy had activated her magic, going up into the sky, searching for Lucien.
"Lucien... Hi, what are you doing here?"
Ivy asked as she got up to the roof. Looking closer, she saw Lucien standing on the other side, looking at the sky.
"Nothing. Just looking at the cool sky," Lucien's voice came with indifference, in such a way that Ivy could not see through his thoughts or tell his emotions.
"The sky... It is beautiful. But is it more beautiful than me?" Ivy turned to teasing, having the courage to approach. She walked and stood before him.
Lucien snorted. "Hmmm. You know what you're trying to do won't work on me, right?"
His arms were folded, not even turning to look at her.
Ivy smiled and said, "You know you should say something, instead of just leaving like that, right?"
"Ivy, I'm not stupid. It's not like I have forgotten what you have done. You keep saying that you love me, Ivy. Have you proven it to me?" Lucien raised a brow, walking closer to her. Ivy stared back at him, watching him as he stepped closer to her.
"Tell me. What way do you want me to prove it to you?"
Lucien leaned in, his voice a low hiss in her ear. He saw Ivy's eyes twinkle with something like fear.
A chuckle came from him, seeing her reaction.
Loving him was all a lie in the end.
He continued, "To prove that you are sincere with your feelings, just as you have said, jump off this roof, Ivy. Jump if you love me."
He said, his eyes looking at her with intensity.
"Seriously? You want me to jump? I will die if I jump. How can I love you then?"