Vibe-Good Cafe? That's Wild. 034 After the Dinner
Creak—clack, clack.
The restaurant door swung open, and Louis and Elisia emerged. Spotting them, the reporters unleashed a barrage of flashes, while the coachman hurriedly opened the carriage door and bowed his head.
Arriving at the carriage, Louis extended his hand to escort Elisia.
"It was a delightful time."
"Yes, Your Highness. I enjoyed it as well. Thank you so much for your consideration today."
Elisia took his hand with a flawless smile befitting the future crown princess. The reporters captured that beautiful moment, flashes popping without pause.
At that instant, Louis smiled back at her, but inside, turmoil churned wildly.
'Empty again.'
Her smile lacked soul. Gone was the old flush on her cheeks, the flustered excitement, the overwhelming waves of emotion, the suffocating gaze of affection. All evaporated.
He'd been pondering if the Rosenbergs had added acting lessons to their crown princess training.
Once inside the carriage, Elisia smoothed her dress and offered a faint smile.
"Dining together and being seen off by you, Your Highness—it's been so long."
"Has it? There will be a next time."
"……Then."
With that curt reply, Elisia retreated to the farthest corner of the carriage. Even as her maid closed the door, she didn't glance back once. Normally, she'd hesitate, lingering with regret, but this time, not a shred of reluctance.
Thud, thud.
The Rosenberg carriage departed. Louis glared at it with a hardened expression.
Usually, her obsessive stares felt like shackles—he'd always wanted to ignore them. Please, just leave me alone. Stop looking at me. He'd prayed for it endlessly.
'What a joke.'
Now that the gaze was gone, there was no liberation—only a nagging unease.
"This is the picture I wanted. So why does my gut feel so twisted?"
Louis scoffed self-mockingly and headed toward the imperial carriage. Once out of the reporters' sight, he irritably loosened his cravat.
Clearly, Elisia had undergone a massive shift in mindset without his knowledge. Her eyes no longer held Louis de Leopold. They seemed fixed on something else. Or someone else.
An uncontrollable variable. Louis couldn't tolerate this.
"Hector."
He growled lowly. Hector emerged from the shadows like a specter.
"Yes, Your Highness."
"Find out why Lady Elisia's behavior has changed."
"……The cause, you say?"
"Yes. No one changes like that overnight. There must have been a trigger. Someone filling her head with nonsense."
Louis's red eyes gleamed coldly.
"If needed, request cooperation from the intelligence bureau. We'll comb through every society rumor like reading our own palms."
"Understood. I'll send a letter to the Palace Count."
Hector bowed dutifully. Louis had no idea that the second son of that very Palace Count—who gripped the real power in the intelligence bureau—was the culprit behind it all.
Thud, thud.
Back in her carriage, Elisia sank deep into the seat.
"Haa……."
A sigh escaped her. Her mind was a mess.
The crown prince's attention—she'd craved it her whole life. His offered hand first, the escort, the gentle words. She'd gotten it all at once today. Moments she'd never want to wake from if they were a dream.
'……But it doesn't move me.'
Her chest felt hollow, empty.
"It was beyond uncomfortable."
Elisia muttered bitterly. She'd barely known where the food went down during that ordeal.
"Why am I like this……."
Her turmoil spilled out as mutterings, even with her maid present. Noticing the worried gaze, she forced a faint smile.
What am I doing, mumbling like this in front of others?
Her head throbbed; she reached to open the window for night air.
Swish.
As the carriage slowed around a corner, a familiar silhouette flashed by outside.
"……Huh?"
Elisia blinked. Had she seen wrong? No way. There was only one guy in the capital dressed so sloppily, slouched like that.
She quickly opened the side window toward the driver's seat and shouted.
"Stop the carriage!"
Neigh!
The moment it halted, she leaned out the window. Across the street, on the terrace of an open-air cafe. Under the streetlamp, there he was.
Kasian del Parne.
But.
"……Pfft."
Elisia burst out laughing unwittingly. His face was priceless.
Brows furrowed, lips pouted. His whole body screamed, 'Ugh, I'm in such a bad mood right now.'
If you tried to make the poster child for "zero noble etiquette," it'd look just like that. What conversation was making him scowl like that?
'I'm worried.'
Is something wrong? Realizing she was fretting over him, Elisia startled herself.
'Why am I worrying about that guy?'
Coming back from ruining a date with her fiancé, checking another man's mood?
But then—in mere seconds—his furrowed brow smoothed like ironed cloth, his pout vanished, and a radiant smile bloomed on his lips. A happiness that made you think, that's what "owning the world" looks like. No trace of the earlier grumpy expression.
"Pfft…… Ahaha."
Elisia couldn't hold back and laughed aloud. So transparent. Watching his emotions shift so purely and clearly made all her tangled thoughts evaporate.
The lingering unease from that uncomfortable dinner vanished too.
"Really…… hopeless."
Elisia propped her chin on the window sill and watched him. Just looking was fun.
Then, curiosity stirred.
'Who’s he out with at this hour?'
Alone? Unlikely. Or…… a woman? For his expression to flip so dramatically, it had to be someone important.
Curiosity itched; her chest tickled pointlessly. The curiosity cells dead around the crown prince roared to life at the sight of Kasian.
"Who makes him that happy?"
Too light for jealousy, too heavy for mere curiosity.
Clunk.
"Wait here a moment."
Elisia stepped out of the carriage.
In the heart of the bustling district, on the terrace of a cafe with flashy marble interiors. Great ambiance, fragrant black tea, and an attractive older woman across from me.
To outsiders, it screamed date. But reality? Totally different.
Muller Viscountess sat opposite, grinning ear to ear, while I was pissed enough to risk a hernia, lips pursed.
"You look pretty mad, Mr. Almost-My-Student talent?"
"You know when people get the most pissed?"
"Hmm? For me, it's when something I want slips right through my fingers."
She replied leisurely, chin in hand. I flinched.
What the fuck. Sounded like "if I can't have it, I'll smash it" was coming next.
But I was too angry today to chicken out. Thinking of the pink bomb that rolled into my peaceful lab and turned it into a petting zoo made sleep impossible from sheer injustice.
"It's when I'm pissed but have zero grounds to vent."
"Oh my."
"When it's clearly bullshit, but calling it out makes me look like the weirdo."
I slammed the teacup down irritably.
Clink!
"Fine, since you seem to want me to nitpick, I'll play along."
"Go ahead."
Her smile was infuriating.
"I asked you to keep it secret, right?"
"You did."
"Then why'd you blab? My lab's a daycare now."
"My disciple's an adult, not a child."
"Look at her face—you know. Biologically adult, maybe, but mentally?"
"Fair point. Your way with words is hilarious."
Muller Viscountess looked thrilled.
"Well, you said 'keep it secret,' and I said 'I'll think about it'—not 'I promise.'"
Speechless. Fucking enraging.
"……It's going exactly as I predicted. Why even tell me to come complain?"
"Just 'cause. I figured you'd show up to gripe, and when you didn't, I got a bit bummed."
"I'd just get teased by you. Like now—'I never promised'—you'd slither out. I'd turn red and huff, and you'd be the only one having fun."
Legally, morally—no win. Just like seconds ago.
"Oh, seeing me in such a bad light. How hurtful."
Playing around?
"That's a compliment. Top-notch merchant qualities. Ambition's a key virtue."
"Hehehe, thanks."
Muller Viscountess's smile didn't fade, even at my sarcasm. This lady's hooked on messing with me. Iris teases back at least; with her, I'm just the punchbag—no fun.
"Anyway, why'd you call me? Not for tea time in a nice cafe with your student on a non-class day, right?"
"Nice cafe?"
"Vibe-good cafe. Good atmosphere."
"That's wild."
This goddamn world. Imports "that's wild" but not "vibe-good cafe" from Korea.
Point is, why am I here? Professor and student—off-class chit-chat? Super confusing content.
"Reason's obvious."
She sipped tea, eyes gleaming.
"I took your recommended talent as disciple—gotta show thanks. And since I dumped her in your lab, a 'take good care' greeting too, right?"
"……."
My eyebrow twitched.
'Picking a fight? Not hit-and-heal—straight-up salt in the wound?'
Her rubbing-it-in skills were art.
Then, Muller Viscountess set down her cup, shifting tone.
"Jokes over."
Tease all she wants, then business.
"You didn't think I'd just say thanks, did you?"
"……Pardon?"
She pulled a thick envelope from her bosom and tossed it on the table.
"Here. Thanks for the great disciple rec."
"What's this?"
"Open it."
I eyed it suspiciously and picked it up. Carefully opened the envelope, pulled out the document, and read.
And.
"……Holy shit!"
Breath caught. A document. But not just any—
Near Emerald Beach Resort, Southern Region
Large Mansion and Adjacent Property Deed Transfer
My hands started shaking.
"Th-this, this……."
"Hate the hectic capital? Can't stand crowds?"
Muller Viscountess grinned, chin in hand.
"So I prepared this. Southern tip—mild climate, perfect for farming. Threw in plenty of land too. Who knows? Might spend your life there tending fields."
"……."