The Extra Saved the Terminally Ill Princess and Ran Away - Chapter 59

Chapter 59: The Second Kiss

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How insecure must she be to entertain such delusions?

Not only me, but Grace, too, seemed speechless at Lili's bombshell of a statement.

We both simply stared at Lili, her expression a mixture of hope and desperation.

Yes, I, too, had been stunned into silence, trying to process what she had just said.

In hindsight, it was a mistake.

I hadn't considered how our shared silence, our mutual shock, would be interpreted by Lili, who seemed to have taken our stunned expressions as confirmation of her worst fears. Perhaps it was karmic retribution for her outrageous assumptions.

Regardless, as we remained silent, unable to respond to her desperate plea for reassurance, her expression became even more distraught.

She seemed to think our silence meant we couldn't even bear to acknowledge her desperate proposal.

With trembling hands and tear-filled eyes, she took a step towards me.

One step.

"Finn… you're lying, aren't you? You said you loved me… just a while ago…"

Another step.

"You're the only one I have left… Please don't… Please don't leave me… I've lived for you…"

"But, that's…"

I struggled to find the right words, as she took another step.

Now standing right in front of me, clutching my shirt, tears streaming down her face, she pleaded,

"Th-Then… I… I don't even care if I'm a concubine… or… or even… I won't complain, no matter what… Just… please let me stay by your side… please…"

"Your Highness, please listen to…"

Sigh.

I glanced at Grace, who had just sighed loudly behind me.

She was looking at me with a mixture of pity and exasperation.

….

Being looked down upon by Grace of all people was infuriating, but now wasn't the time.

Or perhaps, when it came to this particular topic, I would never be on equal footing with her.

Because her scathing remark, while unintended, had an immediate, visible effect on Lili's emotional state, calming her down.

So, perhaps I should thank her for defusing the situation…

"Don't worry, Your Highness. Even if he offered, I would refuse."

…That bitch.

That was a sugarcoated way of saying, 'He wouldn't touch me with a ten-foot pole, so you can have him all to yourself.'

"…And you expect me to believe that? You two were practically kissing just now…!"

Lili, perhaps feeling no need to be polite to Grace, or perhaps driven by jealousy, glared at her, her face contorted in a sneer.

Grace, on the other hand, maintained her serene, saintly expression.

Though her eyebrows twitched slightly at the mention of kissing.

"I would never kiss Berry."

"Th-Then what I saw…!"

"Did you actually see us kissing, Your Highness?"

"Not exactly, but… why else would a man and a woman be so close together?!"

Were we really that close?

I wasn't the only one who wondered. Grace looked back and forth between the doorway where Lili had been watching, and our current position.

Then, she pointed at the doorway.

"The angle… from that perspective, it would have looked like we were… overlapping…"

"Huh…?"

"You saw it yourself, so you should know. The distance between us."

A flicker of understanding, a hint of doubt, appeared in Lili's tear-filled eyes, replacing the swirling mix of anxiety, fear, betrayal, jealousy, and dependence.

A touch of embarrassment, a hint of confusion.

But then, she doubled down, as if she had irrefutable proof.

"Then…! What about your conversation?! Finn asking you if you were seeing anyone, you saying you wanted to experience love with him…!!!"

Grace and I exchanged glances.

We both realized what had happened.

Our lovesick, overly attached Princess, overestimating her own perception skills,

Had misinterpreted our conversation, twisting it into a distorted, almost malicious, narrative.

Grace smiled gently at Lili and suggested a solution, a solution I had also been considering.

A way to easily clear up the misunderstanding, and to teach Lili a valuable lesson about the dangers of jumping to conclusions.

"Berry, why don't we reenact our conversation, word for word? It seems Her Highness won't believe our innocence otherwise…"

"…I like that idea, Grace."

"H-Huh…?"

Perhaps because our expressions were too calm, too confident, for a couple caught red-handed,

Lili looked at us with suspicion, her eyes darting around. I spoke first, mimicking my earlier tone,

"Just out of curiosity, are you… seeing anyone?"

Grace, her expression as serene as before, shook her head.

"Unfortunately… no. I've always been curious about love, but…"

Lili flinched, her shoulders trembling.

But she still didn't seem to grasp the true meaning of our conversation, the nuances of our words.

So, I pulled her close, holding her so she could see Grace's expression as I repeated my next line,

"It's a bit late now, so…"

Lili's shoulders trembled again, her head turning towards me. I covered her mouth, forcing her to look at Grace.

"Mmmmph?!"

She would probably be mortified when this was over, but… this would teach her a lesson about jumping to conclusions, about misinterpreting my interactions with Grace.

It was, in a way, karmic retribution for her earlier accusations.

Though Grace probably hadn't considered that.

"Berry."

"Yes?"

"They say love makes people alike, but…"

"Mmm!! Mmm! Mmm!!"

Lili's cheeks burned crimson, tears welling up in her eyes.

The moment she saw Grace's expression, she started struggling, trying to escape, to stop our cruel reenactment.

'Not a chance.'

Seriously? You want to make Grace my concubine?

If she had simply questioned my intentions, I would have gently explained. But this… this was too much.

I had tolerated her accusations, her sharp words, when she didn't know my true identity, swallowing my anger like a tough piece of meat.

But now, she knew everything.

Well, almost everything. But still, she dared to suggest this, after kissing me?

This wouldn't do. I was a firm believer in pure love.

NTR, harems… they had to be eradicated. Even if it meant confronting the woman I loved.

I would correct her misguided thinking.

"While I do desire…"

"A love born from…"

"That's not the kind…"

"That's why I…"

"So…"

Grace's relentless, almost torturous, repetition of our conversation finally silenced Lili's struggles. I released my hand from her mouth.

She clung to me again, pleading,

"I-I'm sorry… I was wrong… I won't doubt you again… so please… stop…"

I looked down at her face. Her tears had dried, replaced by a look of utter horror, as if she had witnessed something truly repulsive.

…But I only said two lines?

Most of it had been Grace's monologue, yet it seemed to have been a deeply humiliating experience for Lili.

Perhaps because, as a princess, she rarely experienced such shame. Or perhaps it was the feeling of having all her past mistakes and insecurities laid bare.

In a way, this was a blessing in disguise.

A potentially disastrous misunderstanding, resolved with a slightly embarrassing, but ultimately harmless, incident.

'But still, I need to correct her misconceptions.'

I looked at Grace, silently asking her to leave.

"Berry, you should at least tell me verbally when you want me to…"

"Just get out."

"…Sigh."

She sighed, exasperated, and left the training grounds.

I didn't want to talk to her after that incident.

"Finn…?"

Lili looked up at me, her voice soft. I knelt down, meeting her gaze, and took her hand.

"Your Highness, do you know why I did that?"

"Because… I suspected you and Grace…"

Yes.

I wanted to correct this misconception.

That I would be angry if she questioned my interactions with other women.

If I didn't address this now, she would never be able to express her jealousy or her insecurities, even if they were valid.

It was okay to be suspicious, to be jealous.

I shook my head, wanting her to understand.

"No, Your Highness, that's not it at all. I don't mind if you're suspicious of my relationships with other women."

"Then…?"

Her violet eyes blinked, her long lashes fluttering.

A simple, human gesture, yet it captivated me, like the twinkling of stars in the night sky.

How could I ever look at another woman when someone this adorable was devoted to me?

I smiled warmly,

"Didn't I say you were like a dream to me, Your Highness?"

"You did…?"

She still didn't seem to understand, so I pulled her close, whispering in her ear,

"Imagine this. My long-cherished dream, finally within my grasp, and you're suggesting I share it with someone else… How do you think that makes me feel?"

"…."

"My precious dream… a dream I want to cherish and protect… seeing you treat yourself so carelessly hurts me. Ironically."

If she had simply demanded my undivided attention, I would have gladly obeyed.

Even if she dragged me away by the scruff of my neck, I would have gone willingly, a goofy grin plastered on my face.

Yes, I knew.

Unlike my unwavering devotion, she was a girl who became vulnerable, almost helpless, in the face of love.

So, I had turned the potentially hurtful incident with Grace into a joke.

Hoping that she would learn to value herself, even half as much as I valued her.

I released her from my embrace and looked at her, her eyes darting around, trying to focus on me.

So, I traced the contours of her face with my fingertips, a gentle caress, from her forehead to her cheeks, to her chin, as if admiring a precious work of art.

"When will you realize, Your Highness, that while this attendant might tease you, he would never intentionally hurt you?"

Her lips trembled, her violet eyes still filled with confusion.

Realizing I had never initiated such intimacy before, I cupped her chin with my left hand, my right hand gently cradling the back of her head, and,

For the first time,

I kissed her, my lips seeking hers.

A long, yet fleeting, moment.

A soft moan escaped her slightly parted lips, and my tongue, as if unwilling to let even that sound escape, explored her mouth, tasting her sweetness.

She gasped, her hand clutching my shirt, and I pulled away slightly, asking,

"Will you understand… if I do this?"

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