“…Viola?”

With Philip calling my name and gazing at me from such a close distance, I regained my senses.

Even with the pain from pinching my thigh under my dress, I didn’t wake up—it wasn’t a dream.

No, there must be some kind of misunderstanding.

“Um, just now, what did you just…?”

“I said, we loved each other.”

“Who and… whom?”

“You and I.”

“Eh.”

Apparently, I didn’t misunderstand. Such an outrageous lie—I couldn’t even hide my bafflement.

I had no idea why he was lying like that. Was it because he had seen through my lies? Or was it a new brand of harassment?

“F, forgive me, I was surprised because my parents haven’t mentioned a single thing pertaining to such…”

“That’s only natural, after all, we rarely displayed any kind of public affection. No wonder the viscount and his wife didn’t have a single clue.”

Wait—

Hold on—

—Who the hell was he referring to?

Was he implying that we were intimate when we weren’t in public?

I stared at his face, which had returned to being expressionless. After some trouble, I decided to just listen to whatever he had to say.

“We, were Lord Philip and I like that before I lost my memories?”

“—It’s Phil.”

“Eh?”

“When we were alone, you would refer to me as ‘Phil’.”

Without regard to etiquette, he started to spew incomprehensible lies. After enduring his implication—that I was a sloppy maiden—I opened my mouth again.

“Um, towards Lord Philip—”

“—‘Phil.’”

“Phil, how did you feel about me in the past?”

I forced my mouth to call him that—it just felt strange. In response to my question, he had a slightly sad and hurtful expression for some reason.

“…Before you lost your memory, you always expressed your love to me. Merely seeing my face made you happy. You would also become jealous whenever I spoke to other women.”

“…I love you?”

“Yes. Head over heels.”

“H, head over heels…”

I felt a slight headache from trying to accommodate his outrageous lies. The way he described it was so real, and matter-of-factly—I even started to doubt my own memories.

I thought it wasn’t good to be swallowed by his pace. Once I calmed myself down, I suddenly felt loss.

‘We loved each other’—didn’t that mean Philip also harbored some feelings for me?

But I was too scared to ask if he loved me.

Then, surprisingly, his eyes widened a little and he chuckled—

—he brought my hand to his lips and gently dropped a kiss on its back.

“I don’t recall when, but I’ve always loved you. It’s such that if you were to tell me to die, I’d comply right away—that’s the extent of my love for you.”

As he spouted over the top words of love and stared at me with his sweet, honey-colored, eyes, my breath got caught in my throat. My face gradually heated up as my heart began to pound.

…That entire time, he did nothing but lie.

It wouldn’t have been strange for those coaxing words of his to also turn out to be lies.

I was aware of that, and yet, I still felt disappointed.

Probably because he had too good of a face.

By the way, his acting was also on a whole different level.

…Also, you don’t have to die, just break our engagement, please?

“I, is that so?”

Still shocked, I could only muster that as a reply.

“Hence why, I don’t want to break our engagement. Not to mention, if after we broke our engagement, you were to regain your memories, wouldn’t you also be sad?”

Of course, I couldn’t fully say I’d be happy with such an outcome.

He told me some outrageous lies and confessed his love to me—

—I was wondering what to do.

In the first place, I didn’t think that Philip, who was smarter and cooler than anyone else, would lie without any apparent reason. If we were to dissolve our engagement, he might be in some kind of trouble, hence why he behaved like that.

Although, what was said reason?

For him to be that desperate to maintain our engagement, to the point he was ready to spout those corny lines?

Even so, wasn’t he the worst? To take advantage of misfortune and deceive others—

—right after I concluded such, my own idea hit me like a boomerang.

“If you don’t like it, you don’t have to go out to socialize—you don’t have to do anything at all. I shall handle everything.”

“…Huh?”

“…That’s why, don’t try to leave me again.”

His voice and expression as he said that was too sad.

I wondered if that line had also been prepared by him to prevent the annulment, but before I had realized it, I was already nodding.

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***T/N: Rather than ‘Phil’ this and ‘Phil’ that, I feel like you guys need this Phil;

Like, seriously…

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