I Think My Fiancé Has Regressed

Chapter 5: I am destined to break off my engagement (5)

After a long absence, the meeting with Alex got off to an uneasy start.

Three people’s eyes were on me at the same time as I was pouring tea, so I almost spilled the tea out of tension.

“Please drink, Alec…Prince Sandros.”

“Thank you.”

As soon as he was handed the peppermint tea, brewed to just the right temperature, Alex didn’t hesitate to take a sip.

“As usual, Ariana’s is the best.”

“…Don’t you have any doubts?”

“About what?”
“Well, I…I tried to poison Miss Sierra once.”

For a time, not long after I entered the Academy, Alex and I got along pretty well…until that incident, when he really started to distance himself from me.

There was a tea party that included Alex, me, and Miss Sierra.

Miss Sierra drank some of my brewed tea and was rushed to the infirmary with symptoms of poisoning.

This is the case of Duchess Arianna’s attempted poisoning of Miss Sierra.

Because of Miss Sierra’s leniency, I was not punished for that, but it couldn’t have looked good in Alex’s eyes anyway.

“It happened because I was jealous of Miss Sierra, so I might do the same thing to Prince Alexander.”

“Yeah, that was weird, too, when you think about it.”

“What?”

Alex, hearing my words, actually questioned the incident again.

“It was weird that you, Ariana, would try to poison Miss Sierra in such a public place.”

“What do you mean by that?”

“I don’t know, it just occurred to me.”

Alex seemed to have a headache again, as he covered his forehead with one hand and spoke.

“I don’t know why, Sierra…I just can’t seem to think straight when I’m around her, and I know that sounds like an excuse, but it’s been that way until now.”

“…….”

“Well, if you take a step back and think about it, there’s definitely a lot of things that make me uncomfortable, including that attempted poisoning you mentioned.”

The incident, which was said to have been caused by my jealousy of Miss Sierra, ended uneventfully at her mercy.

To that, Alex mulled over the suspicious points.

“First of all, Ariana, it doesn’t make sense that you did it.”

“…But the circumstantial evidence was all pointing to me.”

“The Ariana I know isn’t that stupid, she’s not the kind of fool who would do something so haphazard and thoughtless out of jealousy, when it was obvious she’d be suspected.”

“So what do you think I would have done?”

“Of course you would have used your power or position to your advantage, at least in a way that left no evidence or trace. Not in such a conspicuous and ignorant way. Oh, no, not like this….”

“…….”

“You wouldn’t have done anything in the first place, Ariana, and I think that’s where it went wrong.”

It’s a suspicion that’s been resolved over two years later, but it still lingers in the back of my mind.

“Ariana would never hurt anyone or be mean to anyone.”

I’m not sure why, but somehow there’s a wistfulness in his eyes.

“What makes you think that?”

“Because if you were a shadowy bully like Sierra says you are, out of my sight and out of mind, your maid, Elise, wouldn’t have followed you to the end.”

“What?”

“Nor would she have risked her life to save the lives of ordinary village children. She must have known….”

“I save commoner children? I’m not following what you’re saying.”

“Oh.”

I repeat in a tone of questioning, and Alex gives me a look that says he realizes he’s made a mistake.

“Sorry, forget what I just said.”

“You do realize that when you tell me to forget, I remember it more, right?”

“Then just pretend you didn’t hear it. I shouldn’t have said that.”

If you’re not supposed to say something, don’t say it in the first place.

I don’t know why you’re creating a bunch of questions and then cutting me off at will.

“Anyway, my conclusion is this: the poisoning two years ago, Ariana, you didn’t do it.”

“…I see.”

“I apologize for the way I treated you then, and I’m sorry I didn’t believe you until the end.”

“…….”

There are times, not many, when Alex bows to me.

Other than that, today’s Alex feels a bit out of place.

It’s like he’s Alex and he’s not Alex at the same time.

And yet, the way he looks at me, his demeanor, his facial expressions, I can feel a certain trust in him.

“You’re right.”

To Alex, I feel like it’s okay to say.

“It wasn’t me who put the poison in Miss Sierra’s tea that day.”

I didn’t say it because it sounds like I’m excusing myself, and because I knew it would only fuel suspicion but somehow, today, I felt like Alex was going to believe me.

“I guess.”

“But I’m also the only one who could have put it there, because of the three teas that came from the same pot, only Miss Sierra’s had poison in it.”

Everyone else had already concluded that I had done it, but for me, the victim, it was still a cold case.

I tried to convince myself that the “game system” was working to make me the villain.

“Why is Ariana the only one who can poison her?”

“What?”

“Sierra must have put it in herself.”

Miss Sierra poisoned her own tea?

“…Why?”

“Because she hates you, Ariana, of course.”

“Why would she poison her own tea if she hates me?”

“Because you’re the one who poured it for her.”

“What do you mean I poured her tea…ah!”

It wasn’t until I listened closely to Alex’s words that I understood what he was trying to say.

“She’s trying to make it look like she was poisoned, to make me look evil?”

“Yeah, right.”

Surely this logic explains everything, even if it’s not the “game system”.

I realize that it’s Alex who has gotten to the truth before I have, given my knowledge of the game.

“How did you come to that conclusion?”

“At first, I was inclined to think you did it because of the circumstances, but then I rethought it and realized it was easy.”

“Why?”

“As soon as I realized that you would never have done it, it was obvious that Sierra would have done it.”

“…You’re putting a lot of trust in me today.”

“I should have realized this a little sooner….”

Alex said, sounding remorseful and self-pitying about what had happened.

“There must have been some evidence left behind, and if I’d searched Sierra’s dorm room right away, I might have gotten the same ingredient, or maybe the leftover poison was still somewhere in her body when she fell.

I was stupidly panicked by the situation in front of me, and I didn’t think clearly.”

“I was the same way.”

“Arianna, you were under suspicion, you couldn’t help it. Even if you had said the same thing, it would have seemed like you were making it all up.”

“Maybe….”

“I should have realized it sooner, and I’m sorry I’m just now figuring it out.”

“It’s okay, at least now you know.”

To be honest, it feels a little late, but I’m glad the misunderstanding has been cleared up, at least for Alex.

“So, by the way….”

As soon as his misconceptions about me were cleared up, Alex was ready to move on, as if that was the point of the day.

“…Have you thought about what I said the other day?”

“What about?”

“About how I haven’t been a very good fiancé to you so far….and whether you can forgive me for that.”

“…….”

So, yeah, there was that story.

I’d been so distracted by the fact that he passed out right after he’d said it, I’d forgotten to respond.

Elise had told me to be a little more assertive while Derek had told me not to forgive him right away.

Kael said that we don’t know what Alex is thinking, so it’s better to be cautious.

“…It’s still going to be hard to go back to the way things were?”

“Well….”

Ha, but now that I think about it, wouldn’t it be okay to start over?

Alex apologized to me, and most importantly, we cleared up the misunderstanding about why he had bad feelings for me.

Perhaps if other people knew that I had resolved the misunderstanding between me and Alex, wouldn’t they understand that it could have been done that way?

“Now that you put it that way, I guess I’ll have to….”

“No, Ariana.”

Interrupting Alex and I as we were thinking this was Elise, who had been listening to our conversation in silence.