### Chapter 281 – Zoo Date Event! (1)
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– Yu Songee
—
Suddenly, a “zoo date” event sprang up! But wait, wasn’t this scenario absent when Elena entered? A wave of unease washed over me for a moment.
Noticing my anxious expression, the crown prince’s mood darkened. He’s truly an open book.
“I’m honored to accept Your Highness’s invitation for a lifetime.”
I bowed slowly, almost exaggeratedly, to ensure he didn’t feel a hint of worry from me.
“There’s really no need for that! We’re friends now!”
The boy beamed with a smile he couldn’t hide. His aide, Gelland, informed me that a servant would come soon to finalize the date.
As soon as I accepted, the space began to tremble.
*
“The unfolding is different? Invited to the palace? This kind of story didn’t exist when Elena was here…”
“It seems the events change based on how you act. After all, some need good endings while others get bad ones.”
*
The spontaneously starting “Crown Prince’s Zoo” event was a bit absurd.
Whenever animals were about to be seen, time would awkwardly zip by in a flash. It seemed like the movie opted to skip the “animal stuff” outright to better focus on the relationship between the female and male leads.
Honestly, I felt a bit disappointed.
I would’ve loved to see the mystical creatures the crown prince supposedly collected from all over the world. But I had to remind myself that I wasn’t here just to check out animals—gotta stick to the flow.
“Your Highness, isn’t there a riding arena nearby? I’d love to see Motian, the horse you mentioned the other day.”
“… Motian? He’s been feeling a bit under the weather lately.”
I almost sighed at the prince’s flimsy lie. I get it; he doesn’t want to look bad in front of the girl he likes.
But I had a plan of my own, so I decided to be a little pushy this time. The excuse to see the horse was an angle he couldn’t easily refuse. After all, it was a gift from my father in this setting.
And indeed, the renowned horse, Motian, exuded an intimidating aura.
— Heehee!
“Ugh! Look! Isn’t Motian acting strange? Something must be bothering him.”
“Just a moment.”
I subtly adjusted my clothing to cover the ‘bracelet’. A blinding white flash flickered, and Motian shook nervously. Fortunately, the prince didn’t seem to notice anything amiss.
Horses are inherently skittish creatures. The aggression they show is often rooted in fear rather than pure ferocity.
Various factors could be the cause: the clothes the owner wears, the scent, physique, or even the sounds around them. Simply put, I believed Motian felt “fear” toward the crown prince, hence his aggressive behavior.
What could I do to resolve this?
Back in the day, brave horsemen who fired muskets had to resort to harsh methods to handle horses that couldn’t adjust to gunfire. They deafened the horses, essentially making them oblivious to the source of their fright.
Moments ago, I had shaken Motian’s senses. The world he perceived was renewed by my hand.
“What’s happening? Why is he acting like this all of a sudden?”
“Isn’t he behaving more gently now?”
“Oh… Yeah. I’ve never seen Motian this calm.”
“Why not give it a try and hop on?”
The prince couldn’t refuse my request even as he wore a worried expression. Honest thoughts flashed across his face, making me want to chuckle.
‘Please, Motian! Don’t throw me off this time!’
A while later, my plan succeeded perfectly.
“Giddy up! Haha! Why was this good boy acting all prickly before?”
“Perhaps he was just struggling to adjust to the new environment.”
The prince’s laughter filled the stables first, then flowed out to the fields.
*
After a while, the prince returned to my side, still grinning from ear to ear.
“You really know about horses! I had a great time. Oddly enough, things seem to go well when I’m with you.”
Nearby knights were all too happy to see their master’s cheerful demeanor and brightened up too.
“Lady Crosibel! Your skills are impressive. By the way, Lady Evelyn—”
“Rupert!”
The sharp shout nearly split my eardrums. As I turned to check on the prince, our eyes met, and it felt like he was glancing at me for reassurance.
In that brief moment, the two of us darted glances as if trying to read each other’s minds before quickly looking away.
“Uh, it’s nothing serious. It seems Rupert has said something unnecessary, so no need to worry.”
“…”
What’s this atmosphere?
The knight named Rupert looked like he’d seen a ghost, hanging his head low, while the aides shot daggers at him. The crown prince looked startled and then sneaked peeks at me.
All this chaos sparked by a single word—‘Evelyn’.
Evelyn… I kind of know her. She was one of the ladies at the first event during the party. She boasts a striking beauty that Ahri often teased Kain about during their discussions.
Striking beauty… Thinking of that word gave me an eerie feeling.
This place isn’t reality; it’s a movie. In movies, a beautiful woman usually implies an ‘expensive actress’. And since actresses generally possess looks that the average person can’t aspire to, glancing upon someone radiating such beauty would leave you slack-jawed in real life.
Could such a girl simply be an extra? Maybe she has a significant role instead?
*
“Songee’s analysis seems quite persuasive, doesn’t it?”
Ahri nodded in response to my older sister’s words.
“That Evelyn is certainly too pretty to be merely an extra. A villain, perhaps? It’s about time she made an appearance since we’re past the middle of the film.”
“Hmm… What you joked about, Ahri, could indeed be a stark fact.”
“Joked?”
“That’s it! Kain could have entered and possessed Evelyn. If so, we might have had fewer villain problems!”
“Eunsol, I never joked about it. Next time, it’s definitely Kain!”
“Shh! Evelyn’s identity is being revealed!”
*
…So Evelyn had that kind of character setting.
Unlike the knights and prince, who were seemingly busy hiding things from me, the aides decided to transmit what they could cautiously since they felt it was impossible to keep under wraps. After an initial shock at the unexpected bit of info, the space trembled, marking the onset of the next event.
Next up was the city’s New Year festival.
An event Elena had also experienced, but the progression was different. First off, there was no subtle abduction by the crown prince’s aide trailing behind me. Instead, my prince openly conveyed his cute idea.
“He wishes to date like a commoner!”
“Indeed. He stated that wandering among the lower class and observing their lives is tied to his duties as a prince—”
The aide continued to ramble with more excess detail, but the gist was simple: instead of a dazzling dress, we’d don plain attire, mingling with commoners to enjoy the festival. Of course, a disguised escort would be there too.
Perhaps due to the time constraint of our screen time, the event moved along at a brisk pace.
Honestly, it was so fast that it threw me off. Just three seconds before, I was talking with the aide, and in the blink of an eye, I was dressed differently and waking up in the middle of a bustling festival!
“L- Lady Songee! Over here—”
“Your Highness.”
“Hmm?”
Elena was excellent at maintaining the ambiance; let me mimic her a little—No, stop thinking like that!
Better think of this as imitating Kain. He’s the best at putting on a show with silly words that somehow work because he’s so handsome—No, seriously, cut it out!
*
“Songee, really? Deceiving? You have a lot of misconceptions about me.”
Ahri gave me an incredulous look.
“Kain. Put your hand down. I can tell you’re smiling.”
Eunsol mumbled with a frightened expression, “I really don’t want to enter this movie…”
*
I tried to speak as gracefully as I could.
“Today, could you please call me Songi?”
The crown prince, blushing beet red, cautiously muttered.
“… Call me Joshua.”
The rest of the events turned out to be rather enjoyable. The prince was starting to seem quite adorable to me. Wandering the streets, watching performances, and trying street food was delightful.
But soon, my head began to spin.
“It can’t go this smoothly, can it…?”
“What?”
“Nothing! Hey, should we go to the center?”
“That would be the dance area, right? I’m not particularly keen on dancing.”
Why is this kid so averse to everything?
“I’m not insisting we dance, just to watch it!”
And upon arriving at the heart of the New Year festival, where lovers gathered to dance, both the prince and I lost our words simultaneously.
Standing right in the center of the square were truly handsome couples. They might just be the main protagonist couple of this world.
*
“Wow…! Seriously, what is going on in this plot?”
With her jaw dropped, Eunsol reacted, and nearby, Ahri answered with a bewildered look.
“It’s quite an interesting turn. Glad I’m not in it…”
“Songee, please! You need to finish this! I’m begging you!”
As Kain watched from nearby, the sentiment made Sanghyun chuckle involuntarily.
“I’m already curious about what the next movie will be like.”
*
In the square where beautiful music played, numerous couples danced in circles. And among those couples, there was one that seemed to gather all the light in the world.
A tall, handsome man with striking features—Duke Pendleton.
And a girl with the beauty of the night’s goddess, capturing the essence of the night sky—Princess Evelyn.
Their dance exuded the feeling of being in a different genre entirely; it was utterly mystical and noble. In this breathtakingly cinematic scene, someone just couldn’t appreciate the beauty.
I subtly glanced sideways to check on the anxious prince.
He stood there, looking like he’d been struck by lightning, trembling as he watched the dance floor. The intensity of emotions, seen in his eyes, face, and gestures, was so palpable that you could feel it without even wearing the bracelet. Right now, what was he feeling?
…
How would it feel to watch your ‘ex-girlfriend’ dancing with the ‘guy she’s most jealous of’? I couldn’t even begin to imagine.
Just then, Evelyn spotted us and approached with a gentle smile. Whether she knew the situation or not, if she didn’t, then she truly was clueless. But Pendleton surely would know, smirking as he came closer.
“Oh my, I didn’t expect Your Highness to attend the festival as well. And who might this be…?”
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