The Witch Didn't Raise the Tyrant That Way - Chapter 6: My Heart Has Grown Too (4)

“…Did you hate it?”

Kyle asked, pouting almost childishly, as he wrapped his arms around my waist and pulled me toward him. Before I could react, I found myself sitting on his lap, just like so many times before.

“To you, I’m still that ten-year-old boy from when we first met, aren’t I?”

“I-it’s not exactly like that…”

At first, I had thought of Kyle as the same boy I had known in our childhood. But at some point, that became impossible. How could I see him that way anymore? Every day, we had been tangled together in such crude and messy intimacy. That boy, who had once watched me cautiously like a stray cat but desperately wanted to trust me—he was nowhere to be found now.

“No matter how I think about it, I figured you wouldn’t care even if I brought you the most expensive dresses and jewels. So instead, I made sure your lab was perfectly set up, and I filled the gardens with flowers and food I thought you’d like.”

I couldn’t help but be surprised again. For someone who often seemed oblivious, Kyle had apparently thought through a lot about me. The palace’s private garden, which he had filled to reflect a pastoral charm, had become one of my small joys here. Its unpretentious beauty, far from what one would expect in a royal garden, made exploring the unfamiliar plants a delightful pastime.

“And… since you seemed to care about nighttime activities… Well, I thought that my body might be enough for you to form an attachment to me.”

“Who said that?”

“…Someone.”

Kyle flushed slightly, avoiding my gaze like a child caught red-handed. He had clearly gotten this idea from his personal guards—mercenaries who had helped him return triumphantly to the palace.

“So, Lyn.”

After silently observing my expression for a moment, Kyle tightened his arm around my waist and intertwined his fingers with my left hand, raising it gently. He spoke carefully.

“Will you marry me…?”

His plea came as he looked up at me, his face just below mine, his eyes desperate yet brimming with hope. He didn’t say the words “please,” but his gaze said everything.

But then, I noticed something odd. As Kyle held my left hand at chest height, I saw a Lyng. A large, unmistakably diamond-encrusted Lyng, glittering with brilliant multicolored light.

The design was unmistakable.

“Kyle, this…”

“It’s an engagement ring. I already put it on you.”

“When?”

“…While you were asleep.”

Another incredulous laugh escaped my lips.

So this is what had happened: after drugging me unconscious to stop me from escaping and tying me up, he had slipped a proposal Lyng onto my finger. No wonder my finger had felt heavy. I couldn’t help but laugh hollowly at the absurdity of it all. And this from the same man who had been talking earlier about chaining my ankles and forcing me to have his children…

“Does it not fit?”

“That’s not the issue here.”

“….”

Kyle seemed to understand that he had crossed a line, his head now resting quietly on my shoulder. He didn’t say anything, just gazed at me, silently waiting for my reaction.

How had things gotten so twisted?

How had he come to fixate on me like this?

“You should be grateful it was me who was abandoned in the forest.”

You had come to the forest already broken and battered. And yet, because I couldn’t help but care for you even as I tried to act indifferent, was this path always inevitable for us?

I stared down at him for a moment, then slowly tilted my head and pressed a brief kiss to his lips.

Kyle froze, as though he were trying to make sense of what had just happened. But then his face brightened all at once, his crimson eyes glowing with delight.

“Lyn…!”

He looked up, his expression filled with joy and relief.

“Well… even if I suddenly have this grand title now, I don’t know anything about court life. I don’t know royal etiquette, and even if I try to learn, I probably won’t be any good at it.”

“That’s fine. You don’t need to worry about that kind of thing. If you don’t recognize some noble strutting around in front of you, it’ll just be their fault for not introducing themselves. And if you don’t want to deal with palace management and would rather stay in your lab, then from that moment on, the duty of the queen in the Roden royal family will officially become ‘research.’”

“…What does that even mean?”

“It’s the bare minimum effort I’m willing to make to take you as my wife.”

“…….”

“If I were planning to burden you with any kind of duty, I would’ve abandoned the palace and gone to live in the forest with you.”

But apparently, after assessing that I could be queen without ever having to lift a finger, Kyle had decided to stay on the throne and bring me here instead.

I mean… seriously.

And yet, after planning everything so meticulously, he’d kept it all a secret, just so I could focus on my own feelings before making a decision.

When I finally let out a soft laugh, Kyle smiled just as brightly as the moonlight streaming in through the window and nuzzled his face into my upper chest.

“By the way, did you let anyone at the palace know you were leaving?”

“Huh?”

“When did you even come here? And don’t use that potion on yourself like that. That’s not what I made it for.”

“Ah…”

Kyle’s lips curved into an amused grin as I grumbled incessantly.

“We’re still in the palace.”

“What?”

“Remember when I said they were tearing down the annex to build something new? I brought this here and rebuilt it in its place. Your cabin, exactly as it was in the forest.”

Wait… What?! I gawked at him, utterly stunned.

I’d mistakenly assumed that Kyle was building some honeymoon suite at the annex site, but…

“You… seriously! That means you started moving this the day you brought me here! You went through all that effort and never said a word to me about it?”

“Sorry… but I learned that from you.”

Kyle tilted his head slightly, resting his cheek against my upper chest as his crimson eyes sparkled mischievously.

“You know, the whole ‘hit first, explain later’ thing.”

“When did I ever say that?!”

While I sputtered in outrage, Kyle’s sly hand had already slipped under the hem of the shirt I was wearing—his shirt—and slid around my waist.