I AM NOT THE LOVE INTEREST!

Chapter 74: Come Clean

—REN—

For one dreadful moment, I thought Lady Aria might actually accept him.

The possibility struck me with such force that I could barely breathe.

The entire ballroom had fallen silent. Hundreds of nobles stood frozen in place, watching the scene unfold before them with attention usually reserved for royal decrees and declarations of war.

And perhaps this was not so different.

At the center of the ballroom stood Lady Aria.

Aelith’s hand remained extended toward her.

The elven prince looked calm and utterly certain of himself. His expression carried the confidence of a man who believed the outcome had already been decided. He looked as though he merely awaited the formality of hearing her answer aloud.

That confidence alone made my blood boil.

I watched Lady Aria carefully.

She looked shocked, confused, troubled.

But more than that, she looked...

...hurt.

Like she had just been betrayed.

She looked completely unprepared for what had just happened.

That was what angered me most.

She had walked into this evening expecting a banquet.

Instead, she had been placed in the middle of a public declaration she never agreed to.

Sebastian who was beside me, looked as though he was moments away from strangling someone.

The duke maintained the appearance of composure, but his eyes had become frighteningly cold.

Matthias remained standing between Lady Aria and Aelith, his sword still raised. Although his posture remained disciplined, the tension radiating from him was impossible to miss.

Even Lord Ezekiel had abandoned his usual amusement.

The archmage’s gaze never left Lady Aria.

As for me, I could not stop watching her.

I needed to know what she was thinking.

Because despite everything, I knew something the others did not.

Lady Aria liked Aelith.

Not in the way the prince clearly imagined.

But she trusted him.

After the incident outside the capital, after the mana examinations, after the pixies he sent to help with her dress, she had come to regard him as someone important.

Someone safe.

Someone she considered a friend.

And that frightened me.

Because Lady Aria’s heart was far too kind.

She forgave too easily.

She trusted too deeply.

If anyone could accidentally find themselves agreeing to something outrageous simply because they did not wish to hurt another person’s feelings, it would be her.

Lady Aria finally moved.

Aelith’s expression softened immediately.

The movement seemed to reassure him.

The prince smiled and lowered his hand slightly.

"Aria," he said gently.

The familiarity of it made Ezekiel’s eye twitch.

Lady Aria stopped a few steps away from him.

For several moments, she said nothing.

Then she looked down at the bracelet around her wrist.

The silver vines gleamed beneath the ballroom lights.

I recognized it immediately.

I hated it immediately.

The moment I first saw it weeks ago, I had known something was wrong.

I simply had not realized how wrong.

Lady Aria slowly touched the bracelet with her fingers, and when she finally spoke, her voice was almost quiet.

"Aelith."

The prince smiled.

"Yes?"

The sadness in her eyes made my stomach sink.

"When you gave me this bracelet," she began softly, "I thought it was because you were worried about me."

Aelith nodded immediately.

"I was."

"I thought it was because you wanted to help me."

"I did."

"I thought it was because we were friends."

That was when the smile vanished from his face.

Lady Aria lowered her gaze briefly before looking back at him.

"I never asked for a prince."

Aelith’s expression tightened.

"I never asked for a claim."

His confidence was clearly beginning to crack.

"I never asked to become someone’s bride."

"Aria—"

"No."

The interruption was gentle.

But it was firm.

For perhaps the first time since I had met her, Lady Aria spoke with absolute certainty.

But she did not sound angry.

"I listened when you told me this bracelet would protect me. That whenever I called you’d come and help. And you did."

Her fingers tightened slightly around the silver vines.

"I trusted you. I believed you."

Lady Aria took a soft breath.

"But do you know what hurts the most?"

Aelith tried to reach for her and explain but he was rejected right out. The confidence he had possessed moments earlier was completely gone.

"Aria..."

"I thought we were friends."

The words landed harder than any sword strike. Aelith looked as though someone had physically struck him and he seemed genuinely shaken.

Lady Aria smiled sadly.

"I really believed that when you helped me, I thought it was because you cared."

"I did care."

Aelith panicked as his answer came immediately.

Desperately.

Lady Aria shook her head.

"Then why didn’t you tell me the truth?"

Aelith said nothing, because he had no answer.

Lady Aria looked down at the bracelet again.

"If this bracelet means something important among elves..." Her voice trembled slightly. "If accepting it meant something this serious..."

She lifted her gaze to meet his.

"Why didn’t you tell me? Why did you lie to me?"

My heart ached at her words.

After all, there really is no reason to lie to her. And the fact that I am seeing the look of betrayal on her face right now made me think of my own case.

I clenched my fists as I thought about it.

She had trusted someone. But that trust had been used against her.

Whether we intended harm or not no longer mattered.

The result remained the same.

Slowly, Lady Aria reached for the clasp.

Aelith immediately took a step forward.

"Aria, wait."

But she did not stop.

The bracelet slipped free from her wrist and the crystal embedded within it dimmed instantly.

Aelith stared at the bracelet in her hand as his expression became stricken.

As though he had just witnessed something irreplaceable shatter before his eyes.

Lady Aria held it out toward him.

"I don’t want it."

The prince froze.

For several seconds, he simply stared. He looked from the bracelet to her face and then back again.

His hand never moved.

"Please don’t do this."

The plea was so quiet that I almost did not hear it.

But I did.

And so did everyone else.

Lady Aria’s smile trembled.

"It’s really sad."

Her voice was barely above a whisper.

The sorrow in it made something tighten painfully in my chest.

"Because I genuinely liked having you as a friend."

Aelith closed his eyes briefly.

The pain on his face was impossible to hide.

"But I don’t think friends do this to each other."

Nobody spoke.

Nobody moved.

The ballroom remained utterly silent.

Lady Aria extended the bracelet once more.

"Here."

Aelith looked at her with pleading eyes.

He looked completely lost. Like a man who had suddenly realized he had made a terrible mistake.

And in that moment, I too realized something for myself.

I need to come clean as well if I wanted to stay with her.