I Quit Being The Male Lead’s Rival

Chapter 11

Wanting to Escape (10)

The stunned waiter looked at Robert and escorted him to the best window seat.

In an instant, it was evident that all the employees of the restaurant were nervous.

I sat quietly at the table and looked around.

‘Aaron Rainfield truly is rich.’

The interior of the restaurant was very colorful and beautiful.

‘How many people are working…?’

And this was only the third restaurant.

Caitlyn and Reid always ate at the main one, so that place would probably be even more glamorous.

“Excuse me…”

Out of curiosity, I asked one of the employees.

“Where is your main restaurant located?”

“It is at 32 Violidi Street.”

The employee responded kindly.

“Please note that there are a lot of people on the waiting list, so you have to make a reservation half a year in advance.”

Ha, then Caitlyn and Reid must’ve made reservations six months in advance.

Trying not to be offended, I quickly thought of Aaron.

When I recalled his playful face, my envy and anger subsided.

In the Empire, the boundaries between the nobility and commoners were not very clear.

To be precise, it was more evident in the past, but these days, the rights of the commoners were gradually increasing.

Even Leslie, who was a commoner, became the Duchess of Wade without any difficulty.

If you were a wealthy commoner, you had nothing to regret.

I stared at the menu while swallowing my envy.

Robert spoke softly as I hesitated for quite some time.

“If you don’t mind, I recommend course number three. Everything is good there.”

I quickly saw the price of course number three. It was the most expensive one.

This was a lot of pressure.

“Yes, then let’s do that.”

Even though that price was too much for me.

I answered lightly and covered the menu. It was embarrassing for me to join Robert all of a sudden.

But, the reason that I agreed to join him was simple.

“Of course, I’ll treat you to a meal.”

Since that was the case, I could save a meal ticket.

On a very reasonable calculation that I could come again besides today, I entered the restaurant with his escort.

It was a place where everything glowed except dirt, so no one had worn sweaty training clothes and carried a sword like me.

But with Prince Robert in front of me, it felt strange as if we were being focused on.

After taking off his robe, I could also see that Robert was fully dressed in uniform and had an escort behind him.

“I just wanted to say thank you.”

In order to understand the situation, I closed my mouth and focused only on eating.

What a pleasant misunderstanding to say thank you when the original version of the book would involve the assassination of Prince Robert later on.

Just like the High Priest last time, it would have been better if he mistakenly thought that I saved him like this.

Ian’s suspicions could also be avoided.

Robert whispered in a low voice that only I could hear.

“You wanted to warn me of the attack, but there was no way, so you told Ian, right?”

“Uhh… what…”

After hesitating because I couldn’t find anything to reply back to, he seemed to have come to his own conclusion.

“Of course, I understand Miss Annabelle’s position.”

Robert said calmly.

“I won’t ask how you learned about the attack since blood ties can be very complicated.”

He didn’t ask any more, so I answered coldly.

“Thank you.”

It also seemed like he knew roughly what had happened.

Leslie also misunderstood that I had accidentally learned of the terrorist plan through the Marquis of Abedes.

Of course, Robert and Ian were the ones who were targeted a lot.

In the current empire, the battle for the throne was fierce, and the person at the center was the gentle-faced Robert sitting in front of me.

Unlike his gentle and friendly-looking impression, he was full of political power and his ambition was to the millionth level.

But if I were the Crown Prince, I probably wouldn’t want to leave me alone either.

“Please don’t ask any more.”

In fact, even if I confessed that it was Reid who was targeting Ian, it wouldn’t be beneficial to me.

I had no intention of being recognized as a legitimate child of the Marquis of Abedes anyway, so the Marquis would be framed for a bit.

“Oh, that’s a shame. Brothers who share the same blood are trying to hurt each other. I heard Miss Annabel is on good terms with her brother.”

“That seems to be Reid’s idea, but my thoughts are different.”

I roughly answered when I saw that all the waiters who brought the food were beautiful.

It was great that most men met my aesthetic standards here.

After I finished the swordsmanship contest without any problems and my life was completely safe, I could find a job, get in a relationship, and then get married.

I wanted to have a really good family myself because Reid, who shared the same family name as me, was trash.

So it would be a pleasure to get involved with any man here, but it would be troublesome if that man was Robert.

It was true that Robert was also very handsome like a true prince, but he would be the one who might eventually become emperor.

His political movements were so complex that his resourcefulness could push the Crown Prince away.

‘To be an Empress is not good. It’s too burdensome to have to take care of every move.’

I wanted a small, ordinary romance. Not a political one.

Later, even Ian got tangled up because of a relationship, which was quite annoying.

If someone heard my thoughts, they might ask why I was thinking so far ahead when I didn’t even think about who was going to feed me, but it didn’t matter since it was just my imagination.

‘And if you get entangled and then break up…the whole nation will know the love story.’

Here, every move of the Imperial family was gossip for the people.

Eating like this now would be all over society by this afternoon.

‘You never know. I could date 100 people before getting married.’

Most of the men here were beyond my ideal type, so there were plenty of options to choose from for my lover anyways.

It was all about finding a decent, comfortable, and normal man to be around.

“Originally, Ian and I were going to meet each other.”

“What? Why?”

“I thought Miss Annabelle might feel uncomfortable seeing me alone.”

“Well, not really.”

I looked around and added:

“But will you be okay, Prince?”

I didn’t even have a friend who would ask me ‘why did you eat alone with the prince?’

So, having a meal with him wouldn’t cause any harm or annoyance to me.

However, Robert, who would be embroiled in all kinds of scandals, was in a different position. The reason he wanted to eat with me…

‘Do you want to warn Marquis Abedes? But the Marquis actually has nothing to do with this.’

Well, Any political move would have little effect because it was misguided from the start.

But that was Robert’s problem, not mine.

“I”ll be fine. Actually, Ian doesn’t seem to like Miss Annabelle very much, so it wouldn’t be easy for the three of us to see each other…”

“Of course…”

I asked with a sigh as I ate.

“Ian hates me a lot, doesn’t he?”

“Well, I won’t lie.”

Robert replied with a smile.

“He doesn’t like it very much if I mention Miss Annabelle’s name.”

“If you’re a normal person, that’s the way it is.”

A normal person would admire Ian.

Ian acted in a textbook-like way like being polite to those who were favorable to him, and ignoring those who acted reckless like me.

I wondered what I had done to a person who expected all those reactions.

‘It’s like a natural disaster that strikes in a perfect life…’

All I could do for him was to disappear as quietly as possible.

“You objectify yourself better than I thought, Miss Annabelle.”

Robert said as if it were funny.

“Anyways, I just wanted to say thank you for making the decision to take the risk.”

He closed his green eyes and smiled beautifully.

“In the sense that I look forward to your kind cooperation in the future.”

“Right.”

After answering indifferently, I concentrated on the food again.

There was a reason why Robert was determined and treated me so well.

If I thought this would happen again in the future through Marquis Abedes, he wanted me to keep him posted.

‘You want to have me on your side.’

Robert was a very political man and a type who never did anything that didn’t benefit him.

He always had a kind, gentle-looking, and friendly expression, but you should not be deceived.

‘The answer is to just not get entangled with powerful people.’

I had to leave Ian Wade and Prince Robert and live far away in the heavens.

A decent life that only a second-place swordsman from the commoner world could live.

“What would you like to have for dessert?”

Robert asked at the end of the meal.

“Cake.”

I ate cake in the morning, but I thought I should eat cake because it was a birthday meal.

“The Ice cream tastes better here.”

“I’d still like cake.”

I said resolutely while scratching behind my ear before adding.

“Actually, it’s my birthday today.”