Austin's eyes widened in apprehension, but he immediately calmed himself.
He could feel Lina's gaze on him, and he didn't need to look in her direction to know that she had a surprised look on her face.
Instead, he directed his gaze toward the maid standing in front of him.
She was holding a tray of snacks, which was no doubt sent by his aunt.
Although he had told her he wanted to spend time with his wife today, Austin hadn't expected the time to pass so quickly. That would explain why his aunt thought they might need something to eat since it was getting late.
Austin sighed softly and gestured for the maid to place the tray on the bench.
He thanked her, and she bowed respectfully before leaving. But Lina's gaze didn't move from him the entire time.
So, he slowly turned to face her.
"My lady, I know I have a lot of—"
"You're the prince?" Lina asked, still struggling to believe that she'd been talking to him all along.
"Yes, I am."
"But why did you—"
"If I'd told you who I was, would you have spoken to me the way you did?" Austin asked, and Lina became silent.
She knew he was right.
If he had approached her as himself, she would've probably spoken stiffly and carefully compared to the way she did with the jester.
Nevertheless, Lina knew she would've preferred him coming to her as himself rather than as a court jester.
She eventually lowered her gaze to the ground, as she found it difficult to maintain eye contact with him.
She had a lot she wanted to say to him and a lot she wanted to ask him as well.
However, she didn't dare to say the things on her mind, because whenever she tried to, she recalled how she had embarrassed herself in front of him, laughing like a little girl at the jokes he made and the stories he told her as well.
So now, how could she face the prince when he had already seen so many embarrassing things about her?
These were the thoughts spiraling through the beautiful elf's mind, but this also allowed an awkward silence to reign between them because, just like her, Austin didn't really know what to say at the moment, but he also didn't want to leave things in such an awkward way. So he boldly stepped closer to Lina before placing a hand on her cheek and brushing it gently with his thumb.
"My Lady, it is getting dark. If you are still interested, we can continue our story tomorrow, so let's go back."
"Sta…"
"Huh?" Her voice was barely above a whisper, so Austin couldn't hear what she said.
"Please stay," she said more clearly, and Austin also noticed how she was holding on to the sleeve of his robe.
The scene was so cute and mesmerizing that he had to steel himself from being overwhelmed by her overall cuteness.
There was no doubt about it; his beautiful elf wife was definitely cute and adorable.
Even her pointy elf ears were completely red, and they were twitching cutely as well.
Seeing this, Austin smiled before looking at the sky.
He noticed that the sun had not yet set completely, so it meant they still had time to do anything they wanted to do. Then an idea came to mind.
"My Lady?"
"Hmm?"
"Let's take a walk around the garden," he proposed, and Lina nodded in response, but she still refused to make eye contact with him.
Lina stepped in beside him as they walked together, matching each other's pace, but she couldn't believe how bold she had been to grab hold of the prince's robe.
She vividly recalled the stories Austin had narrated to her, and every single one of them involved the female lead being bold and expressive of their thoughts.
The ladies were not only strong and protective of the men they loved, but they were also free to be themselves around their men.
'So, doesn't that mean His Highness was indirectly telling me to be myself in front of him?'
'That has to be what it meant, right?' She wondered.
'But doing that in real life isn't as easy as it sounds.'
'Besides, he's a prince and I'm just a…'
While she was completely lost in her own thoughts, a gentle breeze suddenly passed by, and Lina heard a faint whisper of her name floating in the wind.
"Lina....."
Lina stopped walking, then she glanced around, wondering who had called her name just now.
Of course, Austin noticed this, and so he asked. "What's wrong?"
"It's nothing, Your Highness." She replied before walking closer to meet up with Austin, but then she heard the voice again.
"Lina...."
She stopped again and glanced around. "Did you hear that?"
"Hear what?"
"It sounded like a whisper."
"The wind can be strange in this part of the garden." Austin feigned ignorance as he continued to walk.
Lina hurriedly followed him, and they walked a little more before she heard it again.
"Beautiful.... Lina."
Lina's eyes widened in surprise, and she glanced back at Austin.
"Are you doing this?"
A smirk appeared on his lips as he finally admitted it. "What's wrong? Can't a man call his wife beautiful if he wants to?"
"So, you are the one!"
"Of course, I was the one. Who else was it going to be?"
"But how are you doing that?"
"I'm sorry, my lady, but a jester never reveals his secret."
"But you're not a Jester instead; you're…"
"Your husband?" He asked as he leaned closer to her and placed his hands on her cheeks.
Lina's first instinct was to look away, but she steeled her mind to look back at her husband's eyes before answering him. "Yes, you are."
Her ears and cheeks reddened the moment she uttered those words, and she couldn't believe that she had brazenly uttered those words to the prince.
She swiftly looked down to avoid making eye contact with him once again, and Austin was tempted to tease her, but he thought against it for now.
Instead, he simply smiled as he dropped his hands from her cheeks, then he gently grabbed hold of her hand, leading her forward as they continued to walk around the garden together.
Lina looked at Austin's hand, which was gently holding on to hers, then she lifted her gaze towards the prince, who was smiling while walking, and she instinctively smiled in return.
To be honest, Lina had never expected much from her future husband.
She had heard several rumors about the fourth prince, ranging from how he was weak and lazy to how he was fat, cowardly, and not worthy of becoming the future emperor.
However, after witnessing firsthand the things the fourth prince had done today, he completely exceeded anything she might have expected of him.
Not only was he tall and handsome with his chiseled jawline, short black hair, and dazzling blue eyes, but he was also funny, socially confident, and seemed to possess a strange ability she was yet to understand.
In a way, he was completely different from what the rumors had said about him.
'But why?' She wondered in her thoughts.
She wondered why the rumors about him had been completely false, but the only explanation she could come up with was that maybe the rumors had been spread by those working for one of his three older brothers.
Then that would mean that one of his brothers probably did it to gain a political advantage over him.
Although all these were just assumptions she came up with. Lina knew that she might be right about it, but there was also a chance that she might be wrong, and the rumors were really true about the fourth prince.
However, she had made up her mind, and she was determined not to let any of the rumors affect how she really felt about the fourth prince.
Her hand, which had been holding on to that of the prince's tightened instinctively, and she unconsciously began to envision a happy life with her future husband, not knowing that she was actually staring at her husband a bit too much, and before she knew it, the wind whispered a few words in her ears once again.
"My Lady, if you keep staring at your husband like that, he will be forced to think you're begging for a kiss."