Both Hailey and Adger were sitting in a private room of the tavern, facing each other. They looked at each other cautiously.
Hailey had asked Lia to stay back in the room so she could talk privately with Adger.
Both of them were quiet, not even touching the food in front of them. Neither of them knew how to start the conversation.
Adger was the one who broke the silence.
"You called me Prince Adger, right? Why?"
Hailey blinked, caught off guard.
"I misspoke. Your face… I mean, you do look handsome, and you're an amazing swordsman, so…"
Adger narrowed his eyes slightly.
"But why specifically 'prince'? According to your logic, you could've just thought of me as a noble, right? Hailey Sinclair?"
He still wasn't sure if he was really inside the novel 'In the Name of Love'.
He just wanted to see her reaction.
Hailey froze. Her eyes widened for a second before she masked her expression again. She was more convinced now that this man in front of her knew more about the past life of hers.
"Forget about me. Why did you call me Crown Princess? And how do you know my name is Hailey Sinclair?"
So she was Hailey Sinclair. Adger was now a little more certain that he really was in the novel he had read back on Earth.
Adger sighed.
"I don't know. Maybe I also misspoke," he said, sipping on the juice in front of him. "Just like how you guessed my name is Adger, I also guessed your name as Hailey Sinclair."
He wasn't sure if he could trust the villainess of the novel yet.
He remembered that she was only called a villainess because she stood between the male and female leads.
She had tried to push the female lead away from the male lead, who was her fiancé. That was it.
Hailey bit her lip. There was no way he could get her full name right by guessing, so he did know about her.
But how?
"But… aren't you the Crown Princess?" he asked carefully.
According to the novel, she should still be the Crown Princess and should be deeply in love with Cedric, who just ignores her.
Hailey's voice was calm but firm.
"No. I'm not the Crown Princess and never was."
Adger's eyes widened.
"Wait, what? You aren't... the Crown Princess?"
Now he was confused.
He began to wonder if maybe this wasn't the novel 'In the Name of Love' after all.
Maybe her name being Hailey Sinclair and her looking like the villainess was just a coincidence.
Maybe… he hadn't transmigrated into a story at all.
Or else, what if she was also like him?
A transmigrator?
That also explains why she didn't get engaged to the Crown Prince.
They both looked at each other, wary.
Neither trusted the other completely yet.
Adger took a deep breath. He needed to be sure.
"Ah, aren't these Velcera Flame Tarts?" he said casually, picking one up.
"These are the favorite of the female lead, Cynthia. I read in a random novel just yesterday that the male lead, Cedric, ordered the royal baker to make them for her birthday, specially…"
He spoke like he was just thinking out loud.
He wanted to see her reaction. If she knew about him, then she should know about Cedric and Cynthia too, right?
Hailey's expression darkened the moment she heard the names.
Her hands clenched.
Those names...
Those people were the ones who ruined her life.
One was her fiancé who ignored her and left her for another woman.
And the other was the woman who stole her fiancé with fake kindness and sweet lies.
She remembered the moment clearly. Cedric had ordered the royal butler to make Flame Tarts for Cynthia, saying it was a special occasion.
But when her birthday came, he acted like it wasn't even a big deal...
His own fiancée's birthday wasn't a big deal for him, but for that woman's birthday, he did everything to make it special for her.
Hailey looked at him sharply now.
She was now almost certain that Adger knew her story more than he should know.
Even though she had met Prince Adger only once in her last life, she could tell this person was not the same Prince Adger from her past life.
Did he come back in time just like her?
"How do you know this?" she asked, her voice low and serious.
Adger looked at her.
"Would you believe me if I said I fell from the sky one day?"
Well, he did come from another world, didn't he?
Hailey blinked. Then she spoke slowly.
"Fell from the sky, huh? Okay, then would you believe me if I told you… I dreamed a long, long dream… where I was executed at twenty years old? Would you... believe that?"
Adger looked at her and nodded.
He remembered it clearly. In the novel, Hailey Sinclair was publicly executed by her own brother when she was twenty.
"Fine," he said finally. "I'll tell you everything. I hope you will too."
Adger took a deep breath.
"I'm not from this world. I came from another one. I don't know if you'll believe me or not."
Hailey sat there in silence.
Unfortunately, she did believe his words, even though someone else would just laugh at him.
After hearing him say her name, calling her Crown Princess, talking about Cynthia and Cedric…
She chose to believe him.
"Okay… then would you believe it if I said I came back alive after I was executed?"
They both stared at each other.
No more caution.
No more wariness.
Just understanding.
They believed each other now.
Adger nodded slowly.
"Yes. I believe you. So… you came back in time after your execution, and you chose not to be engaged to the Crown Prince?"