Episode 26: The Marriage Proposal Letter (1)
Somehow, things seem peaceful for a moment. Maybe I was the heroine of a romance game, not the villainess.
Well, I guess being annoyed is inevitable. Thanks to Duke Stewart, I’ve managed to keep my composure these past few days. Otherwise, I might have collapsed from high blood pressure.
I calmly let out a sigh and raised my head. There were options floating in the air.
▶ Your Majesty, it’s too cold here. Please hold me tight.
▶ I am not your mother, Your Highness.
I muttered the same words I had murmured several times while playing this game.
‘This is insane.’
Looking at the option without any middle ground, it felt like I had been hit on the head with a hammer. Although my heart was tempted for a second.
‘If I don’t pretend, will he try to hit me? He might really try to kill me this time.’
I had received a painful blow from the Emperor’s sudden change last time, so just imagining it sent a chill down my spine. I wriggled my fingers with a disgusted expression.
‘Even if I say that, I absolutely refuse to hug him. It gives me chills just thinking about it.’
It wouldn’t be creepy if it were a normal mother-daughter relationship, but the other party was far from ordinary.
In the end, after much contemplation, I chose the latter option. I straightened my back, speaking in the most dignified tone I could muster.
“I am not my mother, Your Highness.”
“What did you say?”
As expected. I could see the madman’s eyes rolling. The excited Emperor grabbed my shoulders tightly with both hands.
“Ouch!”
My face involuntarily contorted with pain. It was the same pain I had felt not long ago.
‘Do they all think my shoulders are public property?’
First Daniel, then Julius, and now the Emperor! I couldn’t understand why they treated people so recklessly.
Even though my face was visibly wrinkled, the Emperor continued to speak as if possessed.
“You are Marygold! My eternal lover! My one true love!”
“I am not my mother! How many times do I have to tell you? I am Sienna, your first daughter, Sienna Liata!”
“Ugh!!”
In that moment, a large hand slapped my cheek sharply. It was a powerful blow, enough to make my ears ring. The Emperor, now thoroughly agitated, shouted in a frenzy once again.
“Don’t mock me! You’re a demon. Wicked!”
“Ugh.”
A demon? The real demon seemed to be on the other side, as far as I could see. But I couldn’t say that out loud. Perhaps because of the sharp blow to my ear, even the thought of it sent shivers down my spine.
-Ah!
I stumbled forward, not knowing what I was grabbing onto in the dimly lit room due to the blackout curtains. It felt like a desk, but it collapsed with a crash, and I tumbled backwards along with it.
As I touched the things that had fallen with me on the floor, I realized they were none other than documents.
‘Why on earth are important state documents piled up like this?’
And then, after all this, they’ll probably make a fuss about important documents going missing because of me, won’t they?
What kind of documents are these? Even in the midst of this chaos, I examined the documents I had sat on. When I saw the title of the document, my eyes widened.
‘A marriage proposal?’
A document about the marriage proposals presented to the Emperor, specifically concerning noble consort selection.
What was mine was quite clear.
When the Emperor was about to strike me again, I pushed it toward him without giving myself time to read it.
“Your Majesty! Please take a look at this. Did you not call me today to discuss this with you?”
My words seemed to catch the Emperor’s blurry eyes’ focus. He smiled awkwardly as if he had just awakened from a long dream.
“…Ah, Sienna.”
Only then did he seem to realize that I and Marygold were different people. I quickly got up from the ground, retreating to a safe distance from the Emperor’s grasp.
This ridiculous game. If it were a real game, they should either remove the stats or let me skip them. This was neither here nor there.
‘Still, at least I’m not bleeding. I guess I should be thankful for that.’
As I caressed my throbbing cheek with my palm, the Emperor, now back to his kindly father mode, grumbled again.
“You don’t want to leave the palace, do you?”
“Children eventually grow up and leave their parents’ shadow. It’s only natural.”
“Even so, I don’t like it. I’ve raised you so…”
How I was raised. I was just left to grow this way.
‘Oh, why do the Emperor and the Grand Chamberlain have such gentle options? Is the system pushing these characters on me? Why is it like this?’
I wanted to give the Emperor a piece of my mind, but the system had firmly stopped that.
“Ah, so besides pretending not to hear such nonsense, is there anything else I can do?”
I was thinking that with a pale expression when it happened.
“Your Majesty.”
A calm voice rang from outside.
“I have come to discuss the dowry agreement.”
It was the same volume that the Chamberlain had come to negotiate the dowry for, the marriage proposal that I had hastily pushed toward the Emperor to avoid another beating.
* * *
When the guest arrived, the Emperor told me to leave, as he had no interest in hearing my conversation.
‘Why don’t I get to hear it when it’s a proposal for me?’
I couldn’t help but purse my lips at the Emperor’s dismissive attitude. Despite my annoyance, I felt a sense of relief that the endless violence was over.
‘Ah, how pitiful.’
Is this what it feels like to be so frustrated? I was angry but still grateful that the Emperor was not going to hold me captive again.
‘Don’t cry. You never know how that lunatic might react if you start crying.’
Suppressing my tears, I quickly made my way to the door, fearing that the Emperor might come after me.
I had expected that the Grand Chamberlain, Stewart, would have come to find me. However, when I opened the door, I was surprised to find that the person who had written the proposal was someone unexpected.
“It’s been a while, Princess. I heard you visited our mansion last time, but I didn’t get to see you.”
“That’s right.”
I replied with an awkward smile and covered my mouth with my hand.
“Count Bohan.”
The person who had sent the proposal was none other than Daniel’s father, Count Bohan. I had thought that the proposal was from Percy Stewart, and my confusion must have shown on my face.
“Wait, this proposal isn’t from Percy, is it?”
The man who had seemed ready to take me away at a moment’s notice was now acting rather nervously.
“Why is Count Bohan here?”
In that moment, while I was lost in my thoughts, Count Bohan began to speak with a calm tone.
“I’m not sure why, but you came to our house and poured hot water on our family tutor.”
With that single sentence, Count Bohan was firmly stamped in my mind as a troublemaker. Following the system’s instructions, I gave him a cold reply.
“I heard that the Count is very busy, but it seems you had time to listen to such stories.”
Displeased by my response, Count Bohan bowed and said, “In the future, I would appreciate it if you could give me notice before visiting.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t want to have unpleasant experiences again.”
Count Bohan did not respond, and I had no intention of probing further. I moved on to the next topic.
“But why suddenly a marriage proposal?”
I was genuinely curious about the situation, and Count Bohan’s facial expression twisted in confusion. Just as the Emperor had ordered his Grand Chamberlain, Stewart, to enter, Count Bohan stepped inside.
“Let’s talk and then I’ll leave.”
Regardless of whether he spoke or not, Count Bohan was mainly Daniel’s target, not mine. Besides, I didn’t particularly like the Victorian Love route, let alone Romance Gray.
However, Count Bohan’s proposal wasn’t something I could easily ignore. Judging from his question about my conversation with Daniel, it seemed that Daniel had raised the issue of marriage first.
“Did Daniel and I have a conversation? Not at all. In fact, Daniel mentioned breaking off the engagement.”
“…?”
Neither Count Bohan nor I understood the situation, and we both exchanged puzzled glances. As Emperor finished dressing in his attire, an awkward silence filled the space between us.
‘He looks just like Daniel.’
I examined Count Bohan in a discreet manner and sighed. Although he had aged, his black hair and calm gray eyes were just like Daniel’s.
‘It’s as if he’s a Romance Gray character.’
I hadn’t seen much of Count Bohan’s actions since I had only played the early stages of the game. As a result, I didn’t have much information about him.
‘Up until now, he seems similar to Daniel.’
Could it be that resembling Daniel was considered unlucky? I inwardly complained about Daniel’s behavior.
As I was lost in my thoughts, Count Bohan addressed me in a calm voice.
“By the way, you came to our house and poured hot water on our family tutor.”
Upon hearing those words, I was convinced that Count Bohan was trouble. Following the system’s guidance, I replied with a cool tone.
“I heard the Count is very busy, but it seems you had time to listen to such stories.”
Count Bohan immediately bowed and said, “In the future, I would appreciate it if you could give me notice before visiting.”
“Of course. I wouldn’t want to have unpleasant experiences again.”
Count Bohan did not respond, and I had no intention of inquiring further. I moved on to the next topic.
“But why a marriage proposal all of a sudden?”
I genuinely wanted to understand the situation, and Count Bohan’s expression turned even more perplexed. Just as I thought, the situation had gone beyond what I knew from the early stages of the game.
‘It’s possible. I only played a bit at the beginning and then tossed my phone. So, it’s understandable that I don’t know much about what’s going on.’
I considered the possibility that I had already passed the part I was familiar with.
The escape from the dead ending still seemed uncertain.
