MLIIWTFL Chapter 137

 

 

 

While Letticia was inwardly cursing Matthias, Seraphina spoke up.

 

“So, in my opinion, His Highness will likely choose the Crown Princess based solely on her qualifications, excluding love from the equation. That’s why I intend to focus even more on refining myself to catch his attention.”

 

“Excluding love?”

 

Letticia was taken aback and asked again, to which Seraphina frowned slightly.

 

“Lady Sharon, even if other royal positions can be swayed, you must know that the role of the Crown Princess isn’t one that can be secured by love alone.”

 

“Well, that’s true. But His Majesty the Emperor married Her Majesty the Empress because he loved her, and she is now doing an excellent job leading the imperial family. So, wouldn’t it be possible for someone to be willing to become royalty out of love for His Highness the Crown Prince?”

 

“I won’t deny that possibility. However, love can sometimes cloud one’s judgment, making it difficult to properly assess a person’s true qualities. Love makes strengths appear even more dazzling and weaknesses seem insignificant.”

 

‘Yes, I know that all too well…’

 

Letticia only answered inwardly but could not deny it.

 

In the original story, Matthias didn’t care about qualifications at all—he chose Ariette purely out of love. He even went through a long period of denial, justifying and reinterpreting Ariette’s personality and abilities to fit the standards of the imperial family.

 

“…But what if His Highness becomes so blinded by love that he insists he can’t be with anyone else? What would you do then?”

 

“I would assess that person’s qualities. If they are utterly unacceptable, I would have to engage in a long discussion with His Highness.”

 

Letticia secretly hoped that Ariette would meet Seraphina’s standards. But all she knew about Ariette so far was that she worked as an administrator and had a family that would cause an absolute uproar if anything happened to her.

 

‘Rather than fighting those people again, I’d sooner set fire to the duchy.’

 

Once again, Letticia imagined committing arson in her mind. Then, she gave Seraphina the most level-headed advice she could.

 

“Lady Eskis, that wouldn’t be a wise choice. If you tell His Highness to break up with someone, he’ll likely go running to them and stage a whole dramatic scene. People say love burns even stronger when met with opposition, don’t they?”

 

“You seem to have misunderstood something. I have no intention of telling them to break up. What right do I have to tell His Highness to end a relationship?”

 

Letticia was surprised by the unexpectedly reasonable response. While she was processing this, Seraphina calmly continued explaining her intentions.

 

“What I intend to discuss with ‘that person’ is the virtues and qualifications required of a Crown Princess. Even if I myself cannot become the Crown Princess, I cannot simply stand by and watch someone unqualified take the position. Of course, the imperial family will provide training, but if possible, I would like to interact with that person and at least help them develop the proper mindset.”

 

“Is that really necessary? It seems like unnecessary interference.”

 

“You could call it meddling. But someone has to do it. Those in high positions should not be allowed to shirk their responsibilities due to personal emotions.”

 

Seraphina’s eyes were unwavering as she spoke.

 

Letticia, who usually had little interest in other people’s affairs, couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that being around Seraphina would be utterly exhausting.

 

“Of course, my ideal outcome would be to be chosen as the Crown Princess myself. So the best thing I can do is ensure that when His Highness makes his choice, I meet his standards.”

 

“…If you’re holding yourself to such strict standards, I’d say you more than qualify.”

 

Letticia offered a mild form of encouragement as she tried to wrap up the conversation. Seraphina responded with a warm smile.

 

“I’m really glad we had this conversation. I rarely meet people who share my perspective, so I got a little carried away.”

 

“No, I actually appreciated how readily you acknowledged my point.”

 

“I don’t mean to sound weak, but I must admit, I feel a little relieved that you’re not my competitor. If His Highness truly understood your wisdom—not just the allure of the Crown Princess position, but its weight—he might have seriously considered choosing you.”

 

“Haha… I don’t think that would’ve happened.”

 

Letticia chuckled as she recalled the cold glare Matthias had given her.

 

Even after hearing all of Matthias’s strict requirements for a Crown Princess, she had bluntly rejected them, saying she neither knew nor cared about such things.

 

She highly doubted Matthias had ever thought of her as wise.

 

‘Not that I care whether he does or not.’

 

Letticia shook off thoughts of Matthias and finished the rest of her tea. As the tea snacks were nearly gone, Seraphina stood up from her seat.

 

Before she knew it, fifteen minutes had passed since they started drinking tea.

 

“When do you think we should schedule our next practice? We also have the quartet practice with Lady Hailey and Lady Maynard, so we need to coordinate our schedules well.”

 

“I left my schedule with my chaperone, who’s currently out. Can I check later and let you know?”

 

“Of course. Also, if possible, I’d like to practice at the Sharon estate. Would that be alright?”

 

“That shouldn’t be a problem.”

 

“Thank you.”

 

Seraphina nodded, her expression slightly different from usual.

 

Her face held the kind of joy one might have when visiting a friend. Seeing that, Letticia briefly wondered if she had made a mistake.

 

She wasn’t consciously trying to avoid Seraphina because of her role as the villainess in the original story, but she also had no particular desire to become close to her.

 

‘Still, it was nice that she understood right away that I had no interest in becoming Crown Princess.’

 

Maybe it was because she retained memories from her past life, but Letticia’s values differed greatly from those of the people in this world. And since she grew up in the uniquely unconventional Sharon household, any differences were usually dismissed as ‘just how the Sharon family is,’ further widening the gap between her and others.

 

Of course, Letticia knew how to navigate social situations appropriately, and since her family always accepted her for who she was, she never really struggled.

 

But going through the exhausting process of persuading others to accept her thoughts and judgments was a hassle. If she could avoid that effort with someone, she wouldn’t mind getting closer to them.

 

‘As long as nothing troublesome happens like at the academy… maybe I could consider being friends.’

 

Getting entangled with characters from the original story had already caused enough of a headache when Ariette approached her.

 

As she stood to escort Seraphina out, Letticia hoped that Marquess Eskis wouldn’t be the type of man to make her suffer just because his daughter shed a few tears.

 

***

 

After she started dating Ezkhiel, Sharon Jewelry was busy preparing for the public announcement of their relationship.

 

However, since all reports on the matter went directly to the company’s head, Patrick, Letticia only heard updates through Kenneth regarding social circles and through Lenard for the jewelry business side of things.

 

And today, she had come to Lenard’s study to hear the latest updates after he finished work.

 

But before she could even speak, Lenard loosened his tie, threw both his jacket and tie onto the floor, and collapsed onto the sofa in just his shirt and pants.

 

A servant, familiar with his routine, picked up the discarded clothes and left the study. Soon after, the butler arrived, carrying a bottle of alcohol and filling a glass on the table.

 

Judging by his state, something must have happened at work.

 

“Brother, did someone cause trouble at work? Or was there a difficult client? What happened?”

 

“The work got delayed, someone messed up, and a troublesome client showed up. It’s been a real disaster.”

 

Lenard downed his drink in one shot, handed the glass to the butler, and leaned back on the sofa. His voice was thick with irritation, making it clear that he was genuinely exhausted.

 

Letticia wondered what could have happened at work to make him this angry. She decided to set aside her own reason for coming and focus on listening to her brother.

 

“Tell me everything, one thing at a time. What happened?”

 

“There’s a lot, but first—your and Ezkhiel’s relationship announcement is going to be delayed.”

 

“What?! Why?!”

 

Shocked by the unexpected bad news, Letticia jumped up from her seat.

 

Lenard unbuttoned the top of his shirt as he answered.

 

“We need to release a new product alongside your relationship announcement. I told the design team to prepare something in advance, but they got caught up launching a new jewelry chain, so they didn’t have time to create anything. Now we have to start over from scratch.”

 

“Damn it… Can’t we just dig through old designs like we did for the jewelry chain?”

 

“Are you crazy? This is the first love marriage of our generation, and on top of that, it’s the romance announcement of a debutante chosen as the Diamond— and you want to wrap it up with just that? Do you even realize how much of a loss that would cause? Should I go ahead and calculate the exact costs for you?”

 

Lenard fired back rapidly, clearly in a terrible mood.

 

Since Letticia had just been throwing the idea out there, she decided to just apologize and let it go.