“Are you going to His Majesty?”
Just that happened. It’s in his memory, but in this world, no one knows, it didn’t happen. Thus etiquettes were also ignored, and the Princess Ostein who jumped in front of him was a person who had nothing to do with him.
She’s not the Grand Duchess of Lusenford, not one who had brought a lot of information planted in Crain and was testified as the emperor’s spy by his precious Beatrice, not the wife whose heart was bruised by neglect and contempt.
Nor was she the woman who died huddled up without even closing her eyes. The sin he keeps remembering is something he has to bear alone, it has nothing to do with the precious lady in front of him.
But shameless eyes were tearing her apart. He was shamelessly curious whether flesh had come up on the cheeks that had been scrawny, whether it was healthy as it should be, whether it was okay, and why it was so pale.
“I, too, have urgent matters to report to my father. I don’t know what this is, but I will deliver it for you.”
Her young voice trembled. Small, soft hands clung to the heavy box the Grand Duke was holding. Kaela didn’t have time, and she didn’t have an excuse.
The man in front of her was too scary and terrifying. For someone as short and small as her, a man as big as a door was threatening just by existing, but she thought desperately.
‘Excuse. What should be the excuse?’
If she had taken the time to prepare carefully, it would have been nice, but right now there was no countermeasure other than recklessly blocking with her body.
The gun that killed her father is in the box this man is holding. If this goes into the hands of the emperor, the Duke of Ostein will die, and Kaela, who is left powerless, will be sold to this man after being stripped of her territory, title, and everything.
And then, after being ignored and neglected, she’ll finally be trapped and drink the poison given by the rebel and die.
“I happened to see Lady Ravalley at the Aquitel Palace on my way here.”
In the four years or so of their marriage, the only person that came to her mind was that woman, so she made an excuse using that woman. If it was that woman, it would be an excuse for the Grand Duke of Lusenford to turn his steps, it was a made-up sentence. But once she spat it out, misery rushed in.
She always tried to look good, to do well. As a grand duchess, as a wife, she believed that if she did her best, she would be rewarded for her efforts. Or she wanted to believe so.
Her affection for him had disappeared, and she was just struggling to somehow make a place for herself. So even now, the habit remained, and in front of Peon, she was miserably begging without any pride.
Well, it was a bit miserable, but it was the right choice. Besides Beatrice Ravalley and his mother, the Empress, this man had no reaction to anyone else. At least Kaela knew that.
“She seemed to be alone, and there were some gentlemen nearby.”
Kaela, making up non-existent words and with trembling hands, grabbed the box the Grand Duke was holding. She would never let him go inside alone with this. She couldn’t bear to see that anymore.
So Kaela pushed this man, who was not yet her husband, onto the emperor’s mistress. Whatever happened to them, it was none of her business. No, this time, she just wished they would both be ruined!
“If you go now, you might be able to meet her, I’ll deliver this for you.”
Like a madwoman, Kaela pulled the box containing the gun and bullets. But the box wasn’t dragged over easily. Why? She looked up at the young Grand Duke.
“I saw her just a moment ago. Really, just a few minutes ago.”
There is the woman you can’t live or die without. Go ahead. It becomes somewhat familiar to say several times the words you would never say before death. Maybe she should have said it earlier when she was still alive.
Why did she put so much effort into a man who wouldn’t even treat her as a human?
From the first day of their marriage, he was a man who vehemently refused but was forced into by the Empress, who even warned her not to expect anything and not to do anything useless.
The man, who had been like that since birth, did not blink for a while and devoured her with his eyes, then slowly answered.
“I am already on my way back from seeing His Majesty.”
Kaela, who had taken her hand off the box and grabbed the hem of her dress, rushed into the garden. Anger surging.
Her husband, who she had put all her heart and effort into, was still mocking her, and her father’s life was still in danger. No, maybe her father was already no more.
“You can’t go in without His Majesty’s permission, Kaela.”
But the force holding her back was strong. Who doesn’t know that she’s rushing in? She blankly looked back. She felt that this dream didn’t need to be prolonged. Anyway, it’s a dog’s death whether she dies this way or that way.
“It’s okay. I know too.”
When she said that with all the etiquette and honorifics, Kaela seemed to have laughed. No, she laughed. Knowing that the world is not kind to her and that the end is only death, she laughed.
With a bright laugh, the arm that had been holding her lost its strength for a moment, and she ran again as if flying to death.
“Kaela!”
It’s reckless. Both pushing away the Grand Duke’s hand and daring to go where the Emperor has not commanded, are all reckless and absolutely not to be done.
But Kaela broke all the taboos at once and ran into the garden where the monster was gaping.
Her head was spinning fast. The protective amulet she had earnestly asked her father to take only protects the wearer once. The gun takes time, but it can be reloaded, and there should be plenty of bullets.
The best she could do was to take advantage of the gap in reloading, pull her father out, and load him onto the carriage they had come in, but before that, the father and daughter would become emperor’s peanuts to amuse himself. Both were not bad. But a quick death is better.
“Kaela!”
The voice calling softly from behind was heard, but Kaela, who knew too well where her father was assassinated, could not be stopped.
She ran wildly through the dense bushes. With her hair disheveled and not dressed for a visit to the imperial palace, but a casual home dress with just a shawl casually thrown on, Kaela reached the place where her father had died.
“What’s going on?”
What Kaela saw was the Emperor who was just lowering his gun, and her father, who was pale across from him. He’s alive.
‘The amulet worked properly!’
The Emperor, who was the half-brother of her father, looked at Kaela, who had appeared unexpectedly, eyes darting here and there.
He looked at the uninvited guests as if they were annoying, even though he had just pulled the trigger towards Kaela’s father without any guilt.
Those who intrude without permission deserve punishment. The grown-up princess was so out of breath from running that she couldn’t answer. Or that there was no answer to give. She was thinking of dying now.
“Your Majesty. I apologize, but I was on my way back to report to you as this gift arrived a bit late.”
With her chest heaving like a bird from the sprinting she never did, the Grand Duke, who had come walking quietly from behind with a heavy box, bowed his head in response.
The Emperor’s expression twisted. In fact, the gun he had ‘tested’ ‘towards his brother’s head’ was empty without a bullet loaded. The bullets were in the box that Peon is now carrying.
Has no sense and is so rustic! The man stuck in the north wouldn’t know that it’s Crain’s etiquette to fill a gun with bullets and give it as a gift!
The Grand Duke has been like that since birth, and Kaela, her? The Emperor looked at Kaela, who was almost kneeling, with annoyed eyes.
The only daughter of his half-brother, who has no presence, could be killed just for being annoying. He had just been annoyed, thus he, a nobleman, pulled the trigger towards his half-brother for no reason.
“And the princess came running with me from the entrance after hearing urgent news.”
The Grand Duke, who was making up urgent news that even Kaela didn’t know, bowed his head as if reluctant to speak.
Shocking news? The Emperor looked at Kaela as if to say, speak quickly. But the answer was given by the servant who ran from behind.
“Your Majesty, the Empress…!”
At that moment, the Emperor’s face, which had been full of boredom, annoyance, and arrogance, changed drastically.
“She has lost consciousness!”
The Grand Duke, the son of the Empress, just watched the Emperor drop even the gun and brush past them. Kaela, who planned to die here, narrowed her eyes looking at the back of the Emperor.
‘What?’
In her memory, the Empress had never lost consciousness. Something had changed.
The Emperor, a lunatic, loves and obsesses over the Empress, the Grand Duke’s mother, who had lost consciousness.
