EWOWMAIBTYPF Chapter 203

Chapter 203

 

“First of all, no matter how exceptional the Grand Princess may be, I simply do not understand why she must sacrifice herself for the sake of the Empire’s public sentiment or peace on the continent. The Grand Princess has neither the duty nor the responsibility to do so, does she? And a marriage arranged without even asking her opinion? That makes it even more absurd.”

“W-what did you say?”

The Emperor, momentarily dumbfounded, doubted his own ears before jumping up and shouting.

“Are you saying this in your right mind?”

“Of course, I am perfectly sane.”

“H-how dare you speak to me like this…!”

The Emperor’s face contorted with disbelief.

At the same time, the Grand Duchess’s shoulders, which had been tense with anxiety, dropped in relief.

Because the Emperor had asked with such confidence, she had unintentionally become nervous.

But there was no way the man who had even sent a family heirloom just to arrange a match between his son and Lia would betray her expectations.

“And furthermore…”

At that moment, the Duke, whose lips had always been tightly pressed in front of the Emperor, revealed a cold smile.

Sensing an ominous foreboding, the Emperor was about to call out to him, but the Duke spoke first.

“I’m sorry, Your Majesty, but the Grand Princess is my daughter-in-law.”

 

***

 

“…”

“…”

“…”

A heavy silence fell upon the already quiet banquet hall—so still, you could hear a pin drop.

“Ah.”

At that moment, Duke Elard, sweeping his eyes over the stunned crowd, let out an ‘oops’ expression and dipped his head slightly.

“I misspoke.”

“Y-yes, of course. I knew you couldn’t possibly mean—”

“She’s still just a prospective daughter-in-law, but in my heart, I already consider her family. It was a mistake.”

“But what’s the difference, really?” the Duke added shamelessly, shrugging his shoulders.

For a moment, the Emperor stood there dumbfounded, blankly staring at Duke Elard.

“You—you!”

“How dare this rascal speak such nonsense here?”

The Grand Duchess and the former Marquis leapt up, pointing their fingers furiously at Duke Elard.

“Calling her your daughter-in-law? Watch your tongue!”

Even the usually calm Grand Duke raised his voice, and the Emperor, who had belatedly regained his senses and was about to speak, found no chance to intervene.

“What kind of brazen thievery is this? She’s barely come of age! No—she hasn’t even spent ten years in her parents’ home yet! She might as well be under ten!”

Especially shaken by the Emperor and Duke Elard both aiming for his daughter, the Grand Duke began to revise Lia’s age downward.

The problem was that both the Grand Duchess and the former Marquis vigorously agreed with him.

“That’s right. Well said! Our Adriana is still just nine!”

“Exactly. She’s so young, marriage is out of the question.”

The Grand Duchess, speaking primly, glared at Duke Elard.

In truth, during the tournament finals, she had witnessed Lucio rushing to Lia the moment a monster appeared.

Trusting now that Lucio would always cherish and protect Lia no matter the circumstances, the Grand Duchess had resolved to overlook their age gap.

Although she had been annoyed by the boy stealing a kiss from her innocent daughter, seeing that Lia’s heart was already leaning toward him, she had quietly permitted them to formally date.

‘But marriage out of nowhere?’

The Grand Duchess scoffed at the absurdity.

Aside from family, Duke Elard was the only man in the Grand Duchess’s life, due to the Emperor’s near-stalker-like courtship.

She had been fortunate to meet her kind and gentle husband like destiny and fall in love at first sight…

Still, deep down, she wanted her one and only daughter to experience love freely.

There were even a few decent young men nearby, and she had been discreetly keeping an eye on noble sons from the duchy, thinking of keeping Lia close.

And now this man had the nerve to claim her daughter as his daughter-in-law in front of the Emperor, practically stealing her away.

“Ha! Who does he think he is, trying to block our daughter’s future matches?”

Just then, as if expecting the uproar in the banquet hall, the calm Duke raised a corner of his mouth upon hearing the Grand Duchess mutter.

“Block her future matches? Wasn’t the Grand Princess’s marriage already decided long ago?”

“What are you talking about…?”

“I’m hurt, Stella. Have you really forgotten the promise we made so long ago?”

As soon as Duke Elard finished speaking, the Grand Duchess’s expression hardened.

[Tl: That’s why I asked you if you were sure before¯⁠\⁠_⁠(⁠ツ⁠)⁠_⁠/⁠¯]

Unease filled her face.

“Don’t tell me…”

At that moment, the Duke pulled a small envelope from his breast pocket and handed it to the Grand Duchess.

Caught off guard, she took it and hurriedly checked its contents.

Soon, her hands began to tremble, and finally, a voice of horror burst from her mouth.

“You actually found this? I hid it so well—how on earth did you…?!”

Just as she feared from his confident tone, he really brought out the oath they made when we were kids!

Seeing the Grand Duchess’s stunned expression, the Duke couldn’t hold back his amusement and burst out laughing.

In fact, after Lia left for the Principality, the Duke had searched every corner of the library to find the oath for a day like this, but to no avail.

Unexpectedly, it was Lucio who handed it over last night.

Judging by its condition, he must have found it quite a while ago and kept it in pristine condition.

Even while clicking his tongue at his son’s meticulousness, the Duke couldn’t hide his pride. The Emperor, growing anxious, asked quickly,

“Duke, what exactly is that?”

“An oath.”

“An oath?”

“Yes. The Grand Duchess and I wrote it long ago, promising to marry off our children if we had them.”

The Duke declared this with full dignity.

“T-this is just a childish prank! It’s invalid!”

Sensing things were spiraling out of control, the Grand Duchess urgently shouted and tried to rip the document apart.

However, no matter how much strength she used, the aged paper wouldn’t tear.

Seeing this, the Duke shook his head and said,

“How cowardly of you, Stella. I should’ve known when you challenged me to a duel just three days after learning to hold a sword.”

“Why won’t this tear? What on earth did you do to it?!”

“Why don’t you ask His Grace, the Grand Duke?”

At that, the Grand Duchess faltered and looked at her husband.

Ever since the Duke pulled out the envelope, the Grand Duke had grown eerily silent, his face pale.

“Your Grace… Don’t tell me you cast a preservation spell on it?”

Realizing the situation in an instant, the Grand Duchess pressed him, and the Grand Duke nodded with a devastated expression.

“Yes… Last night, the Duke came in urgently asking for help…”

“And you just cast magic without even checking what it was?! I told you not to trust people so easily! You’re the kind of person who gets conned constantly!”

“But it was Duke Elard…”

Even before they found their daughter, they had maintained a friendly relationship. But after finding her, they’d grown even closer. Close enough to help each other without question.

“Undo the spell right now—”

“I’m afraid not.”

Without hesitation, the Duke snatched the oath away, carefully placing it back in the envelope with flourish.

The Emperor watched the whole scene in a daze.

At this point, from the look on his face it seemed that it was hard for him to tell whether this was reality or a dream.

The Duke sneered, raising one corner of his mouth.

And then…

“No! Not my daughter!”

The Grand Duchess suddenly shrieked and lunged at the Duke, only to cry out, “Ugh!” and collapse while clutching the back of her neck.

The Grand Duke and the former Marquis rushed to support her, while the pale-faced Emperor shouted for the palace doctor. And so, the imperial banquet came to a dramatic end—like a scene from a theatrical play.

 

***

 

“Sister, do you have no appetite?”

“Is the food not to your liking? We prepared what you used to enjoy as a child.”

Seated beside me, Diana, and across from me, the Duchess, both asked in concern.

I, still dazed and half out of it, jolted in surprise and quickly apologized for my rudeness.

Then I explained to their worried faces,

“To be honest, I’m worried about what’s happening at the palace.”

Lucio had told me earlier that the Emperor would likely act out at the banquet and try to force a connection between me and Nicholas.

I had already shared this with both the Duchess and Diana, who now knew about my relationship with Lucio. Diana scrunched her nose as if I was worrying over nothing.

“Sister, it’ll be fine. Not only is His Grace the Grand Duke no pushover, but Her Grace the Grand Duchess isn’t someone who’ll back down easily either! Of course, that goes for Grandfather too.”

“Yeah…”

That was exactly what I was worried about…my parents and grandfather flipping the banquet hall upside down.

“And besides, my dad is there too!”

Diana’s confident words made me chuckle and nod along.

Now that the demonic relic was gone, Duke Elard wouldn’t be easily swayed by the Emperor anymore.

If anything happened to my family, the blame would fall squarely on the Emperor, and the Duke would undoubtedly be a great support to us.

I picked up my fork again, reassured that the Duke would never cause trouble for my family. In front of me was a mountain of food that the Duchess and Diana had pushed over to my plate.

‘Even just tasting each one would make my stomach burst…’

Thinking of how the Duke’s family always tried to feed me to the brim, I felt full even before eating.

But then…

“Actually, I’m more worried about big brother than the palace. What if the Grand Duke gets mad and starts hating him?”

At Diana’s words, I thought of Lucio, who was likely with Ascart right now.

⟨Now that I think about it, all the gifts Lucio sent me were basically bribes! That punk! Trying to butter me up by knowing my favorite things?!⟩

Ascart had confessed that he had exchanged letters with Lucio and spilled every little detail about me.

Now he was furious, feeling used, and declared that instead of joining the family dinner at the Duke’s mansion, he would meet Lucio separately to confront him.

I hadn’t told him the truth, that the gifts weren’t bribes but were sent with the expectation that Ascart would deliver them, because if he found out, things would really get out of hand.

Still, I had never seen him that angry before, so I was worried.

But Lucio’s reassuring words kept echoing in my ears.

⟨It’s fine. I’ll just say that I fell for you because you’re so beautiful and adorable, Ascart will totally understand.⟩

‘How can he say things like that with a straight face…?’

Lucio’s shamelessness was honestly shocking.

But if it were Ascart, I could imagine him nodding fiercely and saying, ‘You’re right. Falling for Lia is inevitable!’

 

The method I told you about failed miserably (only for me, the others used it just fine 😅), so I will have to do everything manually again. Of course, I won’t let my dear readers suffer that long, so here we are! Enjoy and pray for me!