🔊 TTS Settings
Chapter 3
A little while later, the carriage came to a stop in front of a massive mansion.
Just as when I had been loaded into it, I was dragged out like a sack of baggage.
“Whether you cling to Marquis Rigen or beg him, do whatever it takes to get into his bedroom.”
Count Bellasi looked me up and down as though appraising a piece of merchandise before clicking his tongue.
“You were engaged for over ten years, after all. Surely he won’t treat you too coldly.”
The carriage departed with the sound of its doors shutting.
A hollow laugh escaped me.
It was because that absurd marriage proposal from earlier came to mind.
Someone put pressure on the Emperor.
The only person capable of that was probably my former fiancé.
The problem was why that man had done something like this.
I heard he was already looking for his next fiancée, so why?
“M-Miss…”
I stopped thinking and turned my head. Come to think of it, I wasn’t alone.
At first, I had assumed she was only helping drag me out of the carriage, but she hadn’t gotten back in.
“I don’t recognize you.”
“Ah, well…”
After hesitating for a moment, the brown-haired maid bowed deeply.
“Hello, Miss! My name is As Cello, and I’ve been hired to serve as Miss Leonia’s maid!”
After greeting me confidently, As scratched her cheek with an awkward smile.
“I was originally going to introduce myself after dinner, but… things somehow turned out like this.”
Come to think of it, Alice had said she would assign me a new maid.
Putting on a gentle voice, I spoke to As.
“You must’ve been shocked, right? I’m sorry you had to see something so disgraceful the very first time we met.”
“N-Not at all! Please don’t worry about me!”
“Really? In that case…”
“It feels a little strange saying this to someone I just met today.”
After glancing over my own miserable appearance, I got straight to the point.
“Do you happen to have any money?”
“…Pardon? I do.”
“Then could you lend me some? I’ll repay you properly.”
After hesitating briefly, As quickly nodded.
She seemed to believe there was no way I would steal her money.
It’s convenient, but I’d better tell her not to trust other people so easily.
In any case, thanks to As, I was spared from wandering around looking like a beggar.
“Miss! I hired a carriage!”
“Really? Thank you.”
With a proud smile, As led me to the carriage. Then, suddenly looking worried, she asked,
“But if we go back right now, won’t the Count be angry?”
“He will.”
I had never intended to return to the Count’s estate in the first place. If I went back now, I’d simply be thrown out again.
“We’re going to a dressmaker’s.”
There was no need to worry about the money. I could simply charge it to the family’s name.
“I have an important conversation ahead of me. I can’t go looking like this.”
I was still wearing an indoor dress.
My cheek is swollen from being slapped, and my hair must be a complete mess. I don’t even need to look in a mirror to know.
The Count wanted me to earn my former fiancé’s sympathy, but I would rather die than meet him looking like this.
“While I’m getting ready, go to the nearest post office and give them the Count’s family name along with mine. They’ll deliver the letter immediately.”
I handed As the letter I had written while waiting for her to return with the carriage.
“Are you going to see Marquis Rigen?”
“No. That man won’t help.”
Whether or not he had orchestrated this affair made no difference.
“I’m going to see His Majesty the Emperor.”
When dealing with something like this, the answer was always to strike at the very top.
After arriving at the Imperial Palace, I received an astonishingly cold reception.
“His Majesty’s audience schedule is currently…”
“His Majesty has an important meeting…”
Since I had sent a letter saying I would visit on the very same day, I hadn’t expected to be welcomed warmly.
Considering the broken engagement, the Emperor must dislike me even more.
I had no intention of returning before the Count’s anger had cooled anyway, so waiting wasn’t a problem.
Though I certainly didn’t expect them to make me wait an entire day.
I could endure it, but As, who had been waiting in the corridor the whole time, must have been having an awful experience.
“His Majesty has granted Miss Leonia an audience.”
At last, permission was given.
Following the attendant’s guidance, I entered the audience chamber.
The enormous doors opened, and I slowly walked toward the imperial throne in the center of the hall.
This meeting had only become possible after waiting for well over ten hours.
Before the engagement had been broken, if I sent a request for an audience, I would meet the Emperor within three or four hours at most. The difference was overwhelming.
“I greet Your Majesty, the Sun of the Empire.”
“Very well.”
The Emperor lazily waved a hand, looking as though he couldn’t be bothered.
He’s telling me to get to the point.
If I didn’t have to waste time on unnecessary formalities, that suited me just fine.
“Your Majesty, whom I deeply respect, I requested this audience today because there is something I wish to ask.”
“So long as you’re not asking me to revoke your engagement, I’ll hear you out.”
The Emperor struck first.
“Of course, if you’re already involved with someone else, I might consider canceling your engagement to the Baron.”
It sounded plausible enough, but it was complete nonsense.
Who in this situation would publicly claim to be in a relationship with me?
Doing so would mean earning the Emperor’s displeasure just to have me.
There was only one person who would ever do such a thing.
His words made me want to laugh, but I kept my composure.
“However, the person you’re involved with must be a noble of the Etrian Empire. Sending a girl like you to another country would be a loss for the nation.”
“…Excuse me?”
“I heard your older sister is leaving to study abroad. Shouldn’t you stay by the Count’s side until your marriage so he won’t feel lonely?”
This lunatic.
In other words, the Emperor was saying he intended to forbid me from leaving the country until I got married.
Smiling, the wrinkles around his eyes deepening, the Emperor drove the point home.
“Many people come back from studying abroad with foolish ideas. A responsible citizen of the Empire should marry, have children, and build a family first.”
“…”
“Surely you’re not one of those people who plans to say something absurd like wanting to live alone?”
He had seen right through my true intentions.
Still, I forced a smile and shook my head.
“The thing Your Majesty is worried about will never happen.”
If that was the case, then I would have to change my plans.
“You said earlier that as long as I wasn’t asking for the engagement to be revoked without reason, you would grant my request, correct?”
“I did.”
“Then please allow me to choose Marquis Rigen’s next fiancée.”
Someone like the Emperor could easily go back on his word, but I figured he would at least grant me this much.
Unexpectedly, however, the Emperor looked troubled.
“Even I cannot undo a broken engagement.”
“I have no desire for that either.”
Putting every ounce of effort into my acting, I behaved as though I still had feelings for my former fiancé.
“After all, do you know why I agreed to break off my engagement with the Marquis in the first place?”
Just as I expected, the Emperor looked sympathetic.
Whether he meant it or not didn’t matter.
The important thing was that he was pretending to.
“Diego is my son, but he’s always been far too reckless. I know you’ve suffered because of him.”
Diego Rigen.
There had once been a time when hearing that name made my heart race.
Now, I felt nothing at all.
“I sincerely hope the Marquis achieves what he desires.”
As the Emperor’s illegitimate son, Diego had always dreamed of becoming Emperor.
“What he needs to accomplish that goal… isn’t me.”
That was what I had finally realized before ending our engagement.
At least, that was the story I was telling.
Whether the Emperor believes me or not is another matter.
It didn’t matter if he didn’t.
After all, the woman who had loved Diego, ignored all of his scandals, and devoted herself to him for over ten years would be the last person anyone would suspect of stabbing him in the back overnight.
“As Your Majesty said earlier, I hear there are countless people in foreign countries who deceive others with sweet words.”
“So?”
“I cannot allow such a person to become the Marquis’s fiancée.”
The Emperor chuckled, amused that I had thrown his own words back at him.
“I would like his fiancée to be chosen from among the nobles of the Empire.”
I didn’t know who Diego’s fiancée candidates were.
But I was certain that the strongest candidate within the Empire was the daughter of Marquis Branto.
How did I know?
Because in the original story, she became engaged to Diego after I died.
Even if I did nothing, there was a high chance she would become engaged to him.
Still, who knew?
I had already changed the original story.
So this was simply the minimum precaution.
“Are you saying that without even knowing who the candidates are?”
“No. That’s beyond my authority. Whoever it may be, I will accept it as the will of God.”
“Even if it ends up being the daughter of Marquis Branto?”
The Emperor’s tone was peculiar.
It sounded as though he believed I disliked her.
Ah.
Come to think of it…
For the sake of his so-called greater cause, Diego often abandoned me—his fiancée—to escort other noble ladies instead.
The daughter of Marquis Branto had been one of them.
But there had been far too many women Diego pursued for me to dislike her over that alone.
This actually works out nicely.
Now no one would suspect that I had deliberately recommended the daughter of Marquis Branto.
“Your Majesty’s will is the will of God. I shall simply place my trust in it and wait.”
