Chapter 134
In the past, when the other person caused me an inconvenience and tried to pass it on as a mistake, I couldn’t take proper action and just let it go. But in situations like this, it was human nature to make the other person feel the same absurdity as me.
I could also be doing this because I was convinced Isidor would support me unconditionally.
“You’re audacious, as the rumors say.”
The 3rd Prince suddenly revealed his teeth and laughed fiercely, and I took a sip of the champagne in my hand.
“I guess I’m famous enough to be rumored. I don’t know who you are, but if you think what you just did was a mistake, I think you should see a doctor…”
I knew the man in front of me was the 3rd Prince because of the resemblance to the 4th Empress and his blue hair, but I pretended not to know. We didn’t have any formal introduction anyway.
According to the novel’s setting, the 3rd Prince also had little presence among the numerous members of the imperial family. Of course, he had attended imperial events in the past so I may have seen him before, but he may have changed since he was in the north for a long time, so I could insist that I didn’t know him.
“A doctor?”
“The inability to hold a glass of champagne properly is a serious disease. Your father should consider your right to succession more carefully…”
I secretly pointed out the situation of the 3rd Prince, who was far from the throne. As I intended, his expression began to crack.
“This person is the 3rd Prince. Are you saying he has hand tremors?!”
The foolish young man whom I refused to dance with a while ago stepped forward.
“You haven’t been polite since earlier. Where did you learn the etiquette of interrupting conversations between someone superior to you?”
Isidor stopped him with a cold tone.
‘He’s speaking more harshly than usual. Is Isidor… angry?’
The young man flinched in surprise at the cold energy that reached him. With a cold expression, Isidor turned his gaze to the 3rd Prince.
“You know best yourself that you did something just now that wasn’t very imperialistic of you.”
“Ha, are you trying to discipline me right now? Not even my father, the Emperor, disciplines me. Who are you, a novice duke, to do so?”
“No. I’m pointing it out. It would have been less pathetic to ask directly to be introduced.”
As Isidor sharply pointed it out, I suddenly realized why the 3rd Prince deliberately poured the champagne over me.
It was customary for the imperial family to go through acquaintances without speaking directly to anyone they wanted to be introduced to. However, there was no one suitable to bridge the gap between me and the 3rd Prince.
The 3rd Prince wanted to talk to me, but he also wanted to protect his honor, so he poured the champagne. If I hadn’t turned it around, he would have secretly tried to lead the situation as he had intended, under the pretext of compensating me properly.
‘But why did he do this to me? Please talk to the heroine, Mia, as much as you want.’
While I was dumbfounded, the 3rd Prince, who turned pale with humiliation as he heard the word ‘pathetic’, twisted his lips.
“Duke Visconti. You will regret making fun of me like that.”
It was a typical line from a villain who had run out of things to say.
“I look forward to it.”
Isidor narrowed his eyes like a fox and took off his coat. And suddenly, he covered me with it.
“It was a good thing to prepare a lot of evening dresses. I thought they all suited you, so it was difficult to choose just one.”
The areas that were wet with alcohol were the bottom part of my skirt and my thighs, but for some reason, it seemed like my upper body was also wet.
“You’ll catch a cold.”
At that moment, a group of nobles entered the tearoom. When they saw me wearing Isidor’s coat, they looked puzzled. Seeing my skirt reeking of alcohol, they seemed to be jumping to conclusions that I had done something.
“What’s going on all of a sudden?”
But soon, the gazes that were suspicious of me changed.
“Even if they can overdrink after being promoted to a higher title, still…”
Isidor, who had spoken meaningful words while looking at the 3rd Prince and his group, quickly led me out of the tearoom. Leaving them behind, Isidor waved his finger lightly, as he did in Blancia.
Crash-!
There was a loud sound of something shattering behind us. I quickly realized that the mess was the work of Isidor’s movement magic.
“What on earth is going on here?”
“There seems to be an aristocrat who was already drunk and made a mistake.”
Someone translated Isidor’s words perfectly.
“Dear heavens…
The older nobles, who had stopped for a moment to grab a bite, clicked their tongues as they fled from the tearoom, which was filled with the smell of wine and champagne.
“It hasn’t been that long since the banquet started. I can’t believe someone is already drunk and making things like this.”
“No matter how happy they are to have been promoted to a higher title, it seems they are being too boisterous without watching their demeanor.”
I was speechless as I looked at Isidor, who instantly turned the situation in his favor.
I changed from my wet dress to the new one Isidor sent me and went out alone again. Isidor was being congratulated by some nobles, but as I approached him, he moved straight away.
“Is it alright to leave the conversation?”
“Who would say anything to me, a duke? Unless they’re recklessly daring.”
“It’s an abuse of power.”
“I have to be stronger to protect you.”
He muttered something low in a meaningful voice.
“What?”
“Let’s go out after a while and take a walk together.”
However, the 5th Princess immediately came to me with a glass of champagne, and I was held by her for some time.
***
The 3rd Prince nervously swept up the hair that had flowed down his forehead.
The stupid son of the northern marquis, who had been sipping alcohol since the moment he entered the hall, suddenly fell over the long bar table lined with wine. Everything that was on the table collapsed like a domino, causing the tearoom to become a mess.
Because of those bastards who had no manners, he also looked like an excited and drunk idiot as soon as he returned to the capital.
‘Damn it. It smells like alcohol.’
After exiting the grand hall, he roughly threw his black coat to the floor.
The more he thought about it, the more his anger soared. He believed his mother’s words that if he returned after having a hard time in the north, things would change to his advantage.
In that boring, cold place, he gathered his power while enduring the nagging of the dark wizard his mother had attached to him; but when he returned to the capital, there were bastards who were achieving positive results on their own.
‘What’s the deal with that saintess who doesn’t even have any presence…’
He clicked his tongue briefly as he remembered Mia, whom his mother had briefly introduced him to. Rather than such a boring woman, it felt much more stimulating to steal the princess from Duke Visconti and make her succumb to him.
It was Princess Deborah who caught his attention most often today. Of course, there were many beautiful ladies, but Princess Deborah had a cold and seductive appearance, as expected from someone who was rumored to be a villainess, so there was something about her that stimulated his secret desires.
‘Even though she is pretending to be distinguished, like a Seymour, how dare she do that to the imperial family?’
Thinking of the red eyes that looked at him as if making fun of him, the 3rd Prince contorted his lips. Every time he saw the things that were supposed to crawl under him raising their heads, it hurt his pride. He never got used to this sensation.
“Javi. Why did you come out already? Aren’t you talking more inside?”
Javi was Javier’s nickname. His mother, the 4th Empress, approached him with a sad expression and swept away his son’s haggard face.
“Javi. Why does it smell like alcohol? It’s too early to get drunk…”
An annoyance rose above his dark eyes.
“Should I endure it and not drink?”
“Why are you angry?”
“The title of war hero was taken by Rosad Seymour, and there is no aristocrat who doesn’t know that Isidor, who recently took over the title of Duke Visconti, is close to the Crown Prince.”
“…”
“I’ve been struggling so hard in the north, but I’m constantly being pushed out of the social circles in the capital. I did everything Mother told me to!”
“Calm down, sweetheart.”
She looked at her adorable son, who looked just like her, and her eyes glowed like an abyss.
“Everything will go your way. Don’t worry.”
However, Javier shook her off roughly, clenched his teeth, and walked quickly towards the palace where his quarters were. The 4th Empress looked at her son from behind with dark eyes for a while. Biting her lips so hard that she drew blood.
——
