Chapter 28
I narrowed my eyes and asked,
“Is that the plan?”
“If you have a better one, let’s hear it.”
I let out a groan, muttering under my breath.
Kaiden, who had been observing the royals and nobles since morning, said they were suspicious that we were a couple.
Especially Caroline, who was vehemently denying it.
“Alright. So what do we do first?”
“Go on a date, and I’ll buy you a gift. If I shower you with jewels in front of everyone, that should do it.”
“Jewels! That sounds great!”
Kaiden may be a lifelong bachelor and a bit of a blockhead, but he had a great role model in his father.
And jewels, no less. I couldn’t pass up this chance to strike it rich.
[Tsk tsk. Materialist.]
Bled scolded me, but I ignored him. Wasn’t this the least I deserved for dealing with the mess Kaiden caused?
Looking at Kaiden, a thought suddenly crossed my mind.
Does Kaiden really feel nothing when he sees Stella?
We saw Stella, the heroine of the original story, yesterday.
Thinking about how Kaiden would fall for her one-sidedly in the future made me feel a bit sorry for him.
Since he hasn’t had much time to interact with her yet, he probably doesn’t feel anything, but knowing the original story, I couldn’t help but feel guilty.
“I’ll divorce you later.”
At my words, Kaiden raised an eyebrow and looked at me.
“What?”
“You might meet someone you truly love someday, Your Grace. You wanted to marry for love, didn’t you?”
Kaiden stared at me silently. Avoiding his gaze, I continued.
“Personality differences would be a safe reason for divorce. If need be, you can say I found another man. It won’t tarnish Your Grace’s honor.”
“Marion.”
I fiddled with my teacup. He called my name, but I felt too guilty to look at him.
“I don’t exactly have any honor left to lose.”
“There won’t be a divorce.”
I froze. Slowly, I lifted my head to look at Kaiden. He stared straight at me with his blue eyes, speaking firmly.
“If I marry, I take responsibility. Until the grave.”
I looked at him with a dumbfounded expression.
“So don’t ever mention divorce again.”
…This guy’s going to regret this later.
My face grew hot. Perhaps because Kaiden grew up watching his father, he seemed to know exactly what to say to make someone’s heart flutter.
Feeling awkward for no reason, I lifted my teacup.
“Don’t regret this later…”
Bang!
“Even if it was the princess’s doing, what’s the meaning of this?!”
Grand Duke Leopold stormed into the hotel.
Kaiden and I jumped up from our seats in surprise. It seemed he had kicked the door, as the poor wooden door hung pitifully on its hinges.
“Grandfather.”
“You crazy fool!”
Grand Duke Leopold smacked Kaiden on the back. I stood in the corner with my hands clasped like a guilty child.
The hotel bellboy, with a professional smile, fixed the door and left. The Archduke’s family would probably have to pay for that later.
“Even if you didn’t want to marry Princess Caroline!”
Grand Duke Leopold plopped down in the seat where Kaiden had been sitting. The old man’s face was flushed red with anger.
“Lying like this, you insolent brats!”
He knew we were lying. Well, of course he would.
A little investigation would reveal everything about our relationship. That’s why Kaiden and I had held a strategy meeting.
The plan was to pretend we were secretly dating.
But it didn’t seem like this plan would work on Grand Duke Leopold.
I lowered my head deeply.
“I’m sor—”
“Grandfather, I love Marion.”
I widened my eyes and looked at Kaiden. He was looking at Grand Duke Leopold with a calm expression, as if he had a steel plate over his face. The Grand Duke exploded.
“You brat! What lies!”
“It’s true. You’ve been staying at the Archduke’s residence in the capital, haven’t you?”
Meaning, you don’t know everything about us. Kaiden and I had been at the Archduke’s castle in Baltstein territory.
I looked at Kaiden with a confused expression. My face betrayed my lack of composure.
‘W-Wait, is the plan starting now? We have to fool Grand Duke Leopold too?’
Perhaps sensing my panic, Kaiden looked at me and smiled as if to say, “Don’t worry.”
“It’s okay, Marion. We agreed to openly declare our love, didn’t we?”
Wow.
I looked at him, utterly stunned. His acting could put the greatest actors to shame.
Grand Duke Leopold seemed just as shocked, and his anger turned toward me.
“You, you…! Marion, speak up!”
“Yes?”
“Is what this guy’s saying true?! Do you like Kaiden too?!”
“I…”
I looked back and forth between Kaiden and Grand Duke Leopold, flustered.
Kaiden’s eyes urged me to say, “Yes.” Grand Duke Leopold’s eyes demanded, “Tell the truth!”
What do I do? I was in a panic. Then Bled whispered.
[Say you like him too.]
‘What? Say I like Kaiden?!’
When I panicked, he said casually, as if it were no big deal,
[It’s just acting, isn’t it?]
‘Y-Yeah, it is!’
I felt like I was being dragged into something, but I made up my mind. With a determined expression, I looked at Grand Duke Leopold.
“I-I like His Grace too.”
Grand Duke Leopold stared at me with wide eyes.
“You like him?”
My resolute determination faltered under his piercing gaze. As expected, the Grand Duke was terrifying.
Kaiden stepped in.
“The reason I rejected all the matchmaking proposals was because of Marion.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. How could I marry another woman when I have Marion?”
Kaiden was doing an excellent job. I silently cheered him on while sneaking a glance at Grand Duke Leopold. He was narrowing his eyes, looking at us.
“Then show me proof.”
“What?”
Kaiden and I looked at him, bewildered. Grand Duke Leopold demanded with a scoff,
“You say you’ve been in love for a long time. Show me proof of being a couple!”
Kaiden and I were flustered. There was no such thing.
Kaiden asked,
“…What kind of proof are you talking about?”
Grand Duke Leopold crossed his arms and asked,
“How long have you been together?”
Cold sweat ran down my back. We hadn’t decided on anything yet.
But Kaiden, with a face like steel, said,
“The spring Marion turned eighteen, I confessed to her.”
Nice. We’ve been together for five years. I nodded as if I’d known all along.
Grand Duke Leopold pressed on.
“You must know each other’s birthdays, right?”
That was obvious. On Kaiden’s birthday, the Archduke’s castle always held a grand banquet. And Kaiden always gave me a gift on my birthday too.
“His Grace was born on the first day of winter.”
“Marion was born on the last day of winter.”
We each stated the other’s birthday.
In truth, I don’t know my exact birthday.
I grew up as an orphan in the slums from a very young age. I don’t know when I was born or who my parents were.
That birthday was the one Kaiden assigned to me when I started staying at the Archduke’s castle.
“Can you kiss?”
“What…?”
Grand Duke Leopold’s sudden attack caught me off guard. Cold sweat started forming on my back. Kaiden called out to him softly.
“Grandfather.”
“What? You can’t do it?”
“That’s too mischievous.”
“Your no-good father didn’t care about others, so what’s the problem? You’ve been together for a long time, haven’t you?”
He looked at us with a face that said, “Go ahead and try.”
What do I do? My eyes started darting around. Kaiden looked troubled too.
Then Bled whispered.
[Say you’re too shy to do it in front of Grandfather.]
“G-Grandfather, I’m too shy to do it in front of you.”
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By Anna 💓
