The Crown Prince’s Fiancée — Chapter 46
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Arti flinched, her eyes going round. Adrian looked at the two women with an expression of profound annoyance.
“Oh my, oh my. Look at him, shielding the woman who’ll be his wife.”
Empress Ludmila was thrilled,
“How obnoxious.”
while Princess Marie was appalled.
Sparks flew between Princess Marie and Crown Prince Adrian.
“Madam Lucy, did you see that?”
“Ohoho. Of course I saw.”
“Did you see Adrian telling me to stop?”
“Of course I saw. Hohohoho.”
“He’s my son, and yet how can he be so perfect?”
Paying not the slightest attention to the two locked in their staring contest, Empress Ludmila was chatting away eagerly with Madam Lucy.
‘Is this imperial family going to be all right?’
Arti was genuinely worried.
“Go and rest.”
Crown Prince Adrian opened his arm to let her go.
She doubted whether it was truly all right to leave, but since standing through this atmosphere was agonizing, Arti slipped away quietly.
“Phew…….”
She was already worn out in body and mind, so could she really get through this party safely?
“……Arti.”
At the gloomy voice, thick with melancholy, Arti stiffened.
When she cautiously looked behind her, she saw Terni with his shoulders drooping.
Giving off a dark aura as if he were the only one living in another world, Terni went on without even looking at Arti.
“It’s a truly sad day. Don’t you think so? I’m so sad. I’m unbelievably, enormously sad.”
“B-Brother…….”
“You look so happy. Happy with the very man who did this to me! And you still call yourself my family?!”
We were never family to begin with.
“You used to follow me around so devotedly when you were little. You were so adorable! Sob. How can you neglect your brother like this just because you’ve become the Crown Prince’s fiancée?”
The words “we didn’t even know each other when we were little” rose all the way to Arti’s throat, but she remembered where they were and barely managed to push them back down.
Terni was in a terrible state.
His left eye was swollen and black-and-blue. Someone had clearly hit him.
“Did the Crown Prince hit you?”
“Yes!”
Terni nodded his head vigorously.
“Sob. Arti! Adrian hit me! It hurts!”
Terni hugged Arti without any hesitation and sniffled.
Physical contact with a strange man…… so there ought to have been some kind of reaction, yet Arti was puzzled to find herself feeling only that it was all too familiar, tiresome, and irritating.
“Look at this! No matter how much I did wrong, how could he beat me like this? How could he put a bruise on this precious, handsome face? This is a loss to humanity!”
“Yes, yes.”
Answering offhandedly, Arti patted Terni’s back.
Terni burrowed even deeper into her arms and sniffled.
“Sob. I really didn’t untie him. I didn’t!”
“Yes, I know.”
“I really didn’t untie him~! It’s so unfair!”
“Yes, yes.”
Arti was letting Terni’s words slide right past her when.
Terni pulled away from her and fell silent, as though thinking something over.
“By any chance, Arti, you weren’t the one who untied him…… were you?”
Gulp.
Arti’s expression stiffened.
‘Don’t tell me he’s figured it out?’
Come to think of it, she had left the Golden Seal in Terni’s office. He must have caught on because of that.
Just as she couldn’t figure out what to say, Terni grinned.
“Just kidding~!”
Arti laughed awkwardly.
“A moment ago I was wishing the whole world would end, but I feel better now! It’s all thanks to my Arti~!”
“Haha. I don’t know what you mean, but I’m glad.”
“Right?”
Terni grabbed Arti’s arm.
“Now, let’s go eat some delicious food! Off we go!”
Arti wanted to ask him to let go, but she had no choice and, sighing, was dragged along by Terni.
“Heyyy, Diano~!”
Naturally ignoring the stirrings of the other people approaching him, Terni made straight for the spot where Diano, Sissignu, and Acacia stood.
Diano, who had already piled his plate high and was munching away, gave a simple nod.
“What have you been eating?”
“This and that.”
“What’s the best one?”
“That one.”
“Great, I’ll try it.”
Terni immediately picked up a plate. Arti politely offered the greeting that Terni had skipped.
“Good evening, Viscount Benedetto.”
“Please, just call me Sissignu, Lady Artienne.”
“Then please call me Arti.”
“Understood.”
The moment her greeting with Sissignu ended, Acacia set down her bowl, ran over to Arti, and hugged her tight.
“Sister~!”
“Acacia! Have you been enjoying your food?”
“Yes!”
Acacia’s eyes sparkled.
“Sister, I don’t have to go back to the territory after all!”
“Kyaa~ Really?”
“Yes!”
“That’s wonderful, Acacia~!”
Arti and Acacia held each other’s hands and spun round and round.
Terni took hold of Arti’s shoulder.
“Here, say ah.”
When he speared something with a fork and offered it, Arti opened her mouth.
“Oh, it’s delicious.”
“Right?”
Terni smiled proudly, as though he had made it himself.
Diano also held a bowl out to Acacia.
“Eat it all.”
“Yes!”
They were tasting the new foreign dishes side by side like that when.
A small bell rang from somewhere in the hall. Naturally, every gaze turned that way.
“Now, everyone, pay your respects to Empress Ludmila, the revered sun of great Appennino.”
The invited guests all set down the utensils they had been eating with and bowed.
The same went for Diano and his siblings, as well as Terni and Artienne.
“Thank you all for attending. Now then, allow me to present today’s main dish, which you have all been waiting for.”
The Empress nodded.
An attendant clapped his hands, and new dishes brought out from one side of the hall began to be placed on the tables.
But what captured everyone’s attention was neither the new food nor the lavish music.
It was the tableware holding the dishes that had been presented to the Empress.
“That is……!”
Everyone’s eyes went wide.
There was hardly anyone who couldn’t recognize that tableware.
Was that not Master Jürgen’s sixteenth dinnerware set?!
The limited-edition work of a legendary master who had swept the empire’s fashions from the moment of his debut!
Since Jürgen had vanished without a trace ten years ago, the value of his works had soared, until they became rare things that wealth alone could not obtain.
As everyone gazed up at the Empress in admiration, her face bloomed with a broad smile.
“Hoho. Does the food look that delicious?”
The Empress knew perfectly well why they were astonished, yet she feigned ignorance with brazen ease.
At that, people began pouring out praise toward her as if they had been waiting for it.
“Your Majesty. Having such a treasure all along, why have you only shown it to us now?”
“It’s Master Jürgen’s sixteenth work, no less!”
“If you collect just a few more pieces, Your Majesty will truly have gathered every one of his works!”
As the Empress laughed “hoho,” there was someone even more swollen with pride than she was.
That was Gabriel Flora Nevel.
“Well, this much is nothing. Is there anything our Nevels can’t procure for you?”
At her unconcealed admission that the gift had come from her, the people gathered around let out exclamations of admiration.
“How on earth did you get it? Even our family couldn’t obtain the sixteenth work.”
“Oh, it’s all thanks to my own ability. Being too capable is practically a sin~.”
Gabriel flung her blue hair about with a flourish and laughed as if shy.
“Whatever. You only got it by ordering your underlings around.”
Terni muttered coldly.
Arti laughed awkwardly and shifted her gaze to the food in her bowl.
‘So Uncle Helmer’s work really is that amazing.’
Everyone’s attention had moved to the Empress and Gabriel.
The Empress, evidently pleased by the attention, smiled elegantly and gave Gabriel a smile.
“I am truly delighted to have been able to obtain such a precious set thanks to Lady Gabriel. Thank you once again, Lady Gabriel.”
“How happy Gabriel is that Your Majesty is putting the gift I gave you to such good use, you can’t imagine.”
At Gabriel’s words, Terni said with a smile.
“Terni isn’t happy at all.”
Seeing him mimic Gabriel’s way of speaking in mockery, Arti shot Terni a warning look.
Gabriel, seated beside the Empress, glanced around, then looked at Arti and smiled as if to show off.
Terni, who saw it too, scrunched up his face.
“What’s with her now?”
“Haha…….”
Watching her flaunt herself as if to say this is the kind of person I am, Arti had no particular thoughts about it.
Seeing Arti simply sitting there, Gabriel laughed all the more delightedly.
“Ohoho! It’s truly nothing!”
‘As expected, I’ve got the Empress’s favor firmly in my grasp!’
Just then, a noble seated near the Empress, unable to tear his eyes from Jürgen’s work, spoke in rapture.
“To be shown even the most precious item in Your Majesty’s collection, what greater honor could there be? My eyes are truly delighted by Your Majesty’s grace!”
“Hoho. Good things are all the more joyful when shared. Seeing you so pleased, the effort of arranging this gathering was worth it. ……But what am I to do about this?”
The Empress, who had been in good spirits all along, suddenly looked troubled.
As if something perplexed her, she even sighed several times in a row.
“What is the matter, Your Majesty?”
“Sigh……. With everyone so fond of it, I find myself in a quandary. I truly wanted to keep this for my eyes alone, but it can’t be helped.”
Muttering something no one could make sense of, the Empress looked at Arti and suddenly winked.
“?!”
Arti, abruptly the recipient of the Empress’s wink, went wide-eyed.
The Empress chuckled as if she found her adorable and elegantly gestured to the attendant waiting nearby.
“Bring ‘that’ here.”
That?
