Chapter 62

The Crown Prince’s Fiancée – Chapter 62

Chapter 15. Our Attitude Toward False Rumors

After dinner, I stepped out of my room to take a walk, only to sigh when Terni suddenly threw his arms around me.

“What is it this time, Brother?”

“Arti! I heard everything! It must have been so hard, going through that alone! His Majesty didn’t say anything harsh to you, did he?”

“Ah. So you heard about what happened earlier today.”

My attitude toward Terni softened considerably.

“No. He said he summoned me because he was worried. I’m fine.”

“Arti! You can’t get hurt!”

“I’m perfectly healthy.”

“Your heart can’t get hurt either!”

I sighed at Terni’s almost childish insistence. Strange as his ways were, they were for my sake, so I let it pass.

He was a bit of an odd person, but he wasn’t a bad one.

“Don’t worry, Arti. I’ll punish every last one of the people who started that ridiculous rumor!”

“Do you mean someone started it on purpose?”

“Yes!”

Terni nodded with a bright smile.

“And I’ve found out who did it!”

My expression stiffened at Terni’s proud announcement.

“Who was it?”

At my careful question, Terni held back, as if deliberating.

Normally he would have told me everything, true or not, so I couldn’t understand why he was being so tight-lipped now.

“I’m the one involved, so shouldn’t I be allowed to know?”

“You want to know?”

“Yes.”

Terni whispered into my ear.

As I’d suspected. When the most suspicious name of all came out, my feelings froze over coldly.

What on earth had I done wrong to deserve being treated like this again and again?

“To be precise, the source of the rumor is Baron Nester’s daughter, but that girl is the one behind her. I’ve gathered quite a bit of circumstantial evidence.”

“Do you have any decisive proof?”

“Unfortunately, no.”

Terni said it with genuine regret.

“The best way to cover a false rumor is with another false rumor, I suppose. Wait for it, Arti! I’ll get revenge for you!”

“What exactly are you planning to do?”

Terni smiled slyly.

“Pay them back in kind.”

I couldn’t tell exactly what he intended, but he seemed to have made some preparations of his own against Gabriel.

“Heh heh. I’ll personally teach her just how irritating a false rumor can be.”

I smiled awkwardly at his ominous grin. Terni urged me.

“So don’t you worry, Arti, and stay quietly out of sight! Don’t go out if you can help it until the rumor dies down. Understood?”

“Understood.”

“Well then, I have things to prepare, so I’ll be going now.”

Once Terni had left, I didn’t feel like going for a walk anymore, so I went back inside and sat down. I felt very strange.

What was this feeling?

I couldn’t put a name to it, and it left me deeply unsettled.

“Young Master Terni is right, too. It would be best for you to stay quiet for the time being, Miss Arti, until this false rumor blows over.”

Madam Lucy said the same thing Terni had. Her advice boiled down to this: there was nothing to be gained from drawing people’s attention for no reason.

“But won’t people think the rumor is more credible the more I avoid them?”

“Of course they will. But even taking that into account, we’ve judged that hiding is the better choice.”

Madam Lucy took an invitation out of her bosom.

“Then, Miss Arti, shall I decline this one?”

It was the invitation to a tea party that the Empress had handed me herself when I visited with Princess Marie today.

“You’ll be declining, of course?”

Madam Lucy asked again with a smile. From the very beginning, I had only ever had one answer.

“No, I’ll go.”

* * *

“May Arcangelo’s blessing be with you.”

“Welcome, my dear. I’m so very pleased that you’ve come to grace the occasion.”

Empress Ludmila looked at me with delight and approval. Receiving her gaze with my whole body, I greeted her as carefully as I could.

“Since Your Majesty was kind enough to invite me personally, of course I ought to attend.”

“Even so, you usually decline, don’t you?”

Empress Ludmila shook her head, overcome with emotion.

“It feels as though you’ve opened your heart to me, and that makes me so happy.”

“I’m the one who doesn’t know how to thank Your Majesty enough for your consideration.”

“You need only relax and enjoy yourself. Now, don’t worry about anything today. Just have a pleasant time and go home at ease.”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

From the moment I appeared at the tea party, the sharp stares of the ladies who had arrived earlier were fixed on me.

Empress Ludmila paid that atmosphere no mind at all and told me to relax, enjoy myself, and go home.

In other words, it was nothing less than a warning that, in her presence, no one would be allowed to torment me with false rumors.

Whether she meant it or not, the Empress’s words alone made me feel as secure as if I had a great army at my back.

“Sister-in-law!”

After greeting Her Majesty, I followed the attendant to my seat, and Princess Marie called out to me with a deeply worried look.

When I smiled at her, Princess Marie looked even more worried.

“Sister-in-law, wouldn’t it be better to just go home? I’ll explain everything to Mother.”

“Thank you for worrying about me, Your Highness, Princess Marie. But I’m all right.”

Marie looked at me with concern.

“If you stay quiet, every rumor will die down within three months.”

“And all that time, the gossips will say whatever they please about my keeping myself out of sight.”

Had the rumor been only about me, I wouldn’t have minded it much.

But shrinking back because of someone who spread these false rumors to target the future Crown Princess would bring shame upon the Imperial family as well.

And…

‘It’s not as if I came here without any plan at all.’

Of course Gabriel, the daughter of the Nevel family whom Empress Ludmila treasured, had also come to the tea party the Empress was hosting in person.

“Your Majesty! Thank you for inviting me on such a lovely day. I can’t tell you how happy I am, truly.”

“Thank you for coming, Gabriel.”

“What are you saying, Your Majesty? Of course I would attend.”

As if the Empress’s favor belonged to her alone, Gabriel shrugged her shoulders and glanced slyly at me.

Anyone else I might have doubted, but Gabriel would never let slip a chance like this, when the false rumors about me were spreading so well.

There was no telling how much she gossiped about those rumors in places where I wasn’t present.

Just like now.

“Look, she’s wearing a veil again today.”

“I wondered just how beautiful her face must be for her to hide it so diligently, but is she actually homely?”

“Maybe even Crown Prince Adrian was deceived.”

“Well, she certainly looks like a peerless beauty when she sits there like that.”

Whispers meant to be overheard so blatantly could hardly fail to reach us.

“Those wretched girls!”

Marie scowled and glared at the ladies.

I tightly gripped Princess Marie’s hand as she seethed, ready to leap out of her seat at any moment, and shook my head.

“Sister-in-law! Those wretches are insulting you!”

“But if you step in here, Princess Marie, I’ll only end up looking more ridiculous.”

Though I’d never had a proper debut, nor spent long in high society, I knew roughly how things worked in this world.

The more someone stepped in to defend me, the calmer things would appear on the surface, while the attacks slipped beneath it and grew even fiercer.

‘I have to tie up this knot myself.’

I had to make them realize they’d chosen the wrong target. Otherwise, things would only get harder from here on.

The one fortunate thing for me was that these false rumors had not arisen from “my own fault.”

I smiled as I sat Princess Marie back down.

“Come now, smooth out your face. It’s a lovely day.”

“But…!”

Marie crumpled her face, perhaps in irritation.

Under Princess Marie’s blatant glare, the ladies who had been spreading the rumor were cowed into silence and lowered their voices.

“Aren’t you angry, sister-in-law?”

“Of course I am.”

“Then why are you so calm?”

“Because getting angry won’t solve anything.”

If I lost my temper here, it would only damage my reputation.

Marie was a princess, so she could rage, threaten, and make a scene without any real consequences, but I was different.

What Madam Lucy had told me all this time proved enormously helpful.

‘In high society, the one who keeps smiling gracefully to the very end is the winner.’

Winning was important, but what mattered most was how gracefully one won. That was the lesson.

“But sister-in-law, why are you so reluctant to show your face? Even if Brother ordered you to cover it, with rumors spreading like this, you could just reveal it.”

“That’s…”

I couldn’t answer Marie’s question right away. It was awkward to answer.

‘Because if I reveal my face, I’ll have no choice but to leave the capital once the promised time has passed.’

When I didn’t answer, Marie tilted her head and didn’t ask any further.

Just then, all the noblewomen and ladies finished greeting the Empress.

“Today some wonderfully delicious tea arrived, so I invited you all to taste it.”

With the Empress’s greeting, scones and other delicious treats and tea were brought in.

I was just looking over the sweets and tea set before me when I noticed a piercing gaze that wouldn’t leave my side.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

Princess Marie stared intently at me.

“Because you feel so different from when I first met you.”

“Pardon?”

“You seemed so delicate, as if you’d be hurt easily, and I wanted to look after you, but you’re a stronger person than I ever imagined.”

I didn’t know whether I was strong, but Princess Marie’s words about wanting to look after me touched my heart.

My kind-hearted former boss had been steadily caring for the maid whose position had changed.

‘It weighs on me that I can’t tell her the truth…’

I hoped this might make up for it.

“I like you too, Princess.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

I wanted to be as good to her as I possibly could. Not because she was Adrian’s sister, nor because she was my former boss, but because I simply liked Marie.

“The weather is really lovely today, isn’t it?”

The Empress’s small tea party, normally held in the greenhouse, was being held in the garden today.

The fresh fragrance of the flowers arranged in the garden for the tea party lifted my mood.

Princess Marie also spoke, her reaction a little softer now.

“The meteorologists said it would rain today, but they say she chose the garden because the weather cleared up.”

“Really? It would have been a shame if it had rained.”

“That’s true. Actually, I’m glad to see you, sister-in-law.”

“Really?”

“Yes. Because Brother won’t let me see you.”

“His Highness did that?”

“Yes. He keeps me from meeting you as if I were some domineering in-law!”

“Oh… I had no idea.”

When I shook my head, Marie made a tearful face and poured out her complaints.

“Do you know how much Brother scolded me yesterday? He objected to my going out with you, and he wouldn’t even let me play with you.”

“That happened?”

Since the Crown Prince had told me to go back first, I had no idea such a conversation had taken place.