The Crown Prince’s Fiancée – Chapter 22
****
Gabriel, having turned away with her head held high, was in a splendid mood. She had finally put that ever-irritating woman in her place.
‘Now she must understand clearly that he’s my man.’
Adrian had belonged to Gabriel since he was very young. He was putting up a cute little rebellion for now, but someday he would acknowledge it.
But before long a sound reached her and she turned her head, only to witness something monstrous.
“!”
‘My Adrian is kissing another woman!’
Startled, Gabriel ground her teeth at the sight, but she quickly regained her composure.
‘To go as far as kissing someone else just to provoke my jealousy. He must truly love me.’
Once she knew the truth, their kiss looked different to her.
“Hmph! I won’t be fooled by something like this!”
Still, watching the person she loved kiss someone else stung terribly.
She could indulge Adrian, adorable as he was in wanting her jealousy, but Artienne, the one he’d used for it, she could not leave alone.
‘How dare she touch my man!’
She would make her regret it without fail.
Chapter 5. The Moment Comes Without Warning
“Did you hear? Did you hear?”
“Really? Eek!”
All the servants of the imperial palace were whispering to one another and passing the story along.
I knew what the story was about without even listening.
‘It must be about our kiss.’
Just thinking about that moment still made my face burn.
“Is every kiss that good?”
I touched my lips, lost in thought.
No one had ever told me a kiss could be so sweet and so thrilling.
Or was it simply that Crown Prince Adrian was good at it?
“And he’s someone who can’t even stand women…”
Ah, right, he had a beloved lover.
It left a bitter aftertaste.
I tried hard to act as though nothing was wrong as I greeted the day.
Her Majesty the Empress’s birthday banquet was fast approaching.
Accordingly, I had begun receiving special training from Madam Lucy.
“Your days have been strict until now, but from here on they will be stricter still.”
“Even more than this?”
Honestly, I’d assumed it wouldn’t be hard if I just stood still, but I was completely wrong.
“It is an important stage, attended by many foreign envoys. Naturally, you must be so beautiful that everyone is smitten, mustn’t you?”
“Is that even possible?”
It seemed impossible.
“What are you saying? Of course it’s possible!”
Preparing for the ball demanded an enormous amount of time, effort, and money.
All nobles were supposed to be rich, so why were they ranked even among themselves? It was easy enough to see why.
“All of these dresses were made especially for you, Miss Arti! Oho ho! Let’s start a new trend in Appennino!”
Looking at dresses in styles I had never seen before, I was the only one left dazed.
“It’s been so long since I’ve gotten to dress up someone other than Essen…! I’m so happy, oho ho!”
“Ha ha… I’m glad for you.”
Unlike the joyful Madam Lucy, I sank into despair.
“Today it’s the dress, tomorrow the accessories, and the day after that we’ll choose the fan and shoes!”
Madam Lucy’s schedule was so thorough that there was no room for anything else.
“Do we really have to choose each of these on a separate day?”
At my question, Madam Lucy’s eyes went round, as if to ask what on earth I meant.
“Yes!”
No, but what was the reason?
My doubts did not last long.
It was only after I saw the mountain of dresses piled high that I understood why choosing a dress took an entire day.
“Oho ho ho!”
Listening to her laughter, which sounded like something out of a nightmare, I had no spare moment for anything but ball preparations for days.
***
At last, the day of the banquet had come.
I was having my makeup done, already wearing the dress and accessories I had chosen with such enormous effort.
Only after the final touch of color on my lips were all the preparations complete.
“As I thought… I was not wrong.”
Madam Lucy gazed at me with a dazed expression.
I couldn’t tell what that look meant.
How could I know what Madam Lucy usually thought?
Did it mean I looked as awful as I’d feared?
It was possible.
I’d heard the knight called Essen had been truly beautiful, so I probably couldn’t compare to him even in the slightest.
Feeling needlessly dejected, I couldn’t bring myself to look in the mirror.
“Goodness, Lady Artienne. Why are you hanging your head like that?”
“Pardon?”
“Do look in the mirror. Oho ho ho!”
Madam Lucy’s laughter only made me more anxious.
What if I looked in the mirror and saw someone plainer than usual?
I was afraid, but with everyone around me urging me on, I had no choice.
After taking a few deep breaths, whoo, haa, I slowly faced forward.
In the mirror, a woman was staring straight ahead.
When I blinked, that unfamiliar woman blinked the same way.
My eyes went wide.
“So this is why people make such a fuss about makeup…”
The brush had merely passed delicately over my face, yet a woman with an entirely different impression had been born.
“Do you like it?”
“Yes… It doesn’t feel like me.”
As if bewitched, my voice floated in the air.
Madam Lucy laughed brightly, as if she’d known this would happen.
“Didn’t I tell you, my lady? You absorb whatever you’re dressed in and become utterly beautiful! You’re like a bolt of pure white cloth, so to speak. You change completely depending on what is painted onto you. Oho ho ho!”
Just as Madam Lucy said, the slightly vacant air I usually gave off was gone entirely.
I thought to myself.
…This is definitely a master’s touch. She has created my face anew!
“Now then, off we go! To conquer the ball! Crush them all! Take them all down!”
Madam Lucy clenched her fist and shouted.
Take them all down? W-with fists?
“W-what am I supposed to take down?”
“Why, you must conquer them with your beauty, of course!”
“Even so, I don’t think that’s possible. There will be many ladies more beautiful than I am.”
At my words, Madam Lucy’s eyes flew wide open.
I froze in shock for a moment.
“What on earth are you saying?! As long as I, Lucy, am in charge of your styling, you will be the most beautiful woman at the ball! Even if you hide behind a veil, your beauty cannot be concealed!”
Even so, I didn’t think that could be true…
I had no confidence at all.
Seeing me so dispirited, Madam Lucy let her shoulders droop and sighed.
“To think you doubt my skill so, I am truly upset. If you find it so hard to believe, why don’t you go out and ask His Highness the Crown Prince how you look?”
“T-the Crown Prince?”
“Yes.”
Madam Lucy smiled sweetly.
Wasn’t that line basically telling me to go die?
I naturally assumed she was joking, but Madam Lucy was serious.
She forced high heels onto my feet and pushed me out of the room.
Gathering the long hem of my dress, I left the room as though being chased.
The Crown Prince was standing right outside the door.
He was leaning against the wall with his eyes closed.
Had he grown tired of waiting and drifted into a light doze?
If I made a sound and woke him, I might lose my life.
But I couldn’t keep standing here forever either…
I was standing in front of the Crown Prince, wondering what to do.
He slowly opened his eyes.
In that instant, my eyes met the Crown Prince’s.
“…”
“…”
A silence fell for no discernible reason.
The Crown Prince simply stared at me intently.
His gaze was so blatant that it was hard to bear.
Was I really that bad?
“Sh-shouldn’t we be going now?”
Feeling suffocated by the silence, I spoke first.
Then the Crown Prince pushed himself away from the wall.
He said nothing about how I’d done myself up, but he hadn’t said anything bad either, so was there still hope?
I cautiously looked up at the Crown Prince, and our eyes met squarely.
Had he been looking at me the whole time?
“…What is it?”
“You’re presentable now.”
That brief remark was his verdict on hours and hours of painstaking preparation.
Still, I had worked so hard.
Was I supposed to be relieved that the review wasn’t harsher?
Hiding my disappointment as best I could, I followed after the Crown Prince.
“Oh, Arti, are you all ready?”
Terni was walking toward us from the opposite direction.
His banquet attire was slightly disheveled.
“Ohh, what’s this? You look really pretty! I almost didn’t recognize our Arti!”
Terni’s praise didn’t make me happy at all.
I wished he would just disappear.
Grabbing hold of me as I glared at him coldly, Terni poured out a shameless torrent of gushing.
How long was he going to keep this up?
As I stood there helplessly enduring Terni’s gushing, someone’s hand pulled me toward them.
“Get lost.”
Warning Terni, the Crown Prince hid me behind him.
“Wow, look at him, protecting her just because she’s his partner.”
Terni boldly declared this, and his gaze turned toward me.
At that instant, an enormous sense of dread washed over me.
“Arti is my little sister, so she should be my partner!”
“Huh? Me?”
Why was he suddenly butting in to say he’d be my partner?
As if it wasn’t even worth listening to, the Crown Prince warned Terni.
“Stop talking nonsense and go your own way.”
“I’m headed this way too!”
Did Terni have multiple lives?
He acted out like this every time, and it was amazing that he was still alive.
The Crown Prince glared at Terni.
His hand was just about to move toward his waist.
“Ha ha, I’m off! Eat well and live well!”
After a cheerful farewell, Terni dashed off down the corridor in the opposite direction.
A moment later, only the Crown Prince and I were left in the corridor.
His gaze moved to the veil I held in my hand.
I hurriedly draped it over myself.
The Crown Prince’s mood was strange.
It felt as though he had grown stiffer since that kiss.
I had thought he’d softened a little.
It felt odd, as though we had gone right back to the beginning.
No, there had never been anything between us in the first place.
This was normal.
Me, who was under threat of assassination, and the Crown Prince, who was always looking for a chance to kill me.
This must be right.
After gazing at me in silence for a long while, Adrian suddenly held out his hand.
“Pardon?”
“Escort.”
Before I knew it, I had placed my hand on the one the Crown Prince offered.
Adrian’s expression stiffened subtly.
D-did I do something wrong?
The Crown Prince’s beautiful brows rose slightly.
I quickly looped my hand around the Crown Prince’s arm.
“…”
He said nothing in particular, but this had apparently been the right answer.
Seeing the Crown Prince’s expressionless face return, I felt relieved.
The party hadn’t even started yet, and already all the strength had drained from my body.
This wasn’t good.
“Let’s go in.”
If I could just do well today, I could survive! My chances of survival would go up!
Escorting me, Crown Prince Adrian stopped before the door of the hall and nodded to the attendant.
At the same moment, one attendant opened the door while another announced us in a booming voice.
“The future of great Appennino, Crown Prince Adrian, and his partner for the evening, the prospective crown princess, the daughter of the Obiedo family, Lady Artienne!”
