CH 22

5. Marriage interference

The New Year's banquet hosted by the queen was one of the largest events organized by Ortega royal palace. One could tell this much by looking at the number of nobles who filled the great banquet hall.

Vasily Marjoram had been a distinguished guest at this banquet ever since he was a toddler.

"Lord Marjoram, long time no see!"

"Lord Vasily, how have you been?"

A group of nobles, whose names he couldn't remember, would gather around Vasily like ants. They would be happy after receiving a word of greeting from him, and if he remembered their name, they would go back to their family, and brag about it. Such was the life of the heir to a powerful family.

However, this time, for some reason, there weren't many people around him.

"Lady Kristin? It's a pleasure to meet you. Do you remember who I am?"

"Kristin! Oh my goodness, I finally met the young lady. My son attended the same class as you at the academy..."

"I heard that the New Year's address you wrote at the contest was adopted. You are as amazing as people say."

Kristin was taking Vasily's place.

Kristin rarely socialized while attending the academy. Therefore, the other nobles didn't have many opportunities to get acquainted with her.

Kristin, who was standing beside Vasily, smiled and blended in with the nobles.

As he looked at his younger sister's dignified appearance, he felt sick to his stomach. The collar of his shirt erected upwards made him feel stuffy.

Vasily stretched his fingers through the knot in the scarf that tightened around his neck.

"That commoner maid of honor entered the palace of His Highness the Prince Lewicia, right?"

"Then, the relationship with Marjoram's young master must be completely over?"

"Of course. He is getting engaged to the princess soon. Shh, it would be better not to talk about this here. If you hear the strange rumors about the Princess's pride... Ugh."

In this kind of place, there are a lot of things you hear that you would rather not hear. The voices talking about Yulia were so clear, Vasily forcibly swallowed his saliva from the sudden thirst, and his Adam's apple moved noticeably.

"I am very disappointed in you these days. I will tell you in detail later, so treat the Princess well today."

"...Father."

"Don't make any mistakes."

The Marquis of Marjoram looked at Vasily disapprovingly, then took his wife's hand and went to where the nobles of the aristocratic faction were gathered.

Vasily was left alone in the center of the banquet hall.

He didn't feel good. It's constantly been like that recently. When did it start? Was it after Yulia became Prince Lewicia's maid of honor? Or was it way before that?

He remembered Yulia's words when she said he wouldn't be able to break off the engagement with the princess.

“Go back . Vasily Marjoram, go to your family and live as an obedient young master. That's all you need to do."

What kind of expression was she making when she said that?

'My head hurts.'

Vasily laid one hand on his forehead. People pointing their fingers at him and mocking him could be heard from close and far away. His stomach was in knots, and a cold sweat ran down his back.

Then, a buzzing sound was heard from one side of the banquet hall, and Prince Lewicia appeared.

Vasily involuntarily took a couple of steps toward him, then awkwardly stopped moving.

Yulia was not there. Of course, he should have known that. Even so, he was angry that Lewicia did not bring Yulia with him.

He felt that way even though he knew that it was a banquet where commoners could not be invited to.

A slow dance began playing. After half-untangling the scarf that kept tightening his neck, the princess and her group approached him this time.

"Here you are."

A heavy skirt swayed as it brushed the floor of the banquet hall. Beneath it were shoes with pointed tips.

"Vasily Marjoram."

When he looked up, Princess Shatrin, who had long, auburn hair hanging down her shoulders, was approaching him with her eyes half-lowered.

All the nobles around her bowed towards the princess. When Prince Lewicia appeared, there was only a slight buzz, but when it was the Princess's turn, people clearly showed the respectful attitude that a royal member was bound to receive.

However, Princess Shatrin raised one eyebrow sharply when she saw Vasily who, unlike the rest, was standing far away, lost in thought.

"Vasily Marjoram."

Shatrin called his name again.

The Princess's ladies-in-waiting showed displeasure. Vasily was already disrespecting the princess. He didn't greet her first, kiss the back of her hand, or respond to her call.

His lost gaze landed on Lewicia and a woman following him into the banquet hall.

Could it be Yulia? There were a lot of people, so he couldn't tell easily. He wanted to go closer and see, but the princess and her maids blocked the way, refusing to move.

Princess Shatrin held out her hand to him.

"Oh, it looks like both of you are going to dance!"

Everyone expected Vasily to hold the princess's hand, and dance with her. The two of them will get married soon anyway.

Vasily's gaze fell on the princess's hand. But he didn't hold it.

Even after the murmur grew and the faint smile on her face disappeared completely, he did not hold her hand.

"What are you doing..."

"I will not marry Her Highness the Princess."

His sincere feelings came out unexpectedly, like a sneeze. Vasily emphasized his words again to the princess, who was in front of him.

"Find someone else."

"What?"

"I will break off the marriage."

Princess Shatrin quickly retreated the fingers she had extended to him. The nobles were looking at her with a look of astonishment on their faces. The princess's face, which was painted white with makeup, flushed red.

'How dare you.'

The princess groaned in anger, and left the banquet hall.

*****

Coco and Lewicia, who went to the New Year's banquet together, returned to the prince's palace not long after their departure.

"Yulia!"

Believing that the two would not return until late, Yulia was relaxing in her room.

"Hey, Yulia! Wake up!"

Suddenly, the door burst open and Coco rushed in.

"It's crazy!"

"Coco? Why... are you already back?"

"I told you it's crazy!"

"What are you talking about?"

The answer came from Lewicia, who ran in after Coco.

"That bastard, Vasily, has finally lost his mind. He is crazy!"

She didn't know what they were talking about. When Yulia asked the two what they meant, Coco started explaining without even taking breaths in between.

"At the banquet hall, Vasily declared to Princess Shatrin that he would not marry her in front of all the nobles. This bastard is obviously crazy. There's no way he could have done something like that otherwise!"

"What?"

Coco's words were also surprising to Yulia. Thinking she had heard wrong, she was about to open her mouth to ask, but this time, Lewicia paced around Yulia's room dizzyingly, and said.

"You should have seen it. Shatrin held out her hand to Vasily, and offered to dance together, but he just ignored it! While looking straight at Shatrin's face!"

"'I will break off the marriage'."

Coco imitated Vasily with a determined face. Lewicia withdrew his outstretched hand, clenched it into a fist, and turned his body around.

"It's been a while since I've seen Shatrin get this angry. He dared to mess with Shatrin's pride. Has Vasily Marjoram truly gone crazy? Does he not know how bad her temper is?"

There was no time for Yulia to ask what happened. Lewicia and Coco, showed a perfect reenactment of the scene, sat on the sofa in Yulia's room, and looked at her.

"Does this mean Vasily genuinely loves you? I just thought... that his pride was hurt after being dumped by a commoner, but not only did he keep coming to see you, he also dared to do that to the princess."

"It's not love. It's because of his feeling of inferiority. Vasily, who always used to have the upper hand in relationships thanks to his status, was thrown away by Yulia. Do you know what that means?"

"What does it mean?"

"It means that, now, Yulia has the upper hand. There is no way that Vasily, who has lived with a sense of inferiority towards his younger sister his entire life, will be able to stand it. He will either obsess over the past and turn violent, or... become impulsive and reckless."

As expected of Coco. Yulia agreed with her words.

"Yulia, the royal family and Marjoram are one body. A snake with two heads. They can never hurt each other. But Vasily broke that unwritten rule. The king will feel extremely offended, and the marquis will be furious. After that, they will try to find a scapegoat."

Coco spewed out words like a rapid-fire cannon. As expected, she was the same as when she fought against Marjoram with Yulia in the past. At this time, she had already accurately grasped the true nature of the relationship between the royal family and Marjoram.

"The Marquis of Marjoram will try to kill you again. You have to be careful."

Lewicia also pleaded to Yulia.

"Coco is right. For now, don't take a single step outside the palace. Because it's safe here."

There was no guarantee that she would be safe because it was the prince's palace, but Yulia nodded her head obediently.