CH 24

It’s cold.

Although the wood crackled loudly in the fireplace, The atmosphere surrounding the brother and sister was so cold that they were told to go away from the Himalayas.

“Whoa…Nell.”

“Yes…”

My older brother, with his elbows on his knees and his forehead in his clasped hands, down his head, called me after a long time.

I am innocent and feel unfair, but right now I am not in a situation where I can claim my innocence.

“You made it clear to me. you have no intention of marrying the Marquis of Ajas.”

“Yes…”

“If he were to introduce marriage into our family, I would refuse, so you nodded when I told you not to meet him anymore so that he wouldn’t misunderstand.”

“I did…”

“So why…?”

Finally, the eldest brother raised his head, and there was no expression on his face. I knew that look. He was very angry because I had an accident, but it was a poker face he forcibly made because he was afraid that I would be scared if he showed it.

“Did you go to the hotel where the Marquis Ajas is staying?”

“Well, because I saw his pet monster accidentally get lost and wander…”

“You could leave it to Helen or Sir Philip.”

“But it was only calm in front of me…”

“Yes, even if it was. I don’t understand why you cared about the monster. I told you in advance that a proclamation would come down, and you saw that the proclamation was attached. The monster will die anyway. But why…”

“But, I mean, Leon’s child loved that pet monster very much.”

“What?”

“Since he has been away for a long time, He probably still misses the monster very much.  How sad it must be to hear the news that the monster died.”

“So that monster…”

My older brother, who was about to say something to me, let out a long sigh. I was stunned by the sound and closed my mouth again.

For a moment, silence settled in the room. My little brother, who was listening calmly to the conversation between the two of us with his back against the wall next to the fireplace, clicked his tongue.

“Anyway, if you say so, you didn’t even step into the hotel, right?”

Finally, it’s time to explain! I nodded so eagerly that my hair was fluttering.

“Only Helen entered the hotel. Fearing that there would be a scandal if I entered the hotel unaccompanied, I deliberately did not get out of the carriage, and the carriage was also parked on the road a short distance from the hotel. Ask Sir Hans.”

“Yeah, I heard from Hans. I’ve heard of it, but if that’s the case, I don’t understand why the rumor spread. I heard you didn’t even talk to Marquis Ajas?”

“Yes. Our eyes met from afar and we only exchanged eye greetings.”

But should I say that I exchanged greetings with Leonhard’s aides?

‘However, should I say that I exchanged greetings with Leonhard’s aides and had some conversations…’

I thought I would get scolded if I said this out of my mouth, so I kept my mouth shut and rolled my eyes. Lily, who had been sitting on the sofa thinking for a while, finally opened her mouth.

“It’s kind of strange.”

“What?”

“How can you get a scandal about a Lady who didn’t even enter the hotel and stayed with a man at the hotel? There is no evidence or witnesses, but rumors spread too fast.”

“Are you saying someone deliberately spread rumors?”

Lily, who nodded her head at her little brother’s question, thought for a while before opening her mouth.

“Coming to think of it, the entanglement with Duke Khalid was also a bit suspicious. At that time, there were so many people attending the banquet that rumors spread quickly…There were already people whispering from the banquet back then, right?”

“I’m sure I heard it…”

“Who is determined to spread rumors? Maliciously too.”

Lily, whose cheeks and eyes were scarlet with flames in the fireplace, looked back at me and asked.

“The person who spread the rumor must have seen you near the hotel. Have you met anyone there?”

“The person I met….”

‘Leonhard.’

But he won’t. Aside from being certain that he wasn’t that kind of person, he was in a position to find a woman to marry now.

He already has an adopted son, but rumors are spreading that he is playing promiscuously with women. It only adds to the scandal that the adopted child is his illegitimate child.

Then there’s only one person left I saw there…

“I’ve seen the second princess.”

“Second Princess?”

“Yes”

Considering the speed at which the rumor spread and her position in society, it felt just right. No, there was no one but her.

Who else can spread my rumors like this other than a princess when I didn’t go around getting a grudge?

But why? That’s the first time I’ve seen the princess in person.

.”The second princess…Yes, I know what happened.”

However, unlike me, my eldest brother swept down his troubled face a few times with his hands as if he had an idea. I was a little surprised and asked back.

“What happened? Have I ever made a mistake with the second princess?”

“I don’t know how to talk about this.…”

I felt like he was careful about what he said because it was in front of me, rather than being unable to organize his thoughts.

I’m fine, so he can just tell me, but Lily, who looked as if she had realized something, told me.

“If you go to social gatherings a few times, you can know even if you don’t want to know.  She hates the first prince very, very, very much.”

“Really?”

I didn’t know. Is it because I’ve only been to social gatherings twice?

‘What happened to the second princess in the original story…’

The first princess married the prince of Acheron, part of the western border of the empire, and had already left there. As for her, she was mentioned in the original story as well, so she’ll probably become the queen of the kingdom of Acheron.

But the second princess… I don’t know what happened. The only fairy tale mentioned in the book was about the first princess. Why did she do that? She would have been mentioned in some way if she were in the empire.

The second princess hasn’t received the status of an imperial woman, so she has to leave the imperial palace before she turns 25. If she doesn’t want to be disgraced for being kicked out, she has to come out in the form of a marriage…

By the way, how many men are there to marry the second princess?

In terms of the empire alone…Still, since she’s a royal daughter, the Marquis, if she lowers the minimum, it should be a count.

‘Don’t you have someone to marry?’

It is ambiguous to go down to the successor who is scheduled to inherit the title. There are only three unmarried men without a fiancé, as the second or third sons who do not inherit the title will not be seen at all.

Duke Khalid, who lost his wife. Marquis Ajas is still single. And my eldest brother.

‘Wait. Don’t tell me you’re going to marry my brother if you can’t marry those two, right? I don’t like that!’

“The Second Princess was born as a child of the emperor and empress and had everything, but she did not receive the status of an imperial woman because she could not express the pattern. However, even though the first prince was born to the government, he rose to a higher position than her only thanks to a single pattern. Can she like the first prince?”

“For a person who stepped into a social gathering hosted by the second Princess, everyone must have heard this.”

“The humble blood of unknown origin has stained the noble lineage.”

As if he had heard of it, my younger brother said so. I was a little surprised and blinked.

“However, the first prince has the right to inherit…His Majesty loves him very much. Can you ignore it so blatantly?”

“As long as she doesn’t insult him right in front of them, the emperor can’t interfere with a few words spoken in an informal setting. but no matter what the princess says, the first prince does not respond.”

In short, the second princess hates the first prince, but the prince ignores the princess. From the princess’s point of view, that’s why she could get even more pissed off.

“I understand. The envy and anger toward the first Prince flew at me.”

‘Well, good There’s nothing he can’t do but show mercy to a young lady in the same situation as him.’

I mean that the first prince was going easy on me because he was in the same situation as me.

Count Calvin, who was originally a countess but inherited the title of her husband, who died without a successor, later became the emperor’s mistress and gave birth to a child.

Because The timing of the pregnancy was ambiguous, it was not clear who the father of the child was. If the pattern of Estroa had not manifested, no matter how stubborn the emperor was, the empress wouldn’t have admitted the prince into the imperial family.

However, the manifestation of the pattern of Estroa proved that the father of the first prince was an emperor.

At this time, no successor had manifested the pattern yet, so the emperor was very happy and even promoted Count Calvin to Marquis.

Since then, the empress, who had been living in a separate palace because she was not feeling well, began to appear in public only after the first prince expressed his pattern about half a year later.

From this point on, the social world has been largely divided. The first imperial group was led by the Marquis of Calvin and the second imperial group was led by the Empress.

“Somehow, no matter how much you corrected the rumors, they didn’t listen. It was a rumor that the second princess decided to spread, so the truth didn’t matter anyway.”

“So that’s why everyone bit me at the tea party I went to with my brother then.”

At least the first prince knows who his mother is even if he is an illegitimate child. I don’t even know the face of my parents who gave birth to me.

“Well, it’s good that you know who your real enemy is. If they Just say something disappointing about you later on. I’m going to scratch their face.”

“Anyway, if the second princess is determined to bother Nell, it means that no matter how much we explain it, it will not be corrected.”

The opponent was the second royal daughter, who was stirring the social world with the empress on her back. On the other hand, I was weak. I don’t think I can handle it.

Perhaps everyone thought so, a gloomy atmosphere fell in the room. In the meantime, I don’t think the atmosphere will brighten up even if I say I’m okay, so I quietly rolled my eyes while looking at my sisters and brothers.

Right then. With a knock on the door, John announced the news.

“Count, a letter has arrived from the Marquis Ajas.”

“From the Marquis Ajas?”

“What letter?”

“No, does the author have an idea or not? You send a letter here?”

‘Oh, my God. I think my little brother is crazy. What do you mean when you do not call him “Marquis Ajas”?’

“Let’s check the contents first and then talk. John, give me the letter.”

John handed the paper knife to my eldest brother along with the letter. I had to wait for my eldest brother to read the letter and tell me if I wanted to be polite to my family, but unfortunately, my siblings didn’t have that. The three of us, the little brother, Lily, and I, clung to the back of the big brother and peeped at the contents of the letter.

Briefly, the contents were as follows.

[I am very sorry that I have damaged the reputation of a lady because of myself. I will take responsibility as a gentleman to settle the rumor.]

“Are you going to clear up the rumors? how?”

“Is that possible? The Marquis of Ajas probably doesn’t have the power enough in the Capital to quell the rumors spreading in the social world.”

“Don’t tell me he is going to make a bigger accident to cover the rumor?”

It was three days later that my brother and sister found out how Leonhard was going to quell my rumors.

Indeed the rumor was spread.

On the day Raenel was rumored to have stayed at the hotel, Marquis Ajas dated the second Princess, not the youngest child of the Howard family. Rumor has it that he has dated the princess and will escort her to the upcoming New Year’s celebration ball.