CH 28

(Eve’s POV)

“Yes, we all came from the same family, that’s why we arrived early.”

“Hmm, I’m quite surprised that you are all relatives of the Duke.”

I looked back at them and said in a calm voice.

“Seeing that all of you are gathered here in the hallway, it seems that none of you have learned proper manners for an aristocrat……”

Everyone shut their mouths with a frightened look on their faces at such a careless rebuke.

I walked towards the drawing-room, ignoring them.

“I’m going to wait in this drawing-room, will you guys join us?”

“Oh, no. Princess. How can we…..”

“We’ll be waiting downstairs.”

Everyone jumped and waved their hands.

By this time, they would have realized that the words they had exchanged offended the Princess.

It wasn’t the friendly Princess Sorel, but Eve, who was known for her cruel antics.

No one would ever want to be in the same room as her.

“Okay then, you can all go downstairs. And there’s a drawing room downstairs as well.”

However, they were not able to hear the rest of my words, because they all went downstairs right away, so footsteps could not be heard anymore.

I stopped in front of the drawing-room and looked back to see Diane staring at me with her eyes wide open.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

She looked very surprised, but there was a hint of joy on her gentle face.

“Lady Diane. Thanks for guiding me through the mansion. You must be very tired now, so please go back and rest.”

“Ah, yes, Your Highness.”

Diane bowed and showed courtesy.

“I…… Then I’ll see you at the wedding.”

Diane, who was about to turn around, stopped and looked back at me for a moment. 

She hesitated a bit but then whispered.

“And… Thank you, for what happened earlier.”

As expected, she must have felt so happy, based on how I treated and chased her relatives away.

That honest confession made me laugh.

“Don’t tell your mother. I said that if she invites me, I will be on my best behavior today.”

Diane nodded her head with a playful smile.

“I won’t tell her.”

With those words, Diane turned and walked to the other side of the hallway.

I stared at Diane’s back while remembering the question that ran through my mind.

How come those people who were her so-called relatives had a bad outlook towards the Duchess and Lady Diane?

The Duchess was the daughter of a noble family and had been the hostess of the family for a long time, but it was strange that she had a bad relationship with her relatives.

‘Is it because Lady Diane was the only daughter of the Duke of Rohan?’

Diane is the only child of the Duke. That is, she is the future heiress of this family.

However, due to illness, she could not go to social circles and had not yet decided on marriage.

Maybe that’s why those people gossiped in a malicious tone.

They were all dissatisfied with the Duchess for not giving birth to a proper heir.

And without the sickly Diane, the title of Duke would be transferred to their relatives.

As I have observed earlier, they’re all disgruntled people.

I needed to do my best to protect Diane from those people.’

I grabbed the passing maid and gave an order.

“Call the maid who came with me earlier.”

Nell was downstairs where the maids were waiting.

After a while, Nell found me and went up the hallway on the second floor.

“Nell, I need you to do me a favor?”

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“Anything, Your Highness.”

“I’ll be out of the ball as soon as the third dance is over.”

Usually, the third dance at a Ball is a waltz.

The usual order will be Minuet first, followed by Quadrille. Both were difficult dances that I wouldn’t even dare to try.

I couldn’t dance at all except for the waltz, so I thought that I should enter the ballroom at the time the waltz started and run away as soon as the dance was over.

Diane said the last time she took her pills was around the end of the Ball.

I will monitor in the music room until the maid with the drugs shows up.

“While I’m in the ballroom, please talk quietly to the Duchess and get the keys to the music room.”

“The key to the music room?”

“That’s right.”

Normally, it might not be locked, but today, many people came to the mansion.

On days like this, all unused rooms will be locked.

“Say that I will be stopping by the music room in the evening, because I lost an important belonging and we will be looking for it once I’m done at the ballroom. Because it’s a personal thing and I don’t want other people to know about it. And tell her that I’ll go there secretly.”

The mistress of the mansion will always have an emergency key with her.

“Just tell her that I’ll just lend it for a while and will return it right after.”

The Duchess will take out the key right away, thinking that I will make a fuss over it.

“Once you have it, open the door to the music room and wait for me inside.”

Nell nodded with a serious look as if there was tension in my voice.

“Yes, Your Highness.”

-ˏˋ ━━━━━━ ʚɞ ━━━━━━ ˊˎ-

(Terrence’s 3rd Person POV)

Before I went out after finishing the afternoon work, the sun was already setting.

The sky, which had been a clear blue color just a moment ago, had turned gray.

A light purple evening mist drifted over the stone wall of the mansion where the shadows fell.

Terence took out his pocket watch as he got into the waiting carriage.

He tried to time it well before the Ball started, but it seemed like it would take a little bit of time to get to the Duke’s mansion.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“Let’s go.”

The carriage passed through the main gate of the mansion and went down the hill along the sidewalk.

Unlike other noble families, the mansion of the Grand Duke was located on the Eastern Hill. It was a place overlooking Eastern Street, where the residences of noble families were gathered.

It’s already night, and a shadow is cast on the street seen below the hill.

On the horizon visible in the distance, the red sunset crossed the gray sky and sprinkled brilliant gold.

Looking at the gold that blended with the red, he unintentionally thought of a familiar red blonde.

His fiancee, Princess Eve.

‘I haven’t heard anything about her since the last time we’ve seen each other.’

When he secretly met Eve in the Great Hall, he gave her the name of the maid who would contact the Duke to the mansion.

The maid was a spy among the maids working in the Imperial Palace.

However, five days after that, the Princess did not intend to contact him at all.

When he asked the maid to find out what the Princess was doing, it was said that she had a severe cold and that she was resting inside her room.

He wondered if she was faking it, while she was plotting something, but seeing that she had not contacted him, it seemed that wasn’t the case.

He remembered that day when they secretly met in the Great Hall, Terrence took the Princess to the balcony next to the waterfall.

‘Was I too inconsiderate?’

Terrence herself was well aware of his lack of consideration for women.

Before that, he had never had a serious conversation with his fiancee, Eve.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

“Camion.”

Camion, who was sitting across from him, had been watching him for a long time.

Terrence asked without taking his eyes off the window.

“If the Princess is murdered now, who do you think people will suspect?”

Camion’s face slowly turned white as to how he had accepted those words.

“Your Grace, about the Princess…. -are you going to kill her? No matter how unacceptable the situation is….”

Terrence looked at him with an absurd look.

“Who said that I’ll be killing the Princess? I’m just simply asking.”

Camion looked at him for a moment before answering.

“If the Princess is murdered, of course, Your Grace will be suspected.”

“Yes, I guess so.”

Eve and his relationship were the worst, as anyone would believe.

To the extent that even Camion in front of him was worried about whether he was trying to kill the Princess in response to his simple question.

It wasn’t just his fault.

Because Eve has been selfish and stupid all this time.

She chased after him whenever she had the chance, for her to be considered as a stalker.

“But why did you suddenly ask that….”

“……”

Camion asked the question carefully, but Terrence asked another question instead of answering him.

“Have those sent to the South already come back?”

According to the original plan, Terrence was to go south immediately after the wedding.

This was because there were signs of a large-scale rebellion in the southern border region.

At first, he had happily accepted the idea that he could leave the capital as soon as he got married.

At that time, Terrence wanted to leave for a while, even if he had to create a reason for not staying.

“It was as you expected. The situation seems to be far more exaggerated than it is. There was a commotion around, but there was no danger of rebellion.”

“Right. It must have been the work of the Emperor.”

Just like what he had expected after Eve explained the Emperor’s plan.

“Why did the Emperor want to send His Grace to the South?”

Camion raised his doubts again, but Terrence just stared at the window without saying a word.

Please do not repost our translation. Read only at Pink Muffin Translations.

‘It must have been to divert my attention elsewhere.’

So that he would not notice what’s happening around Eve, as he was busy preparing for the play that the Emperor had plotted.

As expected of the Emperor, Terrence himself had focused only on preparing the army to avoid thinking about the upcoming wedding.

If Eve hadn’t told him directly, he wouldn’t have noticed anything suspicious.

When he thinks about Eve, the conversation at the temple last time comes to mind.

When was the time when she eagerly chased after him asking about their marriage, but now Eve herself put the condition of divorce on their arrangement?

Divorce….

He hadn’t thought of it at all.

It only came to his mind once, after the engagement had been finalized.

‘If the emperor dies now or steps down, I would be able to divorce Eve, right?’

He quickly gave up thinking that he couldn’t do such an irresponsible thing to his married wife.

‘I’d never imagined that she would want a divorce.’