CH 108

Chapter 108: A battle of Sincerity [unedited]

if you read this on other websites, it means it was stolen. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.wordpress.com.

“Thank you, Lady Fiona.” Livya said that while looking at me.

“Yes?”

“Thanks to you, I was able to turn down the proposal.”

“It was also because Lady Livya did very well.”

The crown prince was sentenced to probation because of his involvement in the illegal gambling ground. It was probably hard to see his face for the whole social season. 

Livya was very grateful because she was finally able to turn down the imperial marriage proposal without any major problem. Neither the emperor nor the empress could say anything to the Duke of Priscilla due to their son’s disgrace. 

Even more, the social circles even turned sympathy for Livya. Because the marriage contract with the imperial family, which had been going back and forth was broken by a scandal on the other side. And Livya seemed to enjoy the atmosphere quite a bit.

“For the time being, let’s play the role of a pitiful young girl.”

I laughed briefly. Livya was a really cool girl. 

As we chatted for a while, Livya then looked at one side. 

“What’s wrong?”

“I think the His Highness’ popularity has grown even more since that case.”

I turned my attention to him. Sigren was surrounded by noble girls of his age.

“Aren’t you dating him? Are you okay?”

“I think I’m good? I don’t know…” I shrugged.

Livya blinked her eyes. “It’s surprising. If my lover were in that situation ,I would arrest him right away.”

I smiled. “Same goes for me.”

“Isn’t there a contradiction in your words? Are you two dating for political purpose?”

Ah, she meant whether I was dating Sigren because Heilon supported him.

“Oh please, the duke has never forced me to do those kind of things.”

Livya looked confused. I laughed a little. Seeing her made me remember myself when I talked to Sigren. 

“Sigren is special to me,” I spoke to end her confusion.

It was definitely true that we became lovers. But in honesty, I didn’t really think too much about whether he was serious or not. Because, even a sincere love at the moment may change over time, like with most lovers. To his confession, I answered with some lies because of my selfishness. So I could give this much room for that possibility.

“Does that mean that you like him that much?”

“You could say that.”

Well, I do have a degree of possessiveness in a romantic relationship. However, I knew how to separate which ones I should be greedy about and those I shouldn’t. Sigren was still on the latter side. 

Livya still has a confused look. The confident social queen seemed to have failed to grasp my personality. 

I smiled briefly and changed the subject.

“His highness is coming.”

In fact, Sigren annoyed the noble ladies who were clinging to him by approaching me this way. 

God, he should be kind. 

“Your Highness, you should be kind to young ladies.” That thought jumped right out as he stopped in front of me.

“….”

Sigren’s expression was absurd. He must want to say something, but I was sure he held himself because of Livya. 

I grinned.

“High society is small, and you don’t know how human relationship will be intertwined.”

“I guess I’ll have to think about whether Lady Fiona trust me so much or doesn’t care about me.”

“…?”

It was difficult words to understand.

But Livya seemed to figure it out once, and she even burst into laughter. She immediately looked at Sigren.

“I, I apologize,.. Your Highness.”

Sigren looked at Livya with eyes ‘as expected, isn’t she a weird one too?’

This guy, he’d better stop treating Livya as if she was a weirdo!

“Well, it’s good. Also, congratulations on your break up, Lady Priscilla.”

“Thank you, your highness.” Livya regained her composure. A nice congratulatory for the fact that the crown prince’s proposal did not happen.

Sigren grabbed my arm. “And I will take Lady Priscilla’s friend in return for the disrespect I’ve ever done.”

This time, Livya grinned. “Thank you for your generosity, Your Highenss.”

Why were they surprisingly good at talking to each other?

I glanced at the two of them for a moment, then reluctantly followed him at his urging which was disguised as his escort.

***

if you read this on other websites, it means it was stolen. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.wordpress.com.

Sigren and I went to a place where there were no people. I was relieved when it was not a terrace, which was a kind of place where an incident always happened.

“What’s the matter?”

“….”

Sigren had the face of a ‘young man who was mistreated by his playgirl lover’ after hearing my question. Uh, this was embarrassing. He was the one who has been surrounded by the pretty girls up until now, but why the hell did I receive that look?

“Sigren, is there anything you want to say?”

“No, it’s nothing.”

I held his wrist and shook it. 

“What’s going on?”

Sigren intertwined our fingers and held my hand still.

Ah, why can’t I?

“Never mind. I could guess it just thinking about it.”

Sigren gently wiped his own face. 

“Fiona, have you heard anything from Abel?”

I tidied up his messy hair. “Yeah, i thought he’d be here soon, but he’s taking more time than I thought.”

“I wish he would come sooner.”

My eyes twinkled. “Wah.. do you miss your master?”

I can’t believe he would say such a cute thing!

Sigren frowned. “It can’t be. I strongly think you need Abel so that no weirdos come near you. There are a lot of people trying to get close to you just because they thought you’re alone.”

Well, that was true. There was an obvious difference in the attitude of people when they approached me with and without Abel. It seemed that they thought a noble lady without a proper protector looked easy. Perhaps more, if Sigren was not my partner. 

Thank goodness I dealt with the crown prince as soon as possible. He was the biggest trouble since Abel left the capital. If I were not to do that, my future in the capital would be me having a headache. In addition, there was a nice domino effect of that scandal: the empress did not appear in high society. She looked ashamed. Thanks to this, Livya, who was implicitly the second woman in the high society, has become the undisputed queen of this social season. 

Of course, also because of that, I became more comfortable as I was next to Livya.