Chapter 78
#078. The Seat of a Lovely Lover
"The Crown Prince is arriving."
At the maid's urgent voice, Baroness Sophron hurriedly went outside the bedroom. Following her, the maids moved in perfect order to prepare for the Crown Prince's arrival.
The sound of horses' hooves grew closer from outside the window. Maria subtly raised herself up.
Without a word, a maid approached and comfortably adjusted her pillows. Her hesitant manner clearly showed she was watching Maria's every move.
This was it.
Maria twisted the corner of her lips upward.
This overwhelmingly ecstatic sense of superiority.
Her father's words that one must be ruthless to subordinates who are not obedient were showing such clear results. She had been foolish to try to be lenient, thinking of them as her people.
"Tell the maid outside to reflect on her actions out of sight."
"Yes."
The maid, bowing her head, went outside the bedroom. The maid no longer addressed her as 'Young Lady.'
Everything was working perfectly. The stiff-necked Baroness Sophron also bowed her head to her. The impolite maids were the same.
And this 'Crown Princess Palace' bedroom, which had been a forbidden area.
"Even Princess Madeleine couldn't enter there..."
Suddenly, she remembered when she had demanded this room a little while ago. At the same time, the maid's voice, filled with obvious embarrassment, came to mind.
"...Yes. I will guide you right away."
And Baroness Sophron's stiff face as she reluctantly led her to the bedroom without complaint.
Now, once Leopold knew about this situation, her work would be done.
Before she knew it, the sunlight pouring in through the window was coloring the roof of Tiaje Palace. It was a beautiful sight, like her own shining blonde hair.
Just then, the bedroom door burst open without a knock.
There was only one person who would do this. The lover she loved to the point of her heart trembling.
"Leopold!"
Across Maria's beautiful face flickered joy, sorrow, and petulance. She wanted Leopold to come quickly and comfort her.
But Maria, turning toward Leopold, involuntarily paused. Leopold's face was not normal.
It was the first time she had seen him look at her with such a frightening expression...
As she thoughtlessly pondered, Maria felt a sense of déjà vu and clenched her fist.
No, once.
She had seen it exactly once.
In the reception room of this palace. At that time, when she had heard the uncertain report about Grand Duke Bikander and Olivia attending the Summer Ball...
"If there is no justification, then one must be created."
Unbelievably, Leopold, who had treated her with suffocating coldness.
Across her fragile face, which looked as if it would break at any moment, washed a bluish fear. But Leopold, instead of attending to his lovely lover's anxiety, lightly exhaled.
He was dumbfounded. This bedroom...
His arrogant eyes slowly scanned the bedroom. Leopold raised his hand and pressed hard on his temples.
In the silence, where even breathing sounded loud, the maids watching the Crown Prince's movements were on edge.
If the fiercely surging energy, like the calm before a storm, was due to the lover's injury, then one maid disappearing from Tiaje Palace today would be nothing.
"...Dismiss everyone except Count Hagis."
At the Crown Prince's low words, the maids who had been following him quickly went outside. Only after confirming that the door was closed did Leopold stride forward.
Maria reflexively lowered her eyes.
"I, I, I'm in pain, Leopold."
A pathetic atmosphere settled over her lovely face. At the sight of her endearing appearance, which made one's heart ache, Leopold spoke a beat later.
Still, she was his lover.
"...Are you badly hurt?"
At his softened voice, Maria finally looked at Leopold again. Her arm was a little numb. It seemed she had unknowingly put strength into the arm holding the wet towel.
"Yes. It's a burn."
His fiercely raised eyebrows seemed to relax a little. Maria tried to calm her anxiously beating heart.
She must have been mistaken. That Leopold was looking at her with annoyance.
Yes. It must be because I was hurt, and he was too worried, that he looked at me that way. The words she said to herself swirled around like a spell. It couldn't be explained otherwise. Maria loved Leopold more than anyone, and Leopold would feel the same.
Leopold, who had approached, glanced at Maria's arm. But he couldn't find any sign of injury on the slender arm with the wet towel on it.
Afraid that Leopold's gaze would disappear, Maria quickly removed the wet towel. Soon, her arm, reddened by the coldness of the towel, was revealed.
This was enough to earn Leopold's concern,
"It looks fine."
Maria blinked. Something was wrong. This was too...
The person in front of her was not only indifferent but cold.
Leopold, her lover, was not like this.
The person who worried that she would catch a cold even if she got rained on by a single drop. The affectionate lover who considered her like half of his heart and said he would take her pain instead. This couldn't be.
Her small, pretty hand trembled as it reached out to Leopold. But Leopold, instead of attending to his lover's anxiety, turned his back and said,
"My cigar."
Count Hagis quickly brought the cigar and lit it with a match. The sight of him inhaling the cigar smoke and then languidly exhaling was too decadent for the Crown Prince of the Empire.
At first glance, it looked like he was gathering his exhausted mind. That was a sight only shown to her.
It was also one of the sights Maria loved the most.
But.
Maria turned her head. Her shoulders, suppressing a cough, trembled uneasily.
The faint smell of burning wood. The cigar smell, which she had thought was subtle, felt particularly strong today.
Could it be because it wasn't an open terrace? But even when they were in Leopold's palace, with the doors closed as if enjoying a secret rendezvous, Leopold had smoked cigars in front of her several times.
Then, could it be because of her dizzy mind?
Maria barely suppressed her tickling cough. And she looked at Leopold to ask him to put out the cigar.
"Le-"
But before her affectionate request could reach him, Leopold hastily put out the cigar with a look of realization.
"Open the window."
Did he understand?
Maria looked at Leopold with a hopeful face. Maybe he had heard her suppressed cough. Leopold didn't often enjoy cigars, but he also never put out a cigar he was smoking halfway through.
That much he...
"Tsk, I didn't want to smoke here."
In an instant, it felt like something collapsed in Maria's heart with a thud.
"Why, why? Why didn't you want to smoke here?"
"It'll get smelly."
An answer that didn't betray a hint of hesitation fell. At the same time, Maria's eyes shook with shock.
He smoked cigars in front of her without a care. And he just, just didn't want the Crown Princess Palace to get smelly?
"Anyway, Maria."
"...Yes, Leopold."
Maria barely answered.
Please. She wanted Leopold to recognize the impact she had received. But he just shrugged.
"...This isn't cute."
"Yes?"
Maria's voice, swallowing her breath, trembled terribly. Was this a dream? But his monotonous voice continued.
"Your nanny came and told me, crying, that the maids of Tiaje Palace were looking down on you and insulting you."
"Yes, Leopold, that's...!"
"Why is restoring Tiaje Palace an act of looking down on you?"
His voice was truly clueless, so Maria grabbed Leopold's arm. The towel placed on the burn area fell weakly, but she had no time to care.
Even though he had heard that. How could Leopold say these things to her? Without even hugging her, without comforting her.
Maria spat out a sorrowful voice.
"The palace that I, I decorated for Leopold, the maids are doing as they please...!"
"So."
His voice, cutting off her words, was cold.
"You're saying that correcting Maria's attempt to arbitrarily stir up this palace has turned into looking down on you."
"..."
"That's what I'm asking. How did that degenerate into looking down on you?"
Maria couldn't believe it. Her lover, who was as gentle as sunlight.
"Where is there a more foolish thing to say."
How could he speak in such a cold voice.
"My Maria. I told you to just properly fulfill your duties as a fiancée for a year. Why are you acting so foolishly?"
...Was he going to drop her endlessly to the bottom?
Maria struggled to hold onto her dazed mind. Leopold's handsome face gradually became blurry, and at the same time, her heart ached painfully.
"B, but."
She had to come to her senses. Maria made a weak voice that seemed to fade away. Her desperate gaze was solely on Leopold.
"...Tiaje Palace, you said it was just like me, didn't you?"
Yes. Leopold always did that.
He regretted that Olivia, that lowly thing, wasn't there, and he was sorry that he couldn't put her in a proper position. And then he said,
"On days when the sunset is dyed, it's as brilliant as my blonde hair."
"Yes. On days when the sunset is dyed."
When a nonchalant voice continued, as if swallowing her trembling voice.
Maria's eyes widened as if she had suddenly been hit on the head.
Sunset.
A small sun.
The dignified Crown Prince who would soon rise as the sun itself of the Empire.
The pieces of the puzzle fit together perfectly. Watching her face turn blue, Leopold twisted the corner of his lips upward.
"My Maria. My lovely Maria. Do you understand now?"
Even as he said the word lovely, his eyes were cold. Lightly stroking Maria's blonde hair, Leopold said softly.
"Under my protection and affection, you'll continue to be pretty, right?"
Tears fell from Maria's eyes, which had frozen like a doll. At that pathetic sight, he was quite moved. Leopold smiled and hugged Maria.
The sweet scent wafting from her made his head ache slightly, but he decided to generously overlook it today. Maria, who had been stiff, finally melted and snuggled into Leopold's arms.
At the warm breath touching his neck, Leopold reminded her of his consideration as if doing her a favor.
"Look at the fact that I dismissed Baroness Sophron and the maids."
"..."
"I don't want my Maria to show any more embarrassing sights. That's my intention."
The voice of her lover, whom she had always loved, became distant like someone else's. But Maria instinctively nodded. Because Leopold's hand stroking her head wanted that.
This warm warmth was all Maria could cling to. Leopold moved away. And he stood up and ordered.
"Make the palace the same as before. That's my taste."
Taste? Leopold's taste was her. In front of Maria, who was denying reality, saying it couldn't be, Leopold started as if there was one more thing left.
"And..."
His cool sea-colored eyes turned to the bed. Maria flinched at the sharp gaze that seemed like she would never get used to it, and Leopold clicked his tongue.
"Prepare a room for Maria to rest in. Leave this place empty as it is."
Count Hagis bowed his head without wavering.
And Leopold left. Before Maria could grab him.
At the sound of the door closing, Maria blinked.
What? What just happened?
Maria couldn't believe that this situation was real. The sight of her being left alone in the quiet room couldn't be real.
Maria hurriedly looked around. Yes, this bedroom. This bedroom was the space of the exalted Crown Princess Consort. And the space that she was occupying now...!
Looking around the room to gain certainty, Maria's eyes met Count Hagis's. What suddenly surfaced above Count Hagis's eyes was.
"...I will immediately convey to Baroness Sophron to prepare another room."
Pity.
A ridiculous emotion that she had never thought would be directed at Maria Etel.
Count Hagis hurriedly left the bedroom. Maria, staring blankly at the door, suddenly burst into laughter. Ha, haha. Tears fell on Maria's cheeks as she laughed in vain.
Misery enveloped her whole body.
"Do you want to be a mistress?"
"No!"
It felt like she could hear a ringing laughter. Maria shouted in denial and waved her arms around haphazardly.
Clang-. Something broke under her wildly waving hand. It stung as if she had been cut somewhere, but Maria couldn't come to her senses.
But one thing was certain.
Leopold was her lover.
A loving lover. A lover who loved her to no end.
So.
"Prepare a room for Maria to rest in. Leave this place empty as it is."
This had to be her room. His love had to be directed solely at her.
.
.
.
"The Crown Prince has ordered that the Young Lady change the room where she rests."
Recalling Count Hagis's words, Baroness Sophron knocked on the bedroom door several times.
But when there was no answer and she heard a sharp sound, Baroness Sophron couldn't bear it and came in, swallowing a surprised breath.
"Do you have anything to tell me?"
The Crown Princess Palace bedroom, which she had cultivated so preciously, was a mess. Amidst the broken pieces of pottery that filled the floor, a nonchalant voice was heard from the bed.
Baroness Sophron swallowed her initial purpose of bringing down Maria Etel and recited the words of the Imperial Princess Palace maid who had come earlier.
"...Princess Olivia has invited the Young Lady to a Tea Party tomorrow."
"I am sorry to convey regrettable words to Princess Olivia. As you can see, my arm is like this."
A doll-like, emotionless murmur was heard. Maria slowly raised her head. Her bloodlessly pale face turned to Baroness Sophron. A chilling shiver ran down her spine.
"Ah, I almost forgot. Please tell her not to worry about the ball."
"..."
"Because it will be a very grand ball."
Her tear-soaked cheeks were beautifully raised. Her shaking blue eyes soon hardened.
It would be the grandest Summer Ball.
In front of that lowly thing, in front of everyone.
Her lover would surely return to her.
Maria smiled faintly. With a precarious appearance as if she had been driven to the edge of a cliff.
* * *
At that time.
The owner so long awaited had arrived at Grand Duke Vikander's Residence in the capital. The endless procession of carriages entering, the very first carriage stopped at the entrance.
The servants lined up at the entrance looked at the carriage with joyful faces. It felt like the sounds of their pounding hearts had merged into one.
The door of the carriage opened. The dazzlingly beautiful Grand Duke smiled handsomely and extended his hand toward the inside of the carriage.
As they watched the young lady taking his hand and getting out, the servants shouted in unison.
"We are happy to see you again."
Olivia smiled brightly.
"Me too. I'm glad to see everyone again."
