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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 24
Chapter Title: A Mutually Beneficial Fraud
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Eric's expression was calm.
“Because I didn't know then, but I do now. And if Prince Robert and my father truly plotted treason, then it isn't a matter of ‘potential’ treason, but ‘certain’ treason. And if it's treason, they must be punished.”
“Well... so this is the kind of man you are? Haha, truly amusing. So very amusing. I suppose I'll have to forgive you for interrupting my time today.”
The princess stared intently at Eric before laughing and rising from her seat. She left the documents behind. I cautiously asked the princess.
“Will you take these documents to His Majesty? Then will he personally investigate…?”
“No.”
The princess answered firmly.
Her blue eyes were like the deep sea, holding a secret.
“If the Duke was so confident even after being caught with those documents, he must already have a story prepared to explain the empty treasury to His Majesty. He might have even gotten permission already. In that situation, using provocative words like ‘treason’ to demand an investigation into the ducal family, who are the King's allies, would only backfire. For now, we should find out a little more about the Duke…”
“We don't have time for that. By the morning after tomorrow, the Mermaids' Tomb will belong to my father.”
Eric said, cutting the princess off.
At Eric's words, the princess, who had been leisurely pouring wine into her glass, froze.
“...?”
The princess's eyes widened, and she returned to her seat.
“The Mermaids' Tomb?!”
The princess's large eyes darted between me and Eric.
Eric explained to the princess that the still-undiscovered Mermaids' Tomb had been left to our family after Viscount Wedgwood's death. With every sentence Eric spoke, the princess's face grew more flushed with excitement.
“And that's about to fall into the Duke's hands? Unacceptable… absolutely unacceptable! Ah, how can I get my hands on it?”
The princess thought deeply for a moment, then pointed at me out of the blue.
“Say, should I marry you?”
“Excuse me?”
I frowned, staring at the princess's finger. Huh?
It was only then that I realized I'd never heard that the princess, rumored to be hot-tempered and a libertine, was only interested in men.
‘Haha…’
Ah, no matter how you look at it, a princess marrying me is still a bit much on this continent…
“Would the temple even permit it? Please be reasonable. Besides, under continental law, a wife’s right to inherit her in-laws' property is recognized, but a daughter-in-law's is not.”
Looking as if he had a headache, Eric gently lowered the princess's finger.
No, wait a minute… Is the temple's permission or continental law the real issue here? What about my opinion? What about my feelings!
The princess smacked her lips in disappointment.
“Ah, right. Those stuffy old priests… Those stuffy old councilmen… But do you think the temple will approve of you two marrying? When your mother and your father are engaged?”
She pointed a finger at me and then at Eric. Eric looked at the princess and said with a determined expression.
“If Your Highness grants us a marriage license, there's no reason the temple wouldn't permit it.”
“With a little money added on top?”
I chimed in from the side. Eric glared at me and said in a low voice.
“Money? That's blasphemy.”
“You have no idea how much priests love money.”
What am I going to do with this naive young master?
I was keenly aware of how different Eric's way of solving problems was from mine.
In truth, while the marriage of someone like a duke required the king's official approval, a union between nobles without titles like Eric and me did not. Permission from a direct royal family member—like a queen, princess, or prince—and having the temple send a priest to officiate the ceremony was more or less enough.
The problem was—
His Majesty the King may not have issued the official license, but he had all but approved the marriage between my mother and the Duke.
If the princess were to interfere and sabotage a marriage the king had already publicly permitted, it would cause huge problems for her position. So what naive idea brought Young Lord Eric here…?
I looked at the princess with a troubled expression. But she answered at once.
“Fine. I'll write the marriage license.”
…What? How…?
I looked at Eric.
A direct approach like this actually worked?
“Tell the attendant outside to bring a pen and paper, and our dear Imeline should change her dress and shoes. The man who's to be your husband has been sneaking glances at you this whole time because your dress is wet.”
I frowned at the princess's words. Eric's eyebrow twitched.
“I wasn't sneaking glances the whole time.”
“Alright, you glanced about five times. Happy now?”
✵ ✵ ✵
After Imeline Wedgwood left to change her clothes, the princess wrote the marriage license in the room, now alone with Eric.
The marriage license had to be written in the official royal language, which borrowed many words from the ancient tongue. Ella wrote with ease in the language Robert still stumbled through.
Ella neatly folded the completed license, placed it in a silk envelope of a color used only by the royal family, and spoke just before handing it to Young Lord Eric.
“Do you know why I'm approving your marriage, Young Lord?”
“Because of the Mermaids' Tomb…”
“I don't believe in such legends, you know? The truth is, even if that idiot Robert snatched something like that, I doubt he could usurp my throne. Am I not far too competent for that?”
Ella said arrogantly, looking at Eric.
Eric already knew, to some extent, that Ella didn't fully believe his story.
But the things he had seen—his mother's handwriting on the secret room's wall, the conviction Imeline had given him, the strange atmosphere he felt from his father—were not things that could be conveyed to Ella with mere words.
Ella gazed at the silent Eric for a moment before continuing.
“Do you know that even in a fraudulent marriage, the union is only considered consummated after the two of you have slept together?”
At Ella's sudden words, Eric choked and began to cough. Ella snickered at his flustered expression.
“Do you find this amusing?”
“Not amusing at all. I'm giving you sincere advice. In case you forgot.”
Creaaak—
Just then, the door to the secret room opened, and Imeline, who had changed with the help of the princess's attendant, peeked inside.
Wearing the princess's navy dress, Imeline hesitantly stepped into the room. The princess's eyes gleamed as she watched Eric's gaze, from across the room, lock onto Imeline.
She had definitely seen his gaze lock onto her in the same way at the 'Rose that Blooms at Night'.
People think philanderers don't understand true feelings, but that's not the case. In fact, philanderers are more sensitive to the true feelings of others than anyone. The problem is that they just exploit it.
Ella grinned and looked at the glass slippers Imeline was wearing. Those glass slippers reminded her of an interesting story.
A story about a high-ranking noble who fell so deeply in love with a commoner that they overcame their difference in status to marry.
If this marriage license she was writing was used well, couldn't Ella both stop the Duke's marriage and 'pretend' to be the righteous person who brought two young, fated lovers together?
‘I could even create a name like that. Cinderella. In the ancient tongue, it would mean 'Ella's lover.'’
In Ella's mind, the king was not someone who followed ridiculous legends about the Mermaids' Tomb and what have you, but someone who created legends.
Besides, a mana stone mine? In an age where electricity was widespread, granting nights as bright as day, it was all so old-fashioned.
A love story was far more interesting than that nonsense. And a great love story that overcame a difference in status, at that.
“Truly… isn't this a fraudulent marriage that helps so many people?”
✵ ✵ ✵
Following the princess's order, I went to change and found myself looking down at the glass slippers the attendant had brought me.
“Young Lord Eric said he had brought a pair of shoes in advance.”
Glass slippers. To think that Eric had brought the very shoes I'd left behind in the hotel room.
I pictured Young Lord Eric—in his jacket with all the gold buttons missing, his disheveled hair hastily neatened—emerging with my shoes. A dry laugh escaped me. Even in that situation, he must have thought he couldn't just throw away someone else's belongings.
The more I saw of Eric Orleans, the stranger he seemed. He worried about me while I was running away, telling me not to run. Instead of threatening me back when I threatened him, he chose to trust me.
…And for a fraudulent marriage, he even prepared a ring.
I slipped on the shoes and stood before the mirror. The ring on my finger sparkled.
‘Of course, it's a fraud, a fraudulent marriage, but I believe marriage is sacred, and a marriage requires a proposal.’
I recalled the foolish words Eric had stammered out.
I could never live as conscientiously as that man, but there was one thing I was determined to uphold. Whether our marriage was a fraud or not, once we became family—
‘Family protects each other, Imeline.’
I fiddled with the ring.
Now that I wore this ring, Eric was my accomplice. And even villains protect their accomplices.
I'll protect you, too.
One way or another.
