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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 35
Chapter Title: The Princess's Ambition
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As soon as the tumultuous marriage was approved, the prince held a departure ceremony, announcing he was leaving for the North.
Imeline, Eric, and the Duke found themselves swept up in the ceremony.
The princess, with a sour expression, quickly ducked out of the event.
“Damn you, Robert…”
The princess muttered as she walked to her room. From outside, the unsettling sound of a conch horn echoed. The thought of Robert pretentiously conducting his departure ceremony made her stomach churn again.
She said to an attendant.
“Tell the royal physician I’ll take care of his son’s situation.”
The royal physician had a son who struggled to find employment due to his poor health. Ella, who frequently consulted him, knew his weakness well and exploited it.
The attendant handed Ella today's newspaper. A massive photograph of Eric and Imeline was plastered across the front page.
Ella's Lover.
Every newspaper covered the story of their sudden marriage after eloping in the middle of the night. The most prominent articles were one comparing Imeline's glass slipper to a miraculous rise in status, like something out of a Scarlett novel, and another praising Ella as the benevolent facilitator of their love.
She would have to endure the King's nagging for a while because of these articles, but…
‘Still, it's a stroke of luck, isn't it?’
To think Robert planned to involve even the Grand Duke. If he truly returned from the North with achievements to his name, that dimwit Robert might even covet her position.
And on top of that, the Duke was going to hand over the "Mermaids' Tomb"?
‘It would have been like handing the throne to Robert on a silver platter.’
Ella pressed her temples with a weary expression. She reached for the doorknob to her office, her face tired.
‘Ah, right.’
“That boy from before? Did he say anything?”
The rabbit-like boy she had seen in the corridor.
The boy hadn't said a word, even when Ella pointed a gun at him.
Instead of actually shooting him, Ella had instructed a trusted attendant to detain the boy. And to check if he was a spy.
“It's certain that he cannot speak… and his identification tag seems to be his own, but… the Northern language is quite complex… In any case, he doesn't seem to be a renowned warrior.”
“Of course not. That rabbit of a boy, a warrior? Don't be ridiculous.”
Ella smirked, recalling the trembling boy.
“Should I kill him?”
the attendant asked. Ella considered it for a moment.
“Hmm…”
It wasn't out of pity. It was because she thought he might be useful.
If it was certain that Robert had embezzled from the royal treasury for this expedition…
He could be the key to answering the question of whether the expedition had another purpose besides solidifying his position as a successor to the throne.
The problem was that the boy couldn't speak.
“If he can't speak, can he write?”
“He writes in the Northern tongue. But as I mentioned, the Northern language is difficult to interpret…”
“Bring an interpreter. Tomorrow, I will question him myself.”
The Northern language had a completely different linguistic system from the national language used by the royal court. Spoken, it sounded like a mere dialect. So, the boy would understand the attendant, but the attendant would have difficulty deciphering the boy's writing.
Ella opened the door to her office. With a weary look, she clutched her churning stomach.
The attendant watched with concern as she collapsed onto the sofa. She spoke with annoyance.
“When the departure ceremony is over, bring Young Lord Eric and Miss Imeline here. If His Majesty summons me, tell him whether he plans to flog me or whatever, I'm too ill today, and he can do it tomorrow.”
Ella recalled the King's subtle smile in the audience chamber earlier. Even though he hadn't been pleased with the Duke and Helena's marriage, he would surely berate Ella for dishonoring his royal decree, all for the sake of his damn dignity.
‘How dare you defy your own father! How many times have I told you to maintain your dignity, hmm?!’
He would just drone on with that old-fashioned nonsense.
Ella stared down at the newspaper.
A Love that Transcends Status.
In the photograph, Eric was smiling. It was a smile Ella had never seen before.
Ella furrowed her brow.
“…This… this… isn't a fake smile.”
Putting the newspaper down, Ella let out a smirk. A thought that anyone would surely call wicked flashed through her mind.
The Mermaids' Tomb.
Ella began to covet it intensely. For that to happen, this marriage had to become as real as that smile.
Ella called to the attendant who was about to leave.
“The royal physician. Bring the royal physician back.”
✵ ✵ ✵
The princess summoned Eric and me to her office.
I had become so adept at acting pregnant that I had reached a state of mastery, ascending stairs slowly and seating myself with deliberate care.
But before I could even fully settle into my seat, the princess spoke.
“This won't do. That Mermaids' Tomb, or whatever it's called, I have to have it. Get it for me.”
I completely forgot the pregnant persona I had maintained so carefully and plopped down unceremoniously.
When I collapsed into the chair, Eric looked startled, then his expression shifted to one of regret, as if thinking, *'What am I doing right now?'*
What do you mean, what are you doing? You got caught up in the act, too.
He said calmly.
“First, we have to track down the fragmented ownership rights… and even if we do, it will take a year. The problem is…”
“Money? I'll give you more money than you can spend. I'm rich! Thanks to the cash Madam Margaret Beaufort gave me this time…”
Eric sighed.
“The problem isn't money, Your Highness. It's that Imeline and I cannot maintain this marriage for a year.”
“Why not? Just change your minds and decide to live happily ever after! Isn't Imeline a beautiful and wise young woman? Frankly, she's too good for a stiff like you! Start acting like a lovey-dovey couple from now on!”
The princess shouted, looking back and forth between Eric and me.
‘It's true that I'm the better catch here, but…’
The princess's face had lost all the composure she'd had the night before last.
‘This Mermaids' Tomb or whatever, what's so special about it…’
Your Highness, please, get a grip.
With a desperate look, I pointed to my belly and looked at the princess. She slapped her forehead as if in realization and sighed.
That was right.
Having just arrived at the palace and announced my pregnancy, the childbirth clock was now ticking furiously, leaving only about ten months.
Within these ten months, I had to either give birth or expose the Duke's secret and get a divorce. It had to be one or the other.
Ella poured black tea into my cup and said with a serious face.
“You… have you considered getting pregnant for real?”
What is she talking about…?
I was dumbfounded for a moment.
Eric clutched his forehead and turned away as if he couldn't bear to watch. I dazedly picked up the cup the princess offered me.
“You're joking, right? That was a good one.”
“No… I'm not joking…”
“I'm sorry, but pregnancy is…”
How am I supposed to get pregnant now… She's not making any sense…
The princess leaned back in her chair with a frustrated expression.
Don't propose a ridiculous plan and then get genuinely frustrated about it.
I said with a troubled look.
“How about we try persuading the southern moneylenders instead?”
“What does that…”
“No, listen. Once we inherit it, we're stuck for a year, no matter what, right? So instead of inheriting it, let's persuade the moneylenders who own pieces of the land.”
“To hand the land over to the princess?”
Eric said, sounding incredulous.
“You said there are six people who hold that land as collateral. It's only natural the Duke would notice us contacting them. Do you think he'd just stand by and do nothing?”
Ella said wearily.
“He'd move faster… I guess there's only one answer.”
“Please don't say 'pregnancy'.”
I waved my hand dismissively at Ella, fed up. She spoke with surprise.
“There you go again, talking back.”
I'm not even surprised anymore…
“Why feel burdened by pregnancy? From what I can see, you two are young people with perfectly functional reproductive abilities, Miss Imeline.”
Reproductive abilities…!
Eric, too, drank his own black tea as if his throat were parched.
Ella narrowed her eyes and looked at me.
“Don't tell me, is there another man?”
“Pardon?”
“Then you can make one with him. It doesn't really matter…”
I matter! It matters to me! You unreasonable princess!
‘But…’
I frowned, looking at the teacup in front of me.
Why have I been so dizzy? Am I having a phantom pregnancy or something?
The red liquid in the cup before me swayed violently, as if a wave were passing through it.
It felt so much like an earthquake that I lifted my head and looked around.
“…Hngh… why is everything shaking so much…”
As I said that and looked to my side, Eric's face contorted.
“What's wrong with you?”
“…Just a little dizzy… Am I really having morning sickness…? Does this even make sense…?”
At my muttering, the princess chuckled.
‘Why is she laughing?’
But even that question didn't last long as my body grew heavy and limp.
I tried to look at the princess, but I felt completely drained of energy and could only blink slowly.
Through my blurry vision, I caught sight of Eric picking up his teacup, his face twisting.
He glared at the princess and said.
“You put something in this cup, didn't you?”
She put something in it…?
Ah, this damn princess, really…?
Despite my dizziness, I turned toward the princess and mumbled.
“…To a… pregnant woman…”
What am I even saying? Stop getting so into character, Imeline Wedgwood.
Just then, Ella smiled gently and said.
“I told you. I really want the Mermaids' Tomb…”
What does that have to do with knocking me out…? By the way, didn't Eric just take a sip of this too…
I looked to my side and saw Eric pressing his temples.
“…You put it in my cup as well.”
“That's right. I put an extra-large dose in yours.”
“…”
The princess smiled brightly, as if expecting a word of thanks. Then she crossed her legs and looked at me.
“Miss Imeline. Have you ever heard what happens to a princess who fails to become queen?”
Unable to fight the dizziness, I leaned my body against a cushion.
A princess who fails to become queen…? Well, don't they usually appear in fairy tales and such?
Feeling nauseous, I muttered.
“…Marries a prince from a neighboring kingdom and lives happily ever after?”
Aren't most fairy-tale princesses who fall in love the ones who don't become queens?
Ella chuckled.
“Yes. That's right. The princesses who marry princes from neighboring kingdoms. But I…”
Now, even Ella's voice was becoming indistinct.
“I'm going to be queen… For that, I'm willing to accept the misfortune of others… so connecting two young people who have feelings for each other is nothing…”
I couldn't hear the rest of what she said.
Eric tried to stand and resist, but the door to Ella's office burst open, and thugs rushed in to subdue him.
“Oops, for the Young Lord's, I specially… aura…”
And so on and so forth.
Eric fell to his knees, then collapsed next to me. I squeezed out my remaining strength and grabbed his hand.
Hey. Get up, you damn fool. You said you'd protect me.
I felt Eric's hand grasp mine in return. But that was the last thing I felt.
After that, well.
A deep sleep.
Yes, I fell into a deep sleep.
