Chapter 25
- Selling Yourself to a Monster
Yuan had nothing to worry about.
Due to the Emperor's sudden visit, Imperial Palace servants were streaming down from the capital, Cielo, making preparations.
The space they were decorating was the east annex hall to the right of the manor, a couple of stories lower than the main building.
Yuan watched the people gathered in the hall from a distance, instructing the servants to clear the snow piled up in the garden.
While watching the servants glancing at the glamorous space and people, she thought she should ask Michelle to make pretty and warm work clothes for them.
Yuan suddenly looked up at the second floor where Klaud's bedroom was.
It was daytime, so she couldn't even tell if the lights were on or off.
She was frustrated that she couldn't comfort him, since he had told her not to be presumptuous.
If she could at least make it obvious that she was watching over him like before, she could push her way in, asking if there was anything he needed.
And in the meantime, the number of letters coming from Pellieresse had increased.
Yuan, after confirming the sentences filled with threats and intimidation, now burned the letters in the fireplace as soon as she received them, without even opening them.
How reassuring the high iron fence and the burly guards that had blocked her way when she first came to this manor were now.
Yuan liked that there was someone to stop her, even if her uncle brought Frederick to her right away.
If it became urgent, she could just run away to Klaud's bedroom. They wouldn't dare to push their way into the bedroom of the 'monster' Deposed Emperor.
But exactly two days later, someone even the reassuring iron fence, guards, and Klaud couldn't stop appeared before Yuan.
The morning after spending two nights with Klaud, who had become increasingly silent.
Klaud's uncle, who had abandoned him, and the Emperor of the Euphris Empire.
Igor Euphris, boasting a dignified presence, crossed the iron fence of this Black Manor.
Klaud, always in his nightgown, entrusted himself to the butler Gustav's hands and dressed in full attire for the first time in ten years.
Yuan, in a hurry, had altered one of the dresses left behind by one of Klaud's ex-wives, the most colorful and luxuriously decorated one.
It was somewhat mismatched with her youthful face, but Henna praised Yuan, saying she looked like a princess from some kingdom.
As soon as the pair of dressed-up spouses went out to the mansion's entrance, Emperor Igor Euphris appeared with a procession of at least 200 people.
The Emperor, as a former military man in his younger days, appeared on a magnificent steed rather than a carriage.
Yuan felt as if she had encountered a huge male lion in a lone jungle, and she slightly hunched her shoulders.
As she naturally stood closer to Klaud, the massive Emperor, getting off his horse and striding towards them, grinned, revealing slightly yellowish teeth.
"May there be infinite glory to the great Euphris. I greet His Imperial Majesty."
Yuan, having paid her respects as she had hastily learned from the butler, bending her knees and bowing her head at the same time, found the Emperor's face close to hers.
The Emperor, who had been quite famous as a handsome man in his youth, had large and striking features.
However, the terrible scars that were visible between his thick golden beard made him seem very threatening to Yuan.
The Emperor's eyes shone, but it was more like madness on the verge of boiling over than intelligence.
The blue eyes scrutinized Yuan through his thick-skinned face, and soon a thick hand was extended towards her.
Yuan, knowing it was rude, first looked at Klaud's expression rather than the Emperor's.
Klaud's sunken eyes behind the mask that covered half of his face were fixed straight ahead and hadn't moved at all since earlier.
Yuan placed her trembling hand on Emperor Igor's hand.
Igor, snatching her absurdly small hand, took off the long, white silk glove that covered Yuan's hand without hesitation and lowered his lips.
Yuan, who had hunched her shoulders and offered her hand, had to suppress a scream at the Emperor's sudden action.
Staring straight into Yuan's wide eyes, Emperor Igor pretended to bite and tear at the back of her hand like grilled meat, then put her entire finger in his mouth and bit down on it as if to show off, and smiled.
Yuan instinctively felt it.
Emperor Igor Euphris was not just a tyrant.
He was a total madman!
While greeting Marquis Lev, whose face had turned ashen, Marquis Kompani, who had his thin, bushy eyebrows furrowed and his mouth shut, and even the smiling First Prince Bolonico in turn, Yuan struggled to steady her trembling legs.
She had sent them ahead to the east annex party hall under the pretense of tidying up her clothes.
Yuan, barely clinging to the hallway wall to steady her collapsing body, stood blankly for a moment, still holding the glove she hadn't been able to put back on.
"Hey."
At the sudden voice, Yuan, tensing up like a rabbit that had spotted a predator, turned around.
Klaud was standing close by, since when, she didn't know.
There was no emotion on Klaud's face, but strangely, Yuan felt like she was about to burst into tears when she faced him.
Her heart was still pounding, making it difficult to manage her expression. Knowing that this was not a place to show weakness, the word 'scary' crackled in her mouth as if it would burst out at any moment.
"Don't wander around alone without permission."
Whether he knew her feelings or not.
Klaud, even after seeing Yuan looking up at him with tearful eyes, said only that one sentence.
It was a word she had heard endlessly for the past three days.
With so many guests flocking in from the capital, where else could she go?
Klaud's gaze briefly lingered on Yuan's left hand, which had not yet been gloved. But it was only for a fleeting moment.
She had hoped he would say a word of comfort, but his transparent purple eyes coldly headed straight for the party hall.
Yuan swallowed her shallow shame, barely managed to put on her glove, and followed Klaud into the party hall.
Against the backdrop of a masterpiece that filled one wall, there was a long, horizontal table.
It was a seat exclusively for the Emperor, First Prince Bolonico, and the Deposed Emperor and his wife.
Whether it was true that it was a wedding celebration or not, the people Emperor Igor had brought seemed to be his closest aides.
If the Emperor drank heavily and said even one word, they would rush in and add a word each, so there was no room for awkwardness in the party hall.
Thanks to the Emperor, who willingly tore apart the lavishly prepared food with his hands, the nobles also started eating as they pleased without being prim and proper.
Emperor Igor's aides were mostly from military backgrounds, so they seemed more comfortable with a party that didn't adhere to formalities.
Yuan wondered what this discomfort she had been feeling since earlier was, and glanced at Klaud, who was sitting next to her.
Klaud didn't touch the food at all and just sat quietly.
As if his usual relaxed posture had never existed, he sat straighter than anyone else here, and his appearance with a half-mask and full attire made him look more like a prince than the short-haired Bolonico, who was flattering his father and only smiling with the corners of his mouth.
Yuan realized anew that he was of a status that she, the former her, would not have dared to look up to, and she straightened her back even more and tried to look dignified.
And she thought that as the host of this party, she should take a closer look at the guests, and she looked around.
Then, at the end of the table, she met the sharp gaze of her cousin, Regina Pellieresse, head-on.
As Bolonico had assured that he would meet Yuan soon.
The Pellieresse County was invited to this party as the bride, Yuan's family.
Regina Pellieresse couldn't control her pounding heart and was looking around the banquet hall.
She was excited about the prospect of meeting Dрейкуп Trelloni here.
How thrilled she was to learn that Dрейкуп, who didn't know that the Deposed Emperor's new bride, who wasn't well known to the public, was the person he had originally proposed to, had been invited to this party!
Regina, with her parents' voices complaining about being seated the farthest from the Emperor in the background, scrutinized each of the people sitting at the long table on the opposite side.
Then she saw Yuan Pellieresse sitting with a very nervous expression.
She was pretending to be very dignified, but a crow was still a crow.
A poor soul living in a blackened castle with a monster husband who couldn't show his face and wore a mask.
On the other hand, Regina was about to make her dazzling debut with rumors of a romance with Dрейкуп Trelloni this time, and was ready to become the most glamorous butterfly.
Regina took Sophia Meln, a fellow court noble and a follower of hers, and approached where Yuan was sitting.
Unlike Regina, who walked rhythmically in accordance with the free atmosphere of the banquet hall, Sophia kept hiding behind Regina as she got closer to the rumored monster Deposed Emperor.
"Where did the 'Deposed' Emperor go and you're here alone?"
Klaud was nearby, but he was surrounded by the Emperor's aides and receiving perfunctory greetings.
Regina, knowing this well, asked with a nonchalant face, overflowing with composure.
It was a gesture that was on a different level from Yuan, who was sitting stiffly like a sack of barley.
"I greet the Deposed Empress."
"Pfft."
When Sophia awkwardly paid her respects to Yuan, Regina covered her mouth with the back of her hand and laughed.
Sophia was startled and subtly tugged at Regina's sleeve.
However, it was a weak movement that was no match for Regina, who had come with a purpose.
"Can I introduce you, Yuan? We may not meet again in the future, but it's good to know at least one face of someone your age, right? This is Miss Sophia Meln of the Meln Viscount family. She's my friend who will be making her debutante at the Imperial Palace with me this time. Say hello, Miss Sophia. This is Yuan Pellieresse."
Regina was excited at the thought of completely trampling Yuan in front of Sophia.
"She's an ungrateful cousin who ran away from home to get married and hasn't contacted us once. What did our parents ever do to this poor cousin?"
