192 - Chapter 192
Extracurricular 14
“What if I become very insignificant? What if the day comes when people no longer think they need me…”
“Good.”
“…Huh?”
Olivia blinked at the light answer. Then her husband wore a smug look, just like Lucy’s age.
“When that day comes, let’s quit everything and go on a world trip with me, Liv.”
Noah kissed Olivia on the forehead and touched her nose.
“We’ll take a boat to a new country every day. When the boat reaches the port, we’ll get off and look around, and when the sun sets, we’ll get back on the boat and have a nice dinner.”
“Every day?”
“Every day. We’ll buy your favorite sweet desserts in every country we arrive in, and pick out books too.”
Olivia imagined walking down the street hand in hand with Noah. She was holding Noah’s hand with one hand and ice cream with the other. Noah would be holding her hand with one hand and a souvenir he bought there with the other.
Laughter broke out.
“After dinner, we’ll take out the desserts we bought and eat them?”
“Lie on my lap and read a book too.”
“…I don’t think I’ll let you read a book.”
“Can’t you play with me and read a book, ma’am?”
Noah wiped away the tears flowing down Olivia’s eyes with his hand. Then he kissed her lips.
“If you want to be Liberty again, just say it anytime.”
“…If I say it?”
“Then I can be Noah Liberty too.”
“……”
“Noah Liberty. Sounds good.”
It doesn’t matter who you are.
It doesn’t matter how insignificant what you have is.
The sincerity Noah conveyed pushed the intangible anxiety and fear far away.
Yes, that’s right.
Even if everyone in the world is enthusiastic about her mask, Noah knows her bare face. Even if the day comes when she really becomes shabby someday, there is nothing to lose.
Olivia hugged him tightly around the neck. Then she whispered her sincerity in his ear.
"I love you."
Noah laughs.
“I love you, Noah.”
"Me too."
“You are my everything.”
The lion, who heard the words he had wanted to hear all along, smiled as if he had the world and kissed him in the ear.
“You are my world.”
Noah kissed her a few more times and stroked her hair.
Olivia.
When you call me in a bright voice without worry, my world is sunny.
When you call me in a voice full of sadness and worry, it rains in my world.
That doesn’t mean I want you to be just bright.
Where is there a world that is only sunny? It has to rain and typhoons have to blow for it to be the world.
The sun rises and flowers bloom, rain and wind blow, and even if a storm comes.
Because you are there…….
“My world is brilliant, Olivia.”
Even though it was the end of summer, the sun in Pulder was piercingly intense. However, since the hottest time had passed and the humidity was not high, many people had meals or tea time on the terrace or balcony around this time.
Hotels that cater to the upper class also rushed to create outdoor salons in the garden around this time. The best of the outdoor salons, also known as Terrace Salons, was undoubtedly the Ritz Hotel.
The reason why the Ritz Hotel's garden salon became famous was because it was a replica of the rose garden of King Herot's Royal Palace. The noble ladies who walked among the profusely blooming roses of various colors said in unison that they felt as if they had been invited to the autumn banquet of the Herot Royal Family.
The garden salon of the Ritz Hotel, where very expensive weddings are held, was not open to everyone. To buy a few hours here, a few drinks were not enough.
Today, the person who spent a lot of money to buy half a day of the garden salon was Mrs. Actuar, the second lady of Pulder.
Her husband, Rickman Actuar, was the vice president of Pulder and an ambitious man aiming for the next presidential election. She was also getting tired of the title of Second Lady.
Therefore, she invited the madams of the families who controlled the political and business circles of Pulder to consolidate Actuar's position and lay the foundation for Rickman's presidential election in the future. It would be even better if she could find a marriage partner for her eldest son.
For this tea party, she prepared a daring halter neck dress that was in vogue these days, and bought matching drop diamond earrings at an enormous price.
Not only that, but she couldn't send the invited noble ladies back empty-handed, so she carefully prepared expensive crystal wine glasses one by one, and wrote the reserved seat name tags by hand.
A few days ago, while writing the names of nearly forty attendees one by one, she discussed their value with her husband.
Some had useful brains, some had enough money to be a source of funding, and some had considerable connections. The forty people were each useful.
Except for one person.
“This woman won’t come, will she?”
Rickman frowned as if he felt uncomfortable, watching the ink soak into the paper. Then Mrs. Actuar said in a tone that told him not to worry.
“If she’s in her right mind, she won’t come. I deliberately booked the venue at the Ritz Hotel Salon because of this woman, and I expressed an indirect meaning in the invitation not to come.”
“Well. The Ritz Hotel Salon will remind you of the Herot Royal Family, and if so, Princess Olivia will surely come to mind. By the way, an indirect meaning not to come?”
“I’m going to send an invitation without a date, Rickman.”
An invitation with only the location written on it implied that they should not attend for the sake of each other's honor. Rickman nodded as if that was enough.
“She’s from the Norfolk aristocracy, so she can’t not understand.”
“Oh, honey. Be careful. She gets upset if you just call her an aristocrat. She’s a great person with Hilbert Royal Family blood mixed in, isn’t she?”
“That’s also mixed in. Should I bow when I meet her, then?”
“Do it. She’s very proud that she’s different from the riffraff who ran away to Pulder.”
She said that and giggled.
But…….
Mrs. Actuar’s breath gradually became rough. No matter how hard she tried to calm her breath, she felt like she had swallowed a fire and was about to go crazy.
“Roses are really vulgar flowers. Flowers should be lilies. People talk about Astrid when it comes to the Norfolk royal family, but that’s not true.”
She made a big mistake.
“The Hilbert Royal Family is the best royal family. Everyone knows that my great-grandmother was a member of the Hilbert Royal Family, right? The lily garden of Helbert Royal Palace is really beautiful. When I was young, I went there like my own garden.”
She shouldn’t have sent an invitation to that woman, no matter what her face was.
Perhaps because shame disappeared as money and honor disappeared, that woman, who appeared at the tea party even after receiving such an invitation, drank the finest champagne prepared to boost the party atmosphere like beer.
She rambled on with a drunken face, and eventually brought up a topic that should not have been brought up.
“Compared to the Hilbert Royal Family, Astrid is… Pfft.”
Mrs. Actuar’s anger reached its limit at the sight of her bursting into an artificial laugh. The woman, who had lost her sense of shame and tact, shrugged her shoulders and moved her mouth.
“Astrid is a lion with missing teeth. Or a crazy lion. How could they bring such a woman into the royal family?”
“…Mrs. Wilhelm, even so, you shouldn’t say such things to the royal family and Princess consort of another country…”
One of the ladies sitting nearby glanced at the staff and band walking around for serving and gave a warning. However, Mrs. Wilhelm reacted as if she had heard something absurd.
“Princess consort?”
Then, she suddenly shook her enlarged fingers and raised her voice.
“Olivia Liberty, how much did that commoner flirt with my son!!”
The loud shout echoed back. And before the echo was over, Mrs. Wilhelm’s excited words continued.
“What does it mean for a girl who isn’t even married to go to a hotel to meet a man? She did everything she could to seduce my son…”
“Ahem, ahem.”
“Ahem, ahem.”
The noble ladies sitting next to Mrs. Wilhelm began to distance themselves, clearing their throats. It was already uncomfortable just to have Mrs. Wilhelm at this event in the first place. The noble ladies openly expressed their discomfort and stared at the host of this party.
