Episode 37
===
“Aaaargh!”
Ornella couldn’t contain her anger and let out a shrill scream. Her maids, unfazed by her fit of rage, went about their duties as usual.
She had sensed something was amiss since the Triumphal March. How delighted she had been to hear that Cesare held a lily in his hand.
Ornella was the lily of Traon.
Out of all the flowers, he held a lily, so she thought it was undoubtedly a gift for her. She waited for Cesare with Leone in front of the Imperial Palace, filled with excitement.
But Cesare’s hands were empty.
She had clearly heard that he was holding a lily, so she couldn’t understand why his hands were empty. She dismissed it, thinking he might have given it to a child during the march.
Later, after learning the detailed story of what had happened, Ornella smashed everything in her bedroom that day.
[The Grand Duke suddenly deviated from the march and headed towards a woman.
He handed the lily he was holding to an unidentified woman. Everyone watching the Triumphal March envied the luck bestowed upon the woman.
But the surprises didn’t end there. The Grand Duke gently caressed the woman’s face. The look in his eyes as he gazed at the woman was as soft as a feather. Those who knew the Grand Duke’s indifference were astonished by the sight.
That tender gaze, which even the most renowned beauties of the Empire had never received….]
Reading the magazine article made her blood boil. Knowing that the recipient of the lily was the nanny’s daughter only fueled her rage.
She couldn’t believe that he had abandoned her and given his attention to such a thing.
But even then, she could endure it. What completely shattered Ornella was the news of the marriage.
The marriage of Archduke Erzeht was announced throughout the Empire. And the fact that the bride was none other than ‘Aileen Elrod.’ She was so angry that she became calm.
For the first time, Ornella thoroughly investigated Aileen Elrod. The information her underlings brought back was quite a spectacle.
That a vulgar girl from a lowly family was being fawned over by all the soldiers.
She couldn’t believe it even after hearing the reports, but seeing her in person today, she was simply dumbfounded. The sight of her with her stuffy bangs and large glasses was not even funny.
It seemed everyone had gone mad, so she would have to help them regain their senses.
Ornella had long reigned as the ‘Lily of Traon’ and the queen of society. Her current position was all thanks to her tireless efforts behind the scenes. So, she intended to work diligently this time as well.
Ornella tapped off the ash and took another puff of her cigar. As she inhaled the smoke, she imagined Cesare, his firm body, and the heavy center that would be nestled in his groin.
Ornella licked the cigar in her mouth with her tongue and ordered her maid.
“I need to pray. Send only one.”
The maids all retreated from the room. Soon, a man entered and knelt before Ornella. Ornella narrowed her eyes and examined the man.
The man was inferior to Cesare. His black hair had a brownish tint, and his eyes were ordinary. But he had a decent appearance for a short-term use. Ornella spread her legs towards the man.
“Come here.”
The man obediently buried his head under Ornella’s dress. A large hand stroked her calf and gently squeezed the inside of her thigh. Soon, his lips touched her intimate area.
“Ugh, haa….”
Ornella let out a moaning sigh and spread her legs even wider. The wet sounds echoed in the quiet room.
Stroking the man’s head as he diligently sucked below her, Ornella continued her languid smoking.
Aileen approached the bookshelf. The bookshelf was filled with diaries. They were diaries she had written every day from childhood until now.
Now that she was older, she only recorded simple impressions. But in her childhood, she would even draw pictures in her diary, filling an entire page.
Aileen took out one of the diaries from the bookshelf. As she flipped through the pages, she saw a drawing of a ring. As soon as she saw the ring, which she had drawn meticulously with clumsy hands, a smile spread across her face.
It was a ring she had drawn when she was eleven years old, imagining her marriage to Cesare.
At that time, Aileen had decided that she definitely wanted to marry the Prince. In fact, she had liked the Prince from the moment she first met him, but she had observed him for a year to see if her feelings would change before coming to that conclusion.
But even as an ignorant child, she felt an instinctive sense that she shouldn’t tell anyone about this. She especially thought that if she told her mother, she would be scolded until she cried.
So, on the day she entered the Imperial Palace, Aileen secretly confessed to Cesare.
“Prince, Prince!”
Not knowing that it was against etiquette, she brought her lips close to Cesare’s ear and whispered.
“I want to marry you, Prince…!”
She had heard about it somewhere, so she also gave him a flower with her proposal. The young child didn’t have the money to buy a real flower, but she wasn’t satisfied with picking wildflowers from the roadside. So, Aileen gave him a lily that she had drawn herself.
Cesare, who had received the audacious proposal, let out a soft laugh. He sat Aileen on his lap and gently soothed her.
“You need to grow up a little more, Aileen.”
Aileen, who thought that he cared for her and that she liked him, so he would naturally accept her proposal, was flustered by the unexpected answer and asked.
“How much?”
He, who had his chin resting on the top of Aileen’s head, pondered for a moment, then stretched out his long fingers and pointed to a shrub in the garden.
“As tall as that shrub?”
Aileen’s mouth dropped open as she checked the shrub. It was too big for the young Aileen. But she couldn’t ignore what her future husband was saying.
Aileen first carefully observed the arborvitae shrub that he had pointed to. Originally, arborvitae can grow up to 15m, but this one had been improved as a horticultural variety, so it wouldn’t grow that much.
After finishing her observation, she confirmed with Cesare whether the marriage standard was the current height of the shrub. She also checked how much difference there was between her height and the height of the shrub. Then, with a dazed face, she muttered gloomily.
“The wedding will be a little late….”
There were many cases of early marriage before the age of 18. So, she had been secretly thinking that it would be nice to get married next spring. Aileen, who had dreamed of being a bride in spring, was very disappointed.
But since she had received a marriage promise, she thought it was half a success and recorded all the plans she had made in her diary.
Cesare cut out the lily drawing she had given him that day and put it in a vase. Aileen’s flower decorated his vase for a long time until the paper rotted.
“He’s such a kind person.”
Aileen, who had been lost in memories of the past, stroked the ring drawing in her diary and muttered. The ring, which she had drawn after searching through all sorts of magazines and books at the time, still had a plausible design even now.
Aileen flipped through a few more pages of the diary before putting it back on the bookshelf. A heavy sigh flowed out on its own. Ever since she had an audience with the Emperor and returned, her mind had been constantly complicated.
Leone had said that Cesare had changed. And he was worried about that change.
She thought she now knew for sure what he meant. Cesare, talking about the pocket watch, saying it was the belongings of a death row inmate, seemed unstable. The man who had always shown only an adult and relaxed appearance had eyes that looked like he was standing at the edge of a cliff.
The sense of alienation she had felt when she saw him returning from the war.
The incomprehensible actions and the strange words he had thrown out….
The more she went back and thought about them one by one, the more she kept thinking that something big was going on. But what was the cause?
Even the knights who had been with Cesare through life and death, and the Emperor, his brother and only superior, didn’t know the reason.
‘But how would I know?’
She found it strange that Leone had asked her the reason. He seemed to think too highly of Aileen.
‘I wish His Excellency would tell me about his difficulties.’
She wanted to be someone Cesare could rely on, but it was a very distant matter. Aileen, who had been grooming her nails, sighed once more and began to prepare to go out.
Today, she was scheduled to go to the dress shop with Diego. It was to fit the wedding dress she would wear at the wedding.
