47
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"Y-Your Excellency."
"Or, sending any suspicious bastard to the Guillotine to have their head chopped off? Actually, I like that one better. If I had my way, I wouldn't even bother with the Guillotine; I'd just run out into the streets right now and kill every last one of those bastards in the capital who threw stones at my child and desecrated the corpse."
He continued in a calm voice.
"They hung the severed head in a tavern and displayed it to drunken patrons. Later, they even lined up to do that dog-like thing, huh? And I'm supposed to let those bastards live."
Senon and Diego were speechless. They didn't understand half of what Cesare was saying, but they fully grasped his murderous intent toward the citizens of the Traon Empire.
Cesare let out a low breath, paused, and fumbled in his coat pocket. He took out a silver pocket watch and snapped it open in his hand. In the chilling silence, the ticking of the second hand was clearly audible. Cesare watched the hands of the watch turn for a while before closing the lid again.
"But if I act as I please, Aileen will be broken. She's a child who cherishes even a wretch not worthy of being treated as human, calling him 'Father'."
He muttered, holding out his hand to Diego.
"She'll want me to be a great Grand Duke……."
Diego, who was holding a half-burned cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray. With a slightly trembling hand, he handed Cesare a new cigarette and struck a match. This time, it took several attempts to ignite the match after scraping the flint.
After lighting Cesare's cigarette, Diego snatched the cigarette from Senon's dazed hand and stubbed it out in the ashtray as well.
Cesare slowly smoked, calming his emotions. The glinting red in his eyes regained a semblance of composure.
"So, Senon."
He smiled, having returned to his leisurely and relaxed self as Archduke Erzeht.
"Even if it's a little unfortunate, wouldn't this way be better for Aileen?"
The Grand Duke's wedding was a week away. The ceremony was to be held in the garden of the Grand Duke's Residence with only a small number of attendees.
However, since all the citizens of the Traon Empire were curious about the Grand Duke and his bride, the Imperial Family decided to take wedding photos and publish them in the newspaper.
The newspaper that had the honor of publishing the Grand Duke and Duchess's wedding photos was La Verita. Even before the wedding, the newspaper's sales had jumped fivefold with just the announcement that they would be publishing the wedding photos.
They anticipated setting a historic sales record on the day the wedding photos were published.
Thanks to this, La Verita prepared for the wedding as much as the Grand Duke's household. They secured ink, paper, and printing presses as much as possible, and prepared various articles in advance so that they could print them as soon as they received the photos.
Aileen, the protagonist of the wedding that would go down in the empire's history, had also been staying at the Grand Duke's Residence for a week, in preparation for the wedding.
However, even though they were staying in the same mansion, she had not been able to meet Cesare.
This was due to the superstition that one should not see the bride in her dress, as well as the empire's old custom that the bride and groom should stay apart for a week before the ceremony to purify their bodies and minds.
While staying at the Grand Duke's Residence, Aileen received various preparations and education. The most important task was, of course, memorizing the list of guests attending the wedding.
It was the wedding of Archduke Erzeht. Only a select few were invited, so it was no exaggeration to say that all the stars of the empire had gathered. The wedding guest list was so splendid that it seemed to shine with just the names on it.
Anyone who was even slightly out of place was not invited to the wedding. Fortunately, some of the Grand Duke's knights and soldiers were allowed to attend the wedding under the guise of guarding.
Aileen memorized the faces, names, titles, and brief information of the guests that Sonio had personally compiled. She was good at memorization, so she quickly learned them, but the problem lay elsewhere.
Among the attendees was Parvellini Duchess Young Lady Ornella.
Aileen carefully read Ornella's personal information. The description that she was an important figure in society already made her feel nauseous with nervousness.
The words she had said to her echoed in her mind.
"I was just curious. As Aileen-ssi knows, it doesn't make sense. Why His Excellency chose Aileen-ssi. I knew he was being nice because you're the daughter of the deceased nanny, but he wouldn't decide to marry out of pity, would he?"
Recalling Ornella's words completely shattered Aileen's already low self-esteem. Aileen stared intently at the name 'Ornella von Parvellini' with worried eyes.
'She'll come looking incredibly beautiful.'
It seemed likely that Ornella would dress up so beautifully that she would overshadow the bride. She could clearly see the situation where the bride would not receive any attention due to her beauty.
From the start, it was an absurdly mismatched marriage. She was worried that Cesare would be insulted for taking in an ugly bride.
Aileen, who was about to push up her glasses with a gloomy expression, groped around her eyes.
"...Ah."
She awkwardly lowered her hand that was about to poke her eye. She hadn't been wearing glasses since she cut her bangs. Even after several days, it still felt very awkward. She had lived with glasses as if they were a part of her for so long that it was not easy to adjust.
She remembered the day she first came to the Grand Duke's Residence with her changed appearance.
Only Sonio greeted Aileen with a smiling face as she got out of the car. None of the other employees smiled. They all just stared in shock. Aileen's face flushed every time she thought of their gazes.
'As expected, everyone was just saying empty words.'
Diego and the dressmakers had praised her so much when they saw her in the wedding dress, so she had honestly gained a little confidence.
Cesare had also said that it was better to show her face, so she had been complacent, thinking that she might be quite decent.
But Diego and Cesare were the kind of people who would say she was cute even if she came wearing an ugly pumpkin. The dressmakers would have said nice things for business purposes.
However, the faces of the employees she had encountered when she got out of the car were honest. They must have been shocked by her terrible appearance. Otherwise, there was no reason for them to stare at her face with such wide eyes and gaping mouths.
Sonio comforted Aileen, who was feeling depressed, but she didn't hear a word. If Diego and Cesare were the type to find even an ugly pumpkin cute, Sonio was even worse than that.
Aileen waited for the wedding with the heart of a death row inmate awaiting execution.
The day before the wedding, Cesare's knights came to see Aileen.
"Gasp."
Michele gasped and froze as soon as he saw Aileen. Except for Diego, who was already somewhat immune, Rohan and Senon were also startled. Everyone hesitated to say anything, their lips just moving, and Aileen's face gradually flushed.
"Am I that ugly……?"
When she asked the question that had been on her mind all along, the four of them hurriedly denied it. But Aileen had already seen their reactions.
"It's okay if you don't want to lie. I changed my hair a little because I thought bangs and glasses wouldn't go well with the wedding dress, but I'll grow my hair back and wear glasses again after the wedding."
As she sighed and talked about what she had been thinking, Senon suddenly shouted.
"Aileen-nim!"
Senon clenched his fists and rattled off words like a machine gun.
"I think you look much better with your glasses off and your bangs cut! I've been feeling sorry ever since you started covering your face when you were twelve. Your beauty is one thing, but especially! Aileen-nim's eyes are a national treasure of the empire, and you were hiding them! Of course, covering them doesn't change the essence of the jewel, but the way they sparkle beautifully in the sunlight……."
Michele elbowed Senon, who was extremely excited and talking wildly. Only then did Senon come to his senses, and he said with an embarrassed, flushed face.
"I'm sorry. It's just that I was so happy to see you properly after a long time…. I really like them."
This time, Diego, who was standing on the right, elbowed Senon. Recognizing that his statement could be misunderstood, Senon quickly added.
"Aileen-nim's eyes, I mean."
Michele didn't miss the chance to pick on Senon's words.
"Oh, you only like her eyes?"
"No, of course I like Aileen-nim too…. Haa, you know what I mean, right?"
Senon looked at Aileen with a tearful expression.
