Chapter 97

Chapter 97

“If that isn’t enough, you can tell me all the jewels you want.”’

The Emperor’s way of speaking was as if he was extending a great favor… that flashing gaze.

“I just want you to take off that bracelet.”’

‘Unlucky bastard.’

Iellie, recalling that time, bit her lip as Zachary gazed at her.

“Len…”

“Oh, huh?”

She raised her head suddenly at the call. At the same time, he could see that her face turned pale.

‘Damn it. What did that bastard do, Iellie?’

Zachary bit his lip as he clasped her shoulders.

“…It’s okay, let’s take a look and decide.”

Swallowing a sigh, he opened his mouth while Iellie rested her head on his chest.

“Hey, Zachary. Aren’t you angry?”

“Why would I be angry with you?”

Anyone who dared to cling to her would be torn to pieces. As he thought so, he smiled fiercely.

‘Still, I can’t believe that bastard behaving like this.’

Zachary spat a curse into his mouth. He wasn’t going to turn down the fight that came his way.

The splendid peridot bracelet sent by the Emperor was a bracelet woven with thin gold chains with jewels elaborately embedded. In addition to the precious jewels, the cost of handicrafts must have been enormous.

“….”

Zachary’s mood plummeted to the bottom. The color of the peridot, which resembled the color of his wife’s eyes, seemed to disprove how much the Emperor felt for Iellie.

“As expected, would it be better to return this bracelet?”

Without answering, Zachary’s eyes narrowed as he turned the bracelet around. He uttered out loud.

“No.”

“But…”

“Because the fact that we send this back can itself mean something different to the Emperor.”

He did not want to give the Emperor any room to believe that he had won, even mentally. Perhaps by returning this bracelet, the Emperor would think that he had returned the gift ‘because he was conscious of him.’

‘…I can’t do that.’

Zachary bit his lips. A thin chain clattered in his fingers.

‘Still, I can’t have Iellie wear this bracelet.’

It was difficult for him to make rational decisions when it came to her. Above all, jewelry was usually presented to a lover or husband. Through this gift, the Emperor implicitly revealed that he had not given up on Iellie.

“Len.”

“Yes?”

“That bracelet, wear it.”

When Zachary narrowed his brow and opened his mouth, Iellie widened her eyes confusingly and gazed at him.

“…Yes?”

“Now that the Emperor has given you a precious gift, you should fully enjoy that honor. Instead…”

In fact, the fact that the Emperor gave a gift was the honor of the family. If he refused the gift, the Duchy would look rather shameful.

His eyes shone bleakly as he spoke sternly.

“…I’ll give you something that will somehow make that bracelet look shabby.”

“No, what do you mean by that?”

Flustered, Iellie asked him though Zachary just continued his words with eyes that had a strange sense of triumph.

“To keep the gift from getting the attention without showing the rudeness of returning the Emperor’s gift.”

“Hey, Zachary…?”

“After I gave you the jewelry that overwhelms that bracelet, you just have to wear it together.”

“….”

Iellie, pushed by his spirit, shut her mouth as Zachary stared at her.

“I think a tiara would look good.”

“…T-tiara?”

“Yes.”

Headdresses in the form of crowns, including tiaras, were permitted only for noble women. In principle, only women in the direct line of the imperial family, wives of Dukes and princesses, were the only ones allowed.

‘However, that’s just a rule. Even princesses from other countries refrain from wearing such hair ornaments when entering the Empire.’

Of course, the power of the Duchy was comparable to that of most royal families, but the Duchy still held the title of the Lippenberg Empire. Nonetheless, Zachary chose a tiara to match the bracelet. That was…

‘Zachary looks like he wants to scrape the Emperor’s clutches somehow…’

As she glanced at Zachary and thought so, even if she said it, Iellie didn’t think he would listen to her.

“…Well, do as you like.”

When she eventually uttered it with a feeling of half-given-up, he smiled a proud smile.

“You can look forward to it, Len.”

“No matter how much my expectations were, you will far exceed them.”

Seeing her answer bluntly, Zachary narrowed his eyes.

Iellie grumbled again and went on, “You have already surprised me several times in preparation for this wedding.”

“Then, I’ll try not to disappoint you again this time.”

After saying that, he leaned over and kissed her on the cheek briefly.

“Then, I’ll go first.”

“Already?”

“Yes. I have something to prepare.”

“Yes, alright.”

Iellie gave a small answer while hiding her blushing cheeks. While she was already used to him kissing her unexpectedly, she couldn’t help her heart beating wildly. Oh really, when did he grow up like that?

She swallowed a sigh.

The first person he called after parting ways with Iellie was the butler. The butler couldn’t hide his bewildered face at the Duke’s sudden summon.

In front of him, Zachary made a bombshell remark.

“I’m thinking of using Asha’s tears.”

“…Asha’s tears?”

As the frightened butler asked him immediately, Zachary replied to him with a puzzled expression.

“Why, is there a problem?”

‘Of course, there are problems!’

The butler barely suppressed his desire to protest.

‘Asha’s Tears’ was one of the most precious jewels passed down from generation to generation in the Duke’s family. It was a pink diamond, according to a romantic legend, said to have been made by the silver dragon by hardening the tears of the fairy Asha into ice.

“May I ask what you plan to use Asha’s tears for?”

“I’m thinking of decorating the tiara for Iellie.”

“….”

Hearing the confident answer, the butler was at a loss for words. He knew that the head of the Duchy loved his wife very much, but wasn’t this a bit too much?

Zachary tapped the armrest of the chair in a nervous motion.

“The Emperor gave Iellie a bracelet.”

“…Yes, I heard that.”

Upon hearing that, the butler’s eyes went cold. He was well aware that the Emperor cared about his mistress. Upon those twisted feelings, but how would the Duke feel?

“As the butler knows very well, we cannot send the bracelet back.”

“Your Excellency is right.”

“It’s a matter of Hessenweitz’s pride. Then…”

Zachary glanced slightly. His cold, shining gaze followed the butler’s face.

“Shouldn’t we give Iellie another jewel enough to crush the one the Emperor gave us?”

“…Your Excellency.”

The butler tried to stop him somehow. It was because even so, he thought that even in Hessenweitz, it was not a good idea to use a legendary jewel for a fight of pride though Zachary was still adamant.

“Sometimes, a man does something even when he knows he is not rational.”

The Duke acknowledged his extreme possessive desire for Iellie. The butler looked at the Duke in silence.

“Asha’s tears… Call in the most famous craftsman and make it into a tiara.”

“…Are you talking about a tiara?”

“Yes. To put it on her head on the wedding day.”

Zachary suddenly thought of Iellie. From the moment he first met her, she was the one who saved him. Nonetheless, he couldn’t repay even some of the many things she had given him.

He continued immediately.

“As much as that day… I want to make Iellie like the master of this world.”

The butler swallowed dryly at Zachary’s choice of making a tiara. Unlike the previous Duke, who took a mild attitude out of concern for his son’s succession to the title, Zachary took a warlike attitude toward the imperial family.

‘…But, the Duke will never stop.’

In the first place, Zachary never backed down when it came to Iellie. The butler finally nodded his head.

“I will take your order.”

“Oh, by the way.”

When Zachary suddenly opened his mouth, the butler, who was about to leave the room, looked back at him.

“Yes?”

“The shape of the tiara…”

He looked worried for a moment. Clenching his chin, he opened his mouth to the butler in a relaxed tone.

“A flower crown would be nice.”

“A flower crown…?”

“Yes. A flower crown made of Asha flowers.”

His lovely wife resembled an Asha blossom… just like Asha’s flowers, no decorations could suit Iellie.

“I will tell them.”

Zachary nodded his head.

As the butler bowed his head and eventually left the room, he buried himself deep in the chair. He had already heard what Iellie had been through at the New Year’s ball.

“….”

How dare he to what’s his…

Zachary’s eyes narrowed coldly. He bit his lip annoyedly.

Iellie tested the bracelet given by the Emperor. The pale green peridot intertwined with a dangling gold chain on her slender, white wrist looked pretty good.

Seeing that, Zachary was very uncomfortable.

“Len.”

“Yes?”

“…It’s pretty.”

Even though he didn’t want to say it looked petty, he couldn’t bear to say, ‘Take that off right away.’

“But, I look forward to your gift more.”

However, Iellie, who was quick to notice, quickly took off the bracelet. The smile she smiled at him was beautiful.

“Even if you don’t, I already have a tiara ready for you.”

“Yes…”

Iellie made a shy face. It meant that she didn’t care about the Emperor’s bracelet, but somehow the meaning seemed to have been slightly misunderstood. Zachary touched her cheek and stood up before he whispered sweetly.

“I can’t wait to see you wear that tiara.”

Iellie quietly nodded her head. It was a bit burdensome to use the legendary jewels of the Duchy.

‘Still… I think I know how much Zachary cares about me.’

She was happy about that. Zachary smiled at the cuteness of her cheeks blushing.

And a few days later, when the wedding was just around the corner, Iellie was given a tiara as a gift by Zachary.

“…Can I really take this?”

She gazed at her husband with a faint look. No, this was too flashy. Annerose, the Princess of the Empire, did not even have such a tiara.

Zachary nodded his head casually.

“Sure, because it was made for you.”

“But…”

Iellie gulped. The tiara in her hand was in the shape of a flower crown embodying the Asha flower.

“If you put this on your head… It must feel like you have at least one castle on your head.”

It was a tiara elaborately crafted using platinum. The petals were expressed with pink crystals, and a diamond called ‘Asha’s Tears’ shone in the center of the tiara while the leaves were made of emerald.

“What is wrong with that?”

“Uh…”

Iellie narrowed her brows. Anyway, when Zachary was being like this, she usually didn’t listen.

“You don’t like it?”

Opening his mouth cautiously, Zachary looked serious as he spoke again.

“If you really don’t like it, I’ll make it new, so don’t worry…”

“No, no! It’s not like that!”

Startled, she shook her head violently. Her hands were heavy because of the tiara, and she couldn’t bear to shake them.

“It’s not like that, it’s just because it’s so pretty…!”

“Then, I’m glad.”

It was only then that Zachary eventually smiled broadly. It was against the law to be so handsome. Iellie calmly looked at him.

“Thank you so much. I never thought I would receive such a pretty thing.”

She thanked him wholeheartedly. She really meant what she said. Perhaps she could find nothing more beautiful than this tiara, even if she looked at all the things she had in her possession. Meanwhile, Zachary made a face that said that was obvious at her words.

“Because it’s something you’ll use.”

“Well…”

“Everything about you has to be the best.”

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