Chapter 19

‘I really wanted to meet my father and explain to him about the deal in person. Was the favor I asked Colin too much? Besides, they didn’t prepare anything for the wedding. What if Ober thinks something went wrong and moves recklessly to harm my father? Can I go to the emperor right now and ask him to collect all the bulletins right away? No, it’s too late.. now.’

With her shoulders drooping, she grabbed her splitting head with her hands.

While wiping her hand, Cordelli laid down the towel sullenly.

Knock, knock.

Someone knocked on the door. Cordelli quickly sensed it and headed to the door.

When the maid outside said something, she nodded with a very perplexed look.

“Well, Lady…”

Marianne did not answer. Cordelli trotted toward her and sat down again.

“What shall I do? She said the emperor is here. Why don’t you get dressed and go out to greet him? ”

She was still silent.

‘I don’t care if the emperor is here or not. Why should I care about…’

While she was thinking to herself, she suddenly came to her senses.

Emperor?

She jumped out of bed.

“Yes. I have to go.”

Like a predator who wandered through the grass and found its prey, she removed the blanket quickly with surprisingly sparkling eyes. After she came down from the bed like a lightning bolt, she put slippers on to go out.

“Lady, Wait a moment! Lady Marie!”

Although Cordelli urgently called after her, she did not care. She pushed the maid who was waiting for an answer outside the door, and quickly passed through the antique artworks in the hallway which were hung on the walls every three steps. She didn’t know how quickly she ran, but one of her slippers came off when she tripped over the carpet, which she didn’t notice at all.

She soon arrived at the main staircase leading to the lobby on the first floor. Catching her short breath, she looked at the front door at the end of the lobby. The door was opened wide and a group of people came in.

“Your Excellency!”

She shouted at him with a sharp and crisp voice, which alerted the man standing at the forefront of the group. At her loud voice that resonated through the entire lobby, everybody naturally their eyes on her. Not caring about it at all, Marianne began to walk down dozens of lobby stairs toward him.

Eckart, the very man who she shouted at, blatantly frowned. He ordered shortly after looking at both ends of the central staircase where she was hastily coming down.

“Step back, everybody!”

His low voice rang heavily. At any moment, the emperor’s order was an absolute law. The residents at the mansion, including Mrs. Charlotte, who were waiting to greet the emperor, as well as Colin and Jed, and the others who accompanied him, turned back back and bowed in unison.

Marianne, who already came down the stairs, was crossing the lobby. She confidently walked toward him as if she was a triumphant general returning from the battlegrounds.

She stopped right in front of the emperor and breathed out roughly.

Rather than bowing to him politely, she even stared at him with an upset expression.

“You look poorly dressed! Did you bump into a robber in the middle of the day? I guess a robber can’t come in as security is very tight around this mansion.”

“No. I met a cheater, not a robber.”

“Cheater?” Eckart asked casually, but some of the people standing around him became pale.

They seemed to know the cheater she was talking about.

Only Jed burst into laughter among them, but he was nudged in the rib by Colin.

“Yes, I was cheated on by a very bad cheater yesterday.”

“Oh. I’m sorry to hear that.”

What? I’m sorry to hear that?

She was at a loss for words at his shameless attitude.

‘Are all the men in the Frey family bloodline all like this man? First Ober, and now the emperor… Are they as good-looking as they are at cheating? Or do they promise in advance to cheat and betray naive and innocent people like me? Otherwise, how can they be so brazen like this?’

While she was venting out her anger, Eckart looked up the center stairs.

It was Cordelli who appeared there late. She was holding a silk gown in her arm, and had gone out to catch up with Marianne. She was also holding one slipper that she picked up on the carpet.

Cordelli stepped down the stairs falteringly at Eckhart’s waving gesture.

“Then, this amazing welcome ceremony for me is kind of a protest to catch the cheater right now?”

“Yes, I have a lot to complain to that cheater.”

“Sure, if you want it. ”

“Can’t you see it? I really want it.”

“I think so. Let’s go back and get ready to meet the cheater then. But it looks like you can’t deal with him when you’re dressed like that.”

When he said that, she looked back at her attire.

Since she came out right after she woke up, her hair was dishevelled, wearing only a nightgown. She appeared here on foot with her unwashed face and a missing slipper

‘So what?’ she wanted to shout, but she was really in terrible shape.

“…I think I was discourteous. ”

“You’re welcome. I think I have to get used to your appearance like that in the future.”

Having said that, Eckart reached out to her back.

Cordelli had already come up to hand her a gown and put the slipper on her foot.

“But others don’t have to get used to it,” he said coldly.

Then he covered her shoulders with a silk gown.

As the surroundings were very quiet, everybody might have heard him.

His warning was cunning and dreadful, mixed with kindness and displeasure.

While looking at his blue eyes when he approached her up close, she suddenly turned.

She suddenly felt very strange. Mostly like he made the remarks to deceive those around him here, and she had no choice but to recall somebody who was pretty much accustomed to this kind of disguise.

“As the cheater will be hers shortly, don’t lose him!”

She left the lobby with Cordelli quickly.

Only after he confirmed they disappeared into the central stairs could he free his men who turned around while he was talking with her.

“It looks like she is a very ferocious woman. I guess you can fall in love with her at first glance, Your Majesty! Have you ever met that type of woman before? I think you have a unique preference for a woman!”

“Sir Jed! Don’t tease me!”

“Why? I’m praising you now. Don’t you agree with me, Your Majesty? Do you know what the noblemen’s daughters in the capital call you? Invincible Blue Iron Wall! It’s not just an ordinary wall, but an iron wall. Why do you think they gave you such a nickname? Then, the daughter of Duke Kling has made it. No matter how large the Aslan empire is, you will never be able to find a more beautiful girl like her. As your servant, I’m deeply touched.”

Jed gave him a long talk on purpose. There was something implicit in his joke, though.

It was ironic to some extent, given his stance that he had been passive in this strategy from the beginning. As Jed knew the emperor’s cold-hearted character since they grew up together as children, he only had the privilege of raising dissent against the emperor and plucking up his courage to resist.

“Your Majesty, don’t pay attention to Sir Jed. It looks like she has already read the bulletin.”

Colin stepped in and tried to read Eckart’s mind.

Eckart, however, was indifferent as usual, as if he didn’t care at all about Marianne’s mention of a cheater, and Jed’s mention of Iron Wall as his nickname.

“I think that’s why she was so upset. I gave her the imperial bulletin paper this morning.”

Instead, it was Mrs. Charlotte who caught Eckart’s attention.

“That’s what you did.”

“I’m sorry. But I thought I had the right to know who she was.”

“Yes, but I don’t want to go through that kind of lousy welcoming ceremony again.”

“Your Majesty, I will keep your precious warning in mind.”

Mrs. Charlotte grabbed the end of her skirt and bowed elegantly.

Then she skillfully changed the topic and asked to escort them to the reception room.

The maids of the mansions and the servants brought by the emperor dispersed to carry out their assignments, and only a few people were left behind to accompany the emperor.

“I have a question.”

While walking down the hallway, Eckart suddenly spoke to Mrs. Charlotte.

“Do you like the new owner of the mansion?”

Mrs. Charlotte turned back at his question and smiled.

“I do not know yet…”

When she deliberately slurred the end of her sentence, Eckart looked at her this time.