Chapter 33

It was the girl with shiny blonde and fresh lime eyes who was staring at her with a cute expression at the tea party.

“Madam, do you happen to know Ms. Roxy? I think she was born and raised in Lonstat,” Marianne asked.

Mrs. Charlotte replied without thinking too deeply.

“I guess you are talking about Roxanne.”

“Oh, her name was Roxanne.”

She casually thought it was a pretty name like her face.

“She is a daughter Earl Lonstat cares about very much. Before you arrived here, there was a widespread rumor that she would be the emperor’s fiancee.”

“As the emperor’s fiancee?”

“Because Duke Hubble and Marquise Chester highly recommended her.”

Now Marianne could understand the whole situation. She understood why Roxy stared at her intensely at the party. Obviously, Roxy thought she suddenly appeared and took away her promised status as the emperor’s fiancee. Besides, her strong backers were Hubble and Chester. It was quite understandable that Roxy felt like her pride was offended when she realized Marianne beat her despite Hubble and Chester’s strong backing.

What kind of person was Earl Lonstat?

“What kind of answer do you want?”

“Well… a frank answer?”

Marianne grinned, with her green eyes sparkling.

Mrs. Charlotte shrugged her shoulders before answering.

“He is Duke Hubble’s running dog.”

Unlike her cool tone, her selection of words was very irritating.

“Do not misunderstand. It’s not a nickname that I coined. Even the members of the Hubble faction allegedly don’t like him. And there is a rumor that the man who gave him such a nickname was Hubble’s son Sir Illius.”

“Sir Ilius…”

“He is called Minor Duke even after he turned 40 because Duke Hubble has total control of the family.”

“Well, I guess he is not on good terms with his father?”

“In public, he acts as if he respects his father, but who knows his intention?”

Marianne was lost in her thoughts.

‘Can’t he be helpful to me? It’s hard to imagine Ilius betraying his family. Well, Ober and the emperor are half brothers with different mothers,’ she thought to herself.

“By the way, at the Marquise’s tea party… … . ”

Mrs. Charlotte, who was watching Marianne carefully, opened her mouth.

At that moment, someone knocked on the door urgently. When Marianne nodded slightly with a puzzled face, Mrs. Charlotte allowed her to come in.

“Lady!”

It was Cordelli who came in. Her face was flushed red. Gasping for breath as if she came running, she came right to Marianne and hung on to her.

“Oh my god. Please go out quickly. Come on. He will arrive in the main building lobby soon.”

“Who is arriving? Who? Emperor?”

Marianne stood up, led by her hands, and was almost pulled away. Mrs. Charlotte also made a perplexed expression.

“Duke Kling, your father has arrived!”

Cordelli shook her head as if she felt stuffy.

“Huh? What are you talking about? How come my father came here…”

As she couldn’t tell Cordelli and Mrs.Charlotte about her dialogue with the emperor, she just said that and shut up. But she couldn’t think straight at that moment.

Counting the dates, it was five days, all told. If he had received the emperor’s messenger early like the emperor said, he could have arrived by now in the capital on a horse with some rests.

But the emperor said he arranged for her father to escape from Lennox to save him from danger.

“It’s a decision befitting your dignity as the emperor. You always enjoy overturning the situation by catching somebody off guard.”

It seemed that Mrs. Charlotte already figured out the situation without listening to her details. After hearing Cordelli, Marianne got more confused.

It was the emperor’s signature decision: he proposed hastily, he announced a public bulletin on his engagement to Marianne even before she stole the show, he hid the servants with gifts behind the door, and he threw a sword at her to test her bodyguard, etc.

Marianne rolled the front hem of her soft evening dress suddenly and then ran blindly.

Embarrassed, Cordelli tried to adjust her dress, but she was already running far ahead.

The emperor told her that he arranged for her father to escape to a safe place. But he didn’t specify where the safe place was. That uncertainty made her run now.

When everyone thought that her father was sent to a remote and quiet place, the emperor thought the opposite, namely he could argue to them that he would defend her father by having him stand before everybody.

It was something only the emperor could do. No one else could do it.

Finally, Marianne arrived at the porch and smiled. At the same time, she was so choked with tears that the tip of her nose became red.

“Daddy!”

As she thought, Kling was standing there due to the emperor’s warm considerations.

“Marie!”

Kling patted her delicate shoulders warmly. Like he did after returning from his inspection tour, he patted her warmly.

“I’m sorry.”

“About what?”

“Well, that…”

A myriad of thoughts flashed in her mind.

‘What should I tell him first? Ober’s bad scheme? My deal with the emperor? The reason why I worried and deceived him? Otherwise…’

Marianne hesitated because she couldn’t open her mouth easily.

Duke Kling smiled graciously as if he knew her heart. He did not question her situation or rebuke his daughter who had deceived himself. Instead, he opened his mouth carefully after looking around.

“I am coming here after meeting the emperor. He told me he found a good wife.”

Although others didn’t know what he meant, she knew exactly what he meant.

“No, I can’t be a good wife for the emperor.”

“No, don’t say that. You will be the most precious woman to him,” he spoke if he was swearing. He even said something like a spell to himself.

Marianne could not reply at all. Though he said it indirectly because of Cordelli and Mrs. Charlotte, she knew what he said implied that he would give everything to the emperor for his daughter’s sake.

“I’m sorry,” he said.

He thought he should have told her daughter much earlier.

She also thought that it was she, not her father, who should have said that.

“No, Daddy, I was wrong.”

When she said that hurriedly, Kling stroked her white cheeks gently.

He told her softly in a comforting voice as if he was soothing a seven-year-old girl who cried after accidentally losing her favorite doll, saying she was okay.

“I haven’t seen you for a long time. I think we better move to another place for a long conversation. Escort me to your place now.”

She nodded with wet eyes. She cautiously held his hands, whose warmth she didn’t want to lose again.

* * *

The Elior Mansion was noisy late into the night due to the dramatic reunion of the duke and his daughter. Their conversations in front of the porch spread quietly but very quickly through the lips of the staff at the mansion. Though she didn’t mean it, that was enough to be the source of the trouble between the emperor and Marianne.

Marianne led her father to a private parlor near the second-floor bedroom.

After some hesitation, she invited several more there, including Mrs. Charlotte and Cordelli to bring tea, and Iric as her bodyguard.

“Lady, you haven’t met your father in a long time. If you are having him here by holding a tea party to welcome him, isn’t it better to have a formal luncheon for him tomorrow?”

“Right. I guess you have a lot to talk with him privately…”

“No. In fact, I have something to tell everyone, not just my father.”

People except the duke thought their presence would interfere with his reunion with his daughter, but Marianne insisted on having everyone there. It was her strength to carry out what she once decided.

“Let me tell you frankly, based on my trust in you. But don’t tell anyone what you’ve heard from me.”

“If you want it, we’ll follow your request. Please don’t worry,” Mrs. Charlotte encouraged her kindly. Others nodded lightly as if they agreed.

Marian took a breath so big that they noticed her shrugging shoulders.

After a short hesitation, she opened her mouth slowly.

“I informed the emperor of somebody’s treason.”

And before she finished her words, the four men in the room realized why they had to stay.

What she was saying was a secret and desperate cry for their help.

She finally confided to them about what happened for the 15 days.

She accidentally heard Ober’s plotting treason, and then discovered his hidden plan about her and her father. Though she loved him in the past, she completely gave him up. As it was something critical to the security of the empire, she felt the need to tell the emperor about Ober’s treason. As she felt her father was worried, she secretly left the mansion to meet the emperor.

That was the best option for her.

As for Ober’s treason, there was no specific evidence yet, so she volunteered to be a double spy to collect evidence. The emperor understood her intention and promised to guarantee her safety by making her his fiancee. However, she was having an uncomfortable relationship with the emperor while pretending to love Ober to gather information about his treason.