Chapter 48

“Right. Did you hear about it? It’s Marquis Chester that the bride really loves. I hear their relationship grew deeper at the tea party that Mrs. Chester hosted recently. It looks like the rumors coming out of the social circles in the north is true.”

“Wasn’t it all past history? Such a precious and beautiful lady can choose any bridegroom she wants, right? I hear her father Duke Kling is very dedicated to his daughter.”

“I’m a little worried. I’ve heard rumors that the relationship between the emperor and the bride is very bad. I wonder if the emperor has taken her against her will.”

“Anyway, Marquis Chester must be very upset because the emperor took her forcibly. It’s like ‘You do all the work and somebody else gets the credit,’ right?”

“I’m just disgusted by the way these higher-ups act despicably all the time. Who knows if the bride is secretly plotting with the marquis to use the emperor?”

Besides, more speculations and rumors continued to spread from mouth to mouth. As she was born and raised in the north, there was relatively little information about her. Accordingly, most of the rumors were overwhelmingly groundless speculations about her. And the rumors drew more interest when the alleged trouble between the emperor and the bride was added, as Marianne had wished.

“Will the emperor attend the banquet today?”

“Well, Marquis Chester will come too. Won’t he feel uncomfortable if he bumps into Ober?”

People at the Elior Mansion was no exception. As it was a place where the protagonist of the gossip stayed, there was even more speculation among the people there.

Maids and servants who carried the flowers that they had placed in the back garden of the main building gossiped about the party to be held today. Their main topic was about the participants, especially the rumored protagonists.

“But this is a banquet, plus a ball that happens on the eve of the engagement ceremony. His Majesty is also the main character. Won’the come? I hope he comes so I can see his face. You know, he is really handsome.”

“Oh, don’t you know he’s visited here twice? Haven’t you seen him before? Tough luck, man.”

“What is the point of him coming here? He always has a big quarrel with her and goes away. I just wish he stayed overnight and dined and walked with her.”

“Whew! How unfortunate our new owner’s destiny is!”

That had lots of implications. While they were walking side by side, they didn’t gossip anymore. Though they didn’t know in it detail, they noticed that Marianne was not on good terms with the emperor.

The maid with a yellow vengeful flower pot in hand quickly changed the topic.

“I’ve seen the marquis before. He is my type of man. There’s something dangerous and enchanting about him. I can’t describe it well enough. He’s like a handsome wild animal.”

“What did you say? Your type? What about the marquis’s type? Are you ignoring it?”

“Hey, wash your eyes. As for a man’s appearance, our emperor is the handsomest. Look at his brilliant golden hair, and blue eyes like Lake Lonen. I wish I could drown in it. When I first saw him, I thought something like a picture or a statue was moving around.”

“Tut, tut. You don’t know how to size up a man. When it comes to talking about men, a kind-hearted man is the best. Our emperor is too cold-hearted, so I’m scared. But it looks like the marquis is very kind-hearted, isn’t he? According to the participants, he was kind at the tea party and he was rumored to be kind-hearted in the social circles in the north, too.”

“Tut, tut. I’ve been to the Chester house on errands several times. People there grumbled a lot when they talked about the marquis. Kind-hearted? Are you kidding? I just felt goosebumps when I took a brief look at him in the past.”

“Isn’t it because the person who asked you was so ugly?”

“Nope. Not only the maids, but also the servants said the same thing! I’m not ugly, man! I think I look more handsome than you.”

One of the servants was furious when his friend made fun of him. Other servants and maids laughed at him heartily.

“Ugly!”

And the next moment they stopped all at once as if they were struck with fear.

One of the courageous maids found the source of the sound. Her eyes glanced over nearby trees, climbed up the stone walls and reached up to the two-story balcony with tight railings.

“Madame!”

It was Marianne who was looking down with her chin on the balcony. Inside the silver cage beside her was a white-crowned parrot.

The maids and servants hurriedly kneeled as if someone forcibly bent their knees.

“Ugly!”

Poibe spoke loudly once more, as if to confirm the servant’s remarks. The parrot spoke so well and clearly that all of them were very impressed.

Lowering her head, one of the maids shut her mouth to hold back her laughter.

But the atmosphere at the moment wasn’t good enough for their laugh.

In fact, they were caught gossiping by her.

To make matters worse, one of the two they gossiped about was Marquis Chester who was powerful enough to kill a bird in the sky, and the other was the emperor, the most esteemed person in Aslan.

“We’re so sorry. We didn’t know you were there…”

If they didn’t know she was there, they were supposed to beg for forgiveness. If Mrs. Charlotte had been with her, all of them would have been taken out of the mansion and gotten heavy punishment. But Marianne reached out and shook hands instead of pointing out their rudeness and arrogance.

“Just go and do your work.”

“Really?”

“Just go away before Phebe here makes a loud noise.”

Marianne changed the direction of her face she was resting on the back of her hands. Her voice seemed very tired.

The servants and maids all couldn’t believe their ears. Their conversation included gossip about the emperor. If she made a mountain out of a molehill, she could report all of them to the Justice Ministry for execution. Even if she could show some mercy, they would have to be beaten or kicked out of the mansion, to say the least.

But she told them to go away with no punishment.

When she didn’t punish them, they looked at each other’s faces in bewilderment. They said goodbye to her and quickly left the garden. They had no time to figure out her intention. They urgently ran away before she changed her mind.

“Fool,” Poibe said in a clear voice.

Marianne touched the cage as if she didn’t hear anything.

Fool.

She might feel bad or get mad when the parrot said that, but she didn’t feel like it anymore.

“Phebe. Am I stupid in your eyes?”

The emperor never visited the mansion after that day. She could not meet him officially or informally. Although she didn’t wait for him desperately, she wandered around the crescent-shaped garden every night in hopes that he might come to give her some important information. And every time she returned to her room empty-handed and fell asleep.

After all, Mrs. Charlotte told Kloud who was invited to the party and what she wanted him to do.

A short time later, she received a reply from the palace affairs office. According to the reply, they said it was difficult to approve her request to hold a ball on the eve of the engagement ceremony because of the emperor’s tight schedule, so they recommended that she hold the ball together with the party. As she had no reason to object to it, she didn’t send her reply.

Curtis came to her three times in ten days while she was preparing for the party. He tipped her off about Poibe’s appetite, especially her favorite snacks, how to trim her feathers, and what to check out when she was sleeping.

She couldn’t control Poiebe without his help, but she was close enough to Phebe so that the bird didn’t peck her hair or clothes like when she met Phebe for the first time.

‘I wanted to brag that I made this much progress.’

Marianne felt a bit lonely every time Curtis left after his tutoring ended.

Curtis never opened his mouth unless he was talking about how to deal with Phebe.

She felt his cold-hearted and nasty temper was exactly the same as the emperor’s, which made her feel bitter.

“I wonder if the emperor had anything to tell me.”

One day she asked Curtis as she couldn’t stand her impatience.

“Nope.”

He answered curtly. She would rather have not asked him.

“Isn’t he worried about me since he left after getting so upset about me? He is so mean, right?”

She thought to herself, ‘I’m a bit worried. I’m curious if he sleeps well, if he had another nightmare, if he is eating well, if he wants to apologize because he feels sorry, or if he can’t come because he is sorry.’

Then, Marianne looked up at the sunny sky. Intense sunlight was pouring in as if to show it was noon soon.