Chapter 55

It got dark out of nowhere. The atmosphere of the ball also heated up.

Luckily, Marianne met Mrs. Charlotte before leaving the bathroom. Ms. Charlotte, who visited the annex in a hurry at the emperor’s sudden call, was surprised to see her there.

But she quickly and surely gave her a pass without asking further. Indeed, that showed her exceptional skill in coping with the situation as the former chief maid of the empress.

Her crumpled dress gently fluttered like petals. Her swollen eyes were moderately covered by dark makeup and the shade of the night. It took less than 30 minutes for Mrs. Charlotte to apply ointment to her slightly bruised knees, put new shoes and socks on her, and call out the maids who helped her dress up to remind them of the need to shut up.

As a result, Marianne returned as she initially appeared at the banquet hall. Though she was beautiful, she looked pitiable when her dress was dragged to the floor.

“Well, how pitiable and beautiful she is! If an angel with broken wings comes down, she will look like that lady.”

Someone in the crowd surrounding her excitedly screamed.

People tended to see what they wanted to see first and then selectively believed what they wanted to believe. Rumors were easily inflated and the truth was more easily hidden. Even though they observed Marianne who left in a hurry, they thought her sudden leave was related to her affair with a man.

“Lady Marianne,” someone said.

Perhaps most people would believe so, except for him.

“Sir…”

Marianne looked aside with an awkward smile. Already, several pairs of couples were dancing around, and Marianne stood on the lower stage, enjoying watching the dance without excitement.

“I was worried if you had any discomfort.”

“I’m fine. I suddenly didn’t feel well a while ago. I think I showed you my terrible look as I was so absent-minded. I hope you forget it.”

“Refusing a lady’s request doesn’t fit a gentleman’s code of act. You don’t have to worry about it.”

Ober replied while smiling as gently as possible. At the same time, he scanned her from head to toe.

“But…”

He still checked out the emeralds wrapped around her whole body. He even looked closely at her makeup that was a little darker than before and her feelings reflected in her eyes.

“Rejecting a gentleman’s request is not also a lady’s virtue, isn’t it?”

Ober reached out in an elegant manner.

If he learned anything from his mother Marquise Chester and his political foster father Duke Hubble, it was how to control his hot temper. He learned how to wait for the time to step back and catch a trap before throwing a knife at the game.

Although he didn’t succeed every time after he tried, he learned how to decorate his trick in a more sophisticated and sociable way when he succeeded.

“Sir, thank you. But I am…”

“You’re already late. Your Majesty will not come.”

Marianne looked around at Ober’s words. Mrs. Charlotte and Cordelli were watching her. Though they put on masks, they were very worried.

Her eyes glanced farther. Over there, noblewomen and the young ladies were dancing or talking with the gentleman and young people. Among them, there were many busybodies who came to the ball to inflate the rumors about Marianne and Ober every day.

But she couldn’t find the emperor in the crowds.

The emperor was clearly inside this mansion until a few minutes ago. But he was not beside her at this moment. Perhaps he already returned to the Imperial Palace. She didn’t even ask why he suddenly appeared before her after ten days.

“Isn’t this a party for ladies? It would be a sin for a human like me to ask to dance to the goddess of Anthea, but it would be a greater sin if I dare to leave the goddess alone.”

Ober mobilized all kinds of sweet talk and whispered like a snake.

Marianne felt miserable about herself when she discovered she couldn’t give up her lingering attachment for him.

She brainwashed herself at that moment.

‘Okay, this is great. Let them think my relationship with the emperor is very bad as the rumors say. So, I don’t have to lie to deceive them.’

When she finally decided, she said, “You must be the most faithful priest of Anthea, Sir Ober.”

In the end, she slowly put her hands on Ober’s. Ober knelt down and put his forehead and lips on the back of her hands.

“Oh my god!”

“Good Heavens!”

“Gosh!”

Exclamations and lament that broke out everywhere in the ball hovered around her ears. Perhaps tomorrow this would generate the hottest rumors in town.

“His Majesty is entering!”

The tranquility of the garden where the ball was taking place was disturbed by the chief attendant’s loud announcement. The orchestra stopped playing, and the big throng of crowds made their way for him.

Several servants ran around and quickly laid the golden carpet. Iric and Curtis and the other senior knights of the Eluang Knights, who were scattered around the venue, lined both sides of the carpet with salutes.

“We’re honored to see the incarnation of the great god Airius.”

Chief of the Royal Guard, Grand Duke Christopher, was the first to show his manners.

Then other nobles and their daughters, wives and young men bent down and bowed like dominoes. Their shouts of respect for him repeated like an echo.

Only then did Ober stood up, hiding his ridicule of the emperor. As she looked at the emperor approaching closer to her at the end of the long carpet, Marianne didn’t see Ober letting go of her hand and stepping back.

“I’m a little late,” said Eckart, stopping at the end of the carpet.

“Did you wait long?”

Marianne shook her head slightly with a confused look. His green pupils met her blue pupils face to face.

He turned his attention to the man next to her after noticing her suspicion.

“It looks like you’ve escorted her on my behalf.”

Ober barely bowed just enough to show his slightest manners.

“Let me appreciate your efforts later.”

“…I’m honored.”

They exchanged a monotonous dialogue, but even those who were slow-witted easily discovered that they were waging a fierce war of nerves.

“Marianne, I hope you don’t feel too sad, though I’m a bit late.”

Eckart came closer to Marianne. He put his moderately smooth and smooth hand near her rib bones quietly.

“Just think I was late because I was overly concerned about your wellbeing.”

Then he bent his waist slightly for her, who was relatively short, and leaned forward so that people there could think both of them were on good terms.

“I wanted to give you something today.”

As he intended, people around him covered their mouths and whispered. Not only noblewomen and their daughters but also nobles and young men knew how the emperor treated women. So, they couldn’t believe what was happening before their eyes.

Wasn’t he called the ‘Blue Iron Wall’? He was far from that!

“Colin, bring me a gift!”

Receiving their hot attention, he called his personal secretary Colin. As if on cue, he brought a box. Deputy Chamberlain Kloud, waiting right beside him, took over the box in the middle, and opened the lid of the box before Marianne with the emperor’s short permission.

“…Your Excellency!”

She looked at Eckart with a more troubled expression.

“This is a diamond that the priest of the Roshan Temple found in the forty-sixth tributary of Benua Falls. This kind of red diamond is rare among the treasures of the imperial kingdom that were banded down since the founding days. Even today, nothing is left for the emperor, except for this.”

Eckart described the history of jewels as if he narrated a myth, and at the end of each of his sentences, those surrounding him whispered more.

“But strangely enough, this was newly found during my reign. What does that mean?”

He untied the emerald necklace around Marianne’s neck in person. The tiara on her head, the earrings on her ears, and all the ornaments that Ober gave her were removed without exception. Instead, a red and transparent diamond necklace was worn around her neck.

At first glance, it was a big, brilliant jewel that was over 100 carats.

“This gem was born for you.”

Holding their breath, the guests were stunned to watch the gem, which revealed itself finally.

“Your Majesty, I don’t deserve this…”

“No, I can’t find any better owner than you.”

Eckart cut off her words sharply. She looked down at the jewel on her neck.

The feel of the heavy and cool mineral seemed to penetrate deep into her heart just like his unpredictable and hard-to-understand words.

“It really fits you nicely.”

Of course, his compliment was not something like a dagger to Marianne.

The same was true for Ober, who was trembling while clenching his teeth.

Ober had been waiting for the emperor’s surrender more than anybody else. He wished that one day the emperor who fell for a woman could act stupidly before a large crowd, not knowing what to do. It didn’t matter to him if the emperor gave her a diamond larger than that, or built a larger palace than the Lucio Imperial Palace.