Chapter 56

‘How childish he is! How dare you scorn me in such a nasty way?’ Ober thought to himself.

He never wished that his gifts to Marianne, which Eckart removed, would be discarded like that.

Those emeralds were kind of a bondage he put on Marianne. Going beyond mere aesthetic value, the gems were physical evidence that proved his influence over Marianne. Anyone who planted their own spies in the social circles knew what those gems he gave to her meant. Nevertheless, Eckart openly cut off the leash he put on her in front of everybody, as if he was her new lover. Of course, the emperor himself and Marianne knew that.

“Wouldn’t it be nice to start a banquet now?” Eckart said with a gentle smile on his mouth.

The orchestra again began to play an elegant waltz.

Soon, he moved the cuffs of his golden sleeves softly and reached out to her, saying, “My dear Anthea. Please allow me to stay with you forever as you and I become light and darkness to each other.”

Just like Airius wooed the heart of his beloved goddess Anthea, he invited her to dance with him politely and elegantly.

“I, Anthea, swear that even after a thousand nights and days, my blessings from the beginning will protect us.”

After hesitating for a moment, she took his hands. His green eyes trembled slightly.

“Your Excellency!”

Marianne whispered quietly, asking, “Why did you do that?”

The garden was lively, with the voices of people and the playing of musical instruments mixed. Most of the guests looked at the two waltzing in the middle of the stage. Although it was difficult for their conversation not to be overheard by others, everyone talked in a low voice as if they were whispering far away. So, there was less risk of their dialogues leaking out.

Marianne asked Eckart, “You didn’t have to piss off Ober so openly, did you?”

“Well, the more dramatic the rumor was, the faster it was supposed to spread.”

He grinned at her as if he put his lips to her ears and talked in whispers. Some of the young ladies surrounding the stage began to whisper, suspicious of their eyes. Even though they put on masks, their surprise was clearly visible to others.

Marianne continued, “If it was your intention to inflate the rumors, I think you’ve had a great success.”

“No. Not enough yet. Hubble and Chester have a lot of people with lots of experience in politics. I need to disperse their suspicion of our relationship.”

The golden dress and the cloak fluttered gently through the night breeze. Their shoes and boots moved in step with the waltz. As their dancing was so beautiful like a picture, young ladies and men dreaming of romantic love expressed envy, carried away with it.

“So I don’t want you to tolerate a little bit more,” Eckart said.

“I don’t know what you mean…”

Even before Marianne was done asking, he let go of her hand gently. In no time, he kissed her forehead lightly, covering her cheeks with his cool fingers.

“We have to make them believe the rumors about us are related to our love, so we can reduce the chance of our plan being detected,” he said.

As if to prove his words, those surrounding the emperor couple showed more intense reactions.

Excited, Rane knocked on Jed’s forearm grinning brightly, while Roxanne was tearing off the bouquet that she received from a young lady a moment ago. While looking at the couple, Ober kept emptying his wine cup. Though the marquise wore a mask and covered her face with a fan, she fixed her gaze on the emperor couple.

Marianne tried hard not to grab the emperor’s arms. Her forehead felt hot as if it was burned.

If what happened in the crescent garden was an accident, this was a thoroughly planned tactic.

The feelings of the end were mixed, too…

“Nevermind. I know that a hostage like me doesn’t have a choice,” she said, as if she had mixed feelings of joy and sadness. Each of her words had implicit meaning.

Eckart tried to refute, but shut his mouth. He let out a sigh over her hair.

“Have you prepared this in advance for a long time?”

“To some extent.”

“When did you start?”

“From the day you asked me to bring Ober’s gifts.”

“You had the necklace before that, right?”

“Yes, but I didn’t have it for long.”

Marianne gave up asking. She couldn’t expect any good answer even if she asked more. In the end, all his actions proved that he prepared today’s event to control the public opinion and not to give the enemy any time to come up with a counterattack.

And his action was natural. That was the main reason why she formed an alliance with him from the beginning. It would be foolish to expect more than that.

“I met all the people at the tea party you mentioned to me. As our engagement is just around the corner, I’m going to invite them here with that excuse.”

“Sure.”

“I’ve also made a connection to Marquise Chester. I’ve been given her permission to visit her mansion at any time, so I’m going to go there when she is away. I think I can get some clear clues on Ober’s treason plot.”

“Sounds good.”

They talked in a businesslike manner. Marianne didn’t say anything after that. The playing of string instruments and guests’ chattering replaced their silence.

Eckart slowly turned around and looked down.

His relaxed gaze passed through Ober’s chocolate rich hair, round and straight forehead, and long and dense eyelashes like pine needles. Suddenly, he recalled what happened in the bathroom.

“I have a nightmare sometimes.”

“Sometimes you have some stuff that you find hard to tell me.”

“Don’t you like me at all?”

“Why haven’t you come? Did I make a big mistake that day? Have you ever worried about me?”

“You don’t have to treat me well because I’m your hostage.”

“As you often have mercy on me, I’ve come to misunderstand your favor.”

“You’re so cruel.”

Hallucinations like this became as sharp as metal and dug into every part of his body. Each time a sentence was completed, an excuse was made. In the course on the Disciplines of Kingship, a must for anybody who wanted to be an emperor, taught the monarch’s lack of shame as a virtue. It meant that any emperor candidate should not act shamefully, but it emphasized the fact that it was not a sin even if he acted shamefully. Perhaps it was designed to deify the emperor and increase the value of the emperor’s order.

Accordingly, Eckart was not supposed to admit any excuses. Excuses were unacceptable to the emperor.

The emperor was the standard of all the people. For this reason, the emperor rarely admitted his mistakes or errors before the stern historians of future generations reassessed them. They didn’t have to. Some notorious tyrants did not admit their mistakes until the moment their necks were cut off at the guillotine.

Since the emperor’s honor was so important, the wise men of previous generations crafted cunning rules to guard against the emperor’s mighty power. They suppressed the desire of the emperor through strict laws. They stopped the emperor from taking actions at the whim of their private feelings. Nevertheless, they taught that as the emperor was the country itself, his crown studded with nine jewels was the highest good on earth.

But time rusted everything. It operated on the principle that the dam would break one day if you forcibly stop the river from running.

Laws gradually faded and were used to protect the families, clans, politics and their political forces. Though it was not necessarily limited to the emperor, sufficiently distorted truth was the best excuse for killing their political foes even at the risk of violating morals, hurting others, and ruining even the country…

Eckart was an aristocrat born and raised from the imperial family. He faithfully followed what he learned over 20 years. Before he turned ten, he relied on good faith, and after he turned 15, he went the opposite, any namely lived with malice.

But since he met this woman, he began to quickly entertain suspicions that he held back.

He felt like someone was slapping him in the face.

‘Am I following the righteous path?’

How many people were forced to sacrifice in the name of suppressing their private feelings and defending public interests?

“Marianne.”

“Yes.”

She now replied without even looking up at him.

Eckart let out a very long sigh as if he was taking a deep breath. Then, he slowly opened his mouth. “That day, I…”

At that moment, someone was screaming.

Ahhh!

A sharp scream came from one of the tables where people were gathered.

Stunned, Marianne staggered as she stumbled. She tightened her grip on Eckart’s hand. He instinctively hugged her.

“Curtis!”

Curtis was already running toward him before Eckart called. Curtis jumped over the table and quickly stopped in front of the two. Iric, who was on standby nearby stood by her quickly.

“A snake is inside my skirt! Oh my god!”