Chapter 115

Chapter 115: Chapter 114

“Oh, have you seen the new garden I started to decorate? You haven’t seen it, right?”

“I think I heard you were making a new greenhouse.”

“Really? Who told you about it? Oh, that’s not important. Would you like to see it as you have come this far? It’s not done yet, but you don’t know when we can walk like this again…”

When her voice faded, he made a very sad expression. But he quickly changed his expression and wrapped her hands with a smile.

“Okay. I’d love to see it today and take a look at it again when you complete it.”

“Sounds good. You promise me, right?”

“Sure.”

“Well, then go right at the next fork. Right there to the bench over there.”

He led her as she said. After passing through the rattan benches and a small fountain, they traversed a cluster of beautifully trimmed juniper and found a small edifice. It was a glass greenhouse decorated like a room with transparent glass as walls and ceiling.

“I hear they built it like this while I was in Roshan. Isn’t it pretty? I’m going to plant a bunch of my favorite lilies inside. I’m also going to make Phebe’s cottage here. Oh, where did it fly again?

I think it was on my shoulder until I got out of the wagon…”

Mariane looked around as if she was looking for Poibe. Leaning on her, Duke Kling looked around the greenhouse silently.

The greenhouse was transparent, so it did not harm the surrounding scenery. At the same time, it made one feel separated from the outside world like one’s private space. If she planted lilies and set up a cage, it would be more beautiful. Controlling the greenhouse’s humidity, temperature, light and wind would require quite a lot of manpower and money, but it would be a perfect symbol to reveal Marianne’s high social status.

He would give the world to her daughter. Kling, who thought faintly and smiled at his own thinking, instantly frowned when he noticed something inside the greenhouse.

“… Marie!”

Marianne, looking at a nearby tall tree, looked at him.

“That flower pot… Where did you get it?”

“A flower pot? Which one are you talking about?”

“The Adenium over there.”

Concealing his trembling voice, he pointed to a flower pot by the greenhouse.

“Oh, that one! It’s a flower pot Mrs. Chester gave me as a gift. I didn’t know where I put it because I was absent-minded. I think I moved it here. By the way, how do you know that flower name? I didn’t know it before.”

“… ”

Kling was speechless for a while. Marianne looked up at him with a puzzled expression.

“Daddy, what’s the matter with you?”

“… Marie. Do you remember when you received that gift?”

“Yeah. I received it from her at the recent ball. Duchess Lamont gave me a picture of Simony, Miss Beatrice gave me a poem of Camille, and the wife of Sir Idu gave me a black pearl of Tristan…”

Although she recalled the gifts she had received that day, Duke Kling couldn’t focus on her.

His heart was pounding at the moment. He stared at the strangely-shaped pot sharply as if he wanted to break it right away. He clenched his teeth violently and felt like he was being suffocated.

‘Adenium? How could she send this flower at your engagement ceremony? How could she do such terrible things…’

Duke Kling barely concealed his full-fledged rage. His hand holding the sunshade trembled hard.

“Dad, what’s the matter with you? Is there something wrong with that pot?”

“No, no. It’s just a rare flower… It looks like the marquise paid a lot of attention to that gift, but you need to be careful… Anyway, she is Ober’s mother…”

Kling bit his dry lips. He laughed again like before. What he said to clarify his embarrassment was not groundless, either.

But Marianne realized instantly that her father was trying to hide something from her. Almost at the same time, Duke Kling also realized that her daughter had noticed his disguise.

The atmosphere quickly became awkward. Flowers of the greenhouse, which had been felt so sweet and fragrant a moment ago, didn’t give him any more pleasure.

Marianne had no choice but to recall Ober’s words because of her father’s lukewarm attitude. Her father would not tell her why he was so wary and nervous at discovering a flower pot. Given this situation, her father wouldn’t tell her why he built the northern wall so high.

“… Dad, I want to ask you one question.”

She let go of his left arm she had been holding until now.

“I heard that you and the late emperor were close friends. The late emperor had lots of close vassals, but you were his closest friend and advisor.”

She moved one step back and asked, “Then, why were you stuck at Lennox all the time?”

Duke Kling turned to her instead of answering. Her shadow, standing at the border between light and shade, was soon absorbed fully under the sunshade.

“I’ve seen some public bulletins before. So, I asked Mrs. Charlotte. She said the late emperor called you to the palace in the capital several times…and the current emperor proposed some top positions, but you rejected them all. Why did you do so?”

“…”

“You and the emperor were so intimate. Why didn’t you help him?”

“…”

She silently glanced at Duke Kling who didn’t reply. Her emerald eyes became dark against the sunlight. His silence disturbed her mind so deeply that she even wanted to hear his poor excuses.

“I didn’t know this well before, but they say that traditionally the duke’s daughter was prearranged to be married to a royal family member before she turned. But you never said that to me. ”

“… ”

“The current emperor is a good man. Sometimes he gives a cold shoulder to me on purpose, but he is very friendly. Mrs. Charlotte told me that when he was a child, he was an impeccable heir. Even if you were stuck in Lennox for so long, I think you would’ve heard and known about this.”

“Marie.”

“I know you love me so much. Maybe you wouldn’t want to force me to marry someone that I don’t love. It’s not because I don’t know that…”

Even if her father had suggested such a marriage to her, she wouldn’t have accepted it easily. She did not learn to sacrifice herself to their unilateral political interests through her marriage. Of course, if she really met the prince to size him up before such an arrangement, she would probably agree to marry. But she was opposed to the type of marriage arrangement for political purposes without her consent.

But what she asked her father today was a different matter. Apart from her consent, she wanted to know whether there was any such arrangement from the beginning, what her father really wanted to protect, and at the same time what he really wanted to hide from outsiders.

“Was I not qualified to be the emperor’s wife? Or did the later emperor treat you poorly? Or was your relationship with him so bad that you couldn’t even want to talk about my marriage, so you didn’t want me to get out of the castle to hide that fact on purpose?”

“Marie.”

Kling, who kept silent all along, once again called her. As if he was still hesitant, he let out a long sigh and said, “… The late emperor and I grew up together.”

Finally, he began to tell her about his close relationship with the late emperor.

“We studied with the same teacher, went hunting in the same place, and spent the night discussing state affairs. As a child, I spent more time with him than his nanny and attendants. Rather than treating me poorly after he came of age, he called me so often that other noblemen were jealous of me.”

His dark brown eyes slowly traced back his past. Although his gaze was fixed on Marianne, what he saw now was the shadow of his former self.

“As for the current emperor… Like you said, he was a fine prince at that time. The late emperor tried to find the best match for him. Many noble families tried to win his heart to have their daughters marry the crown prince, but you were the first one he wanted to discuss with me about the arrangement of your marriage to him.”

His large warm hands grasped her hand again.

“The late emperor always spoke to me from the moment your late mother Estelle was pregnant. Namely, he said if the baby was a daughter, he wanted to take her his daughter-in-law. He even said you were the only daughter among so many noblewomen that was perfectly suitable as his heir’s bride. Since you were born and Estelle left this world early, he wrote a letter every month, doggedly asking me to arrange the marriage.”

“If that’s the case, what you mean by that is ….”

“Right. It’s not because you were not best qualified, nor was it me or my family that incurred his anger that I wanted to hide you.”

Duke Kling shook his head as if he wanted to make excuses.

At that moment, she felt something had gone wrong.