Chapter 122

Cordelli was a woman who was not good at lying but could not hide her feelings well.

She just shut up because she knew she was not in a position to intervene between Marianne and Ober. But she was not stupid enough to remain as an idle onlooker when Ober was acting rudely to the emperor’s fiancee.

Ober considered her attitude shameless and weird.

In the past few years when he traveled to Lennox, Cordelli delivered gifts and letters to him, saying she hoped Marianne was in great hands. But after Marianne came to Milan, she often stared at him with dissatisfied eyes.

‘Dang it! Is she already thinking of her as the future empress’s chief maid? How stupid is she…”

Clicking his tongue, Ober frowned a bit.

Now, Ober’s smooth hands reached out to Marianne, who was trying to walk toward the window.

“Sir Ober?”

She got her second life only recently, but Ober tightened his grip on her waist as if he felt he was still very close to her.

“Do you feel thirsty? Would you like some tea?” he asked.

“Pardon? Oh, no thanks.”

“Then I don’t think you need any maid to serve you while you’re looking in the room.”

Rather than asking for her understanding, he was telling her unilaterally.

Held in his arms against her will, she rolled her eyes as his eyes moved.

“Ah.”

Mariane turned awkwardly and looked at Cordilli.

“Cordelli. Can you wait outside? Let me call you back after looking around the room briefly.

I want to talk with Sir Ober too.”

“But…”

“You seem to be overly concerned. I’m with him alone here. Don’t worry.”

Of course, Marianne and Cordelli were well aware that the only man here, Ober, was the most dangerous human being. That’s why Cordelli had to pretend to believe her excuses that she had made as best she could.

In the end, Cordelli went out of the room with great reluctance.

Correcting her facial expression, she turned back and said, “She grew up with me since she was a child. She wouldn’t leave me alone. Ever since the accident in Roshan, she is more worried about me than before.”

“I think so.”

“You know what? She really bugged me while I was travelling here from the Elior Mansion. Still, she is a very sincere woman, so please understand her generously. There are few who care about me so deeply as Cordelli.”

Ober was a wicked man in using human lives as a means to achieve his goal. As someone who had been killed cruelly in his hands in her previous life, Marianne wanted no more victims like her. She had no problem making all kinds of excuses so as to not incur his suspicion.

She couldn’t believe she didn’t feel humiliated while trying to curry favor with the murderer who killed her. Instead, she focused on making him let his guard down.

She found herself amazed at her tremendous patience deep inside.

“I fully understand that. But…”

Fortunately, he seemed to be interested in something else.

“Now that we are alone, I think we can talk a little more candidly.”

“Um…”

Marianne grasped the hem of her dress when he stroked her waist without any hesitation.

She felt creepy as if she felt like a worm was crawling on her bare skin under her dress.

“Sounds good, but can I look around the room first? I want to see the picture up close…”

“If you really like it, let me wrap it up when you go back.”

“What? You don’t have to…”

“I can give you anything you want, regardless of whether it’s alcohol or handicraft. So, why don’t you focus on me now? They don’t run away or disappear even if you put off watching it. But this opportunity may not come again.”

She gradually felt he was pressuring her. As she couldn’t avoid him anymore, she closed her lips without replying.

“Okay, Marie. Answer me.”

In fact, from the moment he called her in the garden, she already sensed that this might be a golden chance for her to dissipate Ober’s doubts about her.

“So, have you made up your mind to come back to me?”

The moment she heard it, she was tormented in her heart.

Of course, she didn’t agonize over whether to betray the emperor or not, as Ober thought.

Even if Ober’s terrible words were all true, her enemy was still Ober for it was this man who ruined her previous life terribly.

She was determined that she had to make him pay for his crimes. She would rather bite her tongue and die rather than go back to him. Her decision had never been shaken for a second since the day she got her second life.

But it was also true that all the things she heard yesterday were not false, which was disturbing to her. She could not deny that her father’s confession and Ober’s voice were making her restless deep inside.

Even at this moment, both reason and intuition were shouting with alarms in her mind. She felt like some hidden secret that she didn’t want to know might come to light soon.

“If I come back to you…doesn’t it mean that I have to betray the emperor?”

What she felt most uncomfortable with was the implications in her calculated question.

Even if she did not go back to Ober, it did not mean that her deep suspicion would disappear.

She felt most terrible about her own incomplete conviction. She never knew how painful it was to wish to trust somebody so desperately.

It was the first time she wanted to run away from him rather than wonder about the secret.

“Betrayal…” Ober repeated her words.

He accurately understood what she was fearing at the moment.

But he was mistaken in understanding why she feared him.

“I like your question. You expressed it very nobly.”

He thought that Marianne, who was naive enough, felt reluctant about the act of betraying someone.

“Do you think it is not proper to express it like that?”

“Well, I think you can express it more clearly.”

“Then tell me. Express it in a way that you think is more proper.”

“I don’t think it’s difficult, but I think you should express it on your side first because it’s rather dangerous for me to listen to it without any determination.”

Although his tone seemed to be very considerate to her, what he actually said was nothing but a threat.

‘Won’t he accept an ambiguous answer?’

Marianne hesitated for a moment and opened her mouth.

“I asked my father yesterday why he didn’t leave Lennox a long time ago and why he overprotected. I also asked him why I didn’t receive any proposal letters from the crown prince despite the traditional practices for the daughters of dukes to be prime candidates for him. I asked if I was not best qualified or if there was any other reason I didn’t get a proposal letter.”

“I think you plucked up great courage yesterday.”

“My father… He said it was all his decision. He said he did so because I just wanted to be happy. He said he stuck to his position for that reason for over 20 years.”

“That means…”

“Yes. My father didn’t want me to be the emperor’s wife. He didn’t want me to be unhappy.

What does it mean?”

The more she talked, the more he lowered his eyebrows. Finally, he looked at her pitifully. “Maybe you were right. I didn’t want it, I really didn’t want it…”

Marianne’s feigned confession to Ober was incredibly flawless.

Her green eyes quickly got wet. Her cheeks became a little pale and her gaze also trembled. She crushed the dress with her hand with light scratches, and tears began dropping down her face.

“…Okay. Let me betray the emperor if I can come back to you.”

Finally, her answer to satisfy his illusion came out.

“What a wise decision! How lovely you are!”

Ober praised her a lot as if he wanted to applaud.

‘How can he describe me as ‘lovely’ when I’m crying in anxiety? What a jerk!’

Thinking like that, she wiped the tears on the other cheek.

“Marie. I will drag the emperor down from the throne and kill him.”

Stunned by what he said next, she opened her eyes wide like a cat.

That was exactly the type of reaction he expected from her, whom he thought was “stupid.”

“He is a mean guy. He deceived you and took you away from me. Besides, he abused your goodwill and insulted your pure heart.”

Ober gave such a shameless and ridiculous answer. If Evelyn later found this out, she would say she had never seen a guy who introduced himself in the most brazen-faced manner.

‘How could I trust and love such a bastard in my previous life?’

In short, Marianne was speechless when Ober blamed the emperor like that. If she could turn back the clock, she wanted to go back to her previous life and slap him on the butt 100 times.

“In fact, the current emperor is too monstrous to wear the crown with nine jewels. To correct his wrong succession of the throne and get even with him for you, I will punish him in the most gruesome manner.”