CH 15

“Did you call, Your Highness?”

The Crown Prince, who had called Kael to the imperial palace as soon as the day dawned, approached him, panting.

Kael looked at the Crown Prince with an expressionless face without any emotion.

Maybe he was never unpredictable like this.

When Kael rescued Leo and broke the Crown Prince’s plan, he could clearly see him getting angry.

“That’s the territory of the Corrupted. How could you go there recklessly and make the situation worse…”

“It was an area on the perimeter, and we found him while on patrol. I think the Imperial Knights being taken away is an even bigger problem.”

“Then what if a war breaks out!”

“Even though the Corrupted have been threatening the north for a long time, they are not strong enough to declare war on the Empire, nor are they discerning.”

“Still!”

“If you were concerned about such a situation, you should not have sent the Commander of the Fidel Knights to the north in the first place, Your Highness.”

Unable to say anything more, the speechless Crown Prince glared at Kael with an angry face.

Kael barely swallowed the sigh that was about to burst out.

‘I knew he had a weird sense of inferiority in the past, but I didn’t expect it to be this much.’

He already knew that the Crown Prince’s competence was insufficient, but it was worse than he thought.

“No matter how much Your Highness wants to have her, you won’t be able to. So stop playing games.”

The Crown Prince’s face distorted.

However, Kael did not intend to stop speaking.

Until now, he had taken it moderately, but it was different when his marriage to Adeline was confirmed.

He had to draw a line and step on the buds with certainty.

“I think I told you clearly. The moment the Inver family and the Tien family unite, I will consider it treason.”

“Do it. Both I and Lady Tien are innocent, so we will do our best to plead not guilty. You can always put a knife in my neck, if you can handle everything that’s going to happen in the process.”

He was being sincere, not bluffing, and the Crown Prince knew it. His tightly clenched fists shook.

“Everyone in the Tien family knows that Your Highness sent the Commander of the Fidel Knights to the north because of the young lady.”

“…”

“No noble family in the world is fully loyal knowing that you purposely set up a member of the family, Your Highness.”

“…”

“Think calmly about whether it is a good choice to turn your back on both the north and the east.”

The Tien family had territories on the eastern border and coast of the empire.

If the Crown Prince did not cease his bravado and turned his back on Kael and the Tien family, it was like losing the two defenses that protected the empire from the outside.

“Tomorrow, you will sit on the throne, Your Highness.”

“…”

“Why are you trying to make enemies when the power of the throne is at its weakest? Even if you gather up the pieces, there’s not enough time.”

It was not a situation where euphemisms worked, and he didn’t want to bow his head like that.

Kael was someone who didn’t have to do that.

“Lady Tien is not a toy, Your Highness.”

“…”

“I won’t let Your Highness treat her like one.”

The blue-grey eyes that looked at the Crown Prince were colder and sharper than ever.

“I know the words that have been passed down for a long time in the imperial family, Your Highness. It would be helpful if you could keep reflecting on them.”

“…”

“Lady Tien, no, Adeline, is my person now.”

“…”

“Grand Duchess Inver will be Adeline’s next title.”

After telling him everything he had to say, Kael bowed slightly and left the Crown Prince’s office without a second thought.

The words that had been passed down in the imperial family were exactly that.

‘Do not covet the things of the North.’

It was a perfect warning.

A warning not to covet ‘Kael’s Adeline’.

***

“Young Lady. You’re only reading romance novels lately, aren’t you? You didn’t read love stories before because they weren’t funny.”

Amy, who was looking around Adeline’s dress, spoke with a curious expression.

Even at this moment when she heard Amy’s words, Adeline had her gaze fixed on the book.

“I need to see their behavior patterns.”

“Behavior patterns?”

“I have to learn what happens when you fall in love.”

“What?”

Amy, who didn’t understand what she was talking about, crumpled her face, but Adeline quickly focused on the contents of the book without paying any attention.

He promised to break their marriage the moment she truly fell in love with him, so she had to perform the act of loving Kael with all her heart.

Adeline was confident only when she confidently added that condition.

However, when she came home and thought about it, she had never experienced love before.

“As if you can only see that person in the world…”

As if only your loved one exists in this world, and you can only see them. As if that person is the center of the world.

Is what was commonly described in a romance novel she had been reading for a couple of days.

‘That means I have to act like the Grand Duke is the only person I can see. It won’t be easy.’

It was too difficult to act like Kael was the only person in the world.

‘No. I have to pull it off.’

However, for Adeline’s desired end, she should not give up.

She had to pull it off somehow.

“I think my little sister’s reading taste has suddenly changed too much?”

While Adeline was in the middle of her thoughts, Leo, with his arm fixed and wrapped in bandages, smiled mischievously and entered her room.

Luckily, Leo opened his eyes safely after a few days.

However, he was not healed yet, and he had wounds all over his face and body.

“Brother. Are you sure you’re alright? You’re supposed to stay until night… Sir Terra asked you not to overdo it.”

“What do you see the Commander of the Fidel Knights as? I’m that strong.”

Today was the Crown Prince’s ceremony to become the emperor, and the ball was scheduled to continue until nighttime.

Leo smiled brightly, saying that he was fine, but Adeline could hardly feel relieved.

“And I have a message that can only be delivered when I see him.”

Leo said in a voice that sank lower than before.

Adeline nodded slightly.

A lot of things were covered up, but it was clear what Leo wanted.

It was a mission that was directly ordered by the Crown Prince. Since it was an imperial order, he just followed it even if he felt leery about it.

But the result of his loyalty was a trap, and he almost lost his life.

Not only Leo, who had undergone pain directly, but also Enoch, the leader of the family, was very angry.

There was only one reason for Leo to participate in the ceremony with a body that had not yet healed.

Showing that the Tien family would not forget what the Crown Prince had done.

That was the purpose.

“Young lady, Young Master Leo. You should go down now. His Excellency is waiting downstairs. The carriage is also ready. Young Master Simeon will depart from the temple.”

While the atmosphere between Adeline and Leo was slightly subdued, the butler came in and told them the time.

“Aah. Yes. Adeline, let’s go down. Our brother will nag at us if we move slowly.”

Adeline nodded and followed Leo downstairs.

It was once again time for Adeline to take part in her own battle.

Time to fight the Crown Prince’s clinginess, and time to have a fierce psychological battle to quickly end her marriage with Kael.

***

The coronation ceremony was overly spectacular.

Widrow, who was the crown prince, became the emperor during the great coronation ceremony.

After the long ceremony, a brief break was given, and the last event, the ball, began.

“Oh my, Lady Adeline! There you are!”

“Ah, Lady Zenya.”

“I thought you would surely be with Grand Duke Inver, but I don’t see His Grace?”

Smiling while covering her face with a fan, Zenya’s eyes showed slight mischief.

Instead of answering, Adeline gave only a pale smile.

In fact, Adeline was also looking for Kael.

Their designated seats at the coronation ceremony were far away from each other, so they had no opportunity to talk; but even until now, she hadn’t seen Kael no matter how much she looked for him.

“By the way, Lady Adeline. Can I ask you a question?”

“Of course.”

“Did something happen with His Imperial Majesty? Even now, he keeps staring at you. I’m asking just in case. Hoho.”

At Zenya’s words, the other nobles around them glanced at Adeline.

Adeline was also having that feeling.

Since the coronation ceremony ended, the Emperor continued to fix his gaze on Adeline.

As if he wanted Adeline, and everyone else in this hall, to notice his interest.

‘I can’t believe he’s being like this even after that happened. He must be out of his mind.’

Adeline couldn’t believe he was acting clingy towards her even after what he did to Leo, and even though Leo was attending the coronation ceremony while in bandages.

The more she thought about it, the angrier she got.

“Oh, dear. I think His Imperial Majesty will start the dance.”

While thinking about how to give the Emperor a blow without being harmed, the Emperor came down from the podium and headed to the middle of the hall.

It was customary for the coronation ball to begin with the emperor’s first dance.

Normally, he danced with the empress, but the current emperor had no spouse. He had to dance with a lady who didn’t have a decided marriage partner.

“Oh my, oh my.”

Zenya, who was standing beside Adeline, exclaimed with astonishment.

The other nobles who followed the Emperor with their eyes held their breaths, expressing their amazement in their own ways.

It was natural. Adeline was still at the end of the Emperor’s gaze.

“Lady Tien. Dance the first dance with me.”

Adeline stared at the Emperor, giving her a cheesy smile, and struggled not to crumple her face.

It would have been an honor for a normal lady and a sign that she might become the empress, but it wasn’t like that at all for Adeline.

‘I never thought he was so shameless and insane.’

Adeline, who had barely swallowed a sigh and a curse, slowly opened her mouth with a very calm expression.

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I can’t dance with you.”

A firm refusal followed, and the hall became noisy.

Turning down the dance offer of the emperor who just ascended to the throne. It was something one couldn’t do if one feared for their future.

“…Say it again.”

“Unfortunately, I cannot be the partner for Your Majesty’s first dance.”

“What did you say?”

“I know that only a young lady who hasn’t yet been promised in marriage can enjoy the glory of the first dance. That’s not the case for me.”

As the rejected Emperor’s face became increasingly furious, and as the hall’s murmur grew louder at Adeline’s nuance that she had a decided marriage partner, Kael appeared, surprisingly.

He wore a glorious uniform with a beautiful silver epaulet, which was only allowed to the Grand Duke of the North, and he was gorgeous enough to catch everyone’s attention at once.

His large height and wide shoulders were revealed, and, combined with the black hair that was swept back and his blue-grey eyes, it made Kael look like the god of winter.

With a relaxed gait, he slowly approached the Emperor and Adeline.

As if he had already figured out the situation, his languid blue-grey eyes ignored the Emperor and captured only Adeline.

“Something suddenly happened. Sorry. I’ve left you alone for too long.”

Kael whispered in a soft voice, then kissed the back of Adeline’s hand naturally.

“Ah, Your Majesty is here too.”

“…”

“Do you have any business with my fiancée?”

As soon as the word ‘fiancée’ came out of Kael’s mouth, exclamations of surprise poured out from all over the hall.

It was the moment when Kael and Adeline’s marriage, which had only been rumored, was formalized.

The moment when the Emperor’s coronation was erased from people’s minds, and only the announcement of their marriage remained.

It was a great blow to the Emperor.