Chapter 129
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A villainess locked away in a desolate tower—I had possessed her body. Chapter 129 "Why is she taking so long...?"
I kept glancing toward the Garden entrance, but eventually I couldn't bear the cold any longer and began shivering, shifting my weight from one foot to the other. On days like this, one really shouldn't venture out from under the blankets. Sigh, such is my fate. I was staring blankly at the Clock Tower's hands when I heard rustling, and finally Lemeia appeared from among the trees. 'Hmm?' But why did her expression look like that? Had something happened? Her complexion had grown noticeably darker than before, and anxiety was written all over her face. But Lemeia quickly spotted me and approached with hurried steps.
"April! What on earth is going on?"
"Well, that's..."
It would take quite a while to explain. I'd been kidnapped, volunteered to become a slave because I wanted to live, my identity was exposed, and now I'm essentially staying with him—how could I condense all of that appropriately?
"The thing is, I was working in the Princess's Office when I got kidnapped..."
After deliberating, I finally began spilling everything with some careful embellishment.
"And so now we're, we're in a relationship. It just sort of... happened?"
After a long explanation, I finally finished. Then Lemeia, who had been listening to my story with remarkable focus, stared at me. But her eyes...
"So you're saying you're now in a romantic relationship with Blaire Grand Duke?"
Why did her eyes look so wild? Haha, it must be my imagination. I nodded hopefully.
"Yes, right now..."
My voice trembled slightly from pangs of conscience, but Lemeia didn't seem to notice at all. Rather.
"Oh my goodness! You're in love? Kyaaaa! That's wonderful, April!" ...She really seemed to believe it completely? Lemeia bounced up and down, her voice brimming with excitement as she continued bombarding me with questions.
"How? How did it happen? Who fell for whom first? Who confessed first? Are you two still burning with passion for each other?"
Faced with what amounted to a barrage of interrogation, I became even more flustered. Lemeia wasn't usually the type to be curious about things like this. Rather, she only seemed interested in High Society gossip or the romance novels that were trending among young ladies... 'Ah.' I belatedly realized. To Lemeia, the so-called "tea" between me and the Grand Duke wasn't much different from the romance novels she enjoyed.
"Well, it just sort of... came about that way."
I, unaccustomed to such lies, tried to brush past the situation, but Lemeia wasn't as easy to fool as I'd hoped.
"That's how relationships between men and women usually happen. Eyes meet by chance, lips meet by chance, and then before you know it, you're in the bedroom... Kyaaaa! A kidnapper and an illegitimate princess in love—it's so romantic!"
A kidnapper and an illegitimate princess...? It sounds like the kind of material that would only appear in some third-rate novel, and you're accepting it just like that? I was completely bewildered by Lemeia's unexpected reaction. But Lemeia paid no mind to my flustered state and immediately launched into another barrage of questions.
"Are you already at that stage?"
"I'm sorry?"
"Have you ever been to the Grand Duke's bedroom? Or has the Grand Duke secretly visited your bedroom...?"
I had been to his bedroom. And the Grand Duke had visited mine as well. Though "secretly" was hardly the word—"openly" would be far more accurate. But while I hesitated, searching for words, Lemeia had already let her imagination run wild.
"I thought you were so devoted to work that you had no interest in romance whatsoever, but look at you now! Oh my! The quiet kitten was the first to climb the Imperial Palace Walls!"
I belatedly realized I should clarify that wasn't what I meant, but Lemeia's eyes had already glazed over with excitement. I could only stare blankly at her, then shake my head slowly. I had no confidence in stopping someone whose eyes sparkled with such fervent imagination. 'This feels so unfair, though...' Across both my past and present lives, I'd never had a moment to rest—I didn't even know the first letter of romance. I'd be fortunate if I didn't die from overwork, and that remained true now, yet here I was being misunderstood as someone who frequented a man's bedroom. If I'd actually dated even one person, I wouldn't feel this wronged! But there was no one like that. Or was there? 'The Grand Duke, and Ian....' As I stood there blankly thinking of those two, Lemeia's murmur suddenly reached my ears.
"I wonder if the baby will be a girl or a boy?" ...Good heavens. She was already planning my family—and I didn't even have a real fiancé, let alone a fake boyfriend! I pretended not to hear and quickly changed the subject.
"Um, Princess. As I mentioned while explaining the situation earlier, would it be possible for you to keep my origins in Salt confidential?"
"Hmm, April. Of course that wouldn't be difficult, but..."
Lemeia's eyes wavered slightly before she carefully asked me a moment later.
"April, are you and Blaire Grand Duke truly in love?"
"Me?"
Of course not. But since I'd begun a contractual romance with the Grand Duke, my answer was predetermined.
"Yes, I suppose you could say that...."
"Well, you do visit each other's bedrooms! So have you received a proposal? A ring? A million flowers?"
A million flowers would be impossible to even carry—surely she meant a hundred thousand? In any case! When the Grand Duke and I had set the parameters of our arrangement, we hadn't discussed a proposal, but if I denied it outright, it might interfere with his plan to break off his engagement. Remembering that fact, I could only laugh awkwardly.
"Ha, haha. How embarrassing."
"You're so cool. You're just like the heroine in a romance novel, April."
Lemeia's face had flushed without my noticing, and she cupped her cheeks in her pale hands, murmuring like a child.
"I'm so jealous... I wanted that kind of love too."
Huh? I blinked, momentarily stunned. In that moment, Lemeia added one more thing, like a sigh.
"I thought I might be loved...."
Her voice trembled thinly, and watching her, my heart grew heavy as if a stone had settled upon it. Moreover, what Lemeia said... 'So my intuition wasn't wrong after all.' In the original work "Forced Empress," Lemeia suffered from Lyden's overwhelming obsession. But while she struggled with his manic love, she never doubted the fact that Lyden loved her. Yet Lemeia's words now meant the content had diverged from the original. Lemeia was acutely sensitive to men's interest and affection toward her, if nothing else.
"April, I envy you. I thought... everything would be fine once I came to the Empire. Sob."
Transparent tears pooled in Lemeia's beautiful eyes.
"I'm... so afraid of the Crown Prince...."
"Why... what happened?"
"The letters weren't exchanged by me, and sob, he now knows that all those many pieces of advice weren't from me either. Since then, he's shown no interest in me..."
Finally, Lemeia lowered her head and buried her face in her palms, breaking into tears. Whether she had been holding back all along while pretending otherwise, her delicate shoulders trembled ceaselessly. Perhaps because I only remembered Lemeia living innocently and without worry, my heart became terribly complicated at the sight of her distress. But then.
"The problem is... he seems to have taken an interest in you instead, the one who did it for me...."
"Pardon?"
At Lemeia's words, my eyes widened. If he discovered that I had been handling Lemeia's duties, that would mean he had also figured out my identity...?
"So..."
"The Crown Prince wants you. He ordered me to bring you to him."
At Lemeia's solemn words, I felt my heart freeze. What could it possibly mean for her to say such a thing to me now? As I was rolling my eyes trying to grasp the situation, the sound of several rustling footsteps began to echo.
"Surely not, Princess."
"I'm sorry. Sob, I want to support your love with Blaire Grand Duke... but I simply cannot defy the Crown Prince. I feel I must obey."
"Ah, you don't have to do that. There's no need to... is there?"
I asked desperately, but Lemeia shook her head while tears streamed down her face.
"I can't..."
"Pardon?"
"I cannot refuse the Crown Prince. When I stand before him... I feel as though I must do exactly as he wishes."
Her sobs were so overwhelming that Lemeia's small frame shook violently as she gasped for breath. The moment I stepped forward to calm Lemeia.
"...I remember. When I first felt this way."
Lemeia murmured, brushing back her dried rose-colored hair that had fallen forward. Lemeia's face, which had been tearful just moments before, had become strangely rigid.
"It was the day I drank the tea the Crown Prince sent."
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Brought to you by Valir Scans! To support our team and enjoy the latest releases, please read directly on our official site: valirscans.org
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