Chapter 39

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 39

Chapter Title: Returned Luggage

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Triumphantly, I waited for Arpad's response.

Looking down at the spectacle unfolding on the street below from beside me, Arpad wore a faint smile the whole time.

It was a smile that seemed quite satisfied.

Both Ludwig's disgraceful antics outside,

and the cheers from the mercenaries we'd planted in advance spreading his humiliation far and wide.

'Once rumors of this incident spread solidly, everyone will know Ludwig isn't emperor material.'

And this was exactly what Arpad wanted.

Of course he should be pleased.

But.

Arpad's expression somehow seemed subtly off.

'What's this? Why the sudden change?'

He'd clearly burst out laughing earlier when Ludwig was crawling on all fours in the street.

Yet now, Arpad had turned his head and was staring straight at me.

One thing was certain: it wasn't an expression of satisfaction or vindication.

'Now what's got him displeased?'

He was truly unpredictable.

He gestured with his chin toward the scene below.

"He's calling quite desperately."

"Pardon? Calling what?"

At that moment, Ludwig let out another scream close to a shriek.

"Hilia—! Come out already! Hilia! Hilia—!"

Listening carefully, I could finally make it out.

'Ah, he was calling my name.'

I nodded.

"He is, isn't he?"

"What does it feel like?"

"Feel like what?"

I had no idea why he kept saying such random things.

"Your former fiancé is desperately calling your name alone, and it doesn't shake you in the slightest?"

In that instant, I finally understood Arpad's expression.

He was... extremely displeased right now.

I realized one thing immediately.

'Ah, well, Ludwig's antics are a bit excessive.'

I hadn't expected him to wet himself, either.

But Ludwig wetting himself was entirely Arpad's fault.

Who was the one emanating such overwhelming killing intent yesterday?

Even toward a rival, Arpad seemed to have immense pride and self-esteem.

Ludwig abandoning bipedal locomotion must have been embarrassing as a fellow imperial.

'He wants to uphold the imperial family's dignity while kicking Ludwig out? Quite the appetite.'

Expressing my regret for that fact, I replied sullenly.

"It's truly regrettable that the imperial family's dignity has been tarnished."

Arpad slowly shook his head.

"Is that the entirety of your response?"

"What more answer do you need? Is there a specific one you want?"

Arpad let out a scoff and shook his head.

Then he donned his mask, transformed back into Gerald, and strode out of the study.

'What an oddball!'

The sun hanging at the center of the sky stabbed his eyes with its sharp rays.

In the midst of a headache that felt like his skull was splitting, Ludwig barely managed to open his eyes.

"Ugh, urgh, my head...!"

A servant who had been waiting nearby immediately brought him cool water.

As he gulped it down and tried to sit up, he noticed something strange.

"What? Where is this?"

It wasn't the familiar bedroom in Delphin Manor.

Then a servant's trembling voice answered.

"This is the Grand Duke's residence, Your Highness."

Only then did Ludwig realize it was a place he knew well.

He frequented the Grand Duke's residence, but since he didn't live there primarily, it took him a moment to recognize it.

Clutching his pounding head, Ludwig muttered.

"Why am I here?"

His question was met with a sharp, anger-laced response.

"You're finally awake. Sleep well?"

The words could have sounded affectionate.

Especially considering the speaker was his lover.

But the voice was colder than ice and bristling with irritation.

Furrowing his brow, Ludwig asked.

"Eva? Why are you here?"

After glaring at Ludwig for a moment, Evangeline strode over and slapped his cheek hard.

Smack—!

The sound was so sharp it seemed like it might tear flesh, and Ludwig looked up at her in disbelief.

"You, you dare!"

Evangeline usually coquettishly defused things or changed the subject whenever Ludwig truly got angry.

But now, she was looking down at him like he was a bug.

"Don't you remember? What you did this morning?"

"What did I even...!"

Ludwig's face drained of color as he was about to yell.

Along with the bitter bile rising in his throat, hazy memories surfaced.

Last night, Hilia had come to Delphin Manor.

And then, and...

"Hilia—! She's mine, you hear me! Hilia!"

Himself crawling on all fours in the street like a beast.

The crowds gathering like clouds to gawk at the sight.

Even lowly mercenaries blocking his path.

Ludwig muttered like a madman.

"No. That can't be. It couldn't have been real. Right?"

Forgetting even his anger from the slap, he clung to Evangeline.

But she delivered a verdict close to a death sentence with a contemptuous gaze.

"No, it's all true. Your drunken disgrace has already made the rounds through the capital several times over."

"N-no! It can't be! No!"

Ludwig screamed like a dying beast.

And the humiliation for the two had barely even begun.

Even as Evangeline racked her brain on how to salvage the situation amid her fury.

'Should I just cut Ludwig loose? This is too damaging.'

Ludwig was already a collateral imperial with weak legitimacy.

Fear was fine, even preferable for a ruler. Arpad was that type, after all.

But rumors that would only invite contempt and mockery? The worst.

Erasing this and putting him on the throne would be incredibly difficult.

No matter that she was a possessor.

Her stomach had already been churning since seeing Hilia side with Arpad.

And now this incident on top of it—she really didn't want to be involved anymore.

As before, the gap with Arpad's beautiful and majestic demeanor only widened.

'Arpad has never made a fool of himself drunk on cheap booze like this!'

Yet the simple reason Evangeline hadn't decided yet was this.

'But Ludwig is the original male lead.'

She planned to replace the female lead with herself.

That alone created countless variables and unpredictable situations.

Just like now.

'But is it even possible to change both the male and female leads?'

Thinking that, completely abandoning Ludwig might be too risky.

"Do you know what the rumors about you are saying now?"

"W-what, what?"

"That you're a pathetic wretch clinging desperately to your ex-fiancée's house, getting drunk, wetting yourself, and howling her name!"

That was why Evangeline kept criticizing and berating Ludwig without fully cutting him off.

All because he was the original male lead.

Ludwig clung to her in a dazed state.

"S-save me, Eva!"

He begged pathetically and servilely.

"If His Imperial Majesty the Emperor and Her Imperial Majesty the Empress find out, I'm done for!"

Clutching his head and screaming, Ludwig staggered, not yet free of his hangover.

Then he grabbed Evangeline's dress and started vomiting.

"Please, help me! Urghhh!"

"Kyaaah!!!"

The screams of the two shook the Kielern Grand Duke's residence.

They would soon realize that this horrific day was only just beginning.

That same afternoon, massive luggage wagons sent from Delphin Manor filled the space in front of the Kielern Grand Duke's residence.

A flustered servant from the Grand Duke's household asked.

"What is all this?"

"These are His Highness the Grand Duke's belongings left at Delphin Manor."

"What?"

"With the engagement now broken, this is Her Highness the Duchess's gracious consideration in returning them to your household."

And watching it all from a third-floor window of the Grand Duke's residence, Evangeline suddenly remembered one fact.

'Wait. I have a lot of my own luggage at Delphin Manor too? Don't tell me?'

She slipped out the back door just as she had when entering the Grand Duke's residence and raced to her family home, Ruth Marquis's Manor.

There, she nearly tripped witnessing a similar scene.

"Ah, perfect timing, Lady Ruth. We've sent every single item you left at Delphin Manor without missing a thing. Please sign here on the receipt."

Evangeline looked around with a pale face.

Curious gazes from all directions were watching the spectacle, ears perked to eavesdrop on the conversation.

This situation would surely spread through not just the capital's high society but even among the commoners by day's end.

'This can't be happening! Me, suffering such humiliation...!'

Her vision spun.