Chapter 75

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 75

Chapter Title: The Empress's Arrival

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“What are you doing out of nowhere? Don’t you know this is a crucial moment?”

I asked in the lowest whisper possible. We couldn’t afford to let anyone see us fighting right now.

“That’s exactly why I butted in—it’s the perfect timing.”

Arpad chuckled low in his throat, his breath tickling my ear as he whispered.

“I’m the kind of deranged, devoted husband who can’t just stand by and watch tears fall from my wife’s eyes.”

So that’s his ‘character setting’, huh.

I shot him a hushed reprimand.

“Just how much chaos do you plan to unleash later using this as an excuse?”

Arpad’s expression turned subtly strange.

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

I tilted my head. Wasn’t it obvious?

“Like killing or kicking out the servant you suspect is a spy, then claiming you did it because you hated seeing your wife cling to him?”

“……”

“Or using it as a pretext to punish some noble from the enemy faction for approaching me?”

Now fine lines creased Arpad’s smooth brow.

Every time Arpad frowned, three identical wrinkles formed in exactly the same spot.

Without thinking, I poked the spot with my fingernail, murmuring.

“Keep that up, and you’ll get wrinkles on that handsome face of yours. Smooth it out.”

As my nail tip brushed his porcelain-smooth skin, the wrinkles vanished cleanly.

Arpad’s red eyes rounded like marbles.

He stared at me intently, as if trying to bore holes through me, then grumbled.

“I swear, I can never tell if you’re doing this on purpose or not.”

“...Doing what?”

“You act like you think a little wound will stop hurting if you just apply some balm right away.”

What kind of false accusation was this?

What had I even done?

I felt utterly bewildered and wronged.

No, I was the one in the middle of playing the victim—or rather, emphasizing that I was the victim—yet here he was acting like he was the one hurt.

I wanted to glare at Arpad with piercing eyes.

Is this guy just nitpicking because something about me rubs him the wrong way? Or is he testing me again...?

As if reading my face, Arpad smiled softly.

I absolutely couldn’t trust that smile.

“You know what? You overthink and suspect everything way too much.”

“So what?”

“You think so much that you keep twisting other people’s actions and words every which way. Especially mine.”

His voice carried an emotion that seemed so out of place for him... Was I imagining it?

Something like grievance or resentment.

No way.

That couldn’t be.

Impossible!

If that’s the case... it’d be like he actually likes me for real...

That was when Arpad whispered softly into my ear.

“Doesn’t a pitiful husband, driven mad by sadness over not getting enough attention, seem like he’s just throwing a tantrum to monopolize his wife?”

“...I already know it’s not like that, so you don’t have to mock me.”

“……”

Arpad’s eyebrow twitched.

A small sigh brushed my ear.

“What am I going to do with my little baby squirrel being so oblivious?”

That ‘baby squirrel’ line instantly erased the ticklish, swirling confusion of emotions.

All that remained was pure mortification.

“...Can’t you do something about that damn ‘baby squirrel’ nonsense?!”

This was 100% sincere.

Sure, it was all to rile up the Empress or Evangeline, or to show off our perfect harmony to everyone around.

But still, it was too much. Way too much.

“Doesn’t it embarrass you to say it?”

Arpad looked mildly surprised, then shook his head.

“Not at all.”

“No way...”

What a liar.

“It’s true. I mean it sincerely.”

“There’s no way ‘baby squirrel’ comes out of your mouth sincerely!”

“Why not?”

He tilted his head, then leaned into my ear and explained at length.

“You’re so tiny.”

Arpad tightened his arm around my waist and lifted me slightly off the ground. Eek!

“And so light.”

T-That’s just because you’re big and strong.

“Plus, the way you always stuff something into that little mouth and munch away is adorable.”

“...!”

Th-That was getting dangerous.

My face flushed hot without warning.

The fingers cradling the back of my head, stroking inward through my hair, felt scorching.

“And the first time I saw this fluffy hair, I thought it looked just like a squirrel’s tail—I wanted to touch it.”

“No normal person would look at my hair and think that...”

Isn’t that a stretch?

“I’m not normal.”

“……”

Ah, right. Of course. Who could argue with that.

To the onlookers, the two of us whispering looked like a newlywed couple lost in their own little world once again.

“They’re so passionate, no matter the time or place.”

“His Highness the Crown Prince has such intense possessiveness.”

“He abducted her in a bride raid after falling at first sight—how could it not be?”

Some were bewildered, but others, accustomed to such scenes, had reached a state of enlightenment.

Namely, the servants of the Crown Prince’s Palace.

Annie, familiar with this situation, stepped forward while the two whispered.

She supplemented Hilia’s testimony in front of the Emperor and the Grand Duchess.

“This unworthy maid wearing such an undeserved dress did so because I myself pleaded with Her Highness the Crown Princess first.”

She was simply stating the facts.

The Grand Duchess’s eyes flicked subtly.

“So even Her Highness the Crown Princess opposing Ruth Marquis’s Daughter’s scheme wasn’t her own idea?”

The Grand Duchess read Annie’s intent and chimed in appropriately.

“Yes. Merciful Her Highness the Crown Princess wished to let Ruth Marquis’s Daughter and Mrs. Filern’s plot slide.”

Evangeline and Mrs. Filern, already dazed, grew even paler.

With barely any color left, their faces now resembled corpses.

They understood Annie’s intention.

By emphasizing Hilia’s mercy, she was making them look even more like trash.

“But I couldn’t bear it, so I begged to wear this dress. I told them that if those two gave up slandering Her Highness the Crown Princess, nothing would happen.”

“But it came to this anyway.”

“...Yes. She remains so composed, but who knows how hurt she truly is...”

Annie dabbed at her dry eyes as if wiping tears.

It was a strategy Hilia had coordinated with her beforehand.

Thanks to it, sympathy for Hilia surged even stronger among the surrounding nobles.

“She wanted to believe in them until the end, only to be betrayed.”

“She tried to let it go, but they lied to frame her anyway? That’s too much.”

“How could they? The contrast is just too stark.”

In proportion, the criticism raining on Evangeline and Mrs. Filern intensified.

Especially when terrified Mrs. Filern abandoned Evangeline, knelt, and begged—reaching the peak.

Her denunciation of Evangeline came with it.

“Please forgive me, Your Highness the Crown Princess! I only did what Miss Evangeline ordered! I didn’t want to either!”

The reaction from those around was, naturally, poor.

“Shameless.”

“What a thick face.”

Even with her muddied face, Evangeline keenly gauged the atmosphere.

Realizing sentiment toward Mrs. Filern was worsening further, she clamped her mouth shut.

“……”

In this situation, silence was the better choice.

As Mrs. Filern crawled toward her on the floor, Arpad casually stepped aside.

“A worm dares approach?”

From Hilia’s position, she couldn’t see below.

Misunderstanding, she exclaimed.

“A worm? There’s a worm? No way! I put so much care into managing this hall! Where? Where is it?”

Arpad chuckled and reassured Hilia.

“Don’t worry. I just mistook an ugly human for a worm.”

“Oh. I got scared thinking there was actually one.”

Hilia relaxed and laughed easily.

She said nothing about treating a person like a worm.

Mrs. Filern, instantly reduced to a crawling worm, felt profound humiliation, but no one cared.

The banquet’s atmosphere was overwhelmingly tilting one way.

‘Ruth Marquis’s Daughter’s status as the flower of high society is basically over.’

‘Once today’s rumors spread, who would follow her?’

Those sensitive to power shifts uniformly ignored Evangeline.

And scrambled to cozy up to Hilia, even a little.

‘On top of that, the western social circle that never followed the Empress has shown up.’

‘It’s clear they’re siding with the Crown Princess.’

It had become a battle between the Empress, whose authority had always been half-hearted, and the rising Crown Princess solidifying her position.

No one was unsure which side to choose.

Especially with Evangeline—the Empress’s proxy—having her reputation and image shattered.

Evangeline stood like a wallflower, her face ashen.

Mrs. Filern, barred from approaching the Crown Princess, wailed pitifully.

“It’s not my fault! I—hic! I didn’t! Waaah! It was all Miss Ruth’s...!”

That was when something no one expected occurred.

A voice full of shock rang from the hall’s entrance.

“Her Majesty the Empress arrives!!”

Before the stunned crowd could react, the doors swung wide open.

And, astonishingly, Empress Isabel entered slowly in flawless attire.

A tiara, fit for her coronation, gleamed atop her head.