Chapter 37

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 37
Chapter Title: The Fury of a Lily
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“Aaargh!”

Ornella let out a shrill cry, unable to contain her anger. Unfazed by her fit of rage, the maids went about their duties with practiced ease.

She had felt something was wrong ever since the victory parade. How inwardly delighted she had been to hear that Cesare was holding a lily.

Ornella was the Lily of Traon.

Of all the flowers he could have chosen, he had picked a lily. She was certain it was a gift for her. Waiting for Cesare with Leone in front of the Imperial Palace, her heart had fluttered with anticipation.

But Cesare had arrived empty-handed.

She had distinctly heard he was carrying a lily, so she couldn't understand why his hands were empty. She had dismissed it, wondering if he had perhaps given it to a child during the procession.

Later, when she learned the full story, Ornella had smashed everything in her bedchamber.

[The Grand Duke suddenly broke from the procession and approached a woman.

He handed the lily he was holding to the unidentified woman. Everyone watching the parade envied the woman for her good fortune.

But that was not the only surprise. The Grand Duke gently caressed the woman’s face. His gaze, as he looked at her, was as soft as a feather. For those who knew of the Grand Duke’s usual indifference, it was a shocking sight.

That tender look, which even the most renowned beauties of the capital had never received… ]

Reading the magazine article made her blood boil. Her fury intensified when she learned the recipient of the lily was her former nanny’s daughter.

She couldn't believe he had ignored her to give his attention to someone so insignificant.

Still, she had been able to endure it up to that point. What truly shattered Ornella was the news of the marriage.

The entire empire learned of Grand Duke Erzet’s marriage. And that his bride was none other than ‘Aileen Elorde.’ She was so enraged that she became oddly calm.

For the first time, Ornella decided to properly investigate Aileen Elorde. What her underlings uncovered was utterly ridiculous.

To think that all those soldiers were fawning over some tacky wench from a lowly family.

She hadn't been able to believe it when she heard the reports, but after seeing the girl in person today, she was simply dumbfounded. The sight of her with those stuffy bangs and oversized glasses wasn't even laughable.

It seemed everyone had gone mad, so she felt it was her duty to help them regain their senses.

Ornella had long reigned as the ‘Lily of Traon’ and the queen of high society. Her current status was the result of her tireless efforts behind the scenes. So, she intended to apply herself diligently this time as well.

Ornella tapped the ash from her cigar and took another drag. She drew in the smoke as if fellating a man, imagining Cesare, his firm body, and the heavy shaft that would be nestled between his thighs.

Licking the cigar in her mouth with her tongue, Ornella commanded her maid.

“I must pray. Send one in.”

At that, the maids withdrew from the room in unison. A short while later, a man entered and knelt before Ornella. Ornella narrowed her eyes, studying the man.

Compared to Cesare, the man was pathetic. His black hair had a brownish tint, and his eyes were unremarkable. But his looks were not bad for a brief diversion. Ornella spread her legs toward the man.

“Come here.”

The man obediently buried his head under the skirt of Ornella’s dress. A large hand swept up her calf and gently squeezed her inner thigh. Soon, his lips touched her most intimate place.

“Mmm, haah…”

Ornella let out a heated moan, spreading her legs even wider. Wet sounds echoed in the quiet room.

Stroking the head of the man diligently pleasuring her below, Ornella continued her languid smoke.

***

Aileen approached the bookshelf. It was packed tightly with diaries. Diaries she had kept every single day since she was a child.

Now that she was older, she only jotted down brief thoughts. But in her childhood, she would fill entire pages, even adding drawings to her entries.

Aileen pulled one from the crowded shelf. *Flip, flip.* As she turned the pages, a drawing of a ring came into view. A smile spread across her lips as she saw the ring, meticulously drawn by a clumsy hand.

It was a ring her eleven-year-old self had drawn while imagining her marriage to Cesare.

Back then, Aileen had resolved that she absolutely wanted to marry the prince. In truth, she had liked the prince from the moment they met, but she had reached this conclusion after a year of observation to see if her feelings might change.

But even as a clueless child, she had an instinct that she shouldn't tell anyone. She especially thought her mother would scold her until she cried her eyes out.

So, on the day she entered the Imperial Palace, Aileen secretly confessed to Cesare.

“Your Highness, Your Highness!”

Unaware that it was against etiquette, she pressed her lips right to Cesare’s ear and whispered.

“I want to marry you, Your Highness…!”

Having heard about it somewhere, she even presented him with a flower along with her proposal. As a small child, she had no money for real flowers, but picking weeds from the roadside didn’t feel special enough. So, Aileen gave him a lily she had drawn herself.

Receiving the bold proposal, Cesare let out a low laugh. He sat Aileen on his lap and gently coaxed her.

“You have to grow up a little more, Aileen.”

Aileen, who had thought he would naturally accept her proposal since he cherished her and she liked him, was flustered by the unexpected answer and asked.

“How much more?”

Resting his chin on the crown of Aileen’s head, he hummed in thought for a moment, then extended a long finger and pointed to a shrub in the garden.

“As tall as that shrub?”

Aileen’s jaw dropped when she saw the shrub. To young Aileen, the shrub was enormous. Still, she couldn't ignore the words of her future husband.

The first thing Aileen did was carefully observe the arborvitae shrub he had pointed to. Arborvitae could grow up to fifteen meters, but this was a cultivated variety, so it wouldn't get that tall.

After her observation, she confirmed with Cesare that the standard for marriage was indeed the shrub’s current height. She also checked the difference between her height and the shrub’s. Then, with a crestfallen expression, she muttered dejectedly.

“Our wedding will be a little delayed…”

Many people married young, even before the coming-of-age at eighteen. So she had been secretly hoping they could get married the following spring. Aileen, who had dreamed of being a spring bride, was terribly disappointed.

But she had received a promise of marriage, which she considered half a success, and she recorded all the plans she made on her own in her diary.

Cesare cut out the drawing of the lily she gave him that day and placed it in a vase. Aileen’s flower adorned his vase for a long time, until the paper began to decay.

“He's such a kind person.”

Lost in memories of the past, Aileen murmured as she stroked the drawing of the ring in her diary. The ring, which she had drawn after scouring all sorts of magazines and books, had a rather plausible design even now.

Aileen flipped through a few more pages of the diary before putting it back on the shelf. A heavy sigh escaped her lips. Ever since her audience with the Emperor, her mind had been in turmoil.

Leone had said that Cesare had changed. And that he was worried about that change.

Now, she thought she finally understood what he meant. Cesare had seemed unstable when he spoke of the pocket watch, claiming it was a memento from a condemned prisoner. The man who had always appeared mature and composed now had the look of someone standing at the edge of a cliff.

The sense of strangeness she had felt upon seeing him return from the war.

His incomprehensible actions and the odd things he would say offhandedly…

The more she went over each detail, the more she felt that something was seriously wrong. But what could be the cause?

Neither the knights who had faced life and death by Cesare’s side, nor his brother and sole superior, the Emperor, knew the reason.

*‘So how could I possibly know?’*

It felt strange that Leone had asked her for the reason. He seemed to think too highly of her.

*‘I wish His Excellency would tell me what’s troubling him.’*

She wanted to be someone Cesare could rely on, but that seemed like a distant dream. Fiddling with her nails, Aileen let out another deep sigh and began to prepare to go out.

Today, she was scheduled to go to the dressmaker’s with Diego.

It was for a fitting of the wedding dress she would wear at the ceremony.