Chapter 48

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Translator: Harry Potta
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: The Final Countdown
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“Y-Your Excellency.”

“Or should I just send every suspicious bastard to the guillotine and have their heads chopped off? To be honest, I like that option better. If I had my way, I wouldn't even bother with the guillotine. I'd run out into the streets right now and kill every last one of those capital bastards who threw stones at my child and desecrated her corpse.”

He continued in a calm voice.

“I heard they hung her severed head in a tavern and put it on display for the drunks. Later, they even lined up to commit all sorts of despicable acts, you know? And I'm supposed to let those bastards live?”

Senon and Diego were speechless. They couldn't understand half of what Cesare was saying, but his murderous intent toward the citizens of the Traon Empire came through loud and clear.

Letting out a low breath, Cesare paused and fumbled in his coat pocket. He pulled out a silver pocket watch and snapped it open in his hand. In the cool silence, the tick, tock of the second hand was sharp and clear. Cesare watched the hands move for a moment before closing the lid again.

“But if I act on my desires, Aileen will break. She's the kind of child who calls a man not even worth being treated as human 'Father' and still looks after him.”

He held out his hand to Diego and muttered.

“Because she'll want me to be a respectable Grand Duke…”

Diego, who was holding a half-smoked cigarette, stubbed it out in the ashtray. With a faintly trembling hand, he offered Cesare a new one and struck a match. This time, it took several strikes against the strip before he managed to get a flame.

After lighting Cesare's cigarette, Diego snatched the one from the dazed Senon's hand. He pressed it out in the ashtray, just as he had his own.

Cesare smoked slowly, calming his emotions. His flashing red eyes regained their composure, at least on the surface.

“So, Senon.”

Returning to the relaxed and composed Grand Duke of Erzet, he gave a slight smile.

“Even if it makes her a little unhappy, isn't this method better for Aileen?”

***

The Grand Duke's wedding was a week away. The ceremony was scheduled to be held in the garden of the grand ducal residence with only a small number of guests.

However, as all the citizens of the Traon Empire were curious about the Grand Duke and his new bride, the imperial family decided to have photographs of the wedding published in the newspapers.

The newspaper that earned the honor of publishing the grand ducal couple's wedding photos was *La Verita*. Although the wedding had yet to take place, the mere announcement that they would feature the photos caused *La Verita*'s circulation to jump fivefold.

They anticipated setting a historic sales record on the day the wedding photos were published.

Thanks to this, *La Verita* prepared for the wedding as diligently as the grand ducal house itself. They secured all the ink, paper, and printing presses they could get their hands on and even drafted various versions of the articles in advance so they could print them the moment the photos arrived. They were thoroughly prepared.

Aileen, the star of a wedding that would go down in the empire's history, had also been staying at the grand ducal residence for the past week for the final preparations.

However, despite staying in the same residence, she hadn't been able to see Cesare.

This was due to the superstition that the groom shouldn't see the bride in her dress, as well as an old imperial custom that the bride and groom must spend the week before the ceremony apart to purify their bodies and minds.

While staying at the residence, Aileen underwent training and made various preparations. The most important task, of course, was memorizing the list of wedding guests.

It was the wedding of the Grand Duke of Erzet. Since only a select few were invited, it was no exaggeration to say that all the stars of the empire had gathered. The guest list was so glamorous that the names alone seemed to shine.

Anyone of a slightly lower station was not invited. Fortunately, some of the Grand Duke's knights and soldiers were able to attend under the pretext of serving as guards.

Aileen diligently memorized the guests' faces, names, titles, and brief profiles, which Sonio had personally compiled for her. She was confident in her ability to memorize and learned the list quickly, but the problem lay elsewhere.

Among the attendees was Lady Ornella von Parvellini.

Aileen read Ornella's profile carefully. The description of her as an important figure in high society already made her stomach churn with nervousness.

Ornella's words to her came back, clear as day.

“I was just curious. As you know, Lady Aileen, it's hard to understand. Why His Excellency would choose you. I knew he was kind to you because you're his late nanny's daughter, but one doesn't decide to marry out of pity, do they?”

Mulling over Ornella's words, her already-lacking confidence hit rock bottom. Aileen stared anxiously at the name ‘Ornella von Parvellini’ written on the page.

‘She'll come looking incredibly beautiful.’

Ornella would surely arrive so beautifully adorned that she would outshine the bride. Aileen could clearly picture herself being completely ignored, overshadowed by the other woman's beauty.

It was an absurd marriage between a noble and a commoner to begin with. She worried that Cesare would be humiliated for taking such an ugly bride.

Dejectedly, Aileen reached up to push her glasses, only to fumble at the side of her eyes.

“…Ah.”

She awkwardly lowered the hand that had nearly poked her in the eye. She hadn't been wearing her glasses since she'd cut her bangs. Several days had passed, but it still felt strange. After living for so long with glasses as if they were a part of her, it wasn't easy to adjust.

She recalled the day she first arrived at the grand ducal residence with her new look.

When Aileen stepped out of the carriage, only Sonio greeted her with a smile. None of the other servants smiled. They all just stared with looks of horror. Aileen's face burned every time she remembered their gazes.

‘They were all just empty compliments.’

When Diego and the dressmakers had seen her in her wedding dress, they had praised her so profusely that she had, honestly, gained a little confidence.

Since Cesare had also said he preferred her showing her face, she had felt a swell of pride, thinking she might actually look decent.

But Diego and Cesare were the kind of people who would call her cute even if she showed up with an ugly pumpkin on her head. And the dressmakers were surely just saying pleasant things for the sake of business.

The faces of the servants when she got out of the carriage, however, had been honest. They must have been shocked by how hideous she looked. There was no other reason for them to stare at someone's face with their eyes wide and mouths agape.

Sonio tried to console the dejected Aileen, but she didn't hear a word of it. If Diego and Cesare would find an ugly pumpkin cute, Sonio was on another level entirely.

Aileen awaited her wedding day with the dread of a condemned prisoner awaiting execution.

The day before the wedding, Cesare's knights came to visit Aileen.

“Gasp.”

Michele gasped and froze the moment she saw Aileen. Except for Diego, who had already seen her and was thus immune, Rotan and Senon were also visibly startled. As they all hesitated, their lips moving but no words coming out, Aileen's face began to burn.

“Am I… that ugly…?”

When she asked the question that had been weighing on her mind, the four of them hastily denied it. But Aileen had already seen their reactions.

“You don't have to lie. It's okay. I just changed my look a little because I thought having bangs and glasses wouldn't suit the wedding dress. I'll grow my hair back out after the ceremony. And start wearing my glasses again.”

As she sighed and voiced the thoughts she'd been keeping to herself, Senon suddenly shouted.

“Lady Aileen!”

Senon clenched both fists and unleashed a torrent of words.

“I think you look much better without glasses and with your bangs cut! It has been such a shame ever since you started covering your face at the age of twelve, Lady Aileen. Your beauty is one thing, but especially! Your eyes are a national treasure of the empire, and to hide them! Of course, covering a jewel doesn't change its essence, but to hide its beautiful sparkle under the sun…”

Michele nudged the extremely excited Senon with her elbow as he rambled on. Finally coming to his senses, Senon said with an embarrassed, red face.

“I'm sorry. It's just so nice to see you properly after so long…. I really like it.”

This time, Diego, standing to his right, nudged him with his elbow. Realizing his remark could be misunderstood, Senon quickly added.

“Lady Aileen's eyes.”

Michele didn't miss a beat and pounced on his words.

“Oh, so you *only* like her eyes?”

“No, of course I like Lady Aileen too…. Ahh, you know what I'm trying to say, don't you?”

Senon looked at Aileen, his face on the verge of tears.