Chapter 53
After arguing with Dante and returning to the mansion, Emil twisted his lips.
‘I should have figured out who that guy was.’
He should have followed Dante and Yvonne to see where they were heading—and in fact, he had intended to—but in the end, he couldn’t.
Dante had read Emil’s presence like a phantom and stared directly at him.
Get lost.
It seemed as if those blood-red eyes were saying exactly that. The moment Emil met that gaze, he shrank like a mouse cornered by a cat in an alley.
Those were undoubtedly the eyes of someone who had killed before.
‘If I had kept following, he would have left Yvonne behind just to come after me.’
Dante’s goal was to bring Yvonne back to himself, not to recklessly reclaim her and get himself killed.
‘He must be in the capital. If I send soldiers out, I’ll find him quickly.’
A man with black hair and such a large build wouldn’t be common.
Thinking he needed to dispatch soldiers immediately, Emil returned to his mansion.
Unexpectedly, he was greeted by familiar faces.
“Emil.”
“Mother.”
It was his parents, Count and Countess Cline. Honestly, he had thought it would take them a bit longer to arrive in the capital. Emil was taken aback seeing the Countess again after so long.
“You hurried here.”
“How have you been, my son? Your face looks tired. You’ve been under a lot of stress, haven’t you?”
Ironically, the Countess seemed far more haggard than Emil himself, despite tenderly stroking his face. But Emil, too focused on the events of today, didn’t notice his mother’s pallor. He eagerly grabbed her hand.
“Mother, more importantly, I found Yvonne.”
“What?”
The Countess’s face, which he expected would lighten with joy, instead went pale. Trembling, she asked,
“Where… where is she now?”
Thinking it was because Emil hadn’t managed to keep Yvonne close despite finding her, he reassured his mother with a firm voice.
“I haven’t figured that out yet. I met her alone on the street. And Rozian was right—a man took Yvonne away.”
It shocked Emil that Yvonne had gone with another man; he couldn’t imagine how upset his mother must be. He held her hand tightly and spoke calmly.
“It doesn’t seem serious between them yet, so I’ll find her quickly…”
But the Countess’s reaction was strange. Instead of staggering in shock, she smiled gently and nodded.
“It seems she’s found true love. Let’s not stir trouble—just leave her be.”
“…What?”
Emil, who had been planning to convince his mother to send all the soldiers she brought from the Cline estate into the capital immediately, was utterly stunned. He frowned and asked,
“What do you mean?”
The Countess smiled serenely and patted her son’s shoulder.
“Looking back, I realize I forced my feelings too much on Yvonne. She’s an adult; she should choose her partner herself. I acted wrongly toward both you and her.”
“No, Mother… suddenly…”
Why was she changing her attitude so suddenly? Emil froze, confused, when the Countess suddenly asked in a tone that felt almost cold:
“You weren’t truly in love with Yvonne anyway, were you?”
“…What?”
Emil stiffened. The Countess continued in an unusually gentle voice:
“I know you pretended to love her so as not to disappoint me. But there’s no need. She was far too lowborn to be suitable for our son.”
“Mother, I sincerely…”
“You only pretended to love her under my pressure. Understand?”
Hearing this repeated, Emil clamped his mouth shut. Her tone was the same as when she had tried to pair him with Yvonne—not offering comfort or advice from understanding, but insisting he shouldn’t truly love her.
‘Why has her attitude changed so suddenly?’
The same woman who once insisted he marry Yvonne had now completely flipped. Emil felt a faint anger at the sudden shift.
And then he realized his mother’s true intentions. Smiling brightly, she said:
“Rozian, who has been close to our family, has turned out to be the long-lost Imperial Princess. That’s why I rushed to the capital—to attend her return ceremony.”
“…What?”
The lost Imperial Princess? Emil knew of her—he had even bought a newspaper to check today.
“Rozian has red hair, doesn’t she?” Emil asked incredulously.
The Countess bowed her head slightly, smiling gracefully.
“She had dyed it to hide her silver hair.”
“Her face looks just like Baron Bergamot’s.”
“If hair colors are the same, faces often look alike.”
Emil, frozen in disbelief, called to his mother:
“Mother.”
She glared and admonished him:
“So, when you meet her the day after tomorrow, don’t be surprised. Treat her politely.”
“….”
From this, Emil instinctively realized two truths:
First, his mother would insist Rozian was the Imperial Princess, no matter what—her family was deeply involved in this.
Second,
‘Yvonne was the real Imperial Princess.’
That was why she had tried to make Emil marry Yvonne. Now, with the fake princess appearing, the real one couldn’t emerge, which explained why she told him not to find Yvonne.
‘Mother will never let me find Yvonne. She’ll even try to stop me from trying.’
Because if the real one appeared, the fake would inevitably be exposed.
‘But Yvonne belongs to me…’
If she planned to give and then take Yvonne away, why had she claimed Yvonne was being prepared as his bride?
‘I won’t give up.’
Emil pressed his lips together.
After meeting Emil like that, I became even more afraid of being outside Duke Christopher’s mansion. The thought that Emil might be sending people to search for me sent shivers down my spine.
‘But I can’t keep living like this forever. The mansion is slowly losing places that need my attention.’
My work was to decorate Duke Christopher’s long-neglected mansion.
But like all mansions, it only needed a lot of attention initially; gradually, it became neatly arranged on its own. Once fully completed, all that would be left was cleaning—my presence would no longer be necessary.
‘Should I ask for a job as a maid? No, the kind Duke would probably let me stay even if there was no work.’
But that was impossible. He was of marriageable age, and I was unmarried too.
‘Who knows when the Duchess might arrive? Strange rumors could cause problems…’
Dante would eventually marry too, with a lady suitable for the Christopher household. Imagining that brought to mind his words from yesterday:
“The lady is far too charming.”
Charming? My face flushed instantly, and I puckered my lips, thinking:
‘But what did he mean by that?’
What was his intention? If he was showing interest, would I be overinterpreting?
‘But the Duke protected me, even carried me…’
Rowan had said after seeing Dante carry me:
“No woman has ever gotten this close to His Excellency! He’s called Iron Wall! Even if a beautiful, delicate woman falls to the floor, he doesn’t flinch! Aren’t they really lovers?”
‘Even Rowan says that. Is the Duke really treating me like someone he loves?’
I asked myself, then buried my face in my hands, embarrassed.
‘Ugh, I don’t know. What am I thinking?’
At that moment, Pepe spoke bluntly:
“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s all wrong.”
“What? You don’t even know!”
“Exactly. That brick is still keeping its wall up against you too.”
He knows everything!
