Episode 41
A puppet Empress?
Just hearing those words made my blood boil.
I quickly turned my head to see who said such a thing—and there he was. A young nobleman with orange hair and freckles, giving me a nasty smirk. He looked straight at me and said,
“Lady Eilene Cowet. You’re just an engagement fiancée in name only.”
Oh really? So he heard something. And now he wants to pick a fight? He must be bored.
Of course my face twisted in anger.
“Diel, stop it. What are you doing?” someone beside him tried to stop him.
Thankfully, some people there were sane and tried to calm him down. Half were too shocked to react, the other half told him to quit. But Diel had already made up his mind and wouldn’t stop.
“Why are you acting like this? She’s someone His Majesty treasures—”
“His Majesty treasures her? Pfft. No way. I heard it with my own ears.”
He even tapped the side of his head like he had something smart in there.
Who even are you?
That question was stuck in my throat, but I chose to ignore him and turned away. Unfortunately, he was as annoying as a fly and kept following me.
“You were even kidnapped recently, right? Who knows what happened to you? His Majesty is too kind. How can he make someone like that an empress, someone who might’ve lost her purity—”
“Watch your mouth.”
Koa stepped in front of me just then, blocking him. She shot Diel a glare so sharp it could cut steel.
“And who are you? A bodyguard? What’s a lowly commoner doing picking a fight with a noble?”
Diel clicked his tongue in disbelief but was clearly intimidated by Koa’s sharp presence. Even I could tell—her gaze was like a sharpened blade, like she could cut his tongue out on the spot.
“I… I have a bodyguard too! Bernard!”
Diel quickly looked around and called out. A huge, muscular man started walking toward us.
“You called, young master?”
“She disrespected me! Teach her a lesson!”
Now that his bodyguard had arrived, Diel puffed out his chest proudly. He looked like a brat tattling to a teacher. But unlike Diel hoped, Bernard ignored his words and looked at Koa with curiosity.
“Did you really disrespect our young master?”
“Of course not. He was rude to our lady first. I simply blocked him. Just doing my duty as her guard.”
Bernard remained calm and asked questions to gauge the situation. He clearly saw what happened but pretended not to. Judging from Diel’s personality, he must’ve pulled stunts like this often.
“You should still know who you’re dealing with!”
Maybe frustrated by the lack of a fight, Diel jumped into the conversation, fuming.
I was relieved that Bernard didn’t act right away, but the tension was high. I was worrying over how to handle the situation when Bernard suddenly said something that nearly made me jump.
“I’d like to cross swords with you.”
“…”
“I can’t ignore a direct order from the young master. But there’s a place we can duel fairly. Let’s go there.”
From the way he said it, Bernard clearly wanted to fight Koa. He seemed curious about her energy and skill.
“I can’t allow that.”
That’s when Navien entered the hall, her heels clicking as she walked with authority. She stepped in to stop things as the hostess of the tea party.
“As the lady of this estate, I can’t allow a duel like this to happen. If you don’t like it, feel free to leave.”
Navien’s eyes didn’t waver one bit. Diel bit his lip, but in the end, he gave up on getting revenge.
“Damn it. You’re lucky today.”
He cursed and turned away. Bernard smacked his lips like he was disappointed at missing out and followed after him.
Once they were gone, everyone finally stopped staring.
Whew.
I was seriously relieved Koa didn’t have to fight that giant guy.
If she had fought him, my precious Koa might’ve gotten hurt!
Feeling grateful, I looked at Navien, who then finally let out her honest feelings. She came up to me and shook her head like she was completely fed up.
“That guy. I didn’t even want to invite him, but my father insisted. Ugh. He’s always like that.”
“Who is he, anyway?”
I couldn’t hold back my curiosity anymore and asked.
“Diel Livingston. He’s the son of His Majesty’s chief attendant.”
“Oh.”
That family again.
So the Count Livingston household is full of rude people—him, his father, and even their servants.
I chewed over that bitter thought while Navien linked arms with me and led me to a quieter corner. Then she started whispering to me.
“It’s my tea party, but I can’t even invite who I want. It turned into some big family event.”
“I see.”
“My father means well, trying to stay neutral, but he won’t pick a side between the Emperor and the Grand Duke. It’s exhausting for me.”
I nodded along, and Navien began sharing her real thoughts.
Then suddenly, she mentioned the Grand Duke—and I froze. I remembered what Claire told me about Navien possibly being engaged to him. My heart started to ache.
What if she really likes him?
I had no proof, but the anxiety began to crawl in. So I decided to ask her now. This was one of the reasons I came to this party, after all.
“Navien, what do you think of the Grand Duke?”
“Huh? Grand Duke Rusl?”
She blinked a few times at my sudden question. It didn’t seem like a big deal to her, but my hands were sweating with nerves.
“Hmm… He doesn’t seem as bad as the rumors say. But honestly, I don’t really know him. He rarely shows up in social circles.”
“That’s true.”
Only after hearing her answer directly did I realize it—whether the answer was good or bad, either way, it bothered me.
She wasn’t close to him, but she didn’t think badly of him either. That vague, neutral answer still left me feeling uneasy.
Then it hit me.
Being a fan isn’t about owning someone. But here I was, wanting to have the Grand Duke all to myself. When did I start feeling like this?
Are my feelings for Raymond not just fangirl feelings anymore?
A wave of confusion swept through me.
“I’ll invite just you next time. Make sure you come, okay?”
“Yeah. I will.”
As the hostess, Navien couldn’t stay with me the whole time, so she walked off. Adrien took her place next to me, and he looked furious after hearing about what happened with Diel.
“That arrogant brat. I won’t let him off next time.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
Being insulted like that was horrible, but having three people stand up for me made me feel warm inside.
After spending some time there, I got ready to head back. I told them again that I’d come by myself next time.
Inside the carriage on the way home, Koa sat across from me, just like before. Her face had been stiff for a while, so I decided to cheer her up by talking about it.
“Koa, I’m okay. You don’t have to worry.”
“…”
“It was just nonsense. I can ignore it.”
Koa looked quietly at my smiling face. After taking a breath, she finally spoke.
“As your guard, I can’t just stand by if someone threatens you—even if it’s just words.”
“I know. I get it.”
“If that lady hadn’t stopped me earlier, I would’ve gone after that guy’s guard. He insulted you. Twisting his nose wouldn’t even be enough.”
“Totally.”
“Next time, please give me permission to duel. I’ll teach him a proper lesson.”
“…”
Judging by her reaction, she’d really been holding back. But was Koa always like this?
She loosened her top button, like she was trying to cool off, and her tied-up red hair swayed roughly side to side.
Wow. My bodyguard’s kinda sexy. If she were a guy, I might’ve fallen for her.
It made me happy to see Koa lose her cool for my sake. It meant she didn’t just see me as someone to protect. She really cared.
So Koa gets angry too.
I got to see a new side of her.
But then a thought popped into my head. If Koa was this fierce now, why didn’t she react when Charles growled at me before?
“Hey, Koa. Why didn’t you step in back then?”
“You mean the furry one?”
Koa instantly knew who I meant and shrugged.
“A big dog like that? One kick and I could handle him.”
“Oh.”
So that’s why?
She had been ready to act then, too. Charles was as big as Koa, but it makes sense that fighting a person and an animal are totally different. The way you handle them would be different too.
She really was capable of handling anything. I nodded in understanding.
The carriage rolled on, filled with heat and emotions, heading back to the Grand Duke’s mansion.
And only much later… did I realize that letting Diel’s words slide was a mistake.
I had no idea what kind of trouble was coming next.
