Chapter 46

After the grand imperial banquet where countless events unfolded.

“Hello, Dorothy.”

“Welcome, Your Highness! It’s been a while since you last visited!”

As usual, I visited the Valencia Duchy Mansion to meet Rebecca.

As Dorothy greeted me, it had indeed been quite some time since I last visited the Valencia Duchy Mansion.

The last time I visited was when I had an unwanted swordsmanship spar with Rebecca.

After that, I was confined to the Count Zernias’ Mansion, and in my absence, the princess came to the Count’s mansion to prepare for the imperial banquet.

Of course, in terms of dates, it hadn’t even been two weeks yet.

But so much had happened in that time that it felt like I was visiting after almost two months.

“Princess Rebecca is in her room. Shall I guide you?”

“Thank you, as always, Dorothy.”

As usual, I followed Dorothy’s guidance and headed to Rebecca’s room.

“……What did you just say?”

There, I heard something both astonishing and shocking.

“I said I’m writing a letter to Lady Bluebell.”

“……”

The princess, who only had the maid Dorothy and her fiancé, me, as people of similar age nearby, had someone new to send letters to.

At first, I thought it was a lie.

Honestly, Rebecca’s social skills were not even passable when it came to new people.

Moreover, the other party was Isabella Bluebell.

Just thinking back to the imperial banquet, didn’t the princess misunderstand and push Isabella into a corner?

Of course, after the misunderstanding was cleared, Isabella Bluebell’s attitude towards Rebecca wasn’t bad.

But I never expected them to become close enough to exchange personal letters.

“……May I read the letter from Lady Bluebell?”

“……Why would you?”

Rebecca immediately shot me a sharp look when I asked to read Isabella’s letter.

It was a textbook reaction; anyone would react that way if suddenly asked to let someone read their letter.

In such a situation, most people would retract their request, but…

“As the fiancé of a princess who only has me as a close acquaintance, how could I not worry if she’s made a new friend?”

“……”

This situation was far from ordinary.

In the original story, Isabella Bluebell didn’t like Rebecca.

Isabella, who had been groomed since childhood to become the empress.

There was no way she would like Rebecca, who kept ruining her plans to get close to Mikhail.

So, the characters who clashed the most were Isabella and Rebecca.

If the princess’s words were true, it meant Isabella Bluebell had taken the initiative to show goodwill towards Rebecca.

I couldn’t easily accept that.

But whether she knew my feelings or not.

“……No.”

Rebecca coldly refused to show me the letter.

“Why should I show you my letter?”

“……”

“This letter is from Lady Bluebell to me.”

Sadly, I had no retort.

It wasn’t that I didn’t want to argue.

I simply had nothing to say.

If the owner of the letter didn’t want to show it, who could argue against that?

Even the wisest person in the empire wouldn’t be able to persuade Rebecca now.

“……Understood. If that’s your wish, Princess.”

So, I thought I should give up on reading Rebecca’s letter, even though I was worried.

“……Well, if you do something worthy of this letter, I might show it to you.”

“……”

“How about it?”

Rebecca made me an offer.

A sweet offer, like a devil’s whisper, that seemed to promise to fulfill all my wishes.

***

I asked directly.

“……What do you want?”

Some might call this a very foolish action.

And they would be right.

Who in their right mind would ask what the other wants without knowing what they might request?

Especially when the other party is ‘Rebecca Valencia.’

My fiancée, who has never won against me and is filled with all sorts of emotions.

If I accepted this offer, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what humiliating and embarrassing things I might have to endure.

Yet, the reason I considered accepting Rebecca’s offer was that I was genuinely worried about her.

At the imperial banquet, I had sensed that Isabella Bluebell, like Mikhail, was subtly different from the original story.

But it was still ‘Isabella Bluebell.’

The flower of high society, who wore many masks and dealt with people.

The ridiculous behavior she showed to me and Rebecca might have been a high-level deception.

If Isabella, wearing a mask, befriended Rebecca and then harmed her to further her plan to become empress.

If Rebecca got hurt because of that.

I would never forgive myself for not seeing through Isabella’s true nature, even if I could have.

“What do you usually want from me?”

Even knowing it was a sweet trap set by the princess, I had no choice but to take the bait.

Hearing my answer, Rebecca looked surprised.

“……You’re accepting it just like that?”

“Doesn’t that show how much I care about my fiancée?”

“……”

Of course, as always, my embarrassing words made her blush.

“……Do you know what I might ask you to do?”

It seemed she genuinely found it unexpected that I accepted her offer so readily.

Even though her cheeks were already red with embarrassment, she didn’t avoid my gaze.

“Are you worried about me?”

“……”

“Your Highness worrying about this fiancé. Nothing could make me happier.”

That said, my attitude didn’t change.

“……It might not be as grand as you think.”

Seeing that I showed no signs of changing my mind, Rebecca added a bit of seriousness to her tone, trying to persuade me.

As if accepting this offer would lead to great regret.

As if instead of gaining what I wanted, I would only lose, facing a terrible situation.

“……”

Hearing the princess speak like this, I too began to have some doubts.

If, as Rebecca said, the contents of Isabella’s letter weren’t significant.

If she was genuinely worried and trying to stop me because she couldn’t easily guess what humiliating thing she might make me do.

Then, what action should I take here?

My deliberation didn’t last long.

Having come this far, the action I needed to take was already decided.

“Show me the letter.”

Even if I had to endure something humiliating due to Rebecca’s desire for revenge, my pride wasn’t more important than Rebecca.

To me now, nothing was more precious than my beloved fiancée.

‘……At least she’ll ask me to do something decent.’

My baseless trust in Rebecca also played a part in this decision.

I hadn’t used my wishes for anything too humiliating so far.

Listening to her until the end, giving her a kiss on the cheek, sincerely hugging her. That was about it.

Surely, she wouldn’t ask me to do something that would strip me of my dignity.

At most, it would be a childish prank-level request.

“……You chose this.”

Hearing my answer, Rebecca handed me the letter, presumably from Isabella, adorned with quite lavish decorations, as if telling me not to regret it.

Sharak-

I unfolded and read the letter as soon as I received it.

And finally, the contents of the letter revealed were:

[ – To Lady Rebecca Valencia

Hello, Lady.

I am Isabella Bluebell from the Bluebell Duchy, whom you met before.

You must be a bit surprised to receive a letter from someone you just met at the imperial banquet.

The reason I’m writing to you is to save you, Lady Valencia.

Your fiancé, that is, Albert Zernias from the Count Zernias family.

That man is absolutely not normal.

A typical noble would go out of their way to mingle with me, a daughter of the Bluebell Duchy, but that man not only showed no interest in me but even said he didn’t need my apology!

Although I haven’t had many conversations with Lady Valencia, thinking of you marrying such a person pains my heart.

I strongly recommend you break off your engagement with such a person as soon as possible, and I would like to invite you to our mansion for tea sometime.

I wish to maintain a good relationship with you, Lady Valencia.

Oh, this letter has gotten too long. I’ll stop here.

See you next time.

– Isabella Bluebell. ]

……It was filled with utterly useless content.

Isabella seemed quite upset about the treatment she received from me.

Sending Rebecca a letter full of slander about me showed that.

The fact that I had been worried over such a meaningless letter pained my heart.

“See? I told you. It’s not as grand as you expected.”

“……”

The pitiful gaze of my beloved fiancée made my heart ache even more.

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