CH 23

“Why was Countess Achille at the Duke of Oates’ residence?”

At that question, the Countess’ face became slightly distorted. Diana’s smile deepened to the fullest due to the Countess’ inability to answer her question.

“We saw each other that day, at the Duke of Oates’ mansion.”

“Ah…”

Countess Achille sighed briefly, and looked down awkwardly.

“I heard something interesting.”

“Oh?”

“Ian, I mean, His Majesty is said to visit the Duke’s residence every day.”

Diana carefully examined Countess Achille’s expression, as if she was waiting for her to explain herself.

At the look of annoyance on the Countess’ face, Diana nodded as if she’d expected that, then crossed her legs and leaned deeper into the chair.

“I didn’t know that the Countess, who’s known for being kind and gentle, was doing such a thing in secret.”

“What does that mean?”

Countess Achille, who’d been avoiding her gaze as if she was embarrassed, looked at Diana as if she was confused. The Countess frowned deeply at the incomprehensible words coming out of Diana’s mouth.

“The young lady is talking as if I’ve committed a crime.”

“Is it legitimate for a married woman to have an affair with a man outside her marriage?”

“Ha! Miss!”

Only then did Countess Achille, who’d finally realized what Diana was saying, raise her voice a little bit.

“What nonsense. I think you’ve misunderstood something.”

“Madam, it’s something that I’ve seen and heard.”

However, despite the strong denial from the Countess, Diana still smiled leisurely as if she knew everything.

“I was thinking of spreading a rumor among the noble social circles, but before that, I came to let the Countess know.”

“Ha, what do you mean you’ll spread a rumor?”

“It’s about a quiet wife who is secretly sharing her affections with His Majesty.”

Diana lowered her voice as best she could. She glanced at the parlor door, as if she was trying to be careful, in case someone overheard her.

“You seem to be under a firm delusion, but I’ve never met His Majesty in that mansion before.”

“Haha, so why did the Countess go to the mansion?”

“I can’t tell you that.”

Countess Achille shook her head firmly. His Majesty told her not to tell anyone about Rachel.

“I’m so amazed that no words can come out. Does the young lady enjoy spreading rumors?”

The Countess asked back with a gasp and a laugh.

“The rumor would dishonor not only myself, but His Majesty as well, and if it wasn’t true, the young lady would have to bear the entire burden.”

“….”

“Perhaps you think that His Majesty will ignore this matter.”

The Countess’ voice was a little lower than usual, as if she was angry.

“If you can handle all the consequences, then you can do as you please.”

“You’re just pretending to be confident to deceive me.”

“I don’t think we have anything more to talk about, so let’s finish it here.”

Countess Achille stood up as if she had nothing more to say.

“I will remember the insult that the young lady gave me today.”

The Countess’ beautiful white skin turned a little red in anger.

Countess Achille, who looked down at Diana with cold eyes, left her with only those words and turned away without any further discussion.

Bang!

The door closed forcefully, and Diana jumped up from her seat.

“Ha! You’ll remember the insult?!”

Diana swept her hair back roughly, unable to control her anger.

“Are you threatening me? Me, Diana Avery?”

However, Countess Achille had already left the parlor. All Diana could do was bite her lip hard.

“Huff, consequences?”

However, she was a little scared of Countess Achille’s confident attitude. What did she mean about taking responsibility for rumors? Diana had never thought about it so far.

“So you’re saying you’re really not in a relationship with Ian?”

Then, why was she and Ian visiting the Duke of Oates?

“Tsk, I’ll find out exactly why you’re visiting the Duke’s.”

Diana kicked the front door before she left the Achille’s residence, and climbed into her carriage.

“Leave now.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

However, despite being so violent, she remained silent for a while as if she still hadn’t recovered from her anger.

The driver hurried the carriage along for Diana, who was in a worse mood than usual.

“Huu.”

The coachman let out a small, nervous sigh. On a day like today, he had to be more careful because if he made even the slightest mistake, he would get hurt badly.

The driver hoped that there would be no problems until after they arrived at the Duke’s residence. His eyes flicked busily ahead of him, checking for any stones on the road.

***

“Ha…”

Diana sighed deeply.

“Then why does Ian go there every day? There’s no reason.”

Diana frowned deeply as if she was frustrated.

Duke Avery Residence

“Even though Duke Oates and Ian seemed to have a connection. However, Ian is visiting a mansion without the owner being there, so why…”

No matter how much she tried, she couldn’t understand Ian’s behavior.

“Oh, my head hurts.”

Diana, who seemed to be thinking about something for a while, soon shook her head.

“Tsk, I can’t understand you. I don’t know what you’re thinking. It’s going to be the victory banquet soon, but what else are you doing?”

Two months have passed since the war with the Sienna Empire had ended. However, the emperor hadn’t held a victory banquet yet. He’d postponed the victory banquet until later, saying he would be touring the empire’s territories.

Ian said he wanted to directly check and deal with the damage caused by the war. So, the victory banquet was only being held now.

“Just two weeks.”

Diana rubbed the wrinkle between her eyes with her hand.

“I’ll finally be able to see Ian in two weeks.”

Diana hadn’t seen Ian in person yet. When Ian was a powerless third prince, he didn’t participate in banquets because he was too young. He ran away from the Imperial palace when he was roughly old enough to start attending.

Even after becoming the crown prince, Ian didn’t participate in small banquets or parties.

He was too busy restoring the capital and Imperial palace after the attacks, and there was a series of wars before he could even finish restoring everything. Nevertheless, Ian’s appearance spread through several young noblemen and women in the Imperial palace.

They were saying he was the most handsome man in the empire.

“Hmm…”

Diana was a little suspicious of the rumor. Maybe he was avoiding the parties because he didn’t want anyone to see him with their own eyes.

“If that was true, then that pig and the other Visili brother would’ve been handsome too.”

When she thought about the faces of the first and second princes, she didn’t expect much.

“Isn’t the reason why you’re avoiding me because you don’t want to show your ugly face?”

Diana nodded her head excitedly.

“He’s the first dragon slayer and war hero to show up in a thousand years, so everyone expects him to look just wonderful.”

Still, the emperor’s body looked good when he returned to the Imperial palace with the knights after the war. With his helmet on, she couldn’t get a good look at his face, but he had wide shoulders, a trim waist, and long legs.

“I’d better ask him in person on that day. Yeah, I’ll know in two weeks.”

She’ll find out when she goes to the victory banquet whether the rumor spreading through noble society was true. Maybe on that day, she would find out why Ian visits the Duke of Oates residence every day.

***

“My Lady, are you going to the night market with His Majesty?”

Rachel nodded quietly at the maid’s question.

“Do you want me to do your hair?”

“It’s okay, I’ll do it myself.”

“Then I’ll just take out the dress.”

“…Yes.”

Rachel skillfully tied up her hair.

Tying her hair, she’d been doing it alone all of her life. It was a matter of course that she would do it alone.

She’d lived a different life than the noblewomen who couldn’t even tie their hair alone. As expected, no matter how much the maid called her a lady, she didn’t think she could really be one.

Rachel shrank back a little because she felt uncomfortable with the maid’s help. It was hard to get used to it, even after all of this time.

“You’re going to have a lot of fun. Oh, have you ever been to the night market?”

“…Yes.”

“I’ll leave the dress here.”

The maid looked at Rachel for a moment, then with a small smile, she put the dress down, and left the room. Rachel remained in the room alone, and touched her clothes once again.

‘Night market.’

The night market she went to with Ian when she was young came to mind. On that day, he snuck out with her when she said she wanted to see it.

The smell of delicious food and the sound of people’s laughter filled the square. They grabbed some food from a street vendor, and enjoyed the cool night breeze.

“It was fun.”

Rachel felt a little choked up at the happy memory, but then Ian’s face immediately came to mind, and Rachel’s hand stopped moving for a moment. Her lips drooped and her face stiffened as she hastily erased the memory.

“Sigh. Something is wrong with my head. What was I expecting?”

Rachel sighed deeply in frustration. Originally, Ian was a difficult person to understand, but after that day.

“Like a fool.”

Rachel’s face turned white when she realized that she was excited for a moment.

Everything had become complicated since the day he’d said he liked her. Now she could no longer guess what he was thinking, or what he would say. Also, her mind had become more confused since she’d heard it.

She was more concerned about Ian, and sometimes she looked forward to seeing him. She shook her head, saying that it was crazy, but the more she did it, the more confused she was.

Rachel wasn’t sure what she thought of him. She felt like an idiot after what he did to her.

She had no choice, but to pay attention to Ian’s unpredictable behavior, and deal with the time he spent in her heart.

“Huu.”

She seemed tired already, but she left the room wearing her dress.

Rachel took a few deep breaths, as if to diffuse her anxiety with a glimmer of anticipation.