Capitulo 03
Chapter 1. Strange World
Episode 3
Her red lips lifted in an arc. It was just a smile, but the mood changed.
Her long, beautiful fingers brushed the corners of his mouth. At first glance, he seemed a little nervous, but his actions were clearly intended to seduce.
As I gazed at the sculpted face in admiration, I snapped back to reality.
“That’s too big a seat for someone like me.”
“Don’t get so serious, princess. I just said it.”
Duke Pioneer remained neutral between the imperial and aristocratic sects.
Recently, I learned that the emperor was pressuring my father when the aristocratic faction began to grow, led by Archduke Gloucester.
“You will definitely improve…”
“Let’s give it a try.”
I was lost for a moment at the playful tone that sounded like a joke.
I thought I knew the smiling emperor’s inner self.
“Try to get out. The Duke of Malphyrion, who was waiting behind you, will be very thirsty.”
“I’m sorry. Your Majesty.”
“Oh, and there’s an important announcement at the end of today’s banquet, so don’t think about running away in the middle.”
“…Yes, Your Majesty.”
In response to his order, I swallowed a curse inside.
On my way out, I stumbled into someone waiting for me and almost fell backwards.
The man reached out and grabbed my wrist.
“Karina, are you okay?”
It was a familiar voice I hadn’t heard in a long time.
My first fiancé, Daniel Malphyrion.
As soon as I knew who it was, I pulled my hand away from his.
I felt more embarrassed than grateful to Daniel, who was quick to grab my wrist and keep me from falling.
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
Daniel also felt himself stiffen at my stiff tone. I straightened my dress, waved at him and hurried away.
‘It’s the worst.
Today’s luck was really bad.
~*~
When I returned to the banquet hall, there were still more difficulties left.
Tatiana was worried, and when the Duke of Gloucester returned, her mind went to him.
Instead, my former fiancé Wilhelm began to hover around me.
“Sir Wilhelm.”
“Princess.”
I couldn’t help but be surprised to see him.
In the past, it was hard to understand why I trusted and engaged him.
“Do you have anything left to tell me?”
“That… I was wondering if you could tell me what you were talking about earlier with Tatiana.”
“Is it necessary for me to tell you?”
Wilhelm’s face contorted at the cold reply. He seemed worried that he might have wronged his mistress.
“And sir. Our relationship is already irreversible, so I expect you are no longer comfortable with me.”
“Ah, I’m sorry. Princess, you were quite strict about this, unlike Her Majesty the Duchess.”
Wilhelm lashed out at me as if he had expected.
He acted as if I was the reason he was shaken by Tatiana.
He wasn’t the first to do that.
Daniel and Raymond did it too.
When I remembered the accusations those men had hurled at me in the past, I too lost my temper and shot back.
“It was none other than Sir Wilhelm who confessed to me that he wanted to become the Duchess of Gloucester’s lover.”
I raised my voice on purpose.
It was a hook, but I could feel people watching us.
Wilhelm blushed with embarrassment and motioned for me to lower my voice.
Of course, I ignored him.
“Are you shy? The day you said you wanted to be the duchess’s lover, you were so proud.”
“Princess, you’re too tough!”
He approached as if threatening me.
As if he was going to pull out a sword at any moment to vomit the life out of me, who knew nothing about fencing, I glared at him. Reading only at pm tl.
“Did I say something wrong?”
His red eyes staring straight ahead were contorted with anger. I looked at his hand raised high and closed my eyes tightly.
To be beaten like this, he was planning to destroy the Marquis de Hunt….
“What is this?”
“Your Excellency…”
I opened my closed eyes at the familiar voice.
There, Duke Gloucester was holding Wilhelm’s hand.
“Are you trying to touch a lady, Sir Wilhelm?”
“Oh…no.”
Wilhelm was silent for a moment with his haggard face. Then he trailed off as if fleeing without apology.
“It’s no help at all.
Actually, it was of no use to me.
After all, both the Archduke and Wilhelm were my ex-lovers.
“Long time no see…”
“Thank you for saving me, Duke. I bid you farewell.”
I quickly left the place to avoid the Archduke who wanted to talk more.
I already have 3 ex-boyfriends.
Due to the encounters, my already dangerous patience quickly ran out.
I sat in a corner and started drinking in earnest.
‘Getting engaged to a person like that…’
I was angry at myself for making an embarrassing decision and I couldn’t stand it.
In the distance I could hear Tatiana smiling, surrounded by my ex and her lovers.
Yes, honestly, she was miserable.
As naive as she pretended to be, her insides were a mess.
“What a bummer.”
But there was nothing I could do with her, the heroine.
This world was such a place.
After my possession, I could see how irrational the world I lived in was by looking at Tatiana.
Luck and love were reserved only for Tatiana.
She would be able to easily take my next fiancée from me if she wanted to.
I don’t know why she was being mean to me, but that’s for sure.
That she would interfere with my relationships in the future.
“Should I not have any?
My stomach churned.
A shadow fell over my head as I drank alone for a long time.
“Hey, princess, I told you to wait, but I didn’t tell you to get drunk.”
“Your Majesty?”
When I raised my head, the emperor was standing with a rather puzzled expression on his face.
I could feel the gaze of the people watching us in their comfortable clothes.
But seeing that he appeared unaccompanied, I stood.
I pretended not to know and asked the emperor.
“Oh, have you already made the announcement?”
“That was a lie, can I sit next to you anyway?”
Without waiting for my answer, the emperor sat down on the other side of the table.
He took a glass of champagne from a passing servant, held it in his hand and tapped my glass.
Hearing a crisp, clear sound, the air began to feel lighter, as if I were enchanted.
“It’s too much of a lie.”
“Even if it didn’t, I thought the princess would just come back.”
Again.
That tantalizing smile.
He was so sleepy and relaxed he couldn’t imagine how he was standing before.
“I just need to get up and see.”
As soon as I rose from my seat, my vision became dizzy.
“Hey.”
As I was about to fall, the emperor grabbed my arm. His hand on my thin cloth was warm.
“Princess, are you all right?”
He hugged me with that polite smile.
Maybe it’s because we had shared several drinks? Or was it that I felt more comfortable with the emperor’s attitude, different from before?
If not for that, I might have forgotten that, as someone said, it was a pity to be kicked by men.
“Your Majesty, you really have a charming smile.”
“What?”
My true intentions peeked through the loose lines of my mind.
It was not something I could say in front of the emperor, who had brutally slaughtered his lineage.
But the emperor smiled generously, knowing I was drunk.
“May I hear that as a compliment?”
“Yes. It really was.”
“Thank you very much.”
Seeing his handsome face made me smile without realizing it.
That’s why so many poets sang about someone’s beauty.
I smiled and exchanged drinks with him.
The mood that had reached its worst moment revived surprisingly quickly.
“You drink better than I thought.”
“Thank you for the compliment, Your Majesty.”
His purple eyes, which had a different feel to Andrew’s, curved.
My heart pounded.
After all, pretty and beautiful things bring happiness.
In an instant, I felt someone’s gaze over my shoulder.
I squinted and checked the protagonist of that look.
It was Tatiana.
‘Aha.’
I was reminded again that the Emperor was the one man Tatiana couldn’t have.
It was quite amusing to watch Tatiana’s face, unable to take her eyes off our table.
Could that be why she was always stealing my lovers?
I smiled brightly and leaned closer to the emperor.
“Princess?”
“Would you mind staying here for a moment?”
The emperor looked surprised.
Do you think I’m a madwoman?
But seeing Tatiana over his shoulder staring almost to death at me made me want to fly.
“There seems to be a duchess behind me.”
“You’re quick to notice.”
To my surprise, the emperor joined in my grumpiness.
He deliberately leaned toward me and whispered in my ear, as if telling me a secret.
“Can I do this?”
“Oh, she came out.”
In the end, Tatiana, unable to bear it, rose from her seat and left despite the opposition of the men around her.
I felt as if the fog in my head had lifted.
I smiled brightly as I faced the emperor.
“Thank you for today, Your Majesty.”
“I’m glad I could be of help to the princess.”
Seeing the emperor smile as he said that, my heart pounded for nothing.
Was it because he had drunk alcohol?
Or was it because he was too handsome?
I remembered what he had said earlier.
He said he would like to go out with me.
“Your Majesty, would you like to go out with me?”
This was not a proposal with a political or emotional purpose.
It was a farce created solely out of curiosity and revenge toward Tatiana.
“It is an interesting proposal.”
The emperor, who had thought he would say no right away, smiled softly and added.
“Can he be her fiancé if we continue dating?”
“I see what Your Majesty does.”
At the end of my answer, the emperor even clapped his hands and burst out laughing.
It seemed like a joke, but it was sincere.
“And the answer?”
“All right, I’ll do it. That relationship.”
“Okay, let’s shake hands.”
After shaking hands with the spirit of the covenant, I….
~*~
“…I’m crazy.”
When I opened my eyes with a headache due to the hangover, curses came out from the scene that came to my mind.
“Karina, you’re crazy.”
What kind of crazy promise did I make?