I Became the Regretful Male Lead's Sister (Completed Main Story) - Chapter 11

After that, it was utter chaos.

The bride, left all alone, started crying, and Father couldn’t seem to wake up.

The Emperor, furious, shouted and stormed out.

In all that madness, I was the only one with a clear head.

Once we sent away all the murmuring guests, only the Empress and the Crown Prince remained in the hall.

“You can be sure His Majesty will hold the Duke accountable once he regains his senses!”

The Empress glared at me as if she wanted to kill me.

Well, I suppose anyone would be furious—her precious daughter had just suffered such a humiliating disgrace….

Even I would be angry in her place.

I bowed my head as she stomped away.

‘We’re ruined.’

I just had to meddle in the male lead’s life, and now our whole family is about to collapse.

Could this possibly be my fault?

Did changing the original story cause all this?

Lost in despair, I sat in a chair trying to gather my thoughts when Nathaniel approached.

“So your brother really is a madman, after all.”

“I already know that, so please don’t say it.”

“It was beyond imagination.”

“……”

I really didn’t feel like talking to him.

Seeing the hall somewhat settled, I stood up.

“I’ll head back now. As you can see, I have a lot to do.”

“Oh, right. Don’t worry too much. Surely His Majesty won’t behead a meritorious noble family.”

Was he fanning the flames of a burning house?

Gritting my teeth, I climbed into the carriage.

My first priority was to catch that lunatic.

Maximilian was caught quickly.

He hadn’t even gone far from the ceremony.

The Duke’s knights found him kneeling beside a dazed Teresa, desperately begging, and dragged him back.

“You good-for-nothing fool!”

As soon as Father opened his eyes, he started beating Maximilian senselessly.

Even though Maximilian was getting a thorough thrashing, it still wasn’t enough to satisfy me.

I held back the urge to hand Father a proper weapon—a club, perhaps.

“If you didn’t want to go through with it, you should’ve said so before entering the hall! In front of everyone, with foreign envoys present—how dare you insult the Imperial family!”

“I’m sorry, Father.”

“Is ‘I’m sorry’ supposed to fix everything? Because of your foolish love games, our whole family is about to be ruined!”

Maximilian kept his head bowed low.

“Apologize to Her Imperial Highness right now!”

“I will apologize. She’s the victim, after all. But I won’t marry her.”

“Wha—wha—what?!”

Father’s face turned so red it looked ready to burst.

I handed him some water and said,

“Calm down, Father. You’ll collapse again if you keep this up.”

At my words, Father sank heavily onto the floor.

Seeing his utterly devastated expression broke my heart.

“This marriage is over. Everyone already knows why Brother called it off. Forcing it now would just be ridiculous….”

“Sigh… How can I ever face His Majesty again? And since the fault lies with us, I have no idea what demands he’ll make—it’s enough to make me go blind with worry.”

Father started rambling on.

He might demand we sell even more mana stones to the Imperial family at a low price.

Or, if we were truly unlucky, he might demand we hand over the very mines where we extracted them.

“I think it’s best if you go speak with His Majesty first.”

“Yes… I suppose I should follow your advice. Sigh… My head aches—just go, all of you.”

Clutching his head, Father dismissed us.

I dragged Maximilian out of the room.

He was acting so strangely, so utterly out of it, it was hard to believe he’d just caused such a bold scene.

“What? You went that far, and Teresa still wouldn’t take you back?”

“……”

“I guess you thought that if you ruined the wedding and ran to her, she’d be so moved she’d accept you.”

“Shut up.”

I couldn’t contain my boiling anger.

I slapped him hard across the cheek, and Maximilian’s cold eyes turned toward me.

“Get a grip. If Teresa had accepted you back there, the Menisil earldom would’ve been held responsible too. In trying to prove your love to her, you nearly destroyed her entire family.”

At my words, Maximilian froze.

Right—he’d never thought that far ahead.

Maximilian had lived his whole life lacking nothing, always surrounded by people’s goodwill.

Thanks to his handsome looks and status as a viscount.

That’s why he never learned to consider others or think from their perspective.

Why?

Because he never needed to.

“You’re truly selfish, Brother. Don’t call that love. You just couldn’t stand being rejected by Teresa.”

Leaving him frozen in place, I returned to my room.

I was furious beyond words.

It was absurd—I’d actually expected something from him, the protagonist of this novel.

“Aaaaaah!”

“Pii!”

I screamed and threw myself onto the bed—but something soft and squishy met me.

“Eeek! What is that?!”

I quickly scrambled off the bed, backed away, and lifted the blanket slightly.

A tiny black dragon with angry red eyes glared up at me.

I hastily covered it back up.

“Ugh… I’m so angry I’m seeing things.”

“Pi, pii!”

I forced myself to ignore the tiny, cute taps against my back as I tried to stand.

But as I rose, my sleeve got caught, and I tumbled forward.

“Piyu.”

My eyes met Nathaniel’s—he hovered in the air, flapping tiny wings and looking down at me with an arrogant expression.

Normally, I’d have been intimidated, but like this, he just looked pitifully cute.

“Your Highness, what on earth are you doing in our house?”

In response to my question, red letters began appearing in the air.

[I was on my way back when my body suddenly changed like this, so I came to hide.]

“But why here, of all places?”

[Because you know my secret.]

Were we secret friends now?

Because I’d learned a secret I never wanted to know, I now had to raise a dragon.

“Couldn’t you just hide in that temple again? If it’s hard to get there, I’ll take you myself.”

[I haven’t gone back there since you caught me.]

Once discovered, it had lost all value as a hiding place.

Last time, even the Empress’s people had shown up—it would be even riskier now.

Besides, with the Imperial family already offended, I couldn’t possibly turn away the Crown Prince.

And we needed someone on our side, after all!

“How long until you can return to your original form?”

[I don’t know. Roughly three to five days?]

“But last time you changed back right away!”

[I was just lucky.]

His confident tone left me momentarily speechless.

It did bother me a little that I’d have to share a room with a man, but right now he was just a small, adorable baby dragon.

‘I guess I have no choice.’

Watching him press the blanket down playfully with his front paws made my heart race dangerously.

“I’ll allow you to stay in my room. But! You must behave yourself. As you know, my brother caused a huge mess, so the atmosphere here is terrible.”

The baby dragon nodded.

He really was cute, undeniably cute.

“You must be hungry. Stay here—I’ll bring you something to eat.”

At my words, Nathaniel sat back on the bed and looked up at me.

I quickly left the room.

Determined to do everything in my power to win the Crown Prince’s favor.

Duke Winters was extremely tense.

His mind was in utter disarray—what would happen next? What would His Majesty demand?

“His Majesty summons you.”

Was it just his imagination, or did the steward’s voice sound unusually cold today?

To calm his nerves, the Duke repeatedly opened and closed his hands as he entered the study.

The Emperor, seated comfortably in the cozy study, rose to greet him.

“Come in, come in. Sit over here.”

Duke Winters took the seat the Emperor indicated.

His mouth was parched, and his palms kept sweating.

At least His Majesty had shown mercy and hadn’t arrested him on the spot—that was something to be grateful for.

“We committed a grave offense yesterday.”

“So you do understand.”

“If you would only tell me how to make up for this mistake….”

Despite the Duke’s words, the Emperor remained silent.

He simply stroked the leather armrest, seemingly lost in thought.

Every second felt unbearably long.

Duke Winters, doing nothing but wiping the sweat dripping down his face, waited anxiously for a reply.

“Well, if I were to name the one thing I most desire, it would have to be the Sorce Mine.”

“Th-that is….”

The Sorce Mine was the largest mana stone mine in the duchy.

Half of the annual mana stone output came from Sorce Mine alone.

If that mine were handed over to the Imperial family, the Winters duchy would be utterly ruined.

“Your Majesty!”

The Duke knelt before the Emperor and bowed his head deeply.

“I know my son committed an unforgivable act against Her Imperial Highness. But that mine is a precious resource that supports the livelihoods of all our people. Please, I beg you to consider this.”

The Emperor looked down at the Duke in silence.

Seeing him prostrate himself so humbly eased the Emperor’s anger slightly.

He hadn’t actually intended to take the Sorce Mine.

He merely wanted to test how far the Duke was willing to go.

“Haha! To think your concern for your people runs so deep—I can only be grateful.”

“Your Majesty.”

Relieved that his plea had worked, the Duke raised his head.

The Emperor, feigning kindness, helped him up and seated him across from himself.

“Steward, contact the Order and summon a healer.”

As if on cue, a healer arrived shortly after.

Soon, the previously empty table was filled with fragrant tea and cookies.

“Please, help yourself, Duke.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

Only then did the Duke finally relax.

His mind raced frantically, searching for alternatives to offer instead of the Sorce Mine.

He was recalling beautiful islands famed as resorts in the east and the names of smaller mana stone mines when—

The Emperor broke the silence.

“I won’t publicly announce that Anais was abandoned at the altar because of another woman.”

“Yes, yes.”

The Duke replied reluctantly.

But what choice did he have?

Because his foolish, dreadful son had invited the Menisil earldom, everyone already knew the disaster stemmed from his former fiancée.

“But everyone saw the viscount run off—it’s terribly awkward.”

“I apologize, Your Majesty. I will do everything in my power to restore Her Imperial Highness’s honor.”

On that point, he had no defense, no matter how many mouths he had.

The Emperor grinned slyly and said,

“It’s not just about the Imperial Princess. This concerns the honor of the entire Imperial family.”

The Duke grew tense again, fidgeting with his hands.

What on earth was His Majesty getting at?

“But I’m a practical man. The Winters duchy has served the nation faithfully for a very long time and enjoys an excellent reputation. It would be a shame to discard an alliance with such a family.”

Could he possibly be suggesting they revive the marriage between the Imperial Princess and Maximilian?

The Duke’s head began spinning again.

Holding another wedding wouldn’t be difficult.

The problem was Maximilian, who’d lost his mind over Teresa.

Just thinking about how to coax that madman into saying “I do” at the altar gave him a headache.

But he couldn’t refuse the Emperor’s proposal.

“So I was thinking—what about a marriage between the Crown Prince and your daughter?”

“Yes, of course I agree… wait, what?”

The Duke tapped his ears, wondering if he’d heard wrong.

“We’ll simply say Maximilian fled because he realized his younger brother was in love with her—it’s a plausible enough cover story.”

“Oh, no, that’s not….”

He couldn’t bring himself to ask, “Will it really be that easy to sweep this under the rug?”

The Emperor looked at him with absolute confidence.

As a guilty party standing before His Majesty, the Duke couldn’t possibly call the plan reckless.

“To be honest, I’ve had your daughter in mind as Nathaniel’s match for some time. She’s such a bright and well-mannered young lady. Since the marriage with that Maximilian fellow is clearly off, we might as well secure Nathaniel.”

The Emperor clenched his fist, declaring his resolve.

‘Why does it have to be our daughter?!’

But the Duke could only swallow his words.