101. You’re putting on a show, aren’t you?

2024.01.09.

Unlike his twisted mouth, Bollonico’s icy blue eyes were sharply turned toward Clade.

Just as he said, women swarmed around Clade just as densely as men eager to shake his hand in congratulations.

“What should we do? Should we go over there and exchange friendly greetings too?”

Yuan forcibly pulled her lingering gaze away and pretended not to hear, turning her head aside.

Beside the spot where Empress Marilyn sat guarding wearily, Emperor Marcello was staring straight at Yuan.

The moment their eyes met, Yuan felt her breath catch and cold sweat trickle down her back.

The emperor had been unusually quiet—so what exactly was the problem?

Her heart had started pounding irregularly ever since the emperor arrived, delivered a brief opening speech, and ordered attendants to carry out the banquet according to rank, bringing several imperial decrees and the emperor’s own sword.

Yuan thought it was because she was tense over the messy past entangling her with the emperor, or perhaps because she couldn’t control her emotions upon seeing Clade after so long.

So she willingly became Bollonico’s trophy, trying her best to stay as far from the emperor as possible—but still, the emperor’s gaze clung to her stubbornly, impossible to shake off.

“People seem to be waiting for you and Brother’s wife to step forward—”

Those who believed the rumors circulating in the gossip sheets would be eagerly anticipating a bloody staring contest between Bollonico and Clade over Yuan.

Yuan knew Bollonico wanted to wear a victorious smile in that scene. But—

“…I’m feeling unwell.”

“Is that so?”

Bollonico pressed his lips even closer to Yuan’s ear and whispered.

“Just try ruining this joyful party.”

The emperor’s sidelong glance burned too intensely.

That gaze felt like it was kneading her internal organs.

She felt dizzy, as if she might collapse any moment.

It was as if the pain she’d locked away inside her body was now kicking open the door and surging out.

“I’ll just rest for a moment and come back.”

Yuan dabbed the cold sweat from her face with a handkerchief.

She brushed off Noel’s outstretched hand offering to escort her and hurried in the opposite direction.

With every step she took, stares rained down like drops of water.

It felt as if someone was reaching out to help her.

Yet she couldn’t shake the feeling that something terribly frightening was chasing after her, clutching at her ankles.

Only when she reached a dimly lit corner of the corridor, out of the emperor’s line of sight, did she lean against the wall and finally vomit up a mouthful of blood that had risen into her throat.

She’d nearly bled where Clade might have seen.

“You’re putting on a show, aren’t you, Yuan Pelliese?”

She had been gasping for breath for a while when a very familiar voice sounded from behind.

“You can fool everyone else, but you can’t fool me.”

Yuan barely wiped her mouth before turning around to see Regina standing there, fuming.

“Go ahead, try making an excuse, you filthy liar.”

Yuan hastily hid the blood-stained handkerchief and asked.

“A lie?”

“I told you not to flirt with the First Prince.”

To come rushing all the way here through this dreadful palace just to scold her for flirting with Bollonico—Yuan could only stare in disbelief.

Seeing this, Regina added sharply.

“Don’t you remember the written pledge?”

Yuan recalled the crude written pledge she’d pushed deep into the back of her memory and couldn’t help but laugh.

Regina stared, bewildered, as Yuan chuckled lowly, as if all the air had been let out of her lungs.

Yuan straightened her back with a face that looked as if her painful headache had suddenly cleared, and asked.

“Hasn’t your position changed, Regina? Today I saw a very handsome gentleman standing beside you.”

“W-what?”

“Lord Dreykub Treloni, wasn’t it?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected attack, Regina’s pale cheeks flushed with shame.

“Did I misjudge the situation?”

“You’ve misjudged badly, you bat-like wretch. Regina Pelliese is the Crown Prince’s lover.”

Regina spat out the words, trembling with rage.

“So honor the pledge. Keep the promise you personally agreed to.”

“Pledge? What pledge? We might have talked about something like that, but did we actually write one?”

“Don’t pretend you don’t know now! You were acting like you knew just a moment ago!”

“If you’re actually calling that ridiculous joke of a thing a formal pledge, then I might remember. That’s the kind of thing I’d recall.”

Regina’s eyes widened in outrage at Yuan’s mocking tone.

“What?”

“I, a member of the imperial family. Talking about some childish game you played with me, someone who doesn’t even represent the family?”

Yuan continued coldly.

“If you wanted to make a formal pledge with me, you should’ve brought at least the family seal. What right do you have to order me around, Regina?”

Regina’s eyes widened in disbelief at Yuan’s bold demeanor.

For a moment, Regina thought the woman before her couldn’t possibly be Yuan Pelliese.

It wasn’t just that her appearance had changed.

Regina had met Yuan face-to-face once after she left home, in the Black Mansion, and again at Marquis Rev’s cemetery—but never had she sensed such a complete transformation in the very essence of the person.

For the first time, Regina felt something akin to intimidation from Yuan.

It was as if the invisible wall she’d felt around noblewomen like Celentina or Tasha Kimfri had suddenly been erected between herself and the crow-like cousin who used to live under her roof.

If she stayed silent now and let even Yuan look down on her, Regina would have nowhere left to retreat.

If she returned to Glory Hall, countless eyes and mouths would mock her as she faced her cousins.

Unless she seized the initiative over Yuan right now, Regina would be pushed out of high society, and the title of “Bollonico’s lover” would remain forever out of reach.

Regina knew better than anyone in this world how timid and pitiful Yuan Pelliese used to be.

If she reminded her properly of the past, Yuan would shrink back like a startled turtle.

“So you’ve finally gone mad?”

Regina held her head high, refusing to yield to Yuan’s momentum. Her shoulders squared aggressively.

“What am I? I’m the real Pelliese who can decide your fate. You’ve been playing toy in the imperial court so long you don’t even know what rumors are spreading outside? Don’t you know people are saying you abandoned your husband and foolishly chased after Crown Prince Bollonico all the way to the palace? Rumors are rampant that your husband is dissatisfied with you—that’s why he’s turned into a philandering rogue who seduces every woman in his domain. It’s only a matter of time before you’re divorced. I’ll tell Father how you’re blocking my path, possibly preventing me from becoming a prince’s wife. Once you’re divorced, who will take care of you? Strictly speaking, you’re my cousin, not my sister, so the Pelliese family has no obligation to take you in.”

Regina, now fully emboldened, raised her eyebrows as if daring Yuan to say more.

In the past, she might have slapped her across the face, but merely holding back was already showing the bare minimum courtesy she owed to a crow.

“Who takes care of whom?”

Yuan, who had been silently listening, suddenly smiled and said.

“Well said, Regina. Yes, that’s right. You’re my cousin, not my sister. So I have no obligation to care for you either.”

“What nonsense are you spouting?”

“Whether to care for or expel a family member—that decision lies not with you, but with the family head, Regina.”

“Are you planning to pressure my father again? What this time? Something you stole? Or Bollonico Crown Prince?”

“No. That won’t be necessary. Your father is merely a relative who does odd jobs for me. The Pelliese family belongs to me—why would I need to pressure your father?”

“…What?”

Seeing Regina completely clueless, Yuan kindly explained the current situation.

“The First Prince granted me full authority over the Pelliese family.”

“What? What are you talking about?”

“Ask your father what I mean. Ask him how the First Prince could possibly transfer full authority over the Pelliese family to Yuan Pelliese while ignoring you, the current family head.”

Not a trace of anxiety showed on Yuan Pelliese’s face. Instead, Regina’s face was painted with disbelief and dread.

“That’s impossible. How could you? How could Bollonico Crown Prince—?”

Regina shook her head, confused.

She didn’t particularly care for the Pelliese family itself, but Regina took pride in bearing a noble surname instead of her maternal “Felt” name.

Her life had only changed ten years ago.

It had only been ten years since she could finally trample over the cousins who grew up like princesses inside the grand mansion, always told they were different from her.

From now on, there was only upward to go.

The present of Pelliese belonged to her father, and the future to her brother Frederic.

Regina met Yuan’s steady gaze and suddenly recalled the past.

A swollen, tear-streaked face from grieving the loss of both parents.

A clean, sun-kissed complexion untouched by hardship, unlike her own.

Jet-black hair and eyes just like her father’s.

A little girl at their first meeting, clearly reluctant to let into her room the dirty cousin raised outside, dressed in clothes of a different quality.

A girl who, no matter how crushed, only bowed her head but never became servile.

A cunning little wretch who eventually carved out her own space, freely entering and leaving her father’s study—a place no one else could enter at will—as often as her own room.

“You… you planned this from the very beginning, didn’t you?”

Years of pent-up jealousy and anger surged chaotically in her mind.

That cunning little wretch, always whining about family, had actually planned this all along.

She read everything she could get her hands on, grew clever, and used some absurdly crafty scheme to steal her father’s treasure and offer it to Bollonico.

From the start, it was insane to willingly walk into that mansion where the monstrous crown prince lived!

“You wretched, selfish woman. So you sold me to the monster, and now you’ve sold yourself to the First Prince? Why? Did the monster refuse to give you what you wanted, even after you brought him the Pelliese treasure?”

“Yes.”

Yuan replied with a smile.