“Who dares?”
Above the silent banquet hall, the Emperor spat out sharply. His eyes, flushed as if offended, swept around in all directions.
Wherever the fiery gaze reached, the nobles who had frozen in place were startled and lowered their heads.
Who dares.
The nobles mumbled the Emperor’s words under their breath, looking around. But soon, all eyes were focused on one place.
In this banquet hall, the only one smiling brightly was Edwin Bikaneder Lowell, the Duke.
Amidst the Emperor’s palpable energy, the Duke let out a lazy laughter. While some among the nobles with keen ears tilted their heads, it was only momentary.
“If you ask the Duke, what will you achieve? The crucial matter is not whether the princess stayed in Katangta, but whether she visited Bikaneder as per His Majesty’s orders.”
The smooth voice pinpointed the essence of the issue. The atmosphere, which was pushing responsibility onto the Duke and trying to cover up the situation, flipped in an instant.
The contrast between the Duke of Katangta and the princess was vivid. The back of the princess’s hand, holding her dress, trembled.
The princess’s dignity was gradually crumbling. This situation was directly connected to the crisis of imperial authority.
The most powerful crisis in the history of the imperial family.
A surge of anxiety rushed as if someone had thrust a knife into the heart. The Emperor’s hand, gripping the armrest tightly, suddenly lost all sensation.
The gleaming red eyes looked at the Emperor with genuine delight.
With a provocative gaze, as if playing a game, the Emperor called out to the Duke with a gambling heart.
“…Duke. Let’s discuss this matter separately.”
“No, Your Majesty. Please ask me again.”
“Edwin Lowell Bikaneder!”
When the Emperor shouted with bloodshot eyes, the decoration on the armrest couldn’t withstand his strength and broke.
The Emperor lost balance for a moment. His hand, gripping the broken ornament, seemed as if it were the Duke’s mouth.
“I will answer that it’s not me.”
But the Duke spoke without hesitation, shrugging his shoulders naturally.
All the nobles in the banquet hall stared, momentarily frozen, at the princess, the Emperor, and the Duke. Suspicion, an impurity, had mixed into gazes that were always full of respect and awe.
For a moment, the Emperor felt that the authority of the imperial throne, which he had considered eternal, had slipped through his fingers like sand.
Something that had never been considered before had happened in reality. The doubts of the nobles, sticking little by little to the surface of the skin, were keenly felt.
“Then, did the princess falsely report her whereabouts? Why, for what reason?”
“That too, but is this the only false behavior? Even the summer banquet is different from before. Perhaps…?”
The voice that shifted blame somewhere disappeared in an instant. However, it was enough to kindle suspicion.
Always graceful and revered for her dedication, Princess Reyna.
One by one, flaws began to appear in that steadfast image.
The princess looked around with desperate eyes. Just like Elkin, the Duke of Ribeorun, had done a while ago, someone had to step forward. The princess naturally looked at Lady Olivia, along with her playmates.
However…
One part of her heart turned cold. Lady Olivia, who always fawned over her, her playmates, and even the noblewomen, were all watching from a distance, observing.
No one spoke up to defend the princess. She gazed at all the nobles in the banquet hall, her face filled with disbelief.
Those who showed blatant curiosity, those who pitied her but said nothing, and even the envoy party looking at her with apparent interest.
Not a single word came out as if someone had seized their throats. The reputation I had painstakingly built vanished like a sandcastle swept away by the waves in an instant.
The princess knew all too well how one with a scandalous reputation would be forgotten in society. Unable to attend even a banquet, being confined to a room like a discarded wooden doll with severed strings.
But it couldn’t be her story. The Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Welton or the Crown Princess of the Kingdom of Orange. That was her place…!
“Oh, dear.”
With a voice as if calling a god from the edge of a cliff, the princess’s voice was pitiful and desperate.
However, even after seconds, even after minutes passed, the Emperor’s gaze did not reach the princess. When all the anxious expectations were gone.
The ground the princess stood on began to crumble. It was the moment the dignity of the princess, which had always been firm under the authority of the royal family, fell to the ground.
She closed her eyes as everything faded away. Her body swayed severely, and in the distance, sounds resembling screams passed by.
Everything was in chaos.
“…Livia, Olivia.”
When a faint voice was heard, Olivia blinked. Under the deep darkness of the balcony, Edwin raised his arm lightly.
Only then did Olivia realize that she had put too much force on the hand holding Edwin’s arm.
Male lead is a Destined Young Husband (Female-dominant)
One-sentence summary: Wife-master, listen to my explanation!
Li Ruantang, a young lady from a prestigious family, stumbled and fell. When she woke up, she saw a noble and beautiful young man sitting by her bedside, wiping away tears.
The young master had slightly reddened eyes, and his every move exuded charm.
The sight made Li Ruantang’s eyes hot and her heart flutter. After all, she had made a bet with the young master Meng from the neighboring family. If she couldn’t marry a husband before the end of the year, she would have to admit defeat and give up the jade she had worked so hard to obtain.
Outside the window, the flowers were in full bloom.
Rather than losing the bet, the jade, and her face, Li Ruantang calculated that it would be better to seek marriage with the young master in front of her, killing three birds with one stone.
…
Meng Jun never thought that an accident during a spring outing would lead to them rolling down a cliff and into a river, yet still survive.
Now they were trapped in an unknown village, and Meng Jun had overheard that the family who had rescued them had their own intentions.
After all, it was Li Ruantang who had lost her mind and sought marriage first. He was only trying to protect himself!
Glancing at Li Ruantang, who was listing her own merits, the young husband’s voice softened, and he blushed as he lied, “W-wife-master, Wife-master, don’t you remember me?”
The young husband’s voice was clear and handsome, coaxing Li Ruantang’s heart to be soft and sweet, and she spared no effort to protect him.
It wasn’t until they returned to the capital that Li Ruantang suddenly remembered.
When they had fallen off the cliff, in order not to implicate Wei Yunruo, whom he secretly admired, the young husband had instead pulled her, who was slightly farther away, down the cliff with him…
Short summary by Yuushi L: Initially, the male lead (ML) liked another girl, while the female lead (FL) liked the ML. Both fell off a cliff. The FL temporarily lost her memory, and the ML, fearing others might take advantage of him, claimed FL was his wife while they were staying in a village. Later, when they returned home, the FL regained her memories and remembered that the ML liked someone else, so she kept her distance from him. However, during their time living together in the countryside, the ML’s view of the FL had completely changed. From this point, his pursuit of the FL begins.
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