Sister, I'm the Queen This Life (330 Chapters Left to Complete) - Chapter 468

“It’s because I intend to marry you off. You never know—you might find a good husband, and I’ll even grant him a dukedom.”

Prince Alfonso replied with a smile.

“I always thought titles were granted for meritorious service.”

Though he spoke clearly with an unmistakably gentle smile, to Ariadne it sounded as if he were mocking her in a sarcastic tone. Perhaps it was because these words came from his only son, who had conquered the millennium-old capital yet still hadn’t been named crown prince. It seemed others heard it similarly; Leo III shot him a displeased glance.

“Getting married itself is a service and an act of filial piety!”

Alfonso chuckled softly. But I’m already married, he thought. This time, the ever-dutiful Bianca, with seemingly deliberate obliviousness, asked candidly,

“If a title is granted as part of the dowry, shouldn’t it also be given to the princess consort?”

At the word “dowry,” Alfonso let out a quiet laugh. A title given as part of a bride’s trousseau—how perfectly fitting for his slender, elegant older brother.

Leo III glanced first at Alfonso, then at Bianca. Princess consort—truly, that choice of words grated on him more and more each time he heard it.

“She should receive it from her own father!”

It was a roundabout way of pointing out that Ariadne wasn’t born into the ruling family. Ariadne merely shrugged her shoulders and answered calmly,

“My title has already been bestowed by Your Majesty.”

To someone unfamiliar, it would have sounded like humble gratitude and contentment with what she had been granted. Yet the Countess de Mare title had been given by Leo III in his eagerness to take her as his new consort.

Outwardly meek, the raven-haired beauty had hidden thorns of reproach beneath her words, subtly condemning his disgraceful behavior. Leo III’s mood soured yet again—first from being called out, and then from bitterness over the fact that such a clever woman wasn’t his to claim.

He wanted to burst out in anger but couldn’t. Making Ariadne his consort had been a top-secret matter, especially from Isabella present in this room.

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