Viscount Lebian, ever the sensible one, was utterly shocked by Princess Lariessa’s command to kill the offspring of a highranking clergyman from another country.

“Princess! What are you talking about! How could you say such a thing!”

“That sirenlike wench!”

Driven by rage, Lariessa kicked the wingchair lying already on the floor.

“She, pretending to be innocent, took Prince Alfonso!”

Lariessa, abandoning even the formal respect she had maintained, screamed loudly.

“How could the damned de Carlo royal family play with a dirty bastard child of a clergyman from Etruscan while negotiating a marriage alliance with the Great Gallico Kingdom! Is this even possible?!”

“Ah …”

Viscount Lebian finally realized why Princess Lariessa was so angry that she caused a disaster in the room. This was the first time he had heard this story.

However, it wasn’t an unusual story. It was rare for a monarch, who arranged political marriages, to have a lover or concubine in their country, and it was more common to have one.

He calmly consoled Princess Lariessa.

“Princess, calm down, calm down. I fully understand your disappointment, but it has no impact on the state affairs at all. A mere concubine is not someone you, the Princess who will become the crown princess, should worry about.”

“He won’t marry me!”

“Excuse me?”

“The Prince, he refuses our marriage!”

Half in anger, half in frustration, Lariessa beat her chest.

“What?”

This time, even Viscount Lebian was surprised.

“Princess, that is a decision that Prince Alfonso cannot make alone.”

“Yes, I know, I’ve heard it till my ears bleed! The decision will be made by His Majesty Leo III, the ambassadors of the countries, they cannot refuse our proposal!”

Lariessa howled.

“We have been in this damned land for almost half a year! What have you been assuring me would happen all this time?! Nothing!”

As Viscount Lebian, it was an unfair accusation. There was a lot of progress on the details of the contract, most of the details had been negotiated, and they were just stuck on one thing. The formulation of gunpowder.

But if you asked ‘Is the marriage alliance contract signed?’, the only thing you could say was ‘No’.

“We have to get rid of that woman. If Prince Alfonso, blinded by a woman, is barking about refusing marriage, if that woman disappears, there’s no reason to avoid marrying me, right?”

“Princess! Please reconsider!”

Desperately clinging on, Viscount Lebian tried to stop her.

“The second daughter of Cardinal de Mare, of course, her status is like dust compared to yours, but she’s the biological daughter of Cardinal de Mare, the head of the conservative faction within the Holy See! If we kill her carelessly, we won’t be able to handle the consequences!”

Lariessa’s face twisted.

“The Great Gallico Kingdom? Won’t my father and cousin, the king, ignore my difficulties?”

Princess Lariessa, with a pale face, quivered and said.

“I’m being humiliated by a mere clergyman’s bastard, and the ‘Great Gallico Kingdom’ you like so much can’t even take the life of that damned woman for a princess who will soon take her place?”

“I apologize, please reconsider, Princess!”

Breaking the desperate plea of Viscount Lebian trying to stop Princess Lariessa was an unwelcome guest.

“Tsk tsk tsk ……. You can’t even grant the wishes of the lord you serve, you’re really an incompetent servant.”

Viscount Lebian was startled and quickly turned to where the voice came from.

“Marquis Mireiyu!”

The official head of the Gallico delegation, Marquis Mireiyu, slowly entered Princess Lariessa’s quarters.

Entering the room of a grown maiden, moreover, a daughter of a duke who outranked him, without an invitation was a tremendous rudeness, but Lariessa did not stop Marquis Mireiyu. Instead, the person who jumped up was Viscount Lebian.

“Duke Mireille! How dare you come here! It’s against etiquette for you to be here!”

“As the representative of the diplomatic corps, I rushed here as fast as lightning upon hearing that our escort, the Grand Duchess, has become very melancholy.”

He flashed a languid smile.

“If the host of the place allows it, it wouldn’t be a breach of etiquette, would it not, Grand Duchess Lariessa?”

Lariessa nodded as if enchanted. She had a hunch that this man could subdue Count Levian and take the life of Ariadne de Mare as she wished.

Duke Mireille had his own calculations.

The Mireille Dukedom was a distinguished family handed down in the Galician kingdom, but their influence was diminishing after Ward de Briang, the younger brother of the previous king, gave up his inheritance to the throne and instead received the Grand Duchy of Valois.

They were increasingly being pushed out of court, influence, power, and the second rank of the aristocratic society.

‘Thankfully, Ward’s daughter is incredibly foolish.’

If the Grand Duchy of Valois were to become inlaws with the Carlo royal family of Etruscan, their influence would grow even more.

‘I can’t refuse the marriage given by His Majesty the King.’