“His Majesty the Emperor seems to be interested in the lady who had tea with His Highness the Crown Prince,” said advisor Alex, to which Rehart, who was sipping his tea, chuckled.
“Paying a fair price for revealing a secret to someone.”
Rehart’s secret of enjoying flower tea was now known by Etienne and Fernando. This led to rumors about the identity of the lady who had tea with the Crown Prince, and the number of nobles wandering the outer city had increased.
Rehart had been unable to visit the outer city due to the nobles not there for its beauty but to find him. He regretted not being able to go there, and now even the Emperor was making a fuss.
“Should I just reveal it was Etienne?”
Though he spoke out of spite, wanting to drag Etienne into it, Rehart knew it wasn’t a good idea.
“That would lead to questions about my relationship with her, wouldn’t it? The Emperor might thoroughly investigate the Clare family. That’s his way of showing interest.”
“The Emperor already knows.”
“What?”
“That the lady you had tea with is Etienne Clare.”
“How?”
“…Everyone knows.”
Alex sent a look that questioned why Rehart was the only one unaware, making Rehart grimace in embarrassment.
“So, everyone knows.”
“Yes.”
“That means I can no longer associate with her.”
“What do you mean?”
“Think about it. Just having tea with me has spread rumors everywhere. And now that the Emperor is watching her too? Of course, she’d feel burdened by me.”
Rehart, who had just been pettily considering revealing Etienne’s name, now sipped his tea with a look of regret.
“What about Fernando?”
“What?”
“He was there that day at the Schuprauer estate.”
“Yes, that’s true. There are also rumors about him.”
“Really?”
Rehart brightened up with an idea.
“What if I say I’m interested in Fernando? If the focus shifts to him, Etienne would be more comfortable.”
“That won’t work.”
Alex bluntly dismissed the idea, and Rehart’s face fell again.
“The Emperor wants to keep me lonely.”
Rehart tapped his teacup with his fingers, looking conflicted and slightly frustrated.
“It’s hard to mingle with people normally. The Emperor takes interest in every light conversation and assesses whether they are suitable for the Crown Princess. There are many nobles and peers in the capital, but I hardly have any real friends.”
Since Rehart’s interactions were often politically entangled, he couldn’t easily extend his hand to anyone, leaving him without real friends, especially female friends. His position as the Crown Prince was quite lonely.
“Don’t worry about it.”
“Are you going to fill my loneliness, Alex?”
Alex, the only peer close to Rehart since a young age, shook his head.
“No.”
“You won’t even say you’ll try.”
“A meeting is being arranged.”
Ignoring Rehart’s comment, Alex continued.
“A meeting?”
“It seems the contours of the families supporting the Crown Prince are becoming clear. If you gather those families, you might find friends there.”
“Really?”
Rehart’s face lit up.
“The Clare Ducal family seems to be among them. You can mingle with them when the time comes.”
Hearing this, Rehart mused thoughtfully.
“It’s already time for that.”
“Pardon?”
“I was getting bored. This is good news.”
Rehart slyly changed the topic, his secretive smile adding to the intrigue. He looked more relaxed now, sipping his tea, when suddenly he seemed to have another bright idea and turned to Alex.
“Stop looking at me like that.”
“Isn’t there a ball at Count Pigment’s estate soon?”
“Yes, there is.”
“Should I go with Etienne?”
Alex raised an eyebrow in disbelief, but Rehart cheerfully suggested, “We’re going to be friends anyway. So why not accelerate that process by attending the ball together?”
“That doesn’t sound like a good idea at all.”
“Having tea together and attending a ball together. When suspicions about us grow, we can just say we met at the gathering.”
“So you’re basically saying let’s add more rumors to the existing ones, but in a very long-winded way.”
Alex sighed. It seemed like a bad idea, but it was hard to dissuade the Crown Prince when he was set on something.
Etienne looked at Lani sitting opposite her. She had written that wish – the girl who worked in the restoration room. Upon asking, Etienne found out they were the same age.
“What did you say you do again?”
Lani, cautiously eating her cake, startled and set down her fork.
“You can talk while eating.”
“Okay.”
Lani picked up her fork again, but struggled to eat while answering Etienne’s question. Despite Lani’s difficulty, Etienne obliviously continued sitting there.
Seeing this, Retin, the butler, intervened.
“Miss, I’ll sit beside Lani.”
“No, I want to stay here.”
Etienne now leaned even closer to Lani, who couldn’t hide her discomfort. The butler sighed and set down the dessert.
“Scones. Is this enough?”
“It’s too much.”
Lani gestured helplessly at the over ten types of desserts in front of her.
“It’s too much.”
“I arranged it based on your wish to have desserts.”
“I don’t think I can eat all this.”
My Step-brother Is Obsessed With Me (Female-dominant)
A gentle female protagonist vs pitiful in the early stage, and a sick male protagonist in the later stage
Cheng Songer transmigrated into the body of a vicious cannon fodder female supporting character with the same name as her in a female-dominant novel.
In the original story, the cannon fodder female supporting character was inhumane, committing domestic violence, gambling excessively, being lustful, and even wanting to sell her stepbrother to a brothel for money.
As luck would have it, she just happened to transmigrate at this time.
Seeing Cheng Qingzhi biting his lip, enduring the tears in his eyes, looking pitiful, her heart softened.
She stuffed the money back into the Madam’s hand and reached out to him.
“Brother, come home with me.”
