I thought it was a cool moment when the male lead saves the female lead. Accidentally meeting the female lead who is driven into a corner and saving her, falling in love with her heart fluttering at the sight of her glass-like tears… Well, that kind of situation.

Suddenly, a line from “The Rose of Rahath” came to mind. Originally, this part was a situation where Celeste, not Tekla, was the main one harassing Layla. Just then, Carl, who happened to be passing by, became very angry and punished Celeste, and seeing Layla trembling like a deer, his protective instinct was stimulated and he began to develop love, that was the first opportunity.

Until just now, the situation was very similar to the one in the book. The only difference was that Celeste was missing from the group of villains.

Layla, driven into a corner, shed tears, and His Highness the Grand Duke Albrecht, who happened to be nearby, heard the sound and approached instead of just passing by, stopping the bad villains.

Yes, up to that point, it was a cliché that could be seen in any novel. Now, if Carl had punished the villains and coolly saved the female lead before leaving, it would have been perfect. But at the last moment, what Carl chose was to save me, not Layla.

“I apologize. I have done wrong, Your Highness the Grand Duke. I never intended to insult your blood relative. Please forgive my thoughtless remarks born out of ignorance.”

Tekla’s voice was now close to crying. Even though she kept bowing her head and begging, saying she was sorry, there was no answer, so her fear must have reached its peak by now.

By the way, I had no idea what Carl was thinking. I was worried if it was okay for him to blurt out about Valerie like this, when he should have hidden it, no, it wasn’t something that could be hidden even if he tried to hide it.

I don’t even know what kind of relationship Celeste and Carl had! From the stories I’ve heard roughly, they were either lovers or passionate one-night stand lovers, but whichever of the two it was, I never knew the conclusion would be “marriage”!

In a desperate attempt, I tried sending an SOS to Hannah with my eyes. Whether she knew my burning heart or not, Hannah had a face full of emotion. It didn’t seem like she would be of any help.

In the end, I was half giving up when something heavy wrapped around my shoulders. Startled, I looked up and saw Carl grabbing my shoulders with a nonchalant face and embracing me.

Swoosh. He pulled me in with his strong arms. Then, I felt a firm chest behind my back. I heard the sound of my heart pounding.

I was surprised by the warm body temperature despite the cold face, but before I could struggle, I was in a position of being half-embraced by Carl like that. Just like affectionate lovers who truly love each other.

Schultz began his morning routine by gathering and organizing all kinds of news that had happened in the capital overnight and bringing it to his master. A light sigh escaped his mouth today as he performed his usual routine, no different from usual.

Franz, who had attended Emperor Maximilian’s state funeral, returned home much earlier than expected, with a much worse face than expected.

Knowing well that Franz always returned in the worst condition after meeting people from the imperial family, Schultz was quite worried about his condition. But Franz’s facial expression, which was much worse than he had worried about, kept bothering him.

At the age of perhaps only thirteen, Franz first set foot in the imperial palace. His mother, Marina, was known as the femme fatale of the world who had captivated the emperor with her youth and beauty, in short, the emperor’s concubine.

How great must her beauty and boldness have been to instantly captivate Emperor Alexander, who was not particularly promiscuous compared to previous emperors?

She became pregnant shortly after entering the emperor’s bedchamber, and very fortunately, she even gave birth to a son who had the same eyes as his father.

However, she kept her son’s existence strictly secret until he became a boy.

Perhaps feeling pity for her tearful plea that she had no choice but to hide him in order to protect her son because she had no solid maiden family to back her up, Emperor Alexander readily accepted her son as a prince without any special procedure.

Marina and Franz’s life in the imperial family, which began like that, was never smooth. Not knowing that life after entering the palace was much harder to endure than entering it, Marina began to do all sorts of things with the sole intention of solidifying her son’s position.

At night, she would gain the emperor’s favor through pillow talk, and during the day, she would meet nobles with the emperor’s name on her back and try to win them over to her side.

The process was not important to her. The only thing Marina cared about was the result. Making her son a prince that no one could ignore was her reason for living and her goal.

At some point, Emperor Alexander often stayed in his bedchamber, citing his deteriorating health. Marina even went so far as to claim that she had been delegated by His Majesty and recklessly put her hands on the emperor’s seal.

Princess Pulcheria, who was horrified by the reality of her father being captivated by a concubine and losing even the authority of the emperor, began to openly oppose Marina. She mobilized the knights to prevent her from appearing at official events and summoned the nobles who had been won over by Marina one by one to the imperial palace to intimidate them.

If they carelessly lent their power to such a woman who only did things in the bedchamber, she would not let it slide. She also said that she could never accept a son born from such a woman as a member of the imperial family.

The nobles, who knew Pulcheria well for her determined personality, showed signs of backing down like that.

The imperial family’s hatred toward Franz became more evident day by day. Franz sought the reason for the imperial family’s rejection of him in his bloodline. In fact, there was a separate real reason, but he did not want to admit it.

In that way, the weakness of his background soon turned into an inferiority complex. As he approached adulthood, Franz was compared one by one with a prince of similar age, but he could not win in anything. That prince was none other than the current Grand Duke Albrecht.

Possessing well-rounded virtues and a perfect background as the son of the emperor’s legitimate wife. It was easy for the distorted inferiority complex to turn into anger toward the object of comparison.

Carl Ludwig Johann Albrecht, the jewel of the imperial family, who is the lucky owner who has captured him?

Count Louisette, who has two grand dukes in her hands

The appearance of a new grand duchess, the moves of the Grand Duke of Toskur

The headlines are so explicit that it’s embarrassing.

The fastest words in the world are said to be words without feet. The news of Grand Duke Albrecht’s marriage instantly made the front page of every newspaper and became an established fact.

The trashy magazines and newspapers plastered with all kinds of sensational words acted as if the eyes of the whole world were focused on Grand Duke Albrecht’s marriage.

As he climbed the stairs, Schultz pondered whether bringing these newspapers to Franz would be of any help to him.

Since Franz’s feelings toward Grand Duke Albrecht stemmed from an inferiority complex, Schultz did not want to inform his master of anything related to Grand Duke Albrecht unless absolutely necessary.

However, he had no choice in the matter. He simply did what his master ordered him to do and did not do what he was not ordered to do. That was all he had done for over 20 years while serving Franz.

Knock knock.

“Your Highness the Grand Duke.”

He had arrived at his destination. After knocking, he waited for an answer from inside, but no sound was heard. Perhaps he hasn’t woken up yet.

Schultz counted to 5 in his mind and knocked again. If there was still no sound after knocking three times, he intended to quietly enter, leave the newspapers, and come out.

“I will enter.”

As he entered, thick smoke greeted him. This, too, was a familiar occurrence.

“You were awake.”

“There seem to be a lot of newspapers today. Looks like there’s some interesting news.”

“Aren’t 90% of what these magazines babble about just exaggerations?”

“But you still brought them all?”

“…I thought you should take a look at them anyway.”

“Why, what kind of article is it, Schultz?”

He reached out his hand that was not holding the cigar. It meant to hand him the newspapers.

I told him to at least drink a glass of water before smoking a cigar first thing in the morning. This Grand Duke really does not listen. Schultz’s sighs were endless.

“It’s the news that Grand Duke Albrecht is getting married.”

“What?”

Only then did Franz put down the cigar in his hand.