Chapter 91
It was already too late to say, ‘things got out of hand’. What would fit better would be, ‘welp, we just went for it’.
Ephinia, attended by the ladies-in-waiting, took off the wedding adornments and changed her clothes. Kasselard wasn’t by her side. He had stepped out to deal with blocking the Nabel Empire’s delegation.
‘It still doesn’t feel real.’
Before he sent people to the North Gate, he had asked her this.
‘Does it feel real now, that I love you?’
Of course it does. She knew for sure. There probably wasn’t an Crown Prince anywhere in the world who would do this much for someone. Wouldn’t most of them blame the woman instead? Saying she was childish, or that she didn’t understand politics.
But there was no denying that Ephinia had asked for this. Compared to competing with the Nabel Empire’s Princess, Baroness Linier’s status was absurdly light.
Even a Crown Princess without backing could still hold her head higher than a mistress or a lover. One way or another, she was Kasselard’s wife.
‘My match rate will be higher. So I have to be confident.’
Kasselard said that when the envoys entered the imperial palace later to pay their respects, she had to stand at his side. Because they had already held the ceremony, she was the Crown Princess, he said.
In truth, even if she were still just his paired Guide, she could still stand beside Kasselard, so even if they saw it, they wouldn’t think Ephinia was Kasselard’s wife.
‘It’s not just the Nabel envoys. I’m scared to face the nobles later.’
She had attended one ball with Kasselard, but she hadn’t gone to any other balls or banquets yet. According to Duchess Lanas, rumors quite favorable to her seemed to be spreading.
Among the nobles, there were those who raised their voices, insisting that the Crown Prince’s partner had to be a noble of matching rank, and on the other hand, there were those who opposed the fact that the other party was a princess of the Nabel Empire.
They said that about twenty years ago, relations between the Karnan Empire and the Nabel Empire had been very bad, to the point that it almost came to war.
It seemed Her Majesty the Empress also opposed the political marriage because of that.
“It’s all done, Your Highness.”
At the ladies-in-waiting’s words, Ephinia came to her senses and looked into the mirror.
In the mirror, she looked more elegant than ever. Since this was her first time appearing as the Crown Princess, they seemed to have dressed her as gracefully as possible.
“Does it suit your taste?”
“Yeah. Thank you.”
At Ephinia’s natural informality, a few of the ladies-in-waiting hid their sullen expressions. Ephinia was only doing as she had learned at the Lanas ducal house, but to their eyes, someone who had been a commoner until recently was brazen beyond belief.
Among the palace ladies-in-waiting, there were those who had come up by recommendation, and there were also those noble houses had pushed in, to insert their daughters as concubines. Since this was the Crown Prince’s Palace, even after the head maid filtered them once, there were still people left who harbored such ambitions.
“You already look more than enough, but… if you add this hairpin, you’ll look even a little more like Duchess Lanas.”
When one lady-in-waiting couldn’t suppress her twisted inner thoughts and said that, most of the others looked at her with flustered eyes.
‘What are you doing?’
A lady-in-waiting standing across from her tapped another with her toe as if to say, do something about her, but the girl was already smiling brightly and clinging to Ephinia’s side.
“Well…”
“Duchess Lanas? Why is her name coming up here?”
The lady-in-waiting’s eyes gleamed as if she had been caught in her trap.
“Because His Highness the Crown Prince harbored feelings for her. So he insisted that if he ever took a Guide, she had to be blonde.”
“……”
“Still, the one he actually married has hair as black as a crow, so it was awkward. He said he’d marry, at the very least, a blonde, and if not, then a woman with pink hair. And her eyes had to be emerald or blue.”
In an instant, the pounding, nervous tension in Ephinia’s chest went ice-cold. Blonde? Green eyes? Could it be…
‘So at the ball, the reason he snubbed me was just because of my looks?’
At Ephinia’s face going pale, the lady-in-waiting couldn’t hold back her laughter. She wasn’t afraid of Ephinia at all. If her father heard the news of the Crown Prince’s secret marriage, he would fly into a rage and tell her to leave this palace.
She wouldn’t continue serving this arrogant commoner for long.
‘If I can’t have him as my man, then I won’t watch you be happy either.’
If she returned home, a political marriage to some mediocre man would be waiting, but at least in this moment, she could take revenge on this girl.
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