Chapter 102
The carriage door swung open, revealing the delicate tip of Isabella’s shoe peeking out from under her flowing skirts.
As she stepped down onto the footboard, she greeted the silver-haired butler with a bright smile.
“Joshton! It’s been a while.”
“I trust you’ve been well, Miss Werfel.”
“Yes, indeed.”
Isabella stepped into the reception room, guided by the familiar butler. Two sharply dressed gentlemen awaited her.
One was the ever-dashing Duke Krygen, and the other was the prince of the Kingdom of Ciseina, Benedict, who had been wanting to see her.
“It’s an honor to meet you, Prince Benedict.”
“Pleasure to meet you, Lady Werfel.”
The youthful prince with platinum hair beamed at her, radiating a charming smile. He possessed the elegant features expected of a prince from the land of the arts. His sky-blue eyes held a pure admiration that sparkled with innocence.
“I had heard you were beautiful, but you surpass even the rumors! I thought a doll had walked in.”
“Thank you, Your Highness. You are like a fairy tale prince yourself.”
“Haha, you flatter me.”
Though Benedict was a splendid gentleman with a boyish charm, Isabella’s attention was elsewhere.
‘He really has a wound on his lips!’
Rubens’s lips were adorned with a red scab.
“Oh my! What happened to the Duke’s lips? That doesn’t look like an old injury from last time…”
A few days earlier, Isabella had heard a curious tale from the salon madam while fitting her ceremonial gown. She mentioned how it was unfortunate that the Duke had injured his face right before an important ceremony. There seemed to be an underlying nuance as she asked about how he had been hurt.
Given the location of the injury, it made sense why that tone was present.
“I heard he got injured while fencing without a mask against Baron Shearton. Of all places, it had to be his face! It could have been a real disaster.”
Benedict spoke on behalf of Rubens.
“Indeed, it could have been serious. That injury was near his mouth…”
He sustained that kind of injury while fencing?
Until now, he had never gotten such a wound from a match with Baron Shearton. Moreover, training swords weren’t typically sharp, making this odd.
That looked less like an injury from a sport and more like something inflicted by someone’s bite.
‘But who could it be?’
Who would dare to bite the lips of Duke Krygen? Even Isabella had never kissed those lips before.
Rubens had quite a reputation for being promiscuous during his time at the academy, but after graduating, he hadn’t been seen with any women at all.
To find himself in such a state before an important engagement ceremony—one might think they had some resentment or were trying to show off their existence.
‘Ah… could it be that person?’
Amid her speculations, Isabella suddenly thought of someone. Recently, this person had been physically close to Rubens, and it seemed likely they were involved in an intimate relationship.
His name master.
As soon as the thought crossed her mind, Isabella felt as if she had been struck in the back of the head.
“It seems Baron Shearton has held a grudge against me for quite some time.”
Rubens replied lightly, seemingly unaware that Isabella was having such thoughts.
“…Still, please be cautious next time. It upsets me to see this.”
“I will take care to remember that.”
How dare someone leave such a mark on him? A commoner, no less.
If she assumed that the person who inflicted that wound was his name master, Isabella was convinced her speculation was right. Did she want to convey a message that while Rubens was engaged to her, this man was hers?
Ha. The more she thought about it, the more absurd it seemed. To reveal her existence in such a way! What was even more infuriating was that Rubens allowed this to happen. How could he manage his name master and return with a mark on his face?
“You two seem to have such a tender regard for each other, even before marriage. It’s nice to see. I also want to meet someone destined for me, just like you two.”
Prince Benedict said with a hint of envy. Isabella wanted to dig deeper about the injury, but this was not the right setting to ask about it.
“Your Highness, don’t you have any marriage proposals in the works? You’re quite charming.”
Setting her complicated feelings aside, she focused on the conversation with Prince Benedict.
“There was someone proposed by the royal family, but it didn’t go through for personal reasons.”
“Oh! You exchanged proposals with Princess Lorraine for a brief time, didn’t you?”
“Yes.”
Princess Lorraine was the daughter of the Empress from the Obelit imperial family.
“I wasn’t keen on the idea of an arranged marriage back then, so I postponed it. Plus, now I have someone else in my heart.”
“Really? Who is it?”
Isabella found herself deeply engaged in the conversation with the shy Prince Benedict.
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