Chapter 90
* * *
Arendtert stared up at the bedroom ceiling with a bored expression. As he looked at the vividly carved grapevines, his face suddenly twisted.
“Stop it.”
He grabbed the back of the head of the woman who had her face buried against his chest. Then he roughly tore her away from his body.
“This thing’s going to swell up. Can’t you even do this properly?”
Grizelle’s lips moved at Arendtert’s blunt reproach. She resented how he pretended in front of others to be a devoted, pure lover who missed Sylaria so deeply.
She also hated that while she gave him purification, he treated her coldly without so much as a word of thanks.
“Just a little more. The color still hasn’t changed.”
Grizelle spoke gently and reached toward the gem pendant Arendtert wore. But the moment she tried to touch it, he flinched and slapped her hand away roughly.
“How dare you touch that?”
“……”
“This is my lifeline. I have never let Sylaria touch it, much less you.”
Syllie, Syllie, that damned Syllie!
Grizelle forced herself to swallow the shout rising in her throat. She had to hold it in. Only if he remained would she be made a formal princess consort. Then she could live a life far better than that wretched Sylaria.
“What am I to you, really?”
But she could not help being angry. Recently even Elenia had treated her with disdain, and Grizelle had reached her limit. Arendtert answered her complaint with a bewildered tone.
“What?”
“I gave you my body for your sake. Why do you keep looking down on me? Why do you keep comparing me to Syllie? What’s so different about me?”
“…Did you eat something bad?”
“Make me your lawful princess consort. Have the wedding. Then you can become Crown Prince. Why would you turn away from such an easy path? You don’t even love Syllie!”
“Me? Marry you? Me?”
Arendtert laughed as if incredulous.
“Hahahaha! Why would I do that?”
“Why…?”
“My mother is picking ladies to be my consorts. Why should I marry someone like you?”
“What did you say?”
Grizelle let out a high, sharp sound at the shocking news Arendtert had delivered. Her body trembled.
“Picking? Picking what?”
“My bride. She is choosing women with good reputations in society and pretty faces. She is selecting them personally as top-class matches. People far different in quality from someone like you.”
Hearing Arendtert’s words, Grizelle bolted out of the bedroom. Running down the corridor, her face pale, her eyes burned with betrayal and fury.
* * *
‘You tricked me!’
Grizelle stormed, huffing, to the Empress’s reception room where Cressida would be. She shoved aside Aria, who was standing at the door, and flung the door open without the Empress’s permission.
“How rude!”
“Get out at once!”
As Grizelle burst into the reception room, the ladies-in-waiting gasped and tried to push her out. She brushed them off and shouted.
“Your Majesty the Empress! You promised me!”
At Grizelle’s outcry, Cressida narrowed her brow. She set down the teacup she held with composed grace and spoke calmly.
“Speak so I can understand you.”
“You promised that if I ruined Sylaria you would let me marry Arendtert! Why are you searching for Arendtert’s bride?”
“Oh, that.”
Cressida smiled faintly. She sipped her tea as Grizelle panted.
“That’s because you failed.”
“Who gave you the right to decide that for me? I haven’t failed yet!”
“Aria.”
Cressida called a maid with elegant authority. One of the Empress’s favored attendants approached with a smile.
“Last week, this woman attempted to approach Sylaria Rainier’s sister, Elenia Rainier, and failed. We have confirmed the circumstances.”
“Th, That is…!”
“Because you were unable to tempt the thing Sylaria cherishes most, her sister, the promise is void. Stop making a scene and go home.”
“No, it’s not over yet!”
When the ladies seized Grizelle’s shoulders, she added urgently.
“I’ll kill Elenia! If I kill Elenia! That will do it, won’t it?!”
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