Marquise Merlin, sitting opposite the Emperor and holding a teacup next to him, enjoyed the peaceful atmosphere for a moment, then smiled at the Emperor.
“So what actually brings Your Majesty here?”
It had been twelve years since she became the Emperor’s woman. It was, by no means, just a few years. As much as the Emperor knew her, she knew the Emperor as well.
The Emperor put down the teacup he had in his hand, looked back at her, and smiled awkwardly.
“We are here to apologize for last night. For We were too rude to you.”
Marquise Merlin couldn’t tell what exactly he was apologizing for; attending the ball with her or dancing with someone else first? Or was he apologizing for stepping down from the podium while she was next to him without her consent and running to the man who was rumored to be his lover?
“I accept the apology, but I shall not forgive.”
She deliberately spoke coyly and rolled her eyes at the Emperor. The Emperor offered another apology with a troubled smile.
“We apologize, Alexandrine. We were in the wrong.”
“It is not okay to be rude like that. I cannot forgive Your Majesty so easily, not even for a wounded pride. Your only strength was that, at least when with me, you paid no attention to others, but now you do not even have that courtesy, what can I rely on you for?”
Even though she said so, Marquise Merlin had a sweet playfulness in her eyes. Actually, she was not really angry, nor did she expect an apology.
She already knew the Emperor’s true feelings. It was his true intention that he rushed off without a second thought to the plight of the woman next to him. The fact that he had committed an act of rudeness he would never normally do, and that it took him until the next afternoon to realize it, meant that he didn’t have enough room in his heart.
In her eyes, the Emperor was being swayed like never before. The other person didn’t seem to be pushing or pulling at all, but the Emperor himself couldn’t control his heart and was being dragged around helplessly.
If this happened ten years ago, it would have been as painful as if the sky had fallen. Five years ago, I might have been angry.
However, twelve years. It was too long to keep the wounded heart intact.
In fact, the present Marquise Merlin was more intrigued than sad. It seemed that for the first time, a bad man who wandered through women’s hearts without knowing what he was doing wrong had his own heart taken hostage.
“What shall We do to ease your mind?”
Even at over thirty, Ebroin V was still beautiful. Though he had lost the immaculate grace of his youth, the poise and magnificence that age had added to his features made them all the more striking.
There was a deep smile on his cheeks as smooth as ivory. Golden eyes, which turned dark amber when making love, gently turned towards her. He always looked at her that way, and one could take it the wrong way.
“Maybe I will move past it naturally over time.”
“Alexandrine.”
“Or, escort me in the first week of the Grand Feute.”
The Grand Feute, which would be held in a week, was one of the most important events hosted by the imperial family. If she became the Emperor’s partner at the Grand Feute following Marquise Bertin’s ball, the jealous Marquise Lamott would be sick to her stomach.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
“That was rather Our idea. We wanted to make up for disrespecting you yesterday.”
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“Oh goodness, Alexandrine. Are you speaking of affairs concerning Balustre in front of the Emperor now?”
“Oh my, who mentioned the affairs of Balustre? I was merely speaking of Your Majesty’s vassal, Baron Amieux?”
Marquise Merlin deliberately pretended as if she did not believe the rumor that the Emperor liked him, but wanted to tease the Emperor with it. Ebroin V smirked and pinched her cheek, amused by her mischievousness. She frowned slightly as if in pain, but this time she put a grape in her mouth and chattered like a lark.
“If Baron Amieux had been a noblewoman, I would have been so jealous that I would not have been able to stand it. As far as I know, all the men who have shown an interest in him are exceptionally handsome. Your Majesty, as well as Prince Cyrill and Count d’Estuaire. Coincidentally, these three are the most handsome gentlemen I have ever seen.”
The Emperor was intrigued by her words, though not in the way the Marquise Merlin had expected.
“Did you just say Count d’Estuaire?”
“Yes. He is really handsome too, no?”
It was a well-known fact that Count d’Estuaire was handsome. His aunt was Viscountess Gagnon, who was once called ‘Princess of the Moon’, and his biological mother was the Duchess of d’Estuaire, who was famously known as the ‘Lady of Viridescense’.
“No, not that…. What do you mean that he showed an interest in Baron Amieux?”
“Did I not tell you? I had invited Baron Amieux to the Toilette Officielle in the past. Truthfully, I was requested to do so by Count d’Estuaire. He had been admiring Baron Amieux for a long time, and asked me to arrange a meeting with him, as he never had the chance to greet him personally.”
It was a topic that Marquise Merlin brought up without much thought, but the Emperor’s expression suddenly became more serious when he heard her words. He frowned and pondered as if something was bothering him, and it wasn’t until Marquise Merlin looked at him with a puzzled gaze that he regained his composure.
“What happened, Your Majesty? Is something worrying you?”
Marquise Merlin asked cautiously, worried that she might have offended the Emperor too much.
“No, not at all.”
“Then why such a grave expression?”
“It is because it is a shame that We are not able to spend more time with you.”
He comforted Marquise Merlin with a lie so brazen that not even a child would be fooled.
If you are not angry at me, then why behave like this? Could it be that Count d’Estuaire made you feel jealous? She rolled her pretty eyes as she gauged his mood and looked into the atmosphere.
“Then would you like another cup of tea?”
The Emperor gladly drank another cup of tea for her when she offered. The conversations that followed were nothing special. He asked about how the children were doing and did not forget to pass his greetings to her family.
In preparation for the Grand Feute, the Emperor also told her the color of the robe she would wear that day, but that was information she didn’t need. From the time his robes were first made, had had their gowns made to match the color. Since they never really knew who would take the place next to him, they had to prepare in advance.
After spending a decent amount of time with her, the Emperor took his leave. Marquise Merlin, who was left alone, poured out the cold tea and poured a fresh cup, tilting her head.
… Somehow I am not jealous?
***
Thick, dark, and heavy curtains blocked the scenery in the room from the world.
What had once been a glamorous and beautiful bedroom now lay in shambles. Empty wine bottles rolled here and there on the thick carpet brought from the Eastern Continent, and stains of unknown origin seeped through the ornate vines, ruining their beautiful color. The half-torn canopy rolled on the floor, tangled with clothes that had been thrown off at will, and the bedside table, which looked like a handicraft crafted by a furniture craftsman, was completely broken and tossed in pieces.
But the most broken of all was the man who had caused all this devastation: he was drinking, leaning back on his bed, which was a tattered mess with torn sheets and feathers sticking out of the pillows.
Though it was unknown how long he’d been doing this, it couldn’t have been a day or two. Not only the bedroom, but also himself, as his hair was matted from not washing it, and his beard had grown unruly and covered his chin.
“Prince Merrick.”
A slender doll approached him, who looked more like a bum, let alone a nobleman. The middle-aged woman, elegantly dressed in a gray mourning dress, with her gray hair pulled back in a neat and tight bun, was none other than Grand Duchess Alienor.
“Please come to your senses. How long do you plan on doing this for?”
She looked at her son with sad eyes, and carefully placed her hand on his shoulder. However, her proud son, who had always been extremely respectful towards her, violently shook off her hand and shouted.
“Do not touch me.”
“Prince Merrick!”
“You have no right to touch me!!”
The Duke of Fernand stared at his mother with red bloodshot eyes like that of a raging beast and gritted his teeth fiercely. Grand Duchess Alienor’s lips trembled as clutched her chest painfully, shocked by the change in her son, despite this not being the first time she witnessed it.
“Why on earth are you doing this? Do you resent your mother this much?”
“Yes! Do you still not know that?”
She asked so sadly that it would’ve made whoever heard it feel sorrowful, but Prince Merrick did not waver. He immediately affirmed her question and glared at her with venomous eyes.
“How could I not resent my mother? You did not allow me to properly take responsibility for a woman. You did not even allow me to acknowledge my child, and you refused to baptize an unborn child. Ha! Thanks to that, my own child was not buried in the family ossuary. All of this was thanks to you.”
Prince Merrick, who criticized Grand Duchess Alienor with sarcastic remarks, picked up the bottle again and drank as if pouring it into his throat. Grand Duchess Alienor, unable to believe the harsh words she had heard, looked at her son with trembling eyes.
To her, Prince Merrick was the kindest and most reliable son in the world. He was a gentle child who respected her will above all else when it came to anything because he knew how much his mother valued him.
He was tall, handsome, and good-natured, so many people admired him, but his mother always came first. If it weren’t for that wench, the abominable Louise de Dumont, who became pregnant with his child while she was still married and brought nothing but trouble into her son’s life, her son would still be her own precious treasure.
“Did your mother kill the child?”
She stood up stiffly as she did not want him to see her shaking but the grief was so strong that her throat hurt. Grand Duchess Alienor bit her lip and suppressed her weeping, but managed to protest. She felt terribly sad and heartbroken, for she had never thought that her own son, let alone anyone else, would treat her so unjustly.
“If you were born as a mother, would you want to pretend you did not know the child who would have been your grandchild? Would you have felt comfortable sending your grandchild away like that, not only without getting to hold him first but simply sending him away first? I wanted to baptize the child, too. I would have wanted to keep him with our ancestors, even if it was out of pity for the young soul that was sent away. But no matter how much I wanted to, I could not. My son’s future was at stake. If I had pitied that child, I would have endangered my own.”
Everything she did was for her son alone. Her only value, her only hope, was her son, her child from her womb, the one who would be her mark on this world.
“Why do you blame your mother when I did not even kill the child? It is the murderer who killed him, not I, Prince Merrick, that you should truly hate.”
“I resent you as well as him. The resentment would not dissipate even if I were to tear him to shreds and kill him.”
“Do you not resent your mother more because you cannot get rid of him?”
“Perhaps, so. Yes, maybe so. But what else can I do? It is only my mother’s heart that I can torment with my resentment. He has already been acquitted, and I cannot lay my hands on him now by any means. The murderer will walk about with his head held high, after killing my wife and children so horribly.”
A blue light flashed wildly in Prince Merrick’s eyes. He was a man of weak heart, but high pride. Born into nobility and never having suffered a setback in his life, he didn’t know how to fight back in the face of the first tragedy of his life.
He incomprehensibly lost his wife and child, and he could not stand the reality of having to watch the scene of the person he thought was the culprit being absurdly acquitted. Neither his noble position nor his great fortune was of any use in this matter. The humiliation and resentment were too much for Prince Merrick to bear, and he ruined himself.
“Prince Merrick.”
Grand Duchess Alienor reached out once more with tears in her eyes. She tried to stroke her thin son’s cheek, but Prince Merrick mercilessly avoided her touch.
“So I did what I had to for you, Prince Merrick.”
“What else have you done for me?”
“I bought a man to kill him, for he deserved it, and since I could not punish him in any legal way, I had no choice but to get my hands dirty.”
Prince Merrick’s bloodshot eyes widened at the unexpected confession of Grand Duchess Alienor. He looked at her blankly, as if he couldn’t believe his mother’s confession, then swallowed his saliva and leaned in closer.
“Bought a man? Do you mean you hired an assassin?”
“I could not find anyone who specializes in such affairs since I was not familiar with such tactics. Instead, I found people who would do anything for money.”
“A-and so, what happened?”
“I hired seven vagrants at a large sum of money, bribed the coachman of his carriage, and had them attack him all at once when they saw an opportunity. It was the first time I had ever done such a dreadful thing, so I was terrified, but I knew it would all work out. I did not think he would survive, since he was alone and there were several men with weapons.”
T/N: helloo and apologies for the delay ! hope you all enjoy these two chapters as the next will be the last of this volume ;]
Thanks for the chapters!! <33
THANK YOUUUU MIMARIIII MWAAA LOOKING FORWARD TO THE NEXTTTT VOLUMEEE
Not only promiscuous, he’s also a dumb shit
Thanks for the chapters…
So if we are to believe the Duchess Alienor words saying she had never dealt with assassins before it means she wasn’t the one who hired an assassin to kill Louise ??? Then who did it???
As for count Destuare being interested in Eugene ,is it really genuine intimate feelings or does he just want to use him to regain his houses’ former glory?
Oh and our emperor’s heart isn’t so callous after all; he’s in love ,love ,for the first in his life.
Eugene has taken his heart hostage 😅..really looking forward to the development of their r/ship
This woman is so possessive of Merrick it gives me the chills, also I really like Alexandrine she’s cool, glad that she doesn’t feel animosity towards Eugene! Though I feel the lady of ivory won’t be the same… Ahhh I can’t believe the volume is ending 😩🥺🥺 this was such a rollercoaster of action and emotionsss I really love it! Thank you so much translator-nim for giving us such quality work!!! You amazing 🎉🎉🎉
Omg you are so right about the mom being so possessive of Merrick ,like it’s giving creepy🙄 I find it weird too…
And yeah Marquise Merlin maybe cool with the emperor’s new love,but countess Patri won’t extend such sentiments😅
Lady you are being weird for being so overbearing towards your son…jfc these people are so screwed up in their own way. No wonder Emperor turned out like that. He had to protect himself after all.
Is this novel on hiatus dear translator??? Just asking because it has been 3 weeks since we got an update,and I’m afraid if u have dropped it or taking a break…of cos no pressure ..just wanted to know…I really like this novel..
Thanks.
Alguém pode me dizer se o romance ainda continuará a ser lançado ou se mudará de nome porque não é atualizado há 1 mês 😭
It’s been a month already 😭😭,,dear translator u still there??