Chapter 9

Twenty-one-year-old Adrian Henrique was no longer the boy who played hide-and-seek with Jenna. With his shining blond hair, tall stature, broad shoulders, sleek physique, and a smile that melted the sunlight, he was the handsome man who captivated debutante ladies.

“I thought you really liked Adrian, Jenna. Actually, Adrian, I don’t know for sure, but he’s probably very fond of you. He might say it’s just a friendship from childhood, but I know everything. He was secretly watching you throughout your debut season.” 

Graham spoke solemnly. 

Secretly watching me? Without putting his name on my dance list even once? 

Though she thought it was ridiculous, Jenna had liked, or rather loved, Adrian for so long. So Graham’s well-meaning lie shook Jenna’s heart with great weight.

She abandoned the pride that a sensible lady should naturally have and ran to her father’s library as soon as Graham finished speaking.

Morgan Herbon shook his head as he looked at his daughter’s face, her white cheeks flushed red. 

“About Prince Adrian Henrique’s proposal! You haven’t rejected it yet, right?” 

“……”

Morgan Herbon glared at the prince’s proposal letter placed at the edge of the massive mahogany desk. Jenna’s gaze also landed precisely on it. 

“If I still have the chance to accept, I want to agree to the engagement.” 

Regardless of her worried father’s thoughts, Jenna was happy. Her face flushed even more at the possibility that Adrian might like her. 

But then… 

Adrian Henrique didn’t visit Red Hall even once to see Jenna for over a month until the day of their engagement ceremony was decided. 

Although she heard the chamberlain announce his arrival at several parties, he didn’t come near Jenna. They pretended not to know each other at the same gatherings.

Everyone whispered behind Jenna’s back. The young ladies mocked her loudly enough for her to hear. They said that Adrian Henrique decided to marry someone as unattractive as Jenna simply because her lineage was the best and only Morgan Herbon could currently protect Adrian. 

To Jenna, who truly liked Adrian, such words were deeply humiliating… she cried where no one could see. 

And time quickly passed, and the morning of the engagement ceremony dawned. 

From early dawn, under the direction of her personal maid Magda, who was bustling around, Jenna was dressed in her engagement gown and trying to place ornaments in her forcibly braided hair, but she was not happy at all. 

“Magda…” 

Magda, with a plump face full of smiles, stood next to Jenna. Her blue eyes shone with pride as if looking at her own daughter. 

“Yes, Lady Jenna.” 

“Do you think Adrian likes me even a little?” 

“What? My lady, what are you saying? Why would His Highness Adrian want to marry you if he didn’t like you?” 

“Adrian has been ignoring me for a month. I can understand that he didn’t propose, but he didn’t even greet me at parties we both attended. I don’t want this kind of begging marriage. Why… why should I…” 

The makeup that covered her face, making it look even more ridiculous, was smeared by her tears. Because she had liked Adrian for so long, it was even harder. The engagement seemed to only make it clear that he didn’t like her at all. 

Even Magda, who had been so cheerful just now, was sullen and hung her head beside Jenna, unable to find words. 

“But… It’s too late to regret it today. I’m the one who accepted a proposal he didn’t even make.” 

Adrian didn’t even follow the tradition of escorting his bride in a carriage for the engagement ceremony. In the end, unable to wait any longer, Graham, furious, had to put Jenna in the carriage and take her to the Autumn Palace where the engagement ceremony would be held. Graham’s attempts to offer comforting words were very annoying. 

“Don’t say anything. Graham, this is all your fault!” 

Sitting in the swaying carriage, Jenna, who had turned as pale as a sheet, barely managed to speak. 

* * * 

The distance from the Herbon estate, Red Hall, in the capital to the Autumn Palace where Adrian Henrique and the Crown Prince resided was not far. When they were young, they used to run back and forth to each other’s homes, leaving the old servants behind. 

The carriage procession was merely an event to show the commoners. 

As the extravagantly decorated carriage passed by, people who came out to see the Crown Prince’s engagement ceremony threw flowers along the roadside and murmured. 

It was understandable since it was the first Imperial event in 20 years since Crown Prince Theo’s wedding. Moreover, the bride was the famous Chancellor’s daughter, Jenna Fleur Herbon, so people rushed to the streets to catch a glimpse of the highest noble lady they couldn’t usually see. 

Although that noble lady was in despair. 

“Graham, tell me honestly. The thing about Adrian secretly watching me, that was a lie, wasn’t it?” 

Graham turned his head to look out the carriage window, pretending not to hear. 

“Wow! Look at that, Jenna. People are throwing wildflowers along the roadside to celebrate your engagement. They’re even waving! At this rate, I might as well pretend to be Adrian and show my face…” 

Thud! Jenna’s clenched fist pierced through Graham’s thick hair.

“Could you just tell me? I need to know something to decide how to act from now on.”

 Graham, who was scratching his head after being hit, finally opened his reluctant lips. 

“Actually… Jenna, I lied because I felt sorry for the guy.” 

“What? Now… you’re saying this?” 

“Even someone as ignorant as me could see that Adrian’s situation was pitiful. You know that His Highness the Crown Prince is deploying to White Bloom, right? White Bloom… isn’t in a good situation right now. Maybe, just maybe, if the Emperor commands, Adrian could be sent to White Bloom too. To prevent that, Adrian needs a backer. Like our father…”

Jenna learned curses and harsh words from Adrian and Graham, and now she wanted to unleash all the curses she had learned on Graham to make him regret it.

“So…?” 

“Adrian insisted he wouldn’t get engaged to you, but Crown Prince Theodore tearfully pleaded, and the Crown Princess also persuaded Adrian…” 

Ha! 

“In short, Adrian doesn’t like me at all and has no intention of proposing, but here I am dressed up and heading to the Autumn Palace? Ha ha, ha ha ha… This is unbelievable. And Adrian has somewhat realized that I like him? Oh, dear…” 

The curses she learned from Adrian in her childhood slipped out of her mouth.

“Can’t you help a little? If Father petitions the Emperor, Adrian can be safe! Please, Jenna…?” 

Jenna leaned her head against the carriage’s backrest, her head heavy with decorations. 

Everyone around her was insane. The only straightforward one was Adrian Henrique. 

“If you had been honest from the start, I could have prepared myself.” 

However, Graham Herbon held his shiny face high and blamed everything on his friend. 

“It’s all Adrian’s fault. He agreed to cooperate but didn’t even come to pick you up! Who caused this mess? Tsk.” 

The carriage soon arrived at the Autumn Palace where the ceremony would take place. 

She didn’t want to get out. She didn’t want to see Adrian’s face. This was the moment Adrian would fully understand her feelings. But as soon as the carriage stopped, Graham swung the door open and signaled the chamberlain to announce Jenna’s arrival. The chamberlain loudly declared, 

“Lady Herbon has arrived. Lady Jenna Fleur Herbon has arrived!”

As he shouted, hundreds of gazes gathered in the garden focused on her. But Jenna’s eyes only saw one person, the beautiful blond Adrian Henrique sitting at the head of the ceremony table with a look of amusement in his eyes. 

He met Jenna’s gaze, then slowly stood up and disappeared into the secluded backyard of the garden. 

She had liked him since she was seven years old… They were close, and if he disliked such an engagement, he could have come to her and said he didn’t want this. If he had done that, she would have rejected it without a frown. Jenna’s legs weakened. 

“Jenna, let’s get out.” 

The tall Graham got out of the carriage first and escorted Jenna. The weather was clear, the guests were beautifully dressed, and even Adrian’s grandfather, the Emperor, had arrived, and the ceremony was about to start, but Adrian was nowhere to be seen at the ceremony table with Jenna. 

Crown Prince Theodore’s face was severely crumpled. He whispered something to the chamberlain standing next to him, who then ran off somewhere in a panic. 

Soon, Adrian appeared with a smile. He seemed to have fallen on the lawn as his beautiful formal attire was covered in grass, and behind him, a woman followed, brushing off the grass on her splendid red dress. 

Lady Ione Curzette. The second daughter of Finance Minister Count Curzette, who was considered the season’s best jewel, or rather, the best in the two seasons since her debut. She had coveted Adrian so much, rejecting all incoming proposals and lingering around Adrian, and finally!

Jenna turned her head as if she knew nothing.

If the marriage was to help a close friend, she didn’t want to claim a sudden change of feelings and put him in a difficult position, even if her heart was torn. 

The chamberlains approached Adrian, glancing at Lady Jenna as they brushed off the grass from his clothes. Jenna didn’t know much about matters between men and women, but she wasn’t so oblivious as to not realize what Adrian and Lady Curzette had been doing.