Chapter 48

‘Huff… my heart is racing too fast!’

Adelina, walking down the corridor of the Princess’s palace, paused for a moment to slow her increasingly quick steps.  

It felt like the Imperial Knights, acting on Isabelle’s orders, might come to arrest her at any moment.  

After taking a deep breath to avoid drawing attention, she resumed her elegant walk at her usual pace.  

She lifted her chin proudly, as if she wasn’t anxious at all.  

‘In my past life, I could never have imagined doing such a thing…’  

Even a worm will squirm when stepped on, they say.

In her past life, she had squirmed like a worm.  

However, in a life where she had no one to rely on, the more she squirmed, the harsher the kicks became.  

‘If I’m destined to be a worm in this life too, I’ll squirm even harder! I’ll become a giant worm!’  

But she couldn’t just stand by and let it happen.  

Standing still would only invite kicks mixed with disdain and ridicule.  

‘Whatever. What’s the worst that could happen? Lexion will give me the mirror! If they try to kill me, I’ll just slip into the mirror!’  

Adelina walked the remaining corridor of the Princess’s palace as vigorously as any knight.  

‘Oh?’  

As soon as Adelina exited the Princess’s palace, two men were walking towards her.  

The intense noon sunlight highlighted their strong silhouettes.  

“Adelina Ernst!”  

“Adelina Florin!”  

At Lexion’s call, Stephan shouted even louder, spreading his arms wide.  

“Duke! Father!”  

Adelina lifted her dress and ran towards them.  

Even though the bright sunlight should have made her squint, her face was filled with a radiant smile.  

“Got you.”  

Lexion, standing a step ahead of Stephan, pulled Adelina into his arms as she ran between them.  

“Did you both come because you were worried about me?”  

Adelina peeked up at Lexion and Stephan alternately.  

Her lips kept twitching, probably because she was so tense that she momentarily lost her composure.  

Lexion pressed her head back against his chest.  

“No. We were just passing by.”  

‘Just passing by? In front of the Princess’s palace garden?’  

Adelina rubbed her forehead and freed herself from Lexion’s embrace to link arms with Stephan.  

Liar. This man is terrible at lying.  

“Where were you planning to go?”  

She stared intently at Lexion and Stephan, waiting for a quick answer.  

“Just. Anywhere.”  

Seeing that Adelina had no intention of letting go of Stephan’s arm, Lexion stood beside her on the opposite side.  

+++

After a simple lunch at the Silver Palace, Adelina was having tea with Lexion in the drawing room.  

Stephan had left right after lunch, saying he had some business to attend to before the wedding.  

“Miss, everything is ready. The selection of vendors is complete.”

Hailyn, who had been busily moving in and out of the palace since yesterday, handed a small piece of paper to Adelina.  

“Thank you, Hailyn. You’ve worked hard. I’ll be spending the afternoon with the Duke, so take some rest.”  

“Yes, Miss.”

Adelina checked the time and stood up.  

She was scheduled to meet the Empress at the banquet palace in the afternoon for the wedding rehearsal and final inspection.  

“Let’s head to the banquet palace now.”  

As Lexion stood up and took Adelina’s hand, a maid from the Emperor’s palace entered the drawing room, fiddling with her hands awkwardly.  

“Duke… Miss. The chandelier in the Banquet Palace has fallen. His Majesty the Emperor has summoned you both to the audience chamber.”

“…Understood.”  

Though he spoke with an indifferent expression, Lexion’s grip on Adelina’s hand tightened.  

<A sign of misfortune. The chandelier in the banquet palace falls.>  

An incident that had occurred ten years ago during the royal wedding of Rose and the King of Iberis was happening again now.  

As if to suggest that this wedding, too, would end in misfortune like theirs.  

“Lexion. Let’s go.”  

Even though Lexion was squeezing her hand as if to crush it, Adelina showed no sign of discomfort as she headed to the audience chamber.  

+++

“The chandelier in the banquet palace has fallen and needs repairs. Other palaces also need to be checked overall during this opportunity. Therefore… um… the Duke’s wedding might need to be postponed.”  

In the Emperor’s audience chamber, instead of the Empress, who was in charge of the wedding, one of the Emperor’s aides was present.  

He looked at Lexion and Adelina with an expression that seemed genuinely regretful.  

“It seems we need to postpone it by about a month.”  

A faint sneer began to spread across his regretful face.  

“Your Majesty. I will hold my wedding as scheduled at the Ducal residence that Your Majesty has specially granted.”

Before the Emperor could speak, Lexion quickly bowed and said.  

‘A month! In this month, another variable could arise! We must hold the wedding on the original date no matter what!’  

In a month, a late summer typhoon that traverses Ernst and the two continents will arrive.  

We must go to Ernst before this typhoon comes!  

“The wedding was scheduled for two days later, is that possible? Most of the Empire’s nobility will be gathered.”  

Emperor Grain tapped his fingernails on the armrest of his chair with a sardonic smile.  

His gaze, which had been looking down on Adelina from the high platform, suddenly gleamed like a blade.  

‘You made a eunuch out of Leophris!’  

Daring to do such a thing to the Empress’s nephew, there must be a price to pay.  

Adelina was on the verge of collapsing as her mind went blank.  

‘A month? Do I have to live in such anxiety for another month?’  

She had only a few more days to endure before the wedding and receiving the mirror, but she couldn’t extend it to a month!  

‘Hey! Even Isabelle tried to kill me! It’s just a saying, I don’t actually want to die!’  

Though she had boasted that death was the worst that could happen… that was only a figure of speech!  

Adelina swallowed hard to soothe her throat.  

“Thank you for your concern, Your Majesty. However, I understand that Her Majesty the Empress has already completed all preparations.”  

“Miss, there is no need to worry about that. We will prepare it again.”  

“Your Majesty. I will do my best to hold a grand wedding using these resources. Please give me the opportunity to repay the grace of His Majesty and Her Majesty.”  

Adelina bowed even deeper.  

The most time-consuming food ingredients and decorative flowers had already been ordered by the Empress. These could be used as they were.  

“A chance to repay the grace, you say.”  

For a moment, there seemed to be a cracking sound from the Emperor’s platform, but Adelina did not straighten her back.  

It was probably the sound of Emperor Grain gripping the armrest too tightly to suppress his anger.  

“Yes, Your Majesty.”  

“Then. Give it a try. However, since the Empress is unwell, you must prepare everything yourself.”  

“What? Everything?”  

Adelina raised her head slightly in bewilderment.  

Emperor Grain, who met her eyes, relaxed his grip on the armrest and leaned back leisurely in his chair.  

“Yes. I have instructed that all the preparations be sent to the capital’s orphanage.”  

“Yes… Your Majesty… The entire Empire will be grateful for Your Majesty’s benevolence.”  

Adelina bowed her head again and tightly grasped the hem of her dress.  

‘Hey! The Empress prepared for a month with her maids and aides! And I have to do it in two days?!’  

Really. Who knew getting married would be this difficult!  

+++

“You drew a n*de portrait of me.”  

That night. While Adelina was wrestling with documents late into the night with Hailyn, preparing for the wedding, Lexion came in.  

Hailyn glanced slyly at Lexion, who had entered through the terrace, but didn’t say anything.  

“Hailyn, go get some rest. You’ll need to sleep well if you’re going to be running around early again tomorrow.”  

Just as Hailyn yawned a couple of times, Adelina dragged her to the door.  

“No, Miss. I can stay longer.”

Hailyn tried to hold her ground at the door while looking at Lexion.  

Hinting that it would be nice to sleep with her like sisters.  

“Sleep well, Hailyn.”  

Lexion gently pushed Hailyn out and closed the door.  

Adelina put the documents in the desk drawer and turned towards Lexion, who was approaching her.  

“Do you want to see it?”  

“Shall I take a quick look?”  

“Alright.”  

Adelina said coyly, unwrapping one of the paintings and placing it on the sofa.  

‘Look! Lexion! It’s a picture I drew with great effort!’  

She perked up her ears, expecting Lexion to praise her.  

However, the praise she expected did not come.  

“It’s quite different from me.”  

Lexion, resting his chin on one hand, bent over to examine the painting closely.  

“Really? I drew it trying to remember as best as I could. What’s different?”  

Adelina stood beside Lexion, looking back and forth between his face and the painting.  

‘If he says it’s different, then it must be different.’  

“Well, you should have studied harder.”  

Lexion mischievously lifted one corner of his mouth and placed Adelina’s hand on his chest.  

“Shall we have a supplementary lesson?”  

‘This mischievous Duke!’

Adelina, her face turning red, punched Lexion’s chest with her fist.  

“Ha… Just for an hour…”  

“An hour won’t be enough.”  

Before Adelina’s words were even finished, Lexion’s abs appeared right in front of her eyes.  

+++

Lexion, covered only with a large bath towel around his waist, lay sideways on the sofa, supporting his head with one hand.

“Adelina, this isn’t the supplementary lesson I was talking about.”  

His voice, full of disappointment and complaint, reached Adelina, who was sitting across from him, but she let it go in one ear and out the other, continuing to move her hand.  

“Don’t move. I’m drawing hard right now.”  

It was a truly artistic body.  

As Adelina’s gaze lingered on Lexion’s abs while quickly sketching on paper with a pen, then moved further down, her hand paused.  

‘I should just substitute that part with what I saw on the David statue.’  

Regrettably, she couldn’t exactly tell him to remove the towel.  

She had no choice but to finish that part with flowers.  

Bored of being a n*de model, Lexion got up from the sofa.  

“Duke?”  

Adelina’s gaze, which had been fixed on one spot, moved to Lexion’s face.  

With a languid smile, Lexion approached leisurely and sat next to Adelina, taking the paper from her.  

“You missed the most important part.”  

“Ugh… I told you not to move…”  

Adelina reached out to snatch the paper back.  

Lexion raised the hand holding the paper high and wrapped his other arm around Adelina’s waist.  

“Shouldn’t I also learn about you?”  

Dropping the paper to the floor, Lexion touched Adelina’s ear with his fingertips, then slowly caressed her neck.  

Adelina shivered and grabbed Lexion’s hand.  

“Duke, do you want to know about me?”  

She gave him a sultry glance and pushed his forehead with one finger.