Marked as the Tyrant's Daughter-in-Law - Chapter 21

Parmes, disguised as Uncle Zimmer, smiled gently.

I was startled and reflexively grabbed his hand, pulling him out to the terrace.

Parmes handed the tray to another passing servant and followed me out.

After closing the terrace door, I spoke in a small voice with wide eyes.

“Your… Majesty? What’s going on?”

Parmes’s hair color is silver and his eyes are red.

But now he had common brown hair and brown eyes.

Just like Uncle Zimmer in Galnem village.

Thanks to that, no one had recognized him.

“Surprised, Arinel?”

My heart pounded as I looked at Parmes in Uncle Zimmer’s form.

He slightly bent his knees to meet my eye level.

In his kind eyes, I could see myself wearing the silver mask.

“How did this happen? This appearance… It’s exactly like Uncle Zimmer that I know.”

“With an alchemist’s potion, it’s easy to change hair and eye color. Sometimes there are temporary side effects from the potion though… Like losing one’s voice.”

When my eyes shook like an earthquake at the word ‘side effects’, he smiled faintly and said to me.

“But I don’t have any side effects, so you don’t need to worry.”

Relieved, I stared at the uncle for a long time.

Anyone who saw Uncle Zimmer’s appearance would think he was just an extremely handsome servant.

“Then did you always take that potion in Galnem?”

Instead of answering, he looked at me with eyes full of amus*ment.

The advantage and disadvantage of alchemist potions was their volatility.

While herbs remain in the body and work for a long time, and poisons can leave aftereffects, potions made through alchemy show effects for at most a day.

‘I heard they couldn’t be used to cure diseases because of that…’

But they could be used to change appearance.

“Back then, I had bad enemies, and my original appearance was disadvantageous.”

He murmured, lowering the ends of his eyebrows as if saddened.

“So I’ve always felt sorry for not being able to tell you the truth. Arinel, were you very disappointed?”

Staring intently at him, I nodded.

“Extremely. But…”

Thinking about it now, it seems it couldn’t be helped.

Silver hair was a unique characteristic of the Aslet imperial family, and if an outsider had noticed a silver-haired man residing in a remote village like Galnem, the long-term plan would have been in jeopardy.

I lifted my head abruptly and said bravely.

“I’ll forgive you, especially.”

At my words, Uncle Zimmer’s expression, which had been momentarily crestfallen, brightened again.

“Thank you, Arinel. Then, will you come to play at the imperial palace every day from now on?”

And the uncle asked cheerfully.

‘Eek. I still can’t understand how this uncle could be a tyrant!’

Instead of answering the uncle’s question, I asked something else.

“By the way, is the reason Your Majesty changed your appearance at the masquerade ball today similar?”

In this attire, he could hear the raw conversations shared among the nobles gathered in small groups.

“Per… Perhaps… Could it be part of a purge?”

Suddenly, the voice of some noble seemed to echo again.

‘It’s a masquerade ball where everyone needs to be careful with their words because no one knows who’s who, but no one would ever imagine the emperor cosplaying as a servant.’

“Well, there is that reason too, but… Actually, this is also because of Arinel.”

He looked into my eyes and smiled innocently.

“I thought if I approached you in this form, Arinel would… open her heart to me again.”

I flinched at that expression that somehow tugged at my sympathies.

“Arinel… you’ve been avoiding me all this time, haven’t you?”

‘Ugh. Seeing that expression makes my heart soften.’

Come to think of it, I had ignored Adam’s insistence on going to the imperial palace yesterday too.

But to think he would even hold a masquerade ball because of me…!

“I… I didn’t intentionally try to distance myself from Your Majesty, I was just busy. I was planning to come when things calmed down a bit. Really!”

I clasped my hands together, mixing in about 30 percent lies.

“But this masquerade ball is wonderful. I’m so glad to see Your Majesty too…”

This part was sincere. The scene of the masquerade ball that I had only seen in movies or webtoons was new and exciting.

And at this moment, the uncle’s brown hair and brown eyes, and the night scenery.

“It feels a bit like I’ve returned to Galnem village. Everyone wearing masks is the same, right? You can’t see status or class… Like this, with Uncle Zimmer here too.”

“Do you really like it?”

At my words, Parmes’s eyes rippled clearly.

Soon he smiled and said to me.

“Galnem and this place are no different, Arinel. Just like the same Arinel is inside that mask…”

“…”

“…No matter what form I take, I’m your family, Arinel. Don’t forget that.”

The uncle’s voice was still gentle.

“It’s noisy outside and only the two of us here, so today I’d like to hear a lot of Arinel’s stories.”

“……”

“As Arinel’s Uncle Zimmer.”

I looked into his brown eyes and then smiled, nodding.

Although there was no smell of soil and the sound of elegant music could be heard on the marble floor, the one standing before me was my precious friend and neighbor, Uncle Zimmer.

☁⊹₊┈ㆍ┈ ▫ ┈ㆍ🌱ㆍ┈ ▫ ┈ㆍ┈₊⊹☁

I had quite a long conversation with Parmes after a while.

About learning dance etiquette from Lady Alens, how managing the Marquis’s territory was more complicated than I thought, and even that I was preparing for a business.

I chattered a lot, just like when we used to have dinner in Galnem.

Parmes, like back then, nodded as he listened to my stories and shared his own as well.

He said that his diet always includes one or two types of bitter herbs.

I listened to his descriptions of the herbs and told him which aspects of health they were good for.

I also clenched my fist and gave him a lecture about not being a picky eater for the sake of his health.

Anyway, for over an hour, I chatted with Parmes.

‘Maybe because he looked like Uncle Zimmer, it felt just like we’d gone back to the old days.’

“I should get going now. Playing with Your Majesty is fun, but I want to enjoy the masquerade ball too.”

“If anyone bothers you, tell me! Uncle won’t let them off easy.”

“Come on, who has the time to bother a little kid like me?”

Like a father sending his child to elementary school for the first time, Parmes watched until the moment I left.

Since I promised to definitely come to the imperial palace tomorrow, he didn’t hold me back any longer.

Leaving the terrace, I squeezed my small frame back into the crowd in the ballroom.

“Where on earth is His Majesty the Emperor?”

“Isn’t it that gold mask over there?”

“No way. He’s too short. Don’t you know how tall His Majesty is…!”

“Then maybe there? Tall and with an elegant mask?”

I saw ladies wearing red and pink masks chatting and then hurrying towards someone.

‘Ladies… you’ve got the wrong person.’

The Emperor you’re looking for is wearing a serving staff uniform.

As I was thinking about this and continuing to move around, it happened.

“…We need to find a solution too. His Majesty will do everything according to his will before the black spots worsen. He’ll keep that Mylar girl, who’s like a thorn in his side, by the Crown Prince’s side, and use Siegfried’s power to root out our wealth like weeds.”

Suddenly hearing a voice, I gently turned my ear towards where the sound was coming from.

Hm? I thought I just heard them talking about me.

There were several terrace spaces in the ballroom where people could have private conversations, and the voice came from one of these open gaps.

“Quiet, someone might hear.”

“The situation of the Dant Marquis family isn’t much different from Matzert’s. After His Majesty’s power grab, all the families supporting us were completely replaced. Only the Siegfried and Guermont ducal families are gaining privileges. Even His Majesty’s royal guard has changed, cutting off our information channels to the palace.”

“Lady Matzert. I understand your urgency, but we don’t want to get involved. If you knew how His Majesty dealt with his half-siblings, you’d be shocked by the cruelty. He is a merciless person. In the end, the black spots, like a curse of the Aslet imperial family……”

It seemed the ones talking on the terrace were Lady Matzert and someone from the Dant Marquis family.

Just as I was pressing my cheek closer to the gap to hear the conversation more clearly, it happened.