TPIHLMD - Chapter 22 < Dare To Use That Dirty Mouth >


Jeremy's birthday banquet day.

By this time, Seliya had been completely cleared of the charge of assassinating the Emperor. Those who tried to bury the truth were more powerful than those who uncovered it, but the biggest reason was that the dead Emperor was extremely unpopular.

Typically, the period of mourning for a dead Emperor lasted more than a month, and during this period, it was customary for members of the imperial family to wear black mourning clothes.

However, Illeon, one of the three Dukes, could not leave the throne for long, so he suggested skipping the mourning period and instead holding a grand birthday banquet for the Crown Prince.

Jeremy, who was anxious to sit on the throne immediately, had no reason not to accept this offer.

The testimony of Dietrich, who first discovered Seliya, who had killed the Emperor, went unpunished even though she was discovered at the scene, and played a decisive role.

"Taking advantage of the relaxed security, an intruder assassinated the Emperor and fled, blaming Selya Brillion, who was present, for all the crimes. Let all her circumstances point to her."

These were the words of no one else, but Dietrich, the Emperor's closest associate and commander of the Imperial Knights. The weight of those words was by no means light.

Although he was criticized as to why he could not protect the Emperor, the ministers could not bring down Dietrich for that reason alone.

The Emperor used to deny his escort whenever he brought his lady to his bed.

As all those who confessed to assassinating the Emperor were executed, no one was left holding this matter to the end.

So even though Seliya murdered the Emperor, she was not punished.

As well as...

'What is that?'

Seliya was half leaning against the window, looking out. Early in the morning, one of the knights was placing a gift box with a ribbon in front of the mansion.

Dietrich was exchanging a few words with the knight in front of the mansion and was listening to the words of a man who appeared to be his aide.

'...Doesn't that person even sleep?'

Perhaps not even reading Seliya's thoughts, Dietrich suddenly raised his head and looked at Seliya.

When their eyes met, Seliya threw back the curtains in displeasure.

A few minutes later, Dietrich entered the room. He said as he put the gift box down on the floor.

“They said it was a gift from His Highness the Crown Prince to you.”

Seliya blinked her eyes at Dietrich's words.

“Why me?”

“You should know better than that.”

Dietrich opened the box, untying the ribbon knot tied at the top. At the same time, the contents inside were fully revealed.

“...”

It was a pure white mermaid dress with deep cuts at the back and neck. The bottom of the dress was studded with expensive pearls.

It was a dress that would only be suitable for a bride who was about to get married.

“It looks like the Crown Prince is planning to welcome you as the Crown Princess this time.”

Dietrich sneered at Seliya. In fact, Seliya showed no reaction. She wasn't surprised, as she had already experienced this many times.

Even the males of Brillion, who were not of her blood, were anxious to have Seliya as their wife. It was not normal enough for him to come in late at night to destroy her virginity.

'The only thing that has changed is that the opponent has changed from the nobleman to the Crown Prince.'

She wouldn't do something like that outright in the imperial banquet hall, but she might do something else once she leaves the banquet hall.

It was clear that people, including the Crown Prince, thought she was no threat.

'Otherwise, there's no way you'd send me a dress like this.'

Seliya unfolded the mermaid dress. The tight-fitting mermaid dress overemphasized the curves of her body. It was then that a letter fell from inside the dress

The two people's eyes landed on the words written in the letter. 

[Jeremy will become the owner of Abelon. Be sure to wear the dress I gave you.] 

Dietrich twisted his lips as if he didn't find it funny. 

“The Empress won’t just sit by and watch this happen. His thoughts are short.” 

Seliya countered Dietrich's words without any hesitation.

“Even if something like that happens, you’ll protect me, right?” 

Dietrich narrowed his eyes and stared at Seliya. Although he did what she said, Seliya found the situation she was leaving behind to be truly bizarre. Instead of holding her for the crime of murdering the Emperor, the people instead covered her up. 

It may have been because Dietrich helped to some extent, but there was something else that was difficult to explain by that alone. Seliya looked at Dietrich's profile, who seemed lost in his thoughts. The darker shade than usual beneath his indifferent eyes seemed to prove that he was not in a very good mood.

“..The three Dukes you mentioned are coming today, right?”

Since Dietrich had previously said that they were his real enemies, Seliya planned to judge them by seeing them in person at today's birthday banquet.

"Well, These bodies are so precious.”

“Wait a minute, that means he might not come today. It’s different from what you said last time, isn’t it?”

“Do you think you can meet those people just because you want to meet them?”

“...You!"

Seliya grabbed the hem of Dietrich's clothes. Dietrich's eyes slid down to Seliya, who was holding the hem of his clothes.
 
Perhaps because she sleeps and eats well, Seliya's complexion has improved noticeably recently.

It seemed like just yesterday that she was panting as if she was going to die at any moment.

Unlike her previous days when she was thin, Seliya had a good complexion and she was full of energy.

“Now that I think about it, I heard that family members who are not related to you will be attending this banquet.”

The Viscount Brillion family has never been invited to an imperial palace banquet.

Gabriel had been singing so much about wanting to go to the imperial palace that Seliya couldn't have known.

“I didn’t invite them.”

“If it wasn’t you, someone invited it.”

“I guess it’s the Empress.”

Dietrich placed his hand on Seliya's hand, which was holding the hem of his dress. His hands, which were rough enough to hold many of his swords, were more than enough to completely cover Seliya's small hands.

Dietrich, who had her fingers intertwined, looked at Seliya intently.

“Now we hold hands quite habitually.”

Dietrich responded casually to Seliya’s words.

“So, you don’t like it?”

After saying that he would hold her by the leash, Dietrich would take Seliya's hand as casually as he did now.

However, he did not reveal anything important, such as his true identity or special abilities.

But what was also strange was that Seliya did not dislike this act of holding her hands.

As if pouring cool water into her stuffy mind, it feels like her chaotic mind is at peace.

‘Is he some kind of walking tranquilizer? It's strange.'

Seliya looked at Dietrich without saying anything.

Dietrich did nothing other than hold Seliya's hand.

Seliya spoke out the question she had been keeping inside.

“Do you think this act itself has some meaning?”

“...”

“Could it be that you also have a special ability like me?”

Dietrich's indifferent gaze turned to Selya.

"No way."

Dietrich let go of Seliya's hand that he was holding. His hand slipped through her fingers and rested on Seliya's shiny silver hair.

“If I had this ability, I wouldn’t have any reason to need something like you."

"It was a thorny word. Please don't talk nonsense to me anymore about this ability."

Seliya laughed. What he said about the leash and all that was also a lie. She wasn't expecting it anyway, but she was grateful that he expressed it so openly and clearly.

"Is not it, Master?"

If a dog can be said to be ready to bite its owner at any time, then he is already a good enough crazy dog.

Seliya noticed. The reason Dietrich was called the Emperor's mad dog was because of his will.

While he was the Emperor's closest aide, he had other thoughts the whole time.

'...Why?'

Did he plan revenge like she did? Or did he intend to start a rebellion, so he rose to the position of one of the Emperor's closest associates and even achieved the rank of Duke?

If Dietrich's real enemy was the Three Dukes, it made sense if he was using her to oppose them.

Dietrich was never normal. If he were a normal person, he would never think of crawling into the imperial palace of Abelon and seizing military power.

***

The imperial palace banquet hall was crowded with people.

Because it was indeed the first banquet held in a long time, people were full of anticipation.

None of those attending the banquet were dissatisfied with the death of the incompetent Emperor. They were only thinking about impressing Jeremy, who would become the next Emperor.

Well-dressed people were drinking wine and talking to each other.

“At this banquet, His Highness the Crown Prince will also announce the date of the coronation ceremony, right?”

“Of course he will. Because we can no longer vacate the throne.”

In the conversations of aristocratic young people wearing crisp, wrinkle-free suits, Seliya always appeared.

“Now that the charge of assassinating the Emperor has been cleared, the Angel of Brillion will no longer need to be in the imperial palace.”

“I don’t know what the circumstances are, but if you’re lucky, you might get a chance to see her in person today, right? I wonder if he will be as beautiful as her reputation. Rumors tend to be exaggerated.”

The ladies around them snorted in amusement as they overheard their conversation.

“Someone would think it was Seliya Brillion’s banquet, not His Highness’s birthday banquet.”

Women didn't like Seliya very much. This is because Seliya's value was the highest in the highly competitive marriage market.

However, Seliya was actually a street orphan and her family was poor.

If Seliya had been from a family of Counts instead of a family of three Dukes or at least a Viscount, they would not have hated her so much.

They learned etiquette and culture every day, but it was nothing before Seliya's name.

“I heard she was sent to the Emperor’s bed... Wouldn't that woman's chastity have been damaged? She is said to have been embraced by the Emperor of Amman, but in the marriage market, an impure woman has no value.”

A man who had been silently drinking a glass of wine got annoyed at the words of a noble lady.

“Watch your mouth! How dare you put someone into your mouth with that dirty mouth?”

The banquet hadn't even started yet, but the man's entire face was turning red from drinking so many glasses of wine. The man's mustache trembled convulsively.

“If you haven’t seen it in person, keep your mouth shut! Because the Angel of Brillion is purer than anyone here!”

Although he was a commoner, he was a famous merchant who supplied goods to the imperial family due to his good business skills. He was therefore invited to the imperial banquet several times.

The man had only seen Seliya once, in return for giving his fortune to the Viscount, and she was truly, out of this world, beautiful.

He fell in love with Seliya at first sight and went to great lengths to make her his mistress, but the important thing was that there were others like him.

He felt so sick to his stomach when he found out that Seliya had entered the Emperor's bedroom.

He felt indignant to hear such words come out of someone else's mouth. When Seliya was arrested on suspicion of assassinating the Emperor, he bribed thr people ahead of anyone else and incited them to believe that she had been taken advantage of.

Because of his drunken state, he didn't even realize there was someone behind him. A soft and gentle man's voice fell into his ears.

“Has the great rich ever actually seen Brillion’s Angel?”



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