Rhodnes flipped through the headlines of the newspaper articles that Neil and Vincenzo were reading beside her.
[Was it the Blue-Eyed Emperor who spread the ominous red-eyed ghost story?]
[God's will was not for the daughter of the West, but for the daughter of the East!]
[Doris Castagna's Lies and Truths]
[Did Doris Castagna really kill Bardenaldo Ronta? The truth and testimony of that night.]
“Even the newspapers are going crazy after seeing a miracle.”
“Shall we send a corrective action letter?”
“Let it be. No matter what you say, only good things will come to me now.”
Rhodnes answered Vincenzo's worried question calmly.
“That woman?”
It was a question about Doris, who was locked in the dungeon. Neil answered quickly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. This is the first time even the guards have seen such a tyranny. They say that she is demanding to see Your Highness without eating a single meal, but I guess they don’t know that our lord... no, His Highness the next Crown Prince would not even blink at such threats.”
“Feed her properly. Even if it means forcing her.”
"Yes?"
“I’m going to make her walk on her own two feet and put her on the guillotine.”
The footsteps of the aides heading to the office together stopped for a moment and then became busy again.
“So, are you going to guillotine her without a trial?”
“Are you saying that you will carry out a public execution?”
Rhodnes, who had arrived at the office without realizing it, opened the door, ignoring Neil and Vincenzo's continued questions.
There was a huge pile of papers on the desk in the office.
“The trial will be held. Trial preparations are complete. The result is death. The daughter, the father. All the heads of the West will be cut off and rebuilt.”
Rhodnes laughed ferociously and tapped his head with two fingers. Neil ran his arms over his body, feeling a chill run down his spine.
The speed at which Rhodnes, who had bared his teeth, handled matters was frighteningly fast.
“Then, with this momentum, let’s also abolish the criminal investigation system..."
“No, just leave it.”
Neil blinked his big eyes. Rhodnes sat in his seat, staring intently at a document.
“Who was the guy you locked up separately last time?”
“Are you speaking to the butler of the Grand Duke’s residence?”
“Call him. Bring him in in a quiet state, even if it means leaving him half-dead.”
“It’s my specialty.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Neil quickly kicked open the office door and ran out. Vincenzo approached Rhodnes with an anxious look. Vincenzo's gaze shifted to the papers Rhodnes was handling.
"Your Highness...?"
“Isn’t human affairs really interesting?”
Thick, long fingers slowly stroked his chin. The corners of his plump, sensual lips twisted subtly.
What Rhodnes was holding in his hand was a marriage certificate that had to be submitted to the imperial family for safekeeping when a member of the royal family got married.
“Bardenaldo didn’t sign the marriage certificate with Doris Castagna.”
While Adrienne was staying at the Grand Palace, Rhodnes ransacked the Crown Prince's palace and villa.
In a secret room in the basement that he had visited just in case, he found a safe, broke it open, and acquired what he was now holding in his hands.
“What’s more fun is...”
Rhodnes held the back of the paper and waved it. Vincenzo opened his eyes dimly and looked at the paper. A “Ugh” came out of his mouth without his knowledge.
"This!"
“He had not even signed the marriage certificate of the Grand Duke and Adrienne and was keeping it.”
As soon as Rhodnes found the marriage certificate, he felt a thrill run down his spine.
It was a great harvest that started from a simple question: could he have won the Duke of Piretta's trust simply by not having children with Doris?
“If it goes like this...”
“I think I could use that criminal investigation system differently.”
Vincenzo understood immediately.
“If I act as I please, you and your grandmother will be in trouble again, so I’m asking.”
Rhodnes, who had been laughing like a well-fed beast, suddenly stared at Vincenzo with shining eyes. It was as if his eyes were testing him.
“I will give the Grand Duke's butler Bardenaldo’s marriage certificate and tell him to write it down the same way. However, I will write Adrienne Piretta’s name for the woman who will become the Crown Princess.”
"Your Highness!"
“The marriage certificate of the Grand Duke and Adrienne is being sold to the newspaper. Crown Prince Bardenaldo is trying to announce that the Crown Princess he has chosen in his heart is Adrienne, and he is also trying to get rid of the Duke of Piretta who conspired against him.”
“What answer do you want from me?”
“If this causes the powers of the East to falter, Marquis Winston will have to support Adrienne.”
“!”
“The marriage certificate of Adrienne, which Crown Prince Bardenaldo kept without permission, has been revealed by me. I will admit my guilt and take responsibility for it. I will announce that Adrienne, who was my brother’s wife on paper, will be established as the Crown Princess through the criminal investigation system.”
Vincenzo managed to pull himself up from the slump that was about to occur when his legs gave out. The voice coming out of Rhodnes’ mouth was neither asking for consent nor asking for opinions.
Since it was decided that way, the order was to follow silently.
“Don’t ask. If I use the butler of the Grand Duke’s residence to forge handwriting and forge Bardenaldo’s marriage certificate, will you support me?”
Vincenzo groaned loudly as if he was in pain.
Since everything has been decided anyway, what else can we do?
It had only recently been revealed that Adrienne and Blie had swapped bodies. It took some time to accept it.
“Compared to the things Bardenaldo has done, this is nothing. Instead, please be careful what you say from now on so that Bardenaldo does not tarnish my mother’s name any further.”
Just announcing such a fact would be devastating to the image of 'Saint' Bardenaldo.
But Vincenzo could not stop Rhodnes, the biggest victim of Bardenaldo's unforgivable actions.
And that evil and beautiful lord knows that fact very well.
“...It is so scary and difficult for you to say that you want to marry Princess Piretta.”
Vincenzo answered with a deep sigh.
Just thinking about how he should tell this complicated and tangled story to Canula gave him a headache.
Vincenzo shook his head as if he had lost, but Rhodnes, who had been smiling victoriously, froze for a moment at Vincenzo's next words.
“But does the lady know about that decision?”
“...”
And Vincenzo held on to that brief moment of hesitation like a rope.
He needed time to persuade Canula, win over the people, and rally the distraught nobles to firmly establish Rhodnes as Crown Prince.
It was also a path for Rhodnes, who seemed to be aiming only for Princess Piretta. Even before becoming the Crown Prince, it was necessary to prevent the candidate for Crown Princess from coming out of Rhodnes's mouth.
“Shouldn’t you have told the Princess first before me that you want to marry her?”
Looking at Rhodnes' face, which was slowly turning pale, Vincenzo was sure that he had bought himself some time.
As soon as I opened my eyes, I had to see the face of the High Priest Teln.
The burdensome questions continued, such as “How was Abadelia?” and “Have you seen the face of the Lord?”
Blie looked even more haggard than before as if she had been terribly tormented by Teln while I pretended to be asleep, and she was glaring at me with a face that said, 'Now you have to handle that old man.'
But I smiled brightly at Blie and said to Teln.
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything.”
“Oh, is that so? First, take some medicine and think slowly...”
“I wonder if not being able to remember is also God’s will.”
Teln stared blankly at my lips, then suddenly took out a handkerchief from his bosom and blew his nose!
Then he began to sob violently, his shoulders shaking. What appeared to be his assistant priest hurriedly dragged Teln out.
“You’re quite the vixen, Adrienne. If you knew how hard I tried to walk with a limp while being called a fucking Saintess, you would...”
Even in the carriage back to the Grand Duke's residence, Blie continued to chatter incessantly. Even when Jonah joined her in the middle and hugged her, trying to comfort her as she cried.
When the carriage door opened, Neil and Vincenzo were waiting for us.
Blie glared at me once with her mouth tightly shut because of her image as a Saintess and then got off. Vincenzo willingly escorted her.
I took Neil's hand and got out of the carriage, looking around.
“His Highness is in his office.”
“Oh, I see.”
I blushed slightly in embarrassment at being caught looking at Rhodnes, and entered the mansion.
The space where most of the employees had lost their jobs and been kicked out felt somewhat desolate. Marge, who had not quit, and Jonah, who had come with us, began to diligently bring warm tea to the living room.
“Oh, Your Highness. And Gaspard came today.”
“Gaspard?”
Instead, Blie caught Jonah's words.
And at the same time, the reception room door opened slightly.
A familiar face entered the reception room.
Gaspard was dressed as neatly as ever, but his face was bruised and he looked visibly haggard.
“That guy’s still alive. That bastard soaked his eyes in oil and then drained them. Where the hell are you looking at and talking nonsense?”
As soon as Gaspard's eyes turned to us, Blie jumped up and shouted sharply.
“Blie.”
When he called her name quietly, Blie calmed down and sat down.
“I thought His Highness the Second Prince had you detained in a special house. What happened at the Grand Duke’s residence?”
Gaspard looked back and forth between me and Blie, who had been asking questions calmly, and his eyes gradually widened. Then, when Neil, who was standing guard in front of the door, hit him on the back of the head, he lowered his head and answered.
“By His Highness the Second Prince’s order...”
“Look at the way you’re stretching out your words. What the hell are you talking about, you little bastard. Why don’t you speak properly?”
At Blie's shout, Gaspard's shoulders flinched and he barely managed to raise his head.
“I was drafted for an important matter.”
“What an unlucky guy.”
“Blie.”
Gaspard looked greatly shocked by Blie's words and was eventually dragged away by Neil. Jonah began to rub Blie's shoulder with a relieved look on her face.
At that moment, Marrge came running through the open door.
"Lady!"
Marge hesitated between me and Blie, wondering who she should tell, but she ended up telling me.
“Your maternal relatives have arrived. What should we do?”
Blie's movements, which had been fanning the flames, saying that she was angry because of Gaspard, suddenly stopped.
“Is my father here too?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
I looked at Blie.
Blie's eyes shook violently. When Rossi, who had been sitting silently beside her, grabbed Blie's hand tightly, Blie finally sighed deeply and nodded.
“Take me to the reception room.”
I answered calmly.
[Was it the Blue-Eyed Emperor who spread the ominous red-eyed ghost story?]
[God's will was not for the daughter of the West, but for the daughter of the East!]
[Doris Castagna's Lies and Truths]
[Did Doris Castagna really kill Bardenaldo Ronta? The truth and testimony of that night.]
“Even the newspapers are going crazy after seeing a miracle.”
“Shall we send a corrective action letter?”
“Let it be. No matter what you say, only good things will come to me now.”
Rhodnes answered Vincenzo's worried question calmly.
“That woman?”
It was a question about Doris, who was locked in the dungeon. Neil answered quickly.
“Don’t be ridiculous. This is the first time even the guards have seen such a tyranny. They say that she is demanding to see Your Highness without eating a single meal, but I guess they don’t know that our lord... no, His Highness the next Crown Prince would not even blink at such threats.”
“Feed her properly. Even if it means forcing her.”
"Yes?"
“I’m going to make her walk on her own two feet and put her on the guillotine.”
The footsteps of the aides heading to the office together stopped for a moment and then became busy again.
“So, are you going to guillotine her without a trial?”
“Are you saying that you will carry out a public execution?”
Rhodnes, who had arrived at the office without realizing it, opened the door, ignoring Neil and Vincenzo's continued questions.
There was a huge pile of papers on the desk in the office.
“The trial will be held. Trial preparations are complete. The result is death. The daughter, the father. All the heads of the West will be cut off and rebuilt.”
Rhodnes laughed ferociously and tapped his head with two fingers. Neil ran his arms over his body, feeling a chill run down his spine.
The speed at which Rhodnes, who had bared his teeth, handled matters was frighteningly fast.
“Then, with this momentum, let’s also abolish the criminal investigation system..."
“No, just leave it.”
Neil blinked his big eyes. Rhodnes sat in his seat, staring intently at a document.
“Who was the guy you locked up separately last time?”
“Are you speaking to the butler of the Grand Duke’s residence?”
“Call him. Bring him in in a quiet state, even if it means leaving him half-dead.”
“It’s my specialty.”
“Stop talking nonsense.”
Neil quickly kicked open the office door and ran out. Vincenzo approached Rhodnes with an anxious look. Vincenzo's gaze shifted to the papers Rhodnes was handling.
"Your Highness...?"
“Isn’t human affairs really interesting?”
Thick, long fingers slowly stroked his chin. The corners of his plump, sensual lips twisted subtly.
What Rhodnes was holding in his hand was a marriage certificate that had to be submitted to the imperial family for safekeeping when a member of the royal family got married.
“Bardenaldo didn’t sign the marriage certificate with Doris Castagna.”
While Adrienne was staying at the Grand Palace, Rhodnes ransacked the Crown Prince's palace and villa.
In a secret room in the basement that he had visited just in case, he found a safe, broke it open, and acquired what he was now holding in his hands.
“What’s more fun is...”
Rhodnes held the back of the paper and waved it. Vincenzo opened his eyes dimly and looked at the paper. A “Ugh” came out of his mouth without his knowledge.
"This!"
“He had not even signed the marriage certificate of the Grand Duke and Adrienne and was keeping it.”
As soon as Rhodnes found the marriage certificate, he felt a thrill run down his spine.
It was a great harvest that started from a simple question: could he have won the Duke of Piretta's trust simply by not having children with Doris?
“If it goes like this...”
“I think I could use that criminal investigation system differently.”
Vincenzo understood immediately.
“If I act as I please, you and your grandmother will be in trouble again, so I’m asking.”
Rhodnes, who had been laughing like a well-fed beast, suddenly stared at Vincenzo with shining eyes. It was as if his eyes were testing him.
“I will give the Grand Duke's butler Bardenaldo’s marriage certificate and tell him to write it down the same way. However, I will write Adrienne Piretta’s name for the woman who will become the Crown Princess.”
"Your Highness!"
“The marriage certificate of the Grand Duke and Adrienne is being sold to the newspaper. Crown Prince Bardenaldo is trying to announce that the Crown Princess he has chosen in his heart is Adrienne, and he is also trying to get rid of the Duke of Piretta who conspired against him.”
“What answer do you want from me?”
“If this causes the powers of the East to falter, Marquis Winston will have to support Adrienne.”
“!”
“The marriage certificate of Adrienne, which Crown Prince Bardenaldo kept without permission, has been revealed by me. I will admit my guilt and take responsibility for it. I will announce that Adrienne, who was my brother’s wife on paper, will be established as the Crown Princess through the criminal investigation system.”
Vincenzo managed to pull himself up from the slump that was about to occur when his legs gave out. The voice coming out of Rhodnes’ mouth was neither asking for consent nor asking for opinions.
Since it was decided that way, the order was to follow silently.
“Don’t ask. If I use the butler of the Grand Duke’s residence to forge handwriting and forge Bardenaldo’s marriage certificate, will you support me?”
Vincenzo groaned loudly as if he was in pain.
Since everything has been decided anyway, what else can we do?
It had only recently been revealed that Adrienne and Blie had swapped bodies. It took some time to accept it.
“Compared to the things Bardenaldo has done, this is nothing. Instead, please be careful what you say from now on so that Bardenaldo does not tarnish my mother’s name any further.”
Just announcing such a fact would be devastating to the image of 'Saint' Bardenaldo.
But Vincenzo could not stop Rhodnes, the biggest victim of Bardenaldo's unforgivable actions.
And that evil and beautiful lord knows that fact very well.
“...It is so scary and difficult for you to say that you want to marry Princess Piretta.”
Vincenzo answered with a deep sigh.
Just thinking about how he should tell this complicated and tangled story to Canula gave him a headache.
Vincenzo shook his head as if he had lost, but Rhodnes, who had been smiling victoriously, froze for a moment at Vincenzo's next words.
“But does the lady know about that decision?”
“...”
And Vincenzo held on to that brief moment of hesitation like a rope.
He needed time to persuade Canula, win over the people, and rally the distraught nobles to firmly establish Rhodnes as Crown Prince.
It was also a path for Rhodnes, who seemed to be aiming only for Princess Piretta. Even before becoming the Crown Prince, it was necessary to prevent the candidate for Crown Princess from coming out of Rhodnes's mouth.
“Shouldn’t you have told the Princess first before me that you want to marry her?”
Looking at Rhodnes' face, which was slowly turning pale, Vincenzo was sure that he had bought himself some time.
***
As soon as I opened my eyes, I had to see the face of the High Priest Teln.
The burdensome questions continued, such as “How was Abadelia?” and “Have you seen the face of the Lord?”
Blie looked even more haggard than before as if she had been terribly tormented by Teln while I pretended to be asleep, and she was glaring at me with a face that said, 'Now you have to handle that old man.'
But I smiled brightly at Blie and said to Teln.
“I’m sorry, I don’t remember anything.”
“Oh, is that so? First, take some medicine and think slowly...”
“I wonder if not being able to remember is also God’s will.”
Teln stared blankly at my lips, then suddenly took out a handkerchief from his bosom and blew his nose!
Then he began to sob violently, his shoulders shaking. What appeared to be his assistant priest hurriedly dragged Teln out.
“You’re quite the vixen, Adrienne. If you knew how hard I tried to walk with a limp while being called a fucking Saintess, you would...”
Even in the carriage back to the Grand Duke's residence, Blie continued to chatter incessantly. Even when Jonah joined her in the middle and hugged her, trying to comfort her as she cried.
When the carriage door opened, Neil and Vincenzo were waiting for us.
Blie glared at me once with her mouth tightly shut because of her image as a Saintess and then got off. Vincenzo willingly escorted her.
I took Neil's hand and got out of the carriage, looking around.
“His Highness is in his office.”
“Oh, I see.”
I blushed slightly in embarrassment at being caught looking at Rhodnes, and entered the mansion.
The space where most of the employees had lost their jobs and been kicked out felt somewhat desolate. Marge, who had not quit, and Jonah, who had come with us, began to diligently bring warm tea to the living room.
“Oh, Your Highness. And Gaspard came today.”
“Gaspard?”
Instead, Blie caught Jonah's words.
And at the same time, the reception room door opened slightly.
A familiar face entered the reception room.
Gaspard was dressed as neatly as ever, but his face was bruised and he looked visibly haggard.
“That guy’s still alive. That bastard soaked his eyes in oil and then drained them. Where the hell are you looking at and talking nonsense?”
As soon as Gaspard's eyes turned to us, Blie jumped up and shouted sharply.
“Blie.”
When he called her name quietly, Blie calmed down and sat down.
“I thought His Highness the Second Prince had you detained in a special house. What happened at the Grand Duke’s residence?”
Gaspard looked back and forth between me and Blie, who had been asking questions calmly, and his eyes gradually widened. Then, when Neil, who was standing guard in front of the door, hit him on the back of the head, he lowered his head and answered.
“By His Highness the Second Prince’s order...”
“Look at the way you’re stretching out your words. What the hell are you talking about, you little bastard. Why don’t you speak properly?”
At Blie's shout, Gaspard's shoulders flinched and he barely managed to raise his head.
“I was drafted for an important matter.”
“What an unlucky guy.”
“Blie.”
Gaspard looked greatly shocked by Blie's words and was eventually dragged away by Neil. Jonah began to rub Blie's shoulder with a relieved look on her face.
At that moment, Marrge came running through the open door.
"Lady!"
Marge hesitated between me and Blie, wondering who she should tell, but she ended up telling me.
“Your maternal relatives have arrived. What should we do?”
Blie's movements, which had been fanning the flames, saying that she was angry because of Gaspard, suddenly stopped.
“Is my father here too?”
“Yes, Ma’am.”
I looked at Blie.
Blie's eyes shook violently. When Rossi, who had been sitting silently beside her, grabbed Blie's hand tightly, Blie finally sighed deeply and nodded.
“Take me to the reception room.”
I answered calmly.
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