Chapter 12

My heart started pounding as if his burning eyes were contagious.

‘What does that mean?’

Wanting to cross the line… 

Before I could think deeply, I decided I couldn’t handle Rixus’ hot gaze, so I pushed him away.

And I looked at him with contemptuous eyes.

“…Don’t behave like a child.”

Instinct was speaking

It would be dangerous to stay here with him any longer.

I left him behind and ran out of the stable as if to escape.

* * *

Oddly enough, Rixus’ eyes kept coming to mind even until the next day.

‘Why the hell do I keep thinking about it?’

In a garden where the spring sun shone warmly upon, I enjoyed tea time with the maids and tried hard to erase the memory of those eyes.

A gentle breeze filled with the scent of flowers tickled my skin.

In the meantime, I kept yawning.

‘I couldn’t sleep last night…’

This was all because Rixus acted in a peculiar manner. He acted so strangely, saying he wanted to cross the line… 

But I decided not to think too deeply. It was neatly concluded that it was just an error from his pride. Because that made the most sense.

I closed my eyes for a moment and fully enjoyed the spring sunlight penetrating my skin and the languor of my whole body.

At that time, Seryl’s clear voice that was like the sun was heard.

“Ah! That’s Baron Tevelon over there!”

My eyes opened lazily.

“…Baron Tevelon?”

“Yes! I heard that he left Aktoum two years ago and went to the Western Continent. It’s my first time seeing him since then!”

It was kind of a familiar name. I tried to remember why the man with the light blue hair and innocent-looking eyes seemed so familiar to me.

He glanced over our direction while chatting with foreigners who seemed to have come from the Western Continent together with him.

Then he approached with a surprised expression.

“Your Majesty, the Queen of Spinel! I am Baron Tevelon from Grinarita of the Western Continent! …Ah, there was also Lady Seryl. And Laura, and my dear Maribel.”

“Long time no see, Baron!”

“You have visited Aktoum after a long absence.”

“Hello…….”

Seryl, Laura, and Maribel welcomed him with a smile, but I just looked at him with an expressionless face.

But it must have been a bit scary.

“!”

Baron Tevelon lowered his gaze in surprise when our eyes met.

It was probably because it was hard for anyone to look into my eyes for a long time.

After a while, he looked up again, probably embarrassed that he had shifted his gaze, nevertheless, he still seemed cautious.

This was preferable. Compared to drawing closer easily.

I was much more accustomed to people having trouble with me.

This was normal… 

The Rixus who approached without hesitation was very, very, very, very abnormal.

“Baron Tevelon. Welcome to Romnia.”

I had served the nobles of Spinel; and after I decided to marry Rixus, I would also offer similar treatment to the nobles of Aktoum.

Because they are my people.

However, since Baron Tevelon seemed to have moved completely to the Western Continent, I spoke in a way that treated him like a foreigner.

“Ah… Thank you, Your Majesty!”

With his innocent eyes drooping, Baron Tevelon kissed the back of my hand, which I had reached out, and bowed his head.

Guess he had already heard the news of the marriage, there seemed to be no doubt as I met him in the palace of the crown prince.

When Baron Tevelon left after uttering some stale tales about the Western Continent, Seryl whispered.

“He’s such a good person!”

“Really?”

“Yes, Your Majesty. By the way he looks, that man is kind!”

“Then, if I look mean, am I a mean person?”

Seryl’s pupils shook momentarily, like it went ‘quak-kwa-kwang’. Because someone who looked scarier than anyone else was asking that question.

Laura and Maribel patted Seryl on the side and gave her a glance.

“Ah! Your Majesty looks mean, but you are a good person… Ahh! I’m not saying that you look mean!”

Seryl, who was struggling, was so cute that I swallowed my laughter.

Was I too mischievous?

“By the way, how is Madam Deborah these days?”

When I quietly slipped this topic in, Maribel responded quickly.

“Yes, Your Majesty! They say she bullies the maids every day… and she was still gossiping behind the scenes.”

“What kind of gossip?”

“That…….”

The maids looked at each other. In the end, Seryl was the first to burst into anger.

“Actually, Madam Deborah is saying that Your Majesty is cheating!”

“…I, cheating?”

“Yes, she talks about the harem of spinel, saying that she will reveal every sort of flaw!”

Laura intervened.

“She’s trembling with pretense while framing Your Majesty.”

“…It’s really bad.”

Maribel chipped in, shrugging her shoulders.

In Aktoum’s social circle, the ‘virtuous aristocrat’ was classified as the worst subordinate. 

It was a strict yardstick, regardless of gender. Thus, in Aktoum, it was typical for one to have a mistress in secret and never revealing it to the surface.

This was a place with a higher moral compulsion than other countries.

In this kind of Aktoum, Deborah was trying to put the worst frame on me to get rid of me.

It was like saying I was an ‘prospective unfaithful woman with a lewd personality’.

‘Oh, I’m a little annoyed.’

I didn’t care what was going on behind the scenes, but if that was enough to interfere with the marriage, then it was necessary to block Deborah’s light snout.

‘Looks like you’re trying to kick me out.’

I had a premonition that the prime hindrances in my Aktoum life would be Madam Deborah and some of her nobles.

‘How do I make that mouth shut?’

I pondered quietly, then raised my eyebrows slightly at the question that came to mind.

‘Come to think of it, will Deborah actually try to cheat?’

In the original story, she was the very ‘king of affair’.

* * *

“I didn’t know that the Crown Prince would come out like that just because we sent the ‘anonymous letter’.”

“…I was actually flustered.”

“It’s our mistake.” Prime Minister Bernard added.

They had recently sent a letter to Rixus anonymously saying they were preparing for war.

In fact, nothing was actually prepared, but if they provoked Rixus and he triggered the nobles, they could zero in on his fault and counterattack. 

‘He said, ‘I’m going to go to Spinel and propose…’ That crazy bastard!’

However, Rixus’ response was beyond their expectations.

Deborah shuddered and murmured.

“No matter what happens, we have to stop the holy marriage.”

“It’s time for a secret trick.”

Since the will of the emperor who was lying in bed was peace, the conquistadors could not openly oppose it.

There was the risk of giving Rixus a justification for ‘rebellion’.

Even though they were allowed to have their own political stance as a ‘conquestist’, actively taking actions against the emperor’s will was another matter. In the end, they needed a ploy to interfere with this marriage without being too outspoken on their part.

“Madam, it is the official who will decide the marriage. Is there any chance that the high priest will object?”

“The high priest is a person who decides if the cause is clear, regardless of political gain. Actually, there is no reason to oppose it.”

‘The high priesthood cannot even be bought.’

They learned this in a previous case where Deborah was humiliated while attempting to bribe.

She pondered, pressing the tip of her chin with a fan and said what seemed like a good idea.

“What if it turns out that the Queen is stupid enough to not deserve the title of ‘Crown Princess’ in the presence of the high priest…?”

Prime Minister Bernard shook his head skeptically.

“She didn’t seem stupid. You saw her at a celebration.”

“That means she has good coping skills.”

“Hmm…”

“We’ll poke at what the Queen inevitably lacks.”

“Which part would that be?”

Bernard asked with an interested look, and Deborah answered.

“She lived in a swamp all her life, and had no basic education, let alone caesareanism. Besides, it’s been only three years since she became king.”(TL/N: Caesareanism refers to special education for successors of royal families. It is not a discipline with a clear definition and does not correspond to the education of the general.)

“Indeed.”

Has the 3rd year novice king memorized all the names in the country yet? If he thought about it, she could not make any decisions without the help of her servants during annual leave.

No matter how clever the king was… Wasn’t she stuck in a swamp and grew up like an idiot without any education?

“Even if the monarch of Spinel had executed all the nobles who opposed her in Spinel, she was just using her powers.”

Deborah’s eyes lit up and she smiled.

“Isn’t the realm of ‘intellect’ and ‘strength’ completely different?”

“Yes.”

“On the day of the high priest’s visit, the other nobles will be considerate of the Queen, who was not educated due to poor family affairs.”

So they wouldn’t ask the queen any sharp questions.

To say such a thing to a novice monarch meant to humiliate her.

Deborah’s eyes gleamed with cunning. Raising the corners of her lips, she whispered.

“But I’m going to ask all the questions that could put her to shame.”

“So, if the high priest thinks that the Queen is not capable or talented enough to handle this marriage…”

He would definitely oppose the holy marriage.

This marriage was not an ordinary marriage. It was a stepping stone for the merger of two huge countries. The person who would rise to the position of crown princess had to have the intellect, physical strength, and character to withstand all the problems that would come with the merger.

Prime Minister Bernard asked with bright eyes.

“Duchess Deborah, are you confident?”

“Believe solely in me.”

Deborah fanned her feathered fan and raised her face gracefully.

Of course, a decisive shot was also needed to support this plan.

‘What would be good…?’

On the day of the high priest’s visit, what could she bring up to humiliate and rip the queen to pieces in front of everyone?

Deborah was determined to find it before the high priest came.

‘It was a mistake of four years to dare to deal with this Deborah.’

Deborah shook her head more wickedly than ever.

* * *

I had already heard through Seryl that Deborah met up with Prime Minister Bernard.

Seryl said her close friend was a maid in the Duchy of Douglas.

‘It’s obvious what the two of them were talking about.’

They must have thought of how to interfere with the high priest’s evaluation to drive me out?

Talking about such things would have put her under a lot of stress.

In the original, there was such content. It was said that Deborah visited this garden whenever she couldn’t handle the stress. And this was where she ate ‘sweet and fresh fruit’… 

It was clear that the fruit symbolized a man.

I walked through the garden and paid attention to the sounds.

But it was so wide that it was like a place, and the surroundings were as quiet as a mouse.

‘Isn’t this a flower garden?’

By any chance, was that sweet and fresh fruit a real fruit…?

Well, then, perhaps my lewd interpretation would be too embarrassing.

Just then, the sounds of short breathing and moaning touched my ear.

It was a delicate voice – sweet, fresh and thin.

“Madam Deborah, wait a minute… I can’t stand it.”

I quickly hid in the bushes and looked towards the source of the voice.

In the dim moonlight, the man’s face, which was red hot, was revealed. His lovely blond hair was dripping wet, and his blue eyes were shining with a pitiful and sweet glow.

I had definitely seen that man in the half-naked suit, currently licking Deborah’s finger, at the celebration banquet.

‘…Marquis Kalen?’

‘Aren’t they really crazy?!’

Without realizing it, my mouth dropped in surprise.