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Knock, knock—
A careful knock sounded out.
[ Permat ] “I told you to leave me alone! Do you not understand me! Or should I rip off those useless ears of yours?”
The knock evoked a nervous scream from Permat. On account of her supposed illness, she hadn’t attended the Academy in days.
Filled with anxiety, she chewed on her nails, turning them into a complete mess. Not only were they torn in places, but she was even drawing blood in others.
She knew it wasn’t very ladylike of her to do, but she couldn’t help it. She couldn’t hardly sit still right now. Even her brother hadn’t come home the past few days, always stating he was too busy. The entire time, Permat felt like her blood was drying up. And she couldn’t even throw things to alleviate her suffering.
No one knew where Erhein was, but all they could do was simply wait for him to return. Meanwhile, her maid was holding her breath in nervousness.
[ Maid ] “My lady, your friends have come to visit you.”
Friends? They weren’t her friends. They were nothing more than her entourage—like pieces of scrap whose sole existence was for the purpose of praising her.
But even scrap was useful. Provided there were no major problems in the future, it would be a good idea to keep them by her side.
Permat got up and washed her face, ordering the other ladies to be guided into the drawing room.
The maid felt very relieved at the sight of Permat showing off some normal behavior that she hadn’t seen in a very long time, but she didn’t dare let out a sigh. That was why this particular maid was able to endure Permat for so long—she knew very well that she could not go against the heart of such a sensitive and fierce noble miss.
Permat waited for her scraps in the drawing room, looking all too fragile and haggard. Soon, the maid entered the drawing room, followed by a few noble ladies.
[ Lady ] “Are you feeling well, Miss Permat?”
[ Permat ] “Not especially, but well enough to see my friends who came to visit me.”
Permat gave a feeble smile, but her words were kind enough to move the ladies.
[ Lady ] “Of course we came to visit. We were worried we might be bothering you, but thank you for thinking that way.”
[ Permat ] “Thank you for caring for me like that.”
[ Lady ] “It breaks my heart to see how pale you’ve become.”
[ Permat ] “Do you think I look terrible?”
[ Lady ] “How could I ever? It is not possible for your beauty to be dissuaded, Miss Permat. In the brilliant light of the summer sun, your beauty only becomes faint but never disappears.”
[ Permat ] “You are too kind.”
Permat accepted their compliments easily, her fraying nerves easing just a little.
[ Lady ] “Oh, that reminds me. Did you read that newspaper article?”
[ Permat ] “What article?”
[ Lady ] “You’ve been so sick, I suppose you must not have seen it. The incident that occurred during the Academy circuit was published in a newspaper article.”
The incident was being published in a newspaper? Permat’s heart immediately dropped in her chest. Did they know who did it? Is that what they were writing about?
[ Lady ] “It made the headlines this morning, and was printed again this afternoon. And it’s so hard to get things published these days.”
Seeing how they were reacting, clearly nothing had been linked back to her. Permat looked at them, trying to hold back her anxiety.
[ Permat ] “I see, that’s something.”
[ Lady ] “Would you like to see, Miss Permat?”
The young lady went into her hand bag, pulling out a neatly folded newspaper. The first thing Permat saw when she unfolded it was a certain man’s blindingly handsome smile, still brilliant despite the low quality of the black and white print.
And now it was clear the newspaper was selling like crazy because of the handsome man printed on the front page rather than the content itself.
But Permat’s hand trembled the second she started reading the article.
What!?
That awful woman wasn’t dead. And knowing that it was Lexus himself who saved her, she felt like she was about to go crazy. But the worst part of it all was how the whole nation would understand the story after reading this article.
The article had the gall to insinuate that the two of them had a ‘rosy’ relationship with each other, and were forced to spend the night together because of the heavy rain.
Permat was overcome with the desire to rip the newspaper to shreds, but she managed to return it with a smile.
[ Permat ] “I didn’t realize a newspaper like this was being published.”
[ Lady ] “I was so shocked when I first read it, but now that I’m thinking about it, it sounds like they did more than just pass the night by quietly together.”
[ Permat ] “I see. Ah, I feel as though my headache is returning.”
[ Lady ] “Oh, I suppose we’ve been here for too long. We do hope you get better soon, Miss Permat.”
[ Permat ] “Yes, thank you.”
Newspapers almost never wrote about the Imperial family, so she couldn’t understand why an article like this was suddenly being published. The article only spoke of praise for the Prince, but this wasn’t anything close to good news for Permat.
If the woman had died, the article would’ve focused solely on that. But instead, the victim was still alive and now there was a key eyewitness.
And to have a deep relationship with the Prince like that? Absolutely unacceptable.
[ Permat ] “Emily!”
[ Maid ] “Yes, my lady.”
Emily responded quickly to Permat’s call.
[ Permat ] “Where is my brother? Can you still not reach him?”
[ Maid ] “I was planning on telling you soon. He is on his way home now.”
[ Permat ] “Really?”
[ Maid ] “Yes, my lady.”
Jumping to her feet, Permat ran off to Erhein’s office, hearing the news that he was finally returning. Once there, she was greeted by the knight standing watch over the door.
[ Permat ] “He’s here, isn’t he?”
[ Knight ] “Just a moment, my lady. I will tell the young master……”
[ Permat ] “Get out of my way. I want to see my brother. I don’t need your permission for that.”
[ Knight ] “H, however……”
[ Permat ] “Just get out of the way. Or should I have you gotten rid of entirely?”
With no uncertain terms, she meant that to mean she would have him terminated, and as the Marquis’ most precious jewel, she had the power to do that. With no authority to stop her, the knight moved aside as Permat pushed past him.
And since the future Marquis, Erhein cared for his younger sister quite deeply, the knight calculated that this was something that could be forgiven.
[ Erhein ] “Permat. It’s not very ladylike to enter a room without permission.”
The Marquis’ office was completely soundproof. And since it was so perfectly constructed like that, then that allowed them to speak of this story without even the slightest detail leaking to the outside.
But unfortunately for the knight outside, Erhein was thinking it would be best to get rid of a knight who couldn’t even play the role of a gatekeeper properly.
[ Permat ] “Why are you coming back now?”
[ Erhein ] “Permat, calm down.”
[ Permat ] “Calm down!? How can I calm down!”
[ Erhein ] “Stay calm and sit down. Close the door behind you, as well.”
Only then did the knight close the door to the office. That was when Erhein decided he wouldn’t be writing a letter of recommendation for this oblivious knight.
Having returned to the estate after a few days’ absence, Erhein was visibly exhausted, but Permat was too distraught to notice.
[ Permat ] “Why didn’t you come back sooner? I couldn’t get in touch with you at all. Were you trying to avoid me?”
[ Erhein ] “Of course not. As you probably know by now, things went a little bit wrong, and I was busy fixing them.”
[ Permat ] “Fixing them? How can you fix this!? What are you going to do! How can you possibly fix things when they’ve gone like this!? Brother!”
[ Erhein ] “Permat.”
[ Permat ] “Didn’t you read the article? They wrote it out like some kind of novel! How could they think the Prince would have an intimate relationship with such a lowly woman!?”
Erhein rubbed his temple with his thumb. This work was becoming far more troublesome than he thought it would be, and now that something had gone wrong, his younger sister’s mind was becoming more complicated.
Erhein swallowed a sigh.
It was fine that she was immature, but sometimes it was hard dealing with how stupid she was.
His foolish little sister really didn’t realize what was truly important.
And that part of her made her very easy to control and manipulate, but sometimes it was annoying. Pushing away his rising irritation, Erhein gave a tender smile.
[ Permat ] “You have to get back at that publication! Destroy them for writing something like that!”
Being intelligent enough to get good grades and actually being able to see the pieces on the board were two different things. Though his sister was within the top ranks at the Academy, she was blind—unable to see the situation properly because of the affection she held for the Imperial Prince.
And so to her, the biggest problem was that the woman survived, and the Prince was the one who saved her.
The Imperial family would obviously be interested in this incident, especially after this article was sweeping the headlines. If the newspaper publication that popularized it were to suddenly be destroyed, obviously people would take notice.
[ Erhein ] “Yes. Perhaps we should.”
[ Permat ] “Really? You’ll do it?”
[ Erhein ] “Of course. Let your big brother take care of it.”
It was impossible for him to do something like that right now, but he had no choice but to make a false promise in order to placate his sister. Especially since she would oftentimes become unpredictable when things didn’t go her way.
He hired that particular man after hearing stories of his infallible nature, and so he didn’t expect him to mess things up to this extent.
But the reason why Erhein said he would deal with such a troublesome thing himself was not because of any affection for his sister. It was because he knew his sister would run around, causing even more trouble if he didn’t. And so it was far easier to do things himself.
In fact, he’d already dealt with the hired perpetrator to tie up loose ends in advance.
[ Erhein ] “Your brother’s sorry. I made a mistake, but you don’t need to worry.”
[ Permat ] “How can I not worry!?”
[ Erhein ] “He’s already dead. You don’t have to worry about this getting out any more.”
He spoke like a snake, cleverly using the word ‘you’ instead of ‘we’, indicating his plan to use her as a scapegoat should this sordid affair ever be found out.
Obviously that was his intent, but true to her nature, Permat didn’t notice.