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Early in the morning, while visiting the Imperial Palace, Killian met the doctor Leopeld.
Leopeld looked haggard as he had been observing the emperor all night long.
“It looks like his organ is inflamed and has a fever. The fever went down last night, and breakfast was served. The medicine was handed over to the imperial court.”
When Killian asked what happened last night, Leopeld gave details of the progress.
He added that he is now on medication and has gone to bed, so don’t disturb him.
“Then what happened to His Majesty’s schedule today?”
“I canceled his schedule because he had to rest for a few days. Fortunately, the Empress seems to have persuaded the nobles well.”
“His Majesty was always working hard.”
Killian nodded his head.
He was about to see and examine the emperor himself, but decided to be content with the explanation from the doctor.
At that time.
“Killian!”
A soft yet reminiscent voice called out his name.
There were not many people in the world who could call Killian by name without any other titles.
Looking back, as expected, a decent young man was walking by.
His blonde hair, bright like the morning sun, swayed lightly in line with his steps.
Killian smiled at him as usual.
“Brother.”
As Killian called briefly, the same smile spread across his lips as he approached. Dr. Leopold bowed.
“I see you, Crown Prince.”
The future of the imperial family, the only prince and crown prince of the Empire.
Mikhail von Orhel.
Mikhail, who was only one year older than Killian, was loved by all as a gentle and kind prince.
“Good job all night, Dr. Leopeld.”
With a little encouragement, Mikhail signaled him to back off.
Leopeld left without saying a word.
“I’m sorry I asked you out of the blue yesterday, Killian. That’s why…”
Mikhail tapped Killian on the shoulder and apologized.
Yesterday evening, he suddenly asked him to bring Dr. Leopeld.
Killian, who became a military and police chief, was not in a position to run such an errand, but at that time, he was not busy and naturally went.
“It’s okay to ask for anything like that. His Majesty is the heart of the Empire, and he is like a father to me.”
Killian shook his head and said not to be sorry.
Yesterday’s errand was done as a son, not a military police commander.
“Thank you for thinking that way, Killian.”
A slightly more relaxed smile spread across Mikhail’s face.
“By the way, what happened to your job?”
“What?”
“The rumor.”
Worry settled in his clear blue eyes like glass beads.
‘Ah, rumors.’
It was only the day before yesterday, but it seemed like a long time ago.
At the same time, he once again thought that Sophia had a good strategy.
‘It’s enough to even reach the Crown Prince’s ears…’
It was not easy for a young lady, who many did not even know that she even existed, to receive such attention overnight.
“Because you were so busy, you didn’t even pay attention to your work. It seems to have exploded quite a bit.”
Mikhail, who had to take care of the affairs of the imperial family due to the emperor’s illness, was sorry for not paying attention to his brother’s problems.
Killian shook his head at his fierce tenderness.
“It worked out.”
“Already?”
If it were Lady Chanelia’s weekly magazine, it would have a huge impact.
“No way…”
Michael looked at him.
Killian met his eyes and understood what he meant.
‘Everyone thought of us breaking up first.’
The butler and other nobles and knights were the same.
“It’s not like that.”
As Killian waved his hand, Mikhail put on a puzzled expression again.
“If it’s not a break-up…?”
“I asked Lady Chanelia for a correction. It will be in the next weekly magazine.”
“You asked for a correction? For your fiance?”
“Brother…”
“I mean, y-you weren’t even interested enough to meet your fiance.”
It was a strategic engagement.
Before, the military and police officer, who was indifferent to women, said that the engagement ceremony was noisy and unnecessary, and wanted to finish the engagement with a few papers.
It was bad, but there are a lot of people who consider an engagement ceremony to be quite important…
Since there was no formal proposal, Sophia Frauss would be quite disappointed, and Mikhail said that he felt sorry for her.
Mikhail even scolded him several times for not going to see his fiance’s face.
Did that rocky Killian Viprons Rivelon move on his own to fend off his fiance’s scandal?
“Because it’s my job too. It kept mentioning my name.”
Killian turned around.
It wasn’t a lie. He was quite surprised to see his name appearing in a weekly magazine.
That was why he went to see Sophia.
“But… There was not even a single word of ‘Sophia Frauss’ in the title of the article. So I thought you were going to break up to dispel rumors.”
“Your Majesty must have had a will when you made a deal with me. No matter how arranged the marriage is, I have no intention of breaking it easily.”
Mikhail smiled as Killian answered firmly.
“When you look at it like this, you sound more like His Majesty’s son than me.”
As the Crown Prince, he does not follow the Emperor and Empress so blindly.
However, Killian was a man who would sacrifice his life for the imperial family.
For this reason, the emperor sometimes preferred Killian over his own son, Mikhail.
Of course, Mikhail was never jealous of him.
Because Killian was also a good brother to him.
“Anyway, the rumor was bad. Your reputation will be affected. Maybe someone spread those rumors to attack you…”
At Mikhail’s serious expression, Killian burst into laughter.
‘Spread rumors to attack me?’
Yes, an attack is an attack.
Thanks to Sophia Frauss for spreading the word, he felt an embarrassment he had never felt before.
“It’s no laughing matter, Killian. It would be good for the military and police to investigate.”
“What. The Duchess’ Weekly?”
“No, not that, the informant. It was posted anonymously. It must be because there is something wrong with it.”
The corners of Killian’s lips twitched at Mikhail’s serious reasoning.
Informant…
“That’s a good idea too. Then I have to go.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m going to find the culprit, just like you said.”
He was worried about that whimsical informant.
~*~
Meanwhile, the sound of sharp heels echoed through the Frauss mansion.
The sound of heels hitting the marble floor went up to the third floor.
Rubisella slept through the night in disgrace after she came back from Duchess Chanelia yesterday.
“Sophia!”
She swung open the door in the corner of the third floor.
In a small room, there was a little girl lying on the bed, like a dirty dog.
After Killian left last night, thanks to Ian letting her out of his room, Sophia has entered her new room.
However, because she couldn’t just get better in a day, she was unable to see the new room she had been waiting for so much and was in bed.
But that didn’t matter to Rubicella.
“Lazy! You’re still lying in bed!”
The high-tone voice ripped the air as if it would break a glass.
The stepmother strode to the window angrily and pulled the curtain.
The curtains were pulled roughly so that the old curtain rods seemed to come off at any moment. Read only at pm tl.
The direction where the window was wasn’t very good, so the bright sunlight couldn’t shine through the window with the curtains rolled down.
So the morning light that comes in indirectly only dims the room.
But that was enough to wake Sophia.
Not the sunlight, but Rubisella’s voice.
Sophia, who was holding her blanket, lifted her heavy body.
No matter how much medication she took, it was still below the level of modern medicine, so her body was still weak.
Her body was heavy, as if she had all her cells tied to the floor with a string.
She hadn’t eaten properly yesterday, and her eyes were swollen, either because of drugs or because of body aches.
And before she could properly open her eyes.
“This damn girl…! Selling your mother without knowing grace?!”
A hand grabbed her collar as she spoke with harsh profanity.
“Ouch…!”
Despite her tingling neck, her screams rang out.
The hand that gripped her collar dragged her off the bed like a sack of luggage.
As soon as she woke up, Sophia couldn’t resist and she fell.
Her head was throbbing and ached as she hit the floor.
But her stepmother wasn’t kind enough to take care of that.
Enraged since last night, she shook Sophia hard.
“If you dare to sell my name for your own sake, there is nothing you can do except to undermine the reputation of the family!”
“…!”
Sophia was swayed helplessly by Rubisella’s anger in a row.
It caused her head to pound, and the headache intensified as if her brain was rolling.
“Wait, madam…”
Her cold, cracked voice was even drowned out from all the noise, and the sound dissipated as quickly as a breeze.
“Come out. Come out now!”
As Sophia barely came to her senses, her stepmother’s hand got rougher.
Rubicella grabbed her stepdaughter violently and went outside the room.
Finally, Sophia’s body was dragged into the first floor lobby of the main building.
On a normal day, she would have resisted.
But now Sophia’s condition was so bad that it was unbelievable that the Countess could easily pull her weight as heavy as her own.