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Chapter 5.3




Chapter 5.3
Right as Sienna entered the banquet hall, the Red King Patricia arrived at the same time. Patricia frowned when she saw Sienna’s appearance before smiling brightly as she approached her.
The people around Sienna moved aside and made a path for Patricia. Amidst the crowded banquet hall, the crowd made a line of space that led Patricia to Sienna.
“Happy birthday, Princess.”
“Thank you, Mother.”
“You mustn’t have had a chance to eat anything today. Come over here. You must be starving.”
Sienna followed Patricia’s lead and walked over to the side of the room where the table of delicious dishes was set up. Small plates of finger foods were displayed on the table.
The crowd moved along with the mother-daughter pair as they walked across the room. It was a ridiculous spectacle. Nobody crossed the line and dared to approach the mother and daughter, almost as if the space around them was sacred.
“There must have been a mistake in our correspondence, Princess. Your dress has changed.”
Sienna received the plate of food that Patricia handed her and replied.
“I picked the dress myself.”
“…You did, Princess?”
“Yes. The other one was too extravagant.”
“The person of honor today is you, Princess. It’s only natural that you should stand out.”
“Nobody that accepted the invitation to this party doesn’t know that I’m the person of honor. There isn’t any need to show off.”
Patricia pressed her red lips together before softly smiling.
“If that’s what you wish, Princess.”
“Happy birthday, Princess.”
Earl Rimone approached them and greeted Sienna. She blankly stared at him. The cunning face of her uncle from her dreams, who had then become the duke, overlapped with the present uncle’s face now.
“Princess, don’t you have anything to say?”
“It’s been a while.”
“Yes, it has been a while. The duke isn’t feeling very well these days and has decided to refrain from social events until he recovers.”
“I heard. Is Grandfather feeling very unwell?”
“He is getting on in years, so it’s taking him longer to recover.”
Doug briefly met Patricia’s eyes and slightly shook his head. Patricia’s face showed her disappointment for a moment before it disappeared.
“Princess, the duke has asked me to send his congratulations.”
“He isn’t feeling very well, so he shouldn’t worry about something trivial like my birthday. I’ll take some time and go visit him when the opportunity comes.”
“The duke will be overjoyed.”
“Princess.”
Sienna turned her head at Patricia’s call. During the brief time Sienna was talking with Earl Rimone, a young man had come to Patricia’s side.
“Please introduce yourselves.”
The young man grinned brightly and politely bowed.
“Greetings to Your Imperial Highness. I’m Duke Morton’s son, Levi Morton.”
“This is the second son of Duke Morton. He recently received a title and is now an earl. He even holds a seat in the Central Parliament.”
This was the second candidate for the position of the Blue King.
“Princess, may I be your escort for the evening?”
Patricia carefully observed Sienna’s expression. She let out a breath when Sienna placed her hand on Levi’s arm.
‘Just who could it be?’
She had searched for more information about this mystery man that had caught the Princess’s interest, but it was all to no avail. Thankfully, there was no record of the Princess corresponding with anyone after she returned from the masquerade.
Patricia had come to the conclusion that Sienna wasn’t very taken with Joseph.
Patricia was disappointed. He was a direct descendant of a duke and wasn’t the successor to the dukedom. He was also malleable. There weren’t a lot of candidates that had these qualities.
Joseph had met all the requirements Patricia had set for the candidacy of the Blue King. He was the second son of Duke Luke and therefore did not wield much power. This meant that it would be easier to manipulate him. On top of that, he also wasn’t bad to look at.
However, Patricia let go of her expectations. It seemed like the Princess had already forgotten about him. It would only backfire if Patricia continued to try and push Joseph on her. The second candidate, Levi, had a good head on his shoulders. It was a pro as well as a con.
‘He’s only pretending to grovel in front of me now, but once he marries the Princess, he will try to negotiate with me on equal footing.’
But Patricia decided to worry about the future in the future. Levi was a better choice for the Blue King than a man she didn’t know.
“Nice to meet you.”
Patricia watched the two as they stood side by side and laughed. Her smile was full of maternal pride as she gazed at her grown-up daughter.
“You two suit each other.”
Earl Rimone spoke up.
“Princess, this party is for you, so make sure to enjoy it to your heart’s content. There are many people that are going to want to hear your beautiful voice.”
“What about you, Mother…?”
“I plan on being in the background for today.”
Sienna slightly nodded and turned around with Levi. Patricia bit her lip as she watched as her daughter walk away.
‘Something doesn’t feel right. Do I have a headache?’
She blamed the faint sense of foreboding on a headache. Possibly due to her feelings, her head really did pulse with pain.
“I have something urgent I need to discuss with you.”
Doug hid his moving lips with a cocktail and whispered.
Patricia’s expression didn’t change as she called a lady-in-waiting.
“I think I’m feeling a bit tired. Find me a quiet place to rest.”
“Yes, Red King.”
Patricia followed the lady-in-waiting and disappeared. A few moments later, Doug also left the banquet hall.
The brother and sister met in a lounge for noblewomen. It was a remote room, and now that Patricia had entered it, no one else would be allowed inside.
“What is it?”
“I think Father is going to pass away.”
“What?!”
Patricia shouted in surprise.
“He hasn’t woken up at all since early morning, and he won’t respond to any type of stimulation. According to the doctor, the longest he’ll last is a quarter of a day.”
“That can’t happen!”
Patricia’s eyes filled with frustration and rage. She showed no sympathy or sadness at the news of her father’s impending death.
“It can’t happen now.”
“What can we do? We can’t keep him alive.”
Patricia paced back and forth nervously. She suddenly stopped. Her eyes blazed as she stared at Doug.
“We’ll have to make it so that we can keep him alive.”
“How?”
“Keep it a secret. For as long as you can.”
“Don’t let anyone know even if Father passes away?”
“Tell everyone that Father is critically ill and cannot receive visitors. Have a couple of men guard his bedroom. Make sure their lips are sealed. As long as you enter the bedroom from time to time during the day, no one will become suspicious.”
“Easier said than done. What about Father’s corpse? If we get caught taking his corpse out, things will become a disaster and it’ll be the end for us.”
“Why do you need to take his corpse out?”
Doug frowned in confusion.
“Prepare to have him embalmed.”
“Em-embalmed?”
Doug stuttered when he heard his sister’s daring and cruel proposal.
In the Empire, it was customary to bury the dead. They believed that by burying the dead in the ground, they returned to the earth and was finally able to have their final rest. Embalming the dead to prevent decomposition was considered an insult as well as a punishment.
“Patricia, that’s a bit…”
“Brother, just until the Princess’s marriage. If that sounds too difficult, then just until her engagement. It will only take half a year at most. I’m not doing this just to improve my position. If we hold the burial after all this is done, it will only advance the House of Rimone. I’m sure Father would understand.”
Duke Rimone had once told a friend that having Patricia be born as a daughter was both a misfortune as well as good luck. She would always find a way to get whatever she wanted, and it often terrified the Duke.
If his daughter became the next duke, he believed that the dukedom could become the most powerful one in the Empire. However, he also believed that she could also cause its demise through her efforts to get there. Duke Rimone had been worried that, after his death, his son Doug would be swayed by his sister. He was half-right and half-wrong.
“I understand. I’ll find a way.”
Even if Doug wasn’t as malicious as Patricia, he was just as ambitious and greedy. He wasn’t swayed by Patricia. He was an active accomplice.
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