Cecilia Adelbaide. Despite being a lower-ranking Aristocrat, she overcame all sorts of obstacles and was finally engaged to the Crown Prince, Enrique. Their story is probably one of the most well-known in this country. At the wedding of the two, it is said that people from all over the country gathered at the royal capital to catch a glimpse of their intimacy. Before her marriage, she was a daughter of Viscount Ruze, and due to her poor health, she had hardly left her territory until before her debut. It is said that she met Prince Enrique at her first evening party in the Royal Capital, and they fell in love with each other at first sight. However, it was also the beginning of a tragedy. Because Enrique already had a fiancĂŠ at the time. Scarlet Castiel with her overwhelming beauty and pedigree. Of course, we know how it ended.
Cecilia is also famous as a benevolent consort. Her heart is straightforward and she never discriminates against ordinary people. It is said that she actively supports orphanages and hospitals, and sometimes goes to the kitchen to cook the soup herself. Some even say that it is the second coming of Saint Anastasia.
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[âŚ..hmm.]
Enrique timidly called out to his wife to try to do something about the frozen air.
[Cecilia, I donât think thatâs not exactly a compliment.]
[Un, Iâm not even trying to praise him at all.]
[âŚI, is that so?]
[Yes, it is.]
Cecilia simply shrugged her shoulders and turned to face Connie again.
[Hey, can I call you Connie?]
The Princess looked at Connie with shining rose-coloured eyes. Close. Thatâs too close.
[O, of course, Your Highness.]
While leaning back slightly, she nodded.
[Then you call me Ceci, alright?]
[Huh? No, um, I couldnât possibly do thatâŚ]
[Why? I was originally from a Viscount family just like you, Connie. Right?]
Thatâs unreasonable. It was His Highness Enrique who responded with common sense to my heartfelt cry.
[Donât be unreasonable, Cecilia.]
[Tsk.]
[Donât click your tongue, Cecilia.]
[Yeăźs.]
The Crown Princess turned her back on Enrique and stuck out her tongue. Connie pretended not to have seen it.
Ceciliaâs adorable doll-like face smiled.
[You know, I was worried about Randy. Just when I thought heâs finally settling down by marrying Lily, something dreadful happened to her, didnât it? Thatâs why Iâm happy that someone as cute as candy like you is going to be his wife. Letâs have tea together next time.ââââAh, are you free for the prayer day next week?]
Connie felt like she was being casually poisoned in many ways. But more than that, she was more taken aback by the sudden invitation that was given to me at the end.
[Huh?]
[âŚsurely you jest, Your Highness.]
[I didnât ask Randy. Right, Connie?]
Rejecting Randolphâs restraint, Cecilia squeezed Connieâs hand tightly. Even though she was wearing silk gloves, Connie could feel that the Princessâ palms were so cold that her shoulders jumped up involuntarily.
[Hey, itâs a deal, yes?]
Her Highness was smiling sweetly. Thatâs all.
[Y, yesâŚ]
Connie nodded, feeling helpless and intimidating. In the first place, it was an invitation from a noble whose social status was much higher than that of her own. If it came by letter, it would be fine to ignore it, but Connieâs skin isnât thick enough to refuse a face-to-face invitation.
[Good! Then Iâll send a letter to you later!]
[âââHer Highness.]
Connie heard a voice so low it might as well crawl on the ground. The wrinkles between his brows were as deep as a trench, and unpleasantness was written all over his proud face. Your Excellency is super scary. Ordinary people would probably start crying if he turned that face on them. At least Connie would cry. In the unlikely event that he makes the Crown Princess cry, even His Excellency might be accused of treason. Worried, Connie glanced at Cecilia.
However, when Cecilia whispered, [Wow, thatâs a scary face], her face only distorted in a playful way. Connie involuntarily blinked her eyes.
[Hey, Randolph Ulster.]
An ice-cold voice came out of her lovely lips.
[You know. I think it was a little mean for you to go out of your way to designate a day when I had official duties that I couldnât miss. Did you think that if you do that, I wouldnât be able to come to this place? Well, even I will feel hurt when you do something like that to me. So itâs a little frustrating, but-]
Her innocence faded before Connie knew it, and Cecilia spoke in a terribly indifferent tone.
[âââBut, itâs rare to see you make a face distorted in disgust like that. So Iâll let you off just this once, alright?]
A slightly coloured petal-like mouth draws an arc. However, the softly narrowed eyes probably didnât smile at all from the beginning. Connie noticed that fact for the first time and froze. Maybe itâs just my imagination, but somewhere around His Excellency, a cool breeze wafted in the air.
[âââIâŚ]
For a moment, the shaken Connie couldnât recognize the owner of the voice. Her voice was as calm as the calm sea, ignoring the tension in the air. After a beat, she realized that it came from the crown princess in front of her.
[His Highness surely has informed you, but I was supposed to greet our honoured guests from the south in the Verdant Hall. However, please donât think of Cecilia as a rude person who canât express her gratitude for your visit. Iâm sorry. For me, such behaviour is not my intention. Can you understand, please? ]
In contrast to her open-minded, slightly childish demeanour from the beginning, her slightly sorrowful expression and sincere tone with a hint of apology were exactly what a lady with both chastity and elegance was supposed to be.
[ââââWell then, everyone, I bid you all a good day.]
Cecilia left the audience room with a noble smile devoid of emotion.
[So, there you have it. Make yourself comfortable. Randolph is fine as usual.]
Putting his elbow on the throneâs armrest, the Prince rested his chin on his hand and spoke in a carefree tone.
[âŚsheâs still just as contemptuous as ever.]
As Randolph frowned, Enrique smiled wryly.
[Please ignore her for my sake today. Thereâs something unexpectedly cute about that.]
[I donât think it will solve anything even if I overlook it. With that personality, she surely has accumulated many enemies.]
[Well indeed. Fortunately, we donât have any children yet. In the first place, Iâm not all that interested in inheriting the throne. It would be nice if Jeanâs faction continued to gain momentum.]
Jean Adelbaide is the second child of the current King, and he is the younger brother of Prince Enrique. Both Princes were already married, but unlike the Crown Prince and his wife, who had no children, the second Prince had already been blessed with children.
âââConnie shrugged, feeling that she had heard something she shouldnât have.
[More importantly, an envoy from Faris has arrived.]
The Princeâs reddish-purple eyes were squinted coldly. Randolph responded with an [Ah.] and a nod.
[The Imperial Guard Regiment received a request to act as their bodyguard. But, at this time? If I recall correctly, the plan wasâââ]
[Thatâs right. Actually, they were supposed to have arrived last night. âŚThey didnât even send me an apology or even showed any intention to. Most people think that Adelbaide, which has a short history, is still a vassal state of the great Faris. Such a ridiculous anachronism. Those arrogant bastards are still clinging to the past.]
Enriqueâs face distorted in disgust.
[Theyâre talking about strengthening the alliance and other nonsense, but itâs obvious that theyâre here to beg for money anyway. All they have now is their history and pretension. Truly an Emperor without clothing as the rumour goes.]
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Randolph opened his mouth while facing each other while being rocked inside the carriage.
[I think you can see nowâââ]
[Yes?]
[Ceciliaâs personality is twisted.]
Un, itâs quite obvious. Even from her rose-tinted glass. Connie nodded gravely.
[Because of Scarlet, I thought that I would want to meet her. But, she wouldnât tell me the truth anyway, so I decided to avoid her. At first, I was only fifty-fifty, but now Iâm sure that sheâs been keeping more rats than I expected.]
He let out a small sigh.
[Well, she does have a problem with her personality, but in public, she can behave on par with the Royal family. There will be times when she will retaliate to criticism, but so far she hasnât caused any major scandals. Essentially, she knows when and where to show her real attitude.âââso I believe, there must be a reason why she didnât try to hide that personality in your presence]
At that point, Randolph cut off his words. He stared at Connie with a serious expression.
[I might be overthinking it, but keep that in mind.]
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[Hey Scarlet.]
Connie returned to her room and asked a question that suddenly came to her mind.
[Why did you hate Princess Cecilia?]
Certainly, Cecilia Adelbaide was not the saint that Connie had envisioned. But sadly, she had become somewhat more tolerant of such developments. If you think about it, Scarlet does have this kind of personality. And yet, what was the reason for intentionally making Cecilia an enemy? There is that part about the Prince cheating on her, but at least today, Scarlet didnât seem to be jealous of the relationship between Cecilia and Enrique.
ăOh, not at all. Itâs the opposite.ă
Connie tilted her head as Scarlett answered like it was nothing.
[The opposite?]
ăThatâs right. That woman hated me first. Then, itâs natural for me to attack before I become her victim, right?ă
I see, Cecilia was the first to be jealous of her love rival. Just when she was about to convince herself, another unexpected word popped out of Scarlettâs mouth.
ăEven though I said that itâs not like she only had a distaste for only me in particular. âŚâŚhmm, perhaps distaste isnât the right word?ă
[Yes?]
ăI suppose you did not notice? Even just a little while ago, she was pointing her hostility at everyone in sight while putting on a smile. It was the same ten years ago. After all, Enrique is an idiot too. Itâs still there after allă
[HostilityâŚ..?]
Connie tilted her head. She honestly didnât know. All she knew was that deep inside those rose-coloured eyes, there was something freezing cold.
ăBut it seems like she can hide it a lot better now. It was worse when we first met. It made me wonder why no one noticed. Those eyes of hers, if I have to name what I saw in them, it would have to beâââă
After thinking about it for a while, she finally muttered, as if she was convinced.