Chapter 14: CH 14

“I didn’t do anything today?” I actually didn’t do anything. I mean I tried, but I couldn’t. Not with the Crown Prince refusing to even meet me.

Sylvester didn’t seem to believe me, though. He narrowed his eyes at me, “Don’t lie,” and shook a piece of paper in front of my eyes, “if you didn’t do anything, why did the Crown Prince send this message?”

‘Message?’ I took the paper from his hands in a hurry, “What is it?”

The message itself was short.

[Get back into the palace with your wife now]

With a postscript.

[I will make you pay for touching my woman.]

‘”My Woman?” Does he mean Countess Fleur?’

“What the hell is he talking about?” I muttered unconsciously.

Sylvester chastised me, “That’s what I want to say. What the hell happened to the Crown Prince for him to send this message?”

“I really didn’t do anything!” I was so dumbfounded that I had to speak up to defend myself. “’Touching my woman’? I only met the Countess and said hello!”

Sylvester still looked suspicious of me and I felt myself about to burst. “Whether you want to believe it or not is up to you, but I’ll say it once again—I seriously didn’t do anything.”

He still looked like he doubted me, but after contemplating it for a while with his tongue in his cheek, he let out a long sigh and led me back into the carriage.

“Let’s go.”

I got back onto the carriage I just got off of.

******

I passed the gates of the Imperial Palace the second time I visited. The servant who told me, “Get lost,” personally guided us as if he never swore in front of me. I felt resentful.

“That man swore at me earlier,” I whispered to Sylvester, “He told me to get lost. He said the Crown Prince ordered it, but still! Isn’t he too much?”

Sylvester looked my way. “And?”

“What?”

“What am I supposed to do about that?”

“A- Are you not angry that your only wife was getting cursed at?”

Sylvester coldly replied to me, “How many times have you heard people telling you to get lost? You should be used to it by now.”

“Of course, it’s completely my fault that people blame me for everything,” I pouted, annoyed by his answer.

Seeing this, he laughed at me, “Don’t you swear even harder?”

“Me?”

“Yeah, didn’t you tell the Grand Duchess a while ago that she looked like an uncooked grain of rice you wouldn’t even let come close to your mouth?”

Upon hearing his reply, I decided to shut my mouth.

‘Ophelia! You’ve been very creative at cursing people out, haven’t you?’

Even I couldn’t think of such an insult—I was still far behind the original Ophelia, after all.

“I’ll visit her soon and apologize.”

“What?” Sylvester turned to me as if he couldn’t believe the words that flowed out of my lips. “How are you going to apologize? Are you going to say ‘Sorry you look like a grain of rice’?”

“Wouldn’t that be good?” Or not. Realising how awkward that was, I decided to backtrack, “If I apologize for what I did wrong, my reputation will maybe get better.”

‘Will apologizing really fix my reputation?’

‘I don’t know.’

Seeing what I’ve done so far, I knew I would have to stay quiet for a few years in order for everyone to change the way they think about me. Except I wanted to get divorced fast. I want to go to a quiet place and live peacefully, no more unneeded violence from me. Just imagining it made me happy.

But someone had to interfere with my dreams—Sylvester.

“Do you have to fix your reputation, though?” He sounded like he was against that idea. “The more notorious you are, the better.”

“Why?” I asked purely out of curiosity.

“That’s because,” Sylvester continued with something I never thought he would say, “The more evil you commit, the more attention is put onto you. It’s a good thing for me.”

“What do you mean?”

“Just think about it.”

I narrowed my eyebrows, “Are you saying you’re doing something worse when I’m doing something bad and getting people’s attention?”

“That’s it! You’re so smart, my wife.”

‘Wow.’

I was so unlucky to be together with Sylvester from start until the end. I said, emphasizing each word, “I will not be doing that anymore. If we need the Crown Prince, we have to shoot down the bad rumors surrounding me.”

I had a point. Maybe that was why? Maybe that was why Sylvester looked at me strangely. “A double-edged sword,” He muttered roughly, proceeding to kick the servant in front of them with his foot.

“Ugh!” The servant reeled down with his knees bent.

“It’s the price for swearing at my wife.” Sylvester looked down at him sharply, though he did look quite pitiful, “If you say such a thing to her one more time, then you will say goodbye to your throat.”

He was Callian’s exclusive servant, which made me wonder if he was allowed to even do this to him, but Sylvester made no changes to his expression as if everything was fine.

‘Well, he’s a villain, after all.’

Sylvester was the Duke of the Empire and the head of the pro-Loyalists, so nobody could call him out for this—it was somewhat similar to Ophelia’s case. No matter how evil Ophelia was, no one would reprimand her.

Except for Callian.

‘So you’re calling me to punish me?’ Even though I did nothing, unless ‘nothing’ meant saying hello to Fleur. There was no way he called me just because I said hello to her, did he? Fleur talked to me first, so how could I have ignored her? I was just trying to be friendly.

‘I’ll do my best.’ I stared at the door of the drawing room, thinking so. I opened the door and,

“…What?”

I could see Fleur crying.

‘What’s going on here?’

******

Fleur was in Callian’s arms crying. Her face looked so sick as she shed sad tears and I could see his protective instinct grow stronger.

‘A fragile beauty’ described Fleur perfectly. However, I was embarrassed since she was crying because of me! ‘What the hell is going on?’ I looked at Callian and Fleur, dumbfounded.

“Ophelia Ryzen,” Callian gave me a piercing glare; he looked absolutely furious with his red face and widened eyes. “Didn’t I order you to not talk to Fleur?”

I stuck out my head with my mouth half open, “Are you angry that I said hello to the Countess?”

“That’s right.”

“That’s why the Countess is crying?”

Callian did not answer, but silence meant I was right. I was so embarrassed that I spit out a laugh and touched my forehead. “Look, Countess,” I kept an eye on Fleur, “you talked to me first! I just replied! And we even had a good conversation, didn’t we?”

All we said was, ‘How are you?’, ‘Where were you going?’, ‘Go home safely.’

It was really just an innocent conversation. “But what’s wrong with you all of a sudden? What did I do?”

Fleur’s white face was whiter and tears dripped down her eyes like chicken poo. She grabbed her chest and hiccuped. “S-so scary!”

“What?” I looked at her. I knew if I looked at her with a face like mine, especially when I was this frustrated, I would have been beyond intimidating, but I couldn’t control my anger. Fleur hiccuped once more and Callian’s gaze grew sharp.

“Can’t you get rid of that face right now?”

“No, why would you say that about my face?”

“Ophelia Ryzen!” Callian’s loud shout filled the room. “If you don’t apologize right away, I’ll take this as a personal offense towards me! Your family won’t be safe this time!”

‘What are you saying? You’re threatening my family now?’

I frowned deeply, wanting so badly to protest against this injustice. We really just had a normal conversation, but no matter what, he wouldn’t believe me. However, if I lost my temper then, Callian would just get angrier and the plan to seduce Callian would fail.  For the sake of building good relations with Callian, I had to put up with it.

“Yeah…Someone once said that if I could hold myself back three times, I would be able to avoid murder,” I murmured and took a deep breath. I was so angry that I felt myself going crazy, but I couldn’t protest. The Crown Prince is the one who holds the most power here.

I lifted my shoulder and held my trembling hands. Sylvester’s gaze burned into my skin, but I ignored it. “I understand.”

“I was wrong,” I looked at Fleur, who was still tearful. “I apologize, Countess—”

“Wait,” Sylvester, who had been silent the whole time, cut me off, “what did my wife do so wrong?”