Chapter 74: Chapter 73

As Aris grasped her situation and closed her mouth, the Crown Prince nodded his head with a satisfied smile.

“If you understand, please do well in front of the ladies in a little while.”

“What should I do?”

“Do what I do.”

“…… Yes.”

The Crown Prince tried to say more, but the wheels of the carriage stopped. As the Crown Prince, as is customary, prepared to disembark first, he spoke to Aris.

“Do not refuse to escort. If you’re going to do it, do it right. If you don’t like it, think of your secrets that will be exposed to the world.”

“…….”

Aris hated the Crown Prince before, but now he just got worse. She even had the thought that if she ever got married to the Crown Prince, she should ask her older brother to prepare poison. She doesn’t want to be dragged away for treason, but she’s not confident she could hold on until she’s dead.

Even with the thoughts like this, Aris was forced to get out of the carriage while the Crown Prince held her hand. Like that, she gets his escort and enters the rose garden where the Empress is holding the tea party. The Crown Prince told her to do well in front of the ladies who attended the tea party, so she thought she could just pretend to be friendly with him. It was disgusting, but she couldn’t help it.

When the servant waiting outside announced that the Crown Prince had arrived, it was greeted with joy by the Empress. Aris forced a smile, and went with him before her ladies and greeted the Empress.

“I didn’t know the Crown Prince would come with Lady Verdick.”

“We came together because the relationship between the Verdick family and the imperial family is not shallow.”

“Hoo…… Yes, it is.”

Even if there was a relationship, the only relationship was between the Emperor, who was pushed by the nobility, and Verdick, who had the strongest financial and power among the nobles, as the subordinate relationship. Therefore, it was a story that all nobles knew that the Emperor, who had weak imperial power, had been given the position of Crown Princess before, but that it did not happen. However, now that Lady Verdick is escorted by the Crown Prince and attends the Empress’s tea party…… ?

The ladies’ heads turned quickly. Although his marriage to Lady Verdick failed, that did not mean that Aris was engaged to another noble Lord or had a man with whom she was dating. Even so, if any Lords tried to get close, they would be blocked by Duke Verdick. But then, if Lady Verdick is escorted by the Crown Prince, does that signal a possibility that the marriage between Verdick and the imperial family will take place?

Now that there is the Crown Princess, the Duke was aiming for the Queen’s position…… ? Perhaps, if it was ‘Duke Verdick,’ he could do all sorts of maneuvering to raise his sister as the Empress.

“Welcome, Lady Verdick. I hope to see you more often in the future.”

“…… Thank you for the hospitality, Your Majesty.”

Having achieved his desired purpose, the Crown Prince dragged Aris back to his side. It would be better to get out of here anyway, as rumors will be plentiful.

“I will now…….”

“Aris.”

“Brother? How did Brother get here…….”

But unexpectedly, Evanstein Verdick came. A look of embarrassment was evident on the Crown Prince’s face as he saw Evan’s unexpected appearance.

Evanstein’s gaze, who was looking at Aris, turned to the Crown Prince’s arm, because he was touching Aris. His cold gaze almost pushed the Crown Prince away from Aris’ hand, but the Crown Prince still endured it because he was the Crown Prince, and this place was the imperial castle, and his mother, the Empress, was in front of him.

“I heard you came.”

“…… I came here to greet the Empress and the Crown Prince.”

“Have you finished your greetings?”

“Yes.”

“Then let’s go, I’ve just finished work.”

As Evan reached out his hand towards Aris, the Crown Prince took hold of Aris’ hand, which was resting on his arm. It was an unspoken pressure not to go to Evan. At that touch, Aris glanced at the Crown Prince, and she inhaled and exhaled her breath once, then said.

“I’ll go talk to the Crown Prince for a while.”

Evan’s expression hardened at Aris’s refusal. Behind them, the ladies watched the scene with interest, but it was none of Evan’s business.

“Crown Prince. The Imperial Knights Commander was looking for you, are you alright?”

“The Imperial Knights Commander?”

“Yes, he said he had something to ask about escort.”

“I can’t leave the Lady behind.”

“I will take good care of my sister, so Your Highness can go to your business.”

“…… yes.”

The Imperial Knights Commander was Leonhard Verdick. To have something to ask about the escort, when it was clear that Leonhard Verdick would be the one most likely to take the Crown Prince’s life. So, if he was going to meet Leonhard, he would have to have soldiers accompanying him.

In fact, even now, his gut feeling that Duke Verdick was handing him over to Commander Verdick was very strong. The only reason Leonhard Verdick would want to talk about escort was probably nothing other than ‘Even if there is an escort, I will still kill you.’ But since it was nothing strange for the ladies and the Empress to hear, and he could not ignore Duke Verdick, he was forced to go.

“Then, please take good care of Lady Verdick.”

“…….”

Evan held out his hand to Aris without a word. Aris stood by his side, holding Evan’s outstretched hand, showing that the Crown Prince had failed. Evan was finally able to suppress his intention to kill the Crown Prince. He couldn’t understand what he was asking Aris to do.