Chapter 108: A Battle of Sincerity
“Thank you, Lady Fiona,” Livya said, looking at me. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“Yes?”
“Thanks to you, I was able to turn down the proposal.”
“It was also because Lady Livya handled the situation very well.”
The crown prince was sentenced to probation due to his involvement in the illegal gambling den, making it likely that he would be absent from the entire social season. Livya felt immense relief because she could finally reject the imperial marriage proposal without any major issues. Neither the emperor nor the empress could challenge the Duke of Priscilla due to their son’s disgrace.
Moreover, the social circles had turned sympathetic toward Livya, as the marriage contract with the imperial family, which had been in limbo, was now broken because of the scandal. Livya seemed to relish the atmosphere quite a bit. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“For the time being, let’s play the role of a pitiful young girl.”
I laughed briefly; Livya was truly remarkable.
As we chatted for a while, Livya suddenly looked off to one side.
“What’s wrong?”
“I think His Highness’s popularity has grown even more since that incident.”
I turned my attention to him. Sigren was surrounded by noble girls of his age.
“Aren’t you dating him? Are you okay with this?”
“I think so? I’m not sure…” I shrugged.
Livya blinked in surprise. “That’s unexpected. If my lover were in a situation like that, I would have arrested him right away.”
I smiled. “Same here.”
“Isn’t there a contradiction in your words? Are you two dating for political reasons?”
Ah, she meant whether I was dating Sigren because of Heilon’s support for him. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“Oh please, the duke has never forced me into anything like that.”
Livya looked confused. I chuckled a little; seeing her reminded me of my conversations with Sigren.
“Sigren is special to me,” I said to end her confusion.
It was definitely true that we became lovers. But in all honesty, I didn’t really think too much about whether he was serious or not. Because, even a sincere love at the moment may change over time, like with most lovers. To his confession, I answered with some lies because of my selfishness. So I could give this much room for that possibility.
“Does that mean you like him that much?”
“You could say that.”
Well, I do have a degree of possessiveness in a romantic relationship. However, I knew how to distinguish between what I should be greedy about and what I shouldn’t. Sigren still fell into the latter category.
Livya still wore a confused expression. The confident social queen seemed unable to grasp my personality. I smiled briefly and changed the subject. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“His Highness is coming.”
In fact, Sigren annoyed the noble ladies who were clinging to him by approaching me this way. God, he should be kinder.
“Your Highness, you should be nice to the young ladies,” I thought as he stopped in front of me.
“….”
Sigren’s expression was one of disbelief. He must have wanted to say something but held back because of Livya. I grinned.
“High society is small, and you never know how relationships will be intertwined.”
“I guess I’ll have to consider whether Lady Fiona trusts me or just doesn’t care about me.”
“…?”
Those were difficult words to decipher. But Livya seemed to understand immediately and burst into laughter as she turned to look at Sigren. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“I, I apologize… Your Highness.”
Sigren looked at Livya with a glance that seemed to say, ‘As expected, isn’t she a strange one, too?’
This guy had better stop treating Livya like she was odd!
“Well, that’s good. Also, congratulations on your breakup, Lady Priscilla.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.” Livya regained her composure, grateful for the kind words regarding the crown prince’s failed proposal.
Sigren grabbed my arm. “And I will take Lady Priscilla’s friend as a gesture of goodwill for any disrespect I may have shown.”
This time, Livya smiled. “Thank you for your generosity, Your Highness.”
Why were they surprisingly good at conversing with each other? I glanced at the two of them for a moment before reluctantly following Sigren, who was urging me on under the guise of escorting me. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
***
Sigren and I went to a place where there were no people. I was relieved that it wasn’t a terrace, a location where incidents always seemed to happen.
“What’s the matter?”
“….”
Sigren wore a look reminiscent of a “young man mistreated by his playgirl lover” after hearing my question. Uh, this was embarrassing. He had been surrounded by beautiful girls until now; why was I getting that look?
“Sigren, is there anything you want to say?”
“No, it’s nothing.”
I held his wrist and shook it. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
“What’s going on?”
Sigren intertwined our fingers and held still.
Ah, why can’t I?
“Never mind. I could probably guess just by thinking about it.”
Sigren gently wiped his face.
“Fiona, have you heard anything from Abel?”
I tidied up his messy hair. “Yeah, I thought he’d be here soon, but it’s taking longer than I expected.”
“I wish he would come sooner.”
My eyes twinkled. “Wow… do you miss your teacher?”
I couldn’t believe he would say something so cute!
Sigren frowned. “It can’t be. I strongly believe you need Abel around so that no weirdos come near you. There are a lot of people trying to get close to you just because they think you’re alone.” Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
Well, that was true. There was a noticeable difference in how people approached me with and without Abel. It seemed they thought a noble lady without a proper protector was easy prey. Perhaps it would have been even more so if Sigren weren’t my partner.
Thank goodness I dealt with the crown prince as soon as I could. He had been the biggest problem since Abel left the Capital. If I hadn’t taken action, my future in the Capital would have been filled with headaches. Additionally, the fallout from that scandal was that the empress had stopped appearing in high society. She seemed ashamed. Thanks to this, Livya, who was implicitly the second woman in high society, had become the undisputed queen of this social season. Read the translation only on itsladygrey.com.
Of course, because of that, I felt more comfortable next to Livya.
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