A Fake Marriage? Sure! …Wait, Is It Actually Fake? Something’s Not Right Here! - Chapter 15

I steadied my breathing, which was threatening to become ragged.

Alex, who had been pulling me along as he walked, finally stopped and asked suspiciously, “Was I too fast?”

“Yes, well. No, that’s not it… Huh? An engagement with Lord Alex? Huh? Didn’t I have one? An engagement.”

I barely managed to swallow the part about it being fake.

That’s because the audience chamber was already right in front of us.

The guards had noticed Lidoria and Alex and were preparing to announce their arrival. I should avoid careless remarks.

“That’s right. I am engaged to you. But she’s trying to force her way in.”

“No, that’s too forceful.”

“It seems she wants to stay in this country and cling to His Highness the Crown Prince that badly.”

Lidoria was utterly repulsed. She really is a princess. She doesn’t possess normal sensibilities.

“Officially, our engagement was recommended by His Highness the Crown Prince and the Crown Princess. Therefore, Princess Melissa suggested that perhaps they didn’t obtain the consent of the parties involved. So, for your sake, she proposed breaking off the engagement and forming a new one with me instead.”

“Haaah…”

Well, I suppose that would be fine too.

It must have shown on my face. He glared at me sharply.

“Their Majesties have summoned us and wish to hear the circumstances now. I’m begging you, be careful.”

“About what?”

“The matter of continuing the engagement! If I break off the engagement with you, I’ll have to take that deranged woman as my wife!?”

He brought his face close and threatened me in a low voice.

(Well… I suppose that’s what would happen.)

The moment Lidoria broke off the engagement, Princess Melissa would likely step forward.

After all, Alex’s mother, who never approved of the engagement with Lidoria in the first place, would be delighted with a marriage to the Princess, and his father probably wouldn’t care who his son married as long as he did.

I guess the biggest victim here would be Alex.

“Let’s go.”

The guard announced their arrival.

Alex took Lidoria’s hand, not her wrist.

Probably to play the part of affectionate fiancés, but with that grim face, he looked more like “a constable escorting a criminal.”

She thought it might be better if at least she alone smiled, but grinning foolishly next to a stone-faced man would also be strange.

Lidoria entered the audience chamber with nothing but anxiety and shuddered.

Only the royal family was inside.

The King and Queen sat in the luxurious chairs directly ahead.

To their right sat the Crown Prince and his wife.

To their left sat the Princess, waiting for Lidoria and Alex’s entrance.

“Alex Reading and his fiancée, Lady Lidoria Zoe, daughter of the Count. We have come before Your Majesty.”

Alex announced it matter-of-factly and bowed his head.

Still gripping her hand tightly, Lidoria performed a curtsy.

“Let’s dispense with the formal greetings. Alex, go on.”

The first to speak was King Byron.

Alex raised his head promptly, but Lidoria timidly followed suit.

Eyes the same color as His Highness Crown Prince George’s softened gently, and Lidoria felt slightly relieved.

“I want to confirm a few things.”

King Byron spoke to Alex, who was also his nephew, and glanced briefly at the Queen seated beside him.

She nodded slightly without a word.

The lovely and beautiful Queen had faint dark circles under her eyes. Lidoria felt she was exhausted from her daughter’s selfishness.

“Regarding this matter of your engagement, I heard the Crown Prince was involved. Is that true?”

“Yes, that is correct.”

Alex stated firmly to King Byron.

“See! There? Father, it’s just as I said!?”

The one who raised her voice cheerfully was Princess Melissa.

Lidoria gently turned her gaze toward her.

Seeing her up close like this, her appearance closely resembled her brother, the Crown Prince. Since Crown Prince George also took after their mother, the two were so similar they could almost be mistaken for twins.

“Alex. You only accepted because my brother ordered you to, didn’t you? Say it here. That you really hate it.”

Princess Melissa stood up and commanded Alex.

“Alex.”

A click sound made her turn her head.

This time, it was Crown Prince George who stood up.

“It’s true that I may have provided the opportunity. But from my perspective, you didn’t seem to dislike this engagement. What about that?”

“Brother, be quiet! Alex can’t speak his true feelings!?”

As she said this, she bounded over to Their Majesties. Princess Melissa wrapped her arms around King Byron’s neck and clung to him.

“Right? It’s fine, Father. Alex is a marquis’s son, and his status is perfectly suitable for me to marry into! The cousin thing is a bit iffy, but well, it’s not against the law, is it?”

Princess Melissa spoke as if begging for a present.

“Melissa. Sit down.”

The Queen admonished her in a weak voice. Melissa puffed out her cheeks with a poo and plopped down (suton) onto King Byron’s lap.

Lidoria was amazed at how childlike she was.

“It’s true the opportunity arose from His Highness the Crown Prince’s suggestion. However, I knew of her before that. She was a maid to Her Highness the Crown Princess.”

Alex spoke. His voice was flat but carried well. Not only Their Majesties but also the Crown Prince and his wife looked at him.

“Even among the Crown Prince’s Royal Guard, she was the subject of rumors.”

Lidoria thought it was probably about “that strangely strong maid.”

“And when I first saw her in the palace corridor, I thought… how, um… beautiful she was.”

He was probably referring to the joint lock.

But King Byron also said “Ho!” with apparent pleasure, and the Crown Prince and his wife exchanged glances and smiled in relief.

“Therefore, when His Highness the Crown Prince suggested we consider an engagement, I was inwardly pleased.”

Suggested we enter a fake engagement, she thought.

Unaware of that truth, the royals whispered among themselves, “How wonderful,” “That is joyous.”

(He’s good at talking…)

Only Lidoria was astonished by Alex.

She thought this man was taciturn, but she was wrong. When necessary, he could spout lies fluently.

“Now, Melissa. Do you understand?”

King Byron set his daughter down from his lap and spoke to her kindly.

“It’s true the two met due to the Crown Prince’s proposal, but Alex holds no ill will toward Lady Lidoria. Correct?”

“But I want Alex!”

Princess Melissa shrieked.

“I won’t go marry some foreign prince across the sea! I won’t leave my brother’s side! That’s why I’m marrying Alex!”

She was completely incoherent now.

Lidoria thought.

I don’t want to get involved with this princess.

If it comes to it, I’ll cut Alex loose. That’s the best course.

(That’s right. Even if the engagement is broken off here, it’s no loss for me.)

It was a revelation.

Yes.

Lidoria had been engaged to Alex. They had been in love.

But someone interfered, and with tears, Lidoria stepped aside.

(I will be pitied, perhaps, but not blamed. More importantly, I won’t be ‘a young lady who was never engaged’ anymore!)

Then it shouldn’t hinder my brother’s marriage prospects either.

That calculation of Lidoria’s…

Had already been detected by Alex.

Feeling a sharp gaze, she reflexively braced herself and saw Alex looking at her with eyes full of curses.

“Alex.”

King Byron called his nephew’s name in a resigned tone.

“Melissa is saying this… If you have even the slightest intention of humoring her wishes…”

“Your Majesty! Did you not hear Alex’s words earlier!?”

The Crown Prince became agitated. His words overlapped with the heavy sighs of King Byron and the Queen.

“Moreover, it’s disrespectful to Lady Lidoria!”

At Crown Prince George’s words, the royal family’s gazes simultaneously converged on her.

“No. Um… that is, I…”

I don’t mind if it’s broken off.

She almost blurted it out, but Alex cut in, raising his voice with “Your Majesty!”

“If His Highness the Crown Prince took a liking to a subordinate’s wife and commanded, ‘I fancy her, bring her to me,’ and then took her for himself, what would you do?”

“Such a thing–!”

As King Byron raised his voice, Alex shook his head firmly to stop him.

“No. The admirable Crown Prince would never commit such folly. But Your Majesty. With all due respect, what you are attempting to do to me now is precisely the same thing, is it not?”

King Byron gasped, guh.

“To forcibly take a subordinate’s spouse, I cannot believe that is the action of a wise ruler.”

“That’s… that is true. I was mistaken.”

Byron groaned. “Father!” Melissa screamed, but Byron waved his hand to dismiss it.

“You have spoken well, Alex. Continue to serve the Crown Prince faithfully.”

“Father!”

“You may both leave.”

Ordered, Alex and Lidoria seized the opportunity and bowed quickly.

They were about to exit when Melissa came running over, startling them.

“You’re so rude! Give Alex to me!”

Don! She shoved her.

She managed to avoid falling, but couldn’t stop staggering. Alex supported her, helping her escape harm.

“Stop it, Melissa!”

“That’s enough!”

The Crown Prince and Queen reprimanded her simultaneously, and Byron, hanging his head, commanded again.

“Leave the chamber immediately, both of you.”

Shielded by Alex, Lidoria finally exited the audience chamber.

Listening to the door close behind her, Lidoria thought.

This engagement was a mistake.