A Fake Marriage? Sure! …Wait, Is It Actually Fake? Something’s Not Right Here! - Chapter 18

“You can’t just arbitrarily break off the engagement, Mother!”

Alex shouted, his shoulders heaving as he gasped for breath.

It must have been for the official tournament.

He was wearing black military attire embroidered with a winged lion, along with matching leather armor, and had a sword firmly strapped at his waist.

“What are you saying now? This engagement was forced upon you by the Crown Prince and his wife, wasn’t it? I thought you might find it hard to refuse, so I, your mother—”

“I was the one who proposed the engagement with Lady Lidoria of my own will! I am serious!!!!!!”

Lidoria thought, “You liar, you jerk,” but Alex was desperate.

After all, if he married Princess Melissa, he’d be in for a disastrous life. A fake engagement with Lidoria was nothing compared to that.

“I want to be engaged to her! And I made that perfectly clear before His Majesty the other day!”

“You’ve been deceived!”

The Marchioness shrieked.

“That little girl must have put some evil curse on you! Come to your senses!”

“You’re the one who needs to come to her senses!”

“Why are you so fixated on a girl like this? She is not worthy of the Marquis household!”

“And why do you get to say that!”

Alex shot a piercing glare at his own mother.

“My father is of royal blood. I, who carry his blood, am too. What about you? You’re nothing but Father’s spouse. Aren’t you just the daughter of some lowly noble?”

Alex said coldly.

“You married into the Marquis household and now you think you’re a marchioness? What a joke.”

A flush instantly spread across the Marchioness’s cheeks.

Even Lidoria thought he had gone too far. She was about to say something when—

“Now, now, that’s enough. Both of you, this quarrel hardly seems fitting for the Marquis household, does it?”

The one who intervened was that plump woman.

“Ah…”

Alex came back to himself. He seemed to finally realize he was the center of curious stares.

“Ah, you are…”

Moreover, he seemed to have recognized the plump woman’s identity. He was flustered.

But the Marchioness, still enraged, spoke up.

“Just who are you?! Don’t interfere in our family’s affairs! The Reading Marquis household is connected to the royal family! My husband is the King’s brother!”

“Mother!”

As Alex tried to stop her, the plump woman chuckled, “Oh my.”

“If you’re going to speak of your husband, shall I speak of mine? It seems you are unaware.”

“My deepest apologies!”

Alex dropped to one knee and bowed his head. “Oh, there’s no need,” the plump woman laughed.

“My husband was the late King, you see. It’s been quite some time since the current King ascended the throne. I wonder if everyone has forgotten about the late King.”

The plump woman tilted her head slightly toward her lady-in-waiting.

“That cannot be the case. In fact, an invitation was personally delivered from His Majesty the current King to Her Majesty Michelle.”

The lady-in-waiting stated calmly.

A few seconds later.

Everyone around them simultaneously dropped to their knees in reverence.

They had finally realized that this plump woman was Michelle, the former Queen Consort and widow of the late King.

“Oh my.”

The plump woman, Michelle, smiled gently.

“You see, I retired from society as soon as the late King passed away. So, really now? I’m not in a position to have everyone bowing to me, am I?”

“Is that so? I believed you were the one who devoted yourself during the late King’s most difficult times.”

At the lady-in-waiting’s quiet words, the atmosphere grew even colder.

The father of the current King. The late King Elric.

His official Queen Consort passed away in her fifties.

After that, Elric remained unmarried.

However, it was said that there was a lady named Michelle who supported him in his final years, and in recognition of her service, she was granted the title of former Queen Consort, though she rarely appeared in society, so few knew her.

Neither Lidoria nor Finley recognized her.

Let alone the Marchioness, who had turned pale.

“Free love… It’s a wonderful thing, isn’t it?”

Michelle said, almost singing.

Of course, she would say that. The late King and this consort had clearly come together through free love.

“The other day, His Majesty the current King summoned me and inquired about me and Lady Lidoria,”

Alex said, still on one knee.

“I… well, I took a liking to Lady Lidoria before the Crown Prince and his wife even proposed this engagement… So, I saw it as a good opportunity and proposed to Lady Lidoria. She accepted, and that’s how we arrived at the present. And then—”

As if steeling himself, Alex lifted his face.

Seeing his expression, Lidoria cursed inwardly, “What an actor!”

From every angle, he looked like nothing but a tragic knight about to be torn from his beloved.

In fact, some of the onlookers were covering their mouths, and a few were even tearing up, murmuring, “How pitiful.”

“If you insist on pushing the matter with Princess Melissa, it would be the same folly as seizing the wife of a subject. I said that the royal family I respect would never commit such an act.”

Lidoria felt an urge to punch Alex, with his utterly serious face.

“You just don’t want to marry that insane princess, do you?” she thought.

“And what did the King say?”

Michelle asked gently.

“He said, ‘Alex is right. We shall not commit such a foolish act,’ and he apologized to me. And yet…”

“I knew nothing of such a discussion! Princess Melissa visited our residence recently and expressed her desire to be engaged to you!”

The Reading Marchioness shrieked again.

“By all reasoning, you should accept the match with Princess Melissa! How could you…! Why would you marry into a household where the Count title is held by a teenage child, with no proper guardian?!”

“Oh? But you’re a lady-in-waiting to the Crown Princess, aren’t you?”

Michelle asked Lidoria curiously. Lidoria nodded her head vigorously.

“Yes. I have served as a lady-in-waiting since the day the Crown Princess married into the family.”

“And your younger brother is a knight in the Unicorn Knight Order, isn’t he? Then her background is quite sound, I’d say.”

Michelle said to her own lady-in-waiting, who nodded and replied, “I believe so.”

“In that case, Lady Lidoria, shall I take on the role of your guardian? Then perhaps the Reading Marchioness would feel more at ease?”

Lidoria wasn’t the only one stunned by the sudden offer. Finley was also dumbfounded, but—

“Eh? For real? Is it okay, really?!”

He pressed in excitedly, so Lidoria scolded him, “Hey!”

“Watch your language!”

“Oh, it’s quite alright. That’s just how young people are.”

Michelle smiled mischievously, then swiftly turned her gaze toward the Reading Marchioness.

“Your concern, Marchioness, is that these two are still young and lack a guardian, correct?”

Pressed for an answer, the Marchioness fell silent.

She couldn’t very well say in public, “I was aiming for a brilliant marriage for my third son.”

“I’m on my way to see the Crown Princess now. I’ll inform her then that I will be Lady Lidoria’s guardian. Will that suffice?”

The Reading Marchioness glared in silence for a while, but then a round of applause erupted from the surrounding onlookers.

“A splendid decision, Former Queen Consort!”

“Congratulations, Lord Alex and Lady Lidoria!”

As cheers of blessing filled the air, the Reading Marchioness turned sharply on her heel and strode away briskly.