A Fake Marriage? Sure! …Wait, Is It Actually Fake? Something’s Not Right Here! - Chapter 34

Afterward.

Lidoria stood there feeling terribly uncomfortable.

The location was the audience chamber.

Inside were Their Majesties, the Crown Prince and his wife, and the Third Prince of Lavria Kingdom sitting around a table.

And there—

For some reason, Lidoria was there too.

Not as Crown Princess Sophia’s maid.

Lidoria had been made to stand beside Morris.

The maids and butlers had been dismissed, leaving only two of the king’s attendants and one military officer for each royal; five officers in total.

As for why Lidoria was in such a room—

It was because the Third Prince of Lavria Kingdom, Morris, had forcibly brought her in.

“I was walking through the palace when I found my sweet little cherry,” he said with a smile.

“Um… Shall I go and call Princess Melissa once more?”

In the room where no one moved or made a sound, Lidoria spoke up with determination.

She would escape like a startled hare.

She glanced at Alex standing behind Crown Prince George, and he gave her a firm nod.

“Y-yes, that’s right. Lidoria, could you go to Melissa’s room? Alex, accompany her.”

George turned and gave the order to Alex behind his seat.

Before Alex could even say “Understood,” Lidoria tried to move away from Morris’s side.

But the moment she tried to step away, her right wrist was grabbed, stopping her.

“Nah, it’s fine, Lidoria. You can just wait here.”

It was Morris, grinning as he held her wrist.

“No, I’m afraid I can’t do that. Um… It seems she has kept you waiting for quite some time.”

Lidoria glanced toward Their Majesties’ seats.

The king had a pained look, biting his lower lip, while the queen had her left hand on her forehead, hanging her head.

It had already been about thirty minutes since Lidoria was brought into the audience chamber.

And yet, Princess Melissa had not appeared.

In the first place, the reason Prince Morris had left the room and wandered around the palace was likely because “the princess never came, no matter how long he waited.” At this point, she realized Prince Morris had been kept waiting for nearly an hour.

(Is it any wonder if Prince Morris gets angry?)

Lidoria grew anxious.

Calling her “my sweetheart” and dragging her into the audience chamber was probably part of his revenge. It made sense.

He had come all the way across the sea to a country that had proposed marriage, only to be stood up so spectacularly.

“Come on, sit, sit.”

Morris smiled cheerfully. Lidoria forced a strained smile and shook her head.

“No, um… We cannot keep the prince waiting any longer. I’ll go—”

She tried to say “and get her,” but the second half of her words were drowned out by her own gasp.

Because suddenly, Morris stood up and scooped Lidoria into his arms.

He sat back down in his seat. Lidoria was trapped, leaning against his right arm, perched sideways on his lap. Morris smiled as he watched Lidoria stiffen.

“We can wait like this until she comes.”

“Your Highness.”

Perhaps thinking this had gone too far, the officer behind Morris cleared his throat.

Lidoria, on the verge of tears, silently pleaded with the officer: “Help me.”

The mustached officer responded with his eyes: “Wait a little longer,” and cleared his throat again.

“Your Highness, enough of this jesting.”

“Ah, want some chocolate? It’s delicious.”

But Morris completely ignored him, reaching out with his left hand to pick up a bonbon chocolate from the plate.

“Here, say ‘ah’.”

He brought it to her lips with a smile, but Lidoria desperately shook her head.

This wasn’t caregiving or feeding assistance. True, it might have been a situation Lidoria wished for, but not with Morris, and certainly not in front of so many eyes.

At the very least, she tried to do something about this “sitting on his lap” situation, but he was, after all, a soldier. He held her in just the right position, making it hard for her to move.

As she squirmed and struggled, he teased, “Your movements are so cute, little kitten Mimi.”

She was so embarrassed she wanted to die, when she heard the sound of a sword being loosened in its scabbard nearby, and she froze.

It was Morris’s officer.

He had his hand on his sword, lowering his center of gravity, ready to draw at any moment.

Wondering what he was wary of, she shifted her gaze.

It was Alex.

He had left George’s side without her noticing and had approached close to Lidoria or rather, to Morris.

“Prince Morris, I apologize for the inconvenience, but that girl is my wife. Please cease your jesting and return her to me.”

In his usual flat, stern voice.

It sounded almost like he was reading lines without emotion.

But his eyes held clear anger, and an undeniable intensity.

That was surely why Morris’s officer was on guard.

“Liddy, come here.”

Alex slightly bent his knees and spread his arms.

Without hesitation, Lidoria wrapped her arms around his neck. This time, Morris didn’t seem inclined to interfere.

Lidoria was smoothly lifted into Alex’s arms.

“What a shame.”

Morris shrugged playfully, and his officer scolded, “That’s quite enough.”

“My apologies, Prince Morris. That girl is my maid. She recently married Alex, a knight of the Crown Prince’s guard.”

When Sophia spoke, Morris nodded with a friendly smile.

“So, I’ve heard. I heard it from her. But you see—”

Resting his cheek on his hand, Morris laughed.

“Even when I introduced Lidoria as my sweet little cherry and kept her by my side, he didn’t say a thing.”

He shot a look at Alex with his golden eyes. Instinctively, Lidoria clung to Alex. Alex also tightened his arms around her.

“I thought, maybe he’s not interested in his wife? In that case, maybe I could take her home with me.”

He laughed as if teasing, but the lack of warmth in his eyes was frightening.

“If he had no master, I would have punched him.”

Lidoria was startled again when Alex retorted. After all, the other party was a prince. That was precisely why Lidoria had been enduring it.

“Prince Morris, I’m sorry. He is my subordinate. He may look expressionless, but he is a man of deep affection.”

George hurriedly intervened. Morris laughed as if it were nothing.

“Yes, I know. They call him the ‘Hunting Dog’ of the guard. My, you’ve trained him well.”

His tone seemed to irritate Alex, but when George ordered, “Alex, over here,” Alex carried Lidoria away from the spot.

Alex set Lidoria down near Sophia’s seat, so Lidoria immediately gripped the armrest of Sophia’s chair. Come storm or earthquake, she wasn’t going to leave this spot. As she clung on, Sophia gently covered her hand, and Lidoria nearly burst into tears.

“It’s all right now. Both Alex and I are here.”

From the neighboring seat, Crown Prince George also whispered to her, making more tears well up. Her own husband said nothing, but that was only because he had been glaring at Morris this whole time.

The audience chamber, now filled with even greater tension, was far from the atmosphere of a friendly meeting between two nations about to form an alliance. If anything, the central topic was the “lover.”

“Well, it seems the princess still needs time to prepare. For today, I shall take my leave.”

Declaring this cheerfully, Morris stood up, causing Their Majesties to widen their eyes in shock.

“Please wait a little longer!”

“Someone! Hurry Melissa along!”

The king stood up to stop him, and the queen let out a shriek.

Lidoria hesitated, wondering if she should take on that role herself.

“Princess Melissa is entering!”

A guard announced her arrival.

Everyone let out a collective sigh of relief.

The door opened heavily, and Princess Melissa entered with one guard and her maid.

The room fell silent.

Princess Melissa—

Was so beautiful that even Lidoria, a fellow woman, gasped.

George was quite handsome himself, but Melissa, dressed up and perfectly made up, possessed a flawless feminine beauty.

(With this, Prince Morris will surely be pleased.)

Lidoria felt relieved.

True, she had taken too much time with her makeup, hairstyle, and outfit, but to be able to welcome such a beautiful woman as his wife. He could have no complaints.

Lidoria wasn’t the only one with expectations.

The Crown Prince and his wife, and even the queen, shifted their gaze to gauge Morris’s reaction.

And then—

They stiffened.

Morris remained standing, arms crossed, looking at Melissa sidelong.

As for Melissa—

She acted as if she hadn’t noticed his gaze at all, holding her head high and walking gracefully to the spot next to Morris.

She sat wordlessly in the seat prepared for her beside Morris, as if it were only natural.

Melissa’s guard, sensing the mood, told the maid, “Wait outside the room.” But it was Melissa who stopped the maid as she was about to nod.

“The Crown Princess’s maid is here too, isn’t she? Stay.”

She gave the order with a glance at Lidoria.

For a while, no one said anything.

“Hey, you. Don’t you have anything to say to me?”

Still standing, Morris asked in a friendly tone.

“Would you care to sit down?”

Melissa replied coldly and instructed her maid, “Tea.”

“Melissa!”

The queen called her name sharply, but Melissa showed no sign of caring.

“Your Majesty.”

“What is it, Prince Morris?”

Prince Morris bowed respectfully, then narrowed his eyes and smiled.

“Regarding this marriage proposal—when Your Majesty made the offer to my father, the King of Lavria, it was with the understanding that this would be a union of equals, for the lasting friendship of our two nations.”

“Of course! There is no falsehood in those words!”

“However, you are significantly late. And there is no apology for it. At this rate, it feels as if we are a vassal state being summoned and used at will.”

“Such a thing—!”

“My father desires an equal marriage.”

Prince Morris smiled brightly at the pale-faced king, then shifted his gaze to Melissa.

“You, don’t you have anything to say to me?”

“What am I to say to a man who doesn’t even understand that a woman’s preparations take time?”

Melissa, the queen shrieked again.

But Morris’s laughter drowned it out.

“You don’t like this marriage?”

“After all, it’s not something I wished for.”

Melissa answered flatly, and Morris gave an exaggerated shrug.

Then, he signaled his officer with his eyes.

“Let’s go. I shall report this to my father.”

“Understood.”

Morris began to walk away, but—

The king stood up so forcefully that Morris stopped in his tracks.

Everyone in the room thought the king was going to stop Morris.

That he would prevent him from leaving.

But—

The king went straight to Melissa and suddenly slapped his daughter.

Perhaps due to the force, or because Melissa herself never expected her father to do such a thing.

She made no move to defend herself, and with a loud noise, she fell over along with her chair.

No one in the room could make a sound.

Not even Melissa, who had been slapped.

With her bright red cheek, she looked up at her father, the king, in a daze.

But the king immediately took Melissa’s elbow, pulled her up, and dragged her over to Morris.

“I deeply apologize for this daughter who lacks not only education but even basic manners.”

The king bowed deeply to Morris.

Then he said to Melissa:

“Apologize to Prince Morris for your rudeness, or renounce your royal status and be cast out among the commoners. Choose now.”

Whether Melissa couldn’t grasp the situation or her brain refused to think due to the humiliation.

She remained sitting on the floor, her elbow pulled by the king.

Trembling in small shivers, in a posture like a criminal.

“Melissa!”

Yelled the king loudly, and Melissa pursed her lips but—

“I apologize for my rudeness. Please forgive me.”

She bowed her head to Morris.

“Not at all. I’ve been quite childish myself.”

Morris laughed with an ease that felt out of place.

“Let’s let bygones be bygones. Then, at tonight’s banquet—”

Everyone in the room breathed a sigh of relief that he didn’t say, “Then I shall return to my homeland.”

It seemed he would at least attend tonight’s banquet.

“We look forward to it.”

Sophia stood and bowed.

“Allow me to accompany you to your room.”

When George offered, Morris laughed even more cheerfully.

“Oh? Then I suppose I’ll go with my future brother-in-law.”

Morris and George, along with their respective officers, approached the door of the audience chamber.

The guard opened the door.

Just before leaving, Morris turned around and grinned mischievously.

“Of course, Lidoria and her husband must attend the banquet too. That’s my request.”

With that, Morris left with a light step, and George slumped his shoulders with a sigh before following.

The door closed with a thud.

Immediately—

As if a taut string had snapped, everyone relaxed.

Except for one person.

Only Melissa was weeping bitterly.