Chapter 62
She took a deep breath. As she raised her head slightly and looked around, there were people who looked at her with curious eyes, but no one smirked or looked down on her.
Has she proven herself as the duchess?
Reassured, she and Noah walked into the middle of the banquet hall and the nobles around them came and talked to them.
Having saved the country, she listened to men who spoke in awe of her husband and Adele was praised by the girls for her lovely dress. At that time, the servant standing on top of the stairs in the middle of the banquet hall spoke loudly.
“Welcoming His Majesty the Emperor, and Her Royal Highness the Princess!”
All the nobles watched the emperor slowly descending the stairs while holding the princess’s hand. The young ladies who stood near Adele blushed profusely.
“Ai! Isn’t the absence of an emperor’s companion a blessing for all the ladies?”
“Right! Right! The day the emperor marries is the day when all the young ladies in the empire would weep in despair.”
Hearing the people’s chatter, the emperor whispered to the princess. Hearing his words, she bit her lip and glared at Adele. Soon, she approached with angry steps.
“Lady Maktus.”
“Princess.” Adele replied perfunctorily as well. She was originally supposed to be polite to the royal family by saying things like, ‘How have you been?’ but she didn’t. She looked at the princess coldly as opposed to her usual gentle and amiable countenance.
The princess held her fan and stood impatiently, “I heard that the duchess has been sick?”
Adele watched in disapproval. The princess came to her and acted like nothing happened, it was ridiculous.
A ripple broke out in her heart that was, for the longest time, calm like the placid surface of a lake. It was obviously disturbed by a stone thrown by the princess.
“I was feeling unwell, I shouldn’t have attended that time.”
“No, milady, it was my inadequacy that led to your illness. I should have paid more attention to you.”
The princess unfolded her fan and covered her mouth. Others couldn’t see it, but the corners of her lips were raised smugly.
Adele bit the inside of her lips. This princess feigned ignorance and acted like a kind person who cared about minor details. It was obviously her fault that Adele became sick.
How pretentious.
Actually, most nobles were, if not all.
“Hm.” Noah was listening at the side and narrowed his brows as he eyed the princess, but she avoided his gaze. No matter how enraged he was, he could not openly question the princess in this place because it involved stepping on the face and prestige of the royal family.
As he was about to say something, Adele let go of his hand.
Recognizing the signal from his wife, Noah sighed and walked to his academy classmates on the left side of the hall. Though it was unknown whether he would start a conversation with them, or simply stand there like a wooden post.
The princess saw him leaving and raised her head slightly to sneak a peek at him.
“Still, I have no regrets. It was a new experience, the first time I had a tea party where I can have an honest conversation with all the ladies in the Empire.”
Adele only lifted the corners of her mouth, the princess wasn’t the only one who knows how to feign ignorance.
“But someone was actually so conceited.” Adele stared pointedly at her, “Pretending to be sincere, then hurting others behind their back? Tell me, isn’t she detestable?”
The princess’s face stiffened.
This was Adele’s way of showing that she knew everything about the princess’s noxious intentions.
A few distance away, the emperor was talking with his ministers. He turned around and looked at his sister. His eyes were filled with a well-concealed anger. Leaning against the wall, half-listening to the words of his comrades, Noah’s eyes were also focused on this pair of princess and duchess.
The princess, who had lost to Adele with words, became furious as her hands shook. She tried to clear her throat and then opened her mouth.
“I’m… sorry, milady.” She begrudgingly uttered. All the nobles in the hall looked at the princess with a light glance.
Adele widened her eyes, astounded. The princess acted like she didn’t know anything the whole while, so it was surprising she would apologize at this time
“It was my fault.”
However, it wasn’t a sincere apology. She didn’t say what she did wrong. If she apologized just like this, people wouldn’t know what she did wrong. They would just assume that she was a reasonable and good princess who knows how to apologize for her misdeeds.
As the princess had intended, in other people’s eyes, she has become an honest person and Adele was the one who had become a sensitive and irrational person who nitpicks on trivial things.
The other nobles looked at her in amazement, thinking not everyone had the courage to apologize especially with her status as royalty.
“Princess.”
“Yes, Lady Maktus?”
Adele, who was about to speak, paused for a moment. The princess’s eyes were of the same color as the emperor, but these emerald-colored ones in front of her contained intense jealousy which made Adele’s breath stop.
Why was the princess doing this?
Actually, she had already noticed it, and at that time, she had already understood. But at this moment, her gaze feels so malicious it felt suffocating.
Adele let out a deep sigh and her eyes held a pitying gaze towards the princess. “You are a dignified and beautiful person, surely you will meet a good partner in future?” She paused, then uttered ‘kindly’. “As long as you stop pining for someone that isn’t yours.”
At that moment, the mouths of everyone who were discreetly eavesdropping on their conversation parted in disbelief.
With her eyes almost bulging in fury, the princess clenched her fists and trembled.
What a good move, Lady Maktus! She brushed it off and smiled stiffly.