Chapter 43

Three Days at the Imperial Palace (3)

After planting a sticky kiss on a moaning, begging Rosetta, Michael begs her to let him do it one more time.

Melting into his seductive smile and the sweet humming of his arousal, she blinked and allowed him to give her the pleasure that would make her lose her mind.

“Ah, ahhh……. Ahhhh…….”

Finally, Rosetta stretched out in pleasure, and Michael was satisfied. He placed her back on the piano stool and carefully withdrew his penis.

‘Aah……. I don’t know.’

The floor was covered in obscene stains from the many times they had moved around the music room to make love. If the imperial maids or maidservants saw this, they would be disgusted…. Just the thought of it made her cringe.

“Sweet Rosetta. Let’s go back to the bedroom and do it again. We can do more positions there than we can here.”

At Michael’s whisper, Rosetta looked up at him, stunned. But Michael’s mind was clear.

At first glance,

The searing look in his eyes made Rosetta’s lips curl in disbelief.

‘Why do I feel good even when he kisses me?!’

While she was still reeling from the melting kiss, Michael walked out of the music room with her in his arms and made a beeline for the bedroom, where he took over again, and she didn’t say a word of protest.

It was a night of ecstasy for Michael and Rosetta.

⁂

Raúl Carulias thought his daughter had gone mad. When the lights came on and he turned his head to the screams and cries of the people, Isabelle was covered in blood.

‘How could she have done this?!’

It didn’t occur to him that Isabelle could have been framed. This was his child who had done a cruel deed using the hands of another. There was also the recent curse…. The curse had revealed her hidden nature to the world.

For it was Isabelle’s desire to destroy Rosetta Whirsen.

So Duke Carulias did not approach her, but took a couple of steps back.

Lady Whirsen was now the Duchess of Arden. She was no longer a mere lady of a Count, but a member of the royal family. A relative with imperial connections!

This was not something she could get away with. It was nothing compared to hurting Iris Leon.

‘I must leave the palace first!’

Duke Carulias turned on his heels.

Isabelle was no longer on his mind. She was a curse, a ransomed daughter. He would not hesitate to kill a high-ranking priest to conceal the fact from the public, but he does not expect to be able to hide it completely.

There was no way to stop the mouth of the man who had cursed her.

Despite Isabelle’s many attempts to convince him to keep quiet, Duke Carulias refused to listen. Isabelle’s desperation forced him to plead her case.

The Duke managed to escape the ballroom before the soldiers caught up with him, but he was caught before he could call for a carriage.

A member of his family had committed a crime, and Duke Carulias could not escape the punishment.

The knights who dared to capture the Duke of Carulias dragged him to the main palace without explanation.

In a room in the main palace, the Duke of Carulias was forced to wait on his knees. This humiliating situation only increased his anger toward Isabelle.

‘To be humiliated like this for a mere wench!’

He glared at the knights on his left and right and gritted his teeth. They grabbed him by the shoulders and held him down, preventing him from getting up.

It must be the Emperor who did this to him.

Tonight’s ball was given by the Emperor himself…. His anger was palpable. Isabelle would not survive.

It was painful to kneel on the cold marble floor, but the Emperor was nowhere to be seen. The Duke had been waiting for about three hours when the Emperor appeared.

He looked at the Duke. His eyes dilated, and a chill ran down his spine.

“…You’ve been waiting a long time, Duke Carulias.”

Even though he was merely called by his first name, it sounded mocking, and the knights’ grip on him dropped. Duke Carulias felt his head drop of its own accord, and he slammed it into the floor.

“Your Majesty, you don’t know what you’re doing!”

His first words were to disasociate himself from his daughter’s crimes. Alexis stared at Duke Carulias, not even bothering to hide his disbelief.

“Do you mean to tell me that you’re unaware of your daughter’s immorality? Or that you’ve been hiding her madness all this time?”

So he knows about the curse, Duke Carulias thought to himself. Isabelle, in her blood-stained dress, looked around in panic.

She was frozen in place, stunned by the scene of the murder, but the testimony of the other young ladies around her changed the situation. The Duke of Carulias believed that his clever daughter had thrown the knife just before the lights were turned on, and then pretended not to.

“What do you mean, madness? I don’t know….”

Duke Carulias stammered, glancing over at the Emperor, who, just a few days ago, had been so bold as to voice his opinion in front of him, and now he had to show such cowardice…. Rage surged through him.

But he couldn’t.

The Emperor would take this opportunity to rid himself of the troublesome Duke of Carulias.

“Doesn’t the Duke know of the princess’ madness and her hatred of Lady Arden, and yet you allowed her to attend the ball?”

“How could I harbor such a mind? I, the Duke of Carulias, have never for a day forgotten his loyalty to the imperial family.”

“Then the House of Carulias deserves any punishment I hand down, don’t you think?”

Alexis’ mocking tone made it difficult for the Duke to say yes. Duke Carulias kept his head down and rolled his eyes. He had to get out of this so

somehow, so he could plan for the future.

“I’m sure Isabelle has realized her sin by now…. She will sweetly accept any punishment Your Majesty decides to hand down.”

The Duke’s response, which was to name only Isabelle, not him and his family, was predictable. Alexis, who had already heard reports of Isabelle’s rampage in prison, looked at the Duke with cold eyes.

He wondered if she was the same person who had framed Lady Whirsen before she was married. The change was baffling to Alexis, who was used to seeing Princess Carulias at balls and banquets.

‘Of course. That’s probably why she did something like that.’

Alexis would have preferred to charge both Isabelle and the Carulias family and deal with them both, but Annette and Michael insisted that Rosetta’s innocence be the first priority.

Who could care less about her innocence, but with her life as a duchess at stake, it was hard to be completely oblivious.

He also feared retribution from Anette or Michael.

“Then prove it.”

“What do you mean, prove it?”

As the Duke opened his mouth cautiously, Alexis replied with a relaxed face.

“I mean to show me that your daughter is doing penance.”

⁂

Logan was puzzled when he received Iris’s message that she would be spending the night at the palace. While she’s away, he hears a loud commotion and wonders if Iris is involved.

But the victim was Rosetta, not Iris, and she was seriously injured and under Iris’ care.

Given her status as a saint, it would have been difficult for her to refuse to provide royal treatment to her tormentor. Logan clicked his tongue at the irony.

Naturally, the ball was a disaster. On the way out of the ballroom, the nobles were all talking about it.

All of the young ladies and young men who were close to the scene of the incident remained in the palace as witnesses. After giving their brief statements, all but a few were allowed to return home.

“…Whew, no. Is it true that the Duchess of Arden was attacked?”

Patrick asked Logan, who had shown up late and had apparently received the same visit from an imperial servant as Logan had.

It would have been bad enough if they’d gone their separate ways without seeing Iris, but they’d arrived in the same carriage, so they’d be forced to leave in the same one.

Separate carriages would have meant that one person would have had Iris all to themselves, so they did. It was a mutually agreed upon arrangement, but at times like this, it felt like a waste of time.

“I know. I heard the perpetrator did a pretty brutal thing.”

Being hit in the face was enough to terrify even a trained soldier. The wound would hurt, but the trauma would be even worse.

“I’m glad Iris is okay.”

From what he heard, the Emperor had taken Iris aside to warn her about the rumors circulating between her and Michael. He doesn’t know if it’s true or not, as Iris hasn’t told him anything, but it’s a good thing for her, as she’s weak and shouldn’t see that horrible scene.

“But the Duchess of Arden…. What an unbelievable thing.”

As the nobles bustled about, calling their servants to their carriages, there was no sign of Count Whirsen’s men. Perhaps he was at the wounded Rosetta’s side.

“Prince Michael…. The Duke of Arden’s popularity did not come overnight, and there have always been attacks on the nobles he has taken an interest in. Such is the case with Lady Leon….”

“So you’re saying that now the Duchess of Arden will be harassed?”

“Not likely. His Royal Highness Leon is a lady of a baron, but the Duchess of Arden is a Duchess, and harassment like that is difficult.”

A situation like today’s was unexpected.

The nobles were chattering about the incident. Most were surprised, but some were excited.

They were appalled that ‘the’ Princess of Carulias had injured the Duchess of Arden. Patrick looked at Logan in surprise as a passing nobleman whispered that he hadn’t expected the Princess of Carulias to do that.