#52

She greeted awkwardly and sat down in the midst of inconvenient moment.

“….”

“….”

Time passed by and neither of them said anything so far. She, who was of higher status than me didn’t speak, so I had no choice but to remain silent to be polite. After a while, my patience began to wear thin. I heard the soft voice of the princess. 

“I saw your works. You’re the only female reporter in the Morris Empire, aren’t you?”

“…I’m hiring a new female employee around this time. I’m going to teach her to be a reporter. So I will not be the only female reporter in here. Oh, I’m not pointing out and try to make you misunderstood, Your Majesty. I’m just informing you.”

I regretted belatedly and bit my lower lip slightly. I should have talked within the insufficient time and not just picking interview questions.

The woman was listening to me quietly before she spoke up.

“……Can you do me a favor?”

‘What? What did she just say to me?’

When I thought properly about what I just heard, the princess spoke again.

“I asked if you could do me a favor.”

“What… can I do for you?”

I wasn’t a noble. I was just a reporter who writes trashy articles, and wasn’t rich enough to support the princess as the next heir to the throne. Someone from the imperial family asking me for a favor? My eyes opened wide in surprise.

“As you might have guessed, there is no one who know the real side of me in the imperial palace. I mean, there are only a very few people who I can trust. That’s why I asked for your help when we first met. Please run a secret investigation on my fiance.”

“What if…”

“Not the scandal regarding him, but you have to gather enough evidence so I don’t really any choice but to break the engagement with him. Bring it to me. It seems like you’re the only person in the Morris Empire who uses a camera, which could change public opinion easily.”

Princess Violet told me this and clenched her fist. No matter how hard she clenched it, the color on her finger disappeared little by little. She may spoke with feigned calmness on the outside, but she seemed extremely nervous on the inside.

“Yes, I’d be happy to help.”

“Really…Really?”

I held Princess Violet’s hand tightly to reassure her. How dare I touch the imperial family’s body? It was an act punishable by law. However, the warmth that we felt when we held hands made us instinctively realize that we could trust each other. As fellow human being, I felt sorry for her having to marry such a trashy dude.

“Even if I have to risk my life, I will break your engagement with George Abe. Don’t worry. If you don’t, I’ll falsify evidence to allow you to part with that man.”

“You’re going to manipulate it?”

I winked playfully at the confused imperial princess.

“That’s what it means. My nickname is Giregi.”

“What is Giregi?”

“That nickname is a combination of journalist and trash.”

Hearing my words, the princess smiled slightly and nodded. Now, she didn’t mind the false evidence. The engagement with George Abe who was notorious for messing around with all women in the empire. Even a 3-year-old child could foresee that if the marriage went ahead, it wouldn’t sail smoothly.

‘Come to think of it, didn’t Gloria once reveal George Abe’s infidelity?’

I recalled that she was somehow swept away by the case with the Crown Prince who hid his identity. Don’t tell me this world will be ruined if I interfere in the lives of characters other than Gloria?

In fact, nothing happened when Philip’s father, Thomas Dunger, regained consciousness. I wondered if there was something special after that.

‘If I was really worried, I could have spoken to Gloria.’

Fortunately, no panels were seen above the imperial lady’s head. The occasional explanations regarding the contents of this book seemed to be limited to the main female character only, which was Gloria.

By the way, I’d like to meet the crown prince, the male protagonist of this novel. I couldn’t see his face. Although they were half-siblings, I scanned her face out of curiosity to see if he might resembled Violet. Let’s remember her face. You have to link Gloria with the man with that face.

“Hey, I want to interview you about something, is that possible? Of course, this article would be released regardless of your current fiancé.”

Give and take. This was my belief. If something was given, I should also get it.

“As long as it’s not an annoying question. Yes.”

I thought it was a very good thing to come to the imperial palace and interviewed the imperial princess. If this interview article comes out, the reporters of Morris Daily would probably feel sick to the stomach.

*  *  *

To commemorate the princess’s engagement announcement, the Imperial Palace held a grand banquet for the nobles in the afternoon. Starting with this banquet, the nobles in the capital would hold large and small banquets in the next few months.

Even nobles from various regions attended this imperial palace banquet. The scale was very large. Actually, the princess and empress who were the main characters of the banquet left early after saying that they were not feeling well, but the eyes of the nobles gathered in the banquet hall naturally turned to the handsome little prince.

“I heard he was sick. Is that the body of a sick person?”

“His face is also perfect, let alone his outstanding body. If I were still young, I would have knocked him down right away. Hoho hoho.”

The women who were old enough laughed openly jokingly.

The unmarried women were just waiting for Claude Lischer to ask them to dance. They secretly stuffed small pillows into their hearts and tightened their waist corsets to attract the attention of the first-class groom, Claude. At this banquet, they were like shrewd hunters with sparkling eyes, eager to catch the innocent young man.

However, contrary to the noble ladies’ expectations, Claude, who arrived at the banquet hall, just wanted to get out of here immediately.

‘Did Noona return home safely?’

Inside the banquet hall that was opened for commoners since earlier, Claude only looked at Haley. Haley, whose mouth was slightly open and appeared absent-minded, was much more cute and beautiful than any noblewomen who attend.

The Duke of Gateron Lischer brought one of his companions to greet his son.

“Claude, come and greet them. This is the Duke of Shecklewood, who delivers the household goods to our hotel.”

“Oh, yes. Good evening, Claude Lischer.”

The Duke of Shecklewood smiled with satisfaction when he saw Claude.

“Yes, I heard that you’ve been through a lot. You must be confused to be suddenly dragged to a banquet like this.”

“Yes…”

“My daughter will teach you more about the social world. Come here, Yvette. Come, don’t be shy.”

The Duke of Shacklewood beckoned to his daughter, who stood two steps behind him. The Duke’s daughter, who was wearing a colorful yellow dress, approached Claude with an elegant gait with pink hair.

“This is Yvette Shecklewood.”

Yvette glanced at Claude’s well-built body and tried to relieve her blushing cheeks with a fan. She was currently enjoying the jealous gazes of the youngsters who were looking at her enviously.

The naive young Duke who lacked acknowledge about anything.  This kind of person was her priority to target into, Yvette thought. She lifted her gaze and stared at Claude seductively.

The orchestra was playing a fast-paced dance song. Yvette tried to calm her thumping ankles because of the music and asked the young duke.

“Young Duke, if you don’t mind, will you have a dance with me?”

Originally, men had to ask for the dance first. However, Yvette thought that the young duke, who just had his first appearance the society, didn’t know this, and Yvette pressed her face close to Claude’s ear while asking him to have a dance. Then, this mysterious man pulled away and rejected her offer immediately.

“I’m not confident to dance with anyone. Sorry.”

Although hurt by the man’s rejection, Yvette did not give up. She smiled calmly and brushed Claude’s muscular arm with her hand.

“How about a light waltz? I’ll show you how to do it, too.”

“No, I don’t want to embarrass you with my clumsy moves.”

“It’s fine.”

“Sorry.”

In response to the firm refusal, Yvette had to take a step back and promise to do so henceforth.

“Yes, of course it’s not a problem. Oh, would you like me to go to the Lischer Dukedom sometime and give you a private lesson? You may need my help to continue socializing.”

“It’s so considerate of you, but there’s no need, thank you.”

What kind of man builds an iron wall like this. The ice sculpture also seemed to be no colder than him. Yvette bit her lip.

‘Is he embarrassed? He’s the first person who doesn’t seem to like me.’

Yvette’s attitude towards Claude was quite eye-catching.

From the distance, the unmarried youngsters still had their eyes directed on Yvette and Claude. Although they wouldn’t be able to hear their conversation from afar. However, in order to defeat those foxes, she needed to show a little friendliness to him.

“Then won’t you come with me to the tea room? There are a lot of people here, so it must be a little uncomfortable, isn’t it?”

Yvette took Claude’s hand. Their relationship looked seemingly close from afar. She gently recommended him with a smile, but she would drag him forcibly even if he refused. At this point, Gateron Lischer and the duke of Shacklewood had already gotten far away, letting Yvette act carelessly. After having enough experience as a socialote, she was confident that she could get the innocent young duke to herself.

“No, thank you.”

As soon as he refused, Claude removed the woman’s hand clinging to his arm forcefully. This woman’s behavior was too blatant in her flirting attempt, which was the complete opposite to her status as a noble lady. One of the woman’s body parts touching his arm didn’t feel good although the touch was gentle, but instead caused more refusal from him.

He felt uncomfortable exchanging touches with any woman other than Haley. Claude kept feeling like they were bugs, so he shook them off his forearm. He nodded slowly to Yvette, expressing his intention to bid farewell before approaching his father quickly.

“Father, I have to go.”

“What? Already?”

Duke Lischer was rather embarrassed by his son’s behavior. He arranged a meeting with Lady Yvette, who was naturally called the socialite flower so that he could associate more with other nobles. If he disappeared without any manners like this, it was clear that the rumors about him wouldn’t be a good one among the nobles. Unbelievably, Claude rejected the noble ladt who had a great reputation in the social world. The distorted expression on his close friend’s face made him perturbed.

The duke thought of persuading his son later.

“Yes, you may leave if you feel uncomfortable. See you at home.”

Duke Lischer understood that Claude was still not used with the society. As a father, Gateron reasoned with his friend that he had to adjust to adding a private tutor to his son. A bit of mistake would not waver his son’s position. The social world in the capital was narrow, and most importantly, there were far fewer single men to associate with. Currently, her son was the greatest groom-to-be who filled the requirement fairly in the Morris Empire after the Crown Prince.