A Handsome K*nky Gangster Reporter - Chapter 51

#51

I had to focus on taking pictures of the two people today, Violet and George Abe. Count Abe’s smile even reached his eyes as he stared at the camera. Of course, the princess maintained an unchanged flat expression.

“Then, please enjoy your time here. I want a great article.”

The empress smiled gracefully and was about to turn around. The moment I raised my hand, the empress stopped after seeing this. I never thought a commoner like me would dare to ask questions in this kind of atmosphere.

In fact, the current atmosphere in the banquet hall was not suitable for reporters to ask questions. They were just busy writing down what they could say about the imperial palace.

A servant approached me and asked with a frown.

“What is it?”

“Where is His Royal Highness Prince Edmund? He didn’t show up at the princess’s engagement announcement. I’m curious about him.”

Was it true that their relationship is not so good?

I muttered things that I couldn’t say openly. Rumor said the two did not get along well due to the struggle over the succession to the throne last year. Hence, I also heard the Empress forcibly arranged the engagement of the weak princess with a nobleman. Of course, this was also one of the arrangements in her previous life.

The servant replied rather coldly when I asked about the whereabouts of the Crown Prince. 

“His Highness the Crown Prince is preoccupied.”

One of the empress’ maids stepped to the front of the podium and added.

“His Highness would also like to attend today. However, he cannot be here at the moment because there is flooding in the southern region and he’s currently on duty to fix it.”

“Flooding? What exactly do you mean by in the south?”

It’s not the rainy season. I was afraid that I might have caused damage that affected the contents of the novel. Could this be the accident that happened because Gloria almost had a big problem after taking poison? Just as Mother said, everything that happens would depend on the mood of someone watching over her from the sky.

The waitress looked at me and answered again.

“That’s something for the reporters to investigate, and it’s not something for the preoccupied royal family to care about.”

The maid’s words were very sharp.

I covered my mouth at the maid’s words, and the other reporters beside me clicked their tongues while making small exclamations as if they were sneering at me on that day.

‘Huh? They must have not known about the flood damage.’

No, those who have branch offices in the province must have already knew. As opposed to me, a small newspaper company.

It seemed that he knew something from his show-off spirit. I looked around to see if there were any reporters I could ask about it. In the meantime, the imperial family left through the golden door followed by the appearance of another group of people who seemed to high-ranking nobles.

‘Who are these people?’

For some reason, I thought I knew who that person resembled.

“I’m here because I have something to announce to the press. I am Gateron Lischer.”

He was one of the three ducal families, who were also the head of the Lischer Family.

Perhaps, it was because he was the father of my younger brother, when I was building my own internal intimacy. The Duke of Lischer spoke up.

“Ten years ago, my family had gotten into a horse carriage accident. At that time, my wife died and my son disappeared. I think you all know the story already.”

As I looked around, I saw other reporters nodded. The reporters busily took notes in their notebooks while listening to the duke.

“I found the son I thought was dead a long time ago, he was weak and had been socially inactive. However, his chronic illness has been cured. I am here today to inform the reporters about this.”

In a way, it was just as special as the princess’s engagement ceremony. The figure of the young duke who had been rumored to be ill, was finally about to be revealed to the public. I sensed something odd about this, though.

‘D*mn. I should have written about this first.’

I prepared to film it while waiting for Claude, who was hidden in the crowd.

“Claude Lischer, come up and greet the reporters.”

A young man came out from among the people on the podium. I started filming after seeing him appeared through the lenses.

Dark hair and familiar blue eyes. My brother, Claude, resembled the Duke, Gateron Lischer. When I saw him appearing in this kind of official event, I felt a sense of unfamiliarity as if I didn’t know him at all. I felt strange and pondered about the situation one by one in my head.

‘Is it true that my younger brother, Claude, is one of the sub-male characters?’

Surprisingly, I didn’t remember anything about one of the sub-male characters except for the information that he was the son of the duke. From his appearance and personality. At the very least, such remarkable events, like meeting the female lead, should have remained in my head as a writer of this novel.

According to the context, if my younger brother was one of the main sub-male characters, he would also fall in love with Gloria immediately. Therefore, I wondered why Claude had been acting so cold-heartedly towards her. Could it be that he had a feeling for her but it’s just that he didn’t want to show it? No, it couldn’t be. So, why did he kiss me last time?

I felt complicated. I felt sick as if someone tore out my heart. After kissing me, he immediately disappeared. Was it because all these events shouldn’t be in the story? I felt strange, and my hand holding the camera started shaking little by little.

Claude stood at the podium and looked at me firmly. He appeared with a different style outfit than usual. He used pomade to style his hair and exposed his forehead with a tight dark blue suit hugging his body.

‘How come he looks so good in that attire?’

The clothes tailored perfectly to his body size and it made his chest muscles shown every time he moved around, which led me to imagine his bare body. Perhaps, it wasn’t just me who thought that way because even the palace maids and some male reporters were mesmerized and couldn’t take their eyes off him.

“I’m Claude Lischer, the son of the Duke of Lischer. I look forward to receive good cooperation from you all.”

The reporters, who has been quiet in the front since the imperial family’s announcement, finally raised their hands and expressed their desire to ask questions. One reporter asked after one of the maid gave a go signal with her eyes.

“How and where did you disappear when you were young? Do you have any memories of the accident you had gotten into when you were young?”

He still trained his eyes at me even while answering the reporter.

“I’ve been fine all this time because the warm-hearted people who accepted me as their own. I don’t remember about the incident.”

Lies. Even until now, he still suffer from nightmares occasionally.

After the young duke answered the reporters’ questions in a friendly manner, everyone rushed to ask questions again.

“We know that the perpetrator involved in the duchess’ death hasn’t been caught yet. How do you think about it as one of the victim?”

“It’s terrible. We are still investigating this case with no intention of giving up.”

“Have you decided who you’re going to get engaged to? May I know from which family?”

“No. I don’t have a fiancé yet.”

After that, the unmarried Claude was asked which noble he would marry in the future or even his ideal type. The mustache reporter, who had fought with me earlier, seemed very active.

“Are you currently seeing someone, Your Highness?”

‘He’d criticize me for being rude. But, he’s even more rude than me.’

Since there was nothing else I had to hear, I just put the camera back into the trolley bag I was carrying and packed my things up. I pushed the cart with my hands and walked out of the banquet hall. It was because it was difficult to see Claude who were looking at me the entire time and even more difficult to show a faint smile.

After passing through the long corridor, I heard someone’s footsteps following me. It must not be Claude, who was still surrounded by reporters. Was it the mustached reporter, who fought with me earlier? The person who approached me with quick steps tapped me on the shoulder.

“Hey, I need to talk to you for a minute.”

When I turned my head, it was the first face that I saw back there. This time, she was wearing a white uniform that indicated he was working as the servant in the imperial palace. I nodded and walked to where she was leading me. She led me to a small parlor. It was a place in the imperial palace, but looked shabby, which didn’t fit to be in the palace. There were no public images hanging on the wall either.

‘Such a shabby place. Is this the warehouse?’

Don’t tell me she’s leading me here to ask about the question I asked to the Empress. I moved my eyes back and forth anxiously, and the servant asked me before she left the room.

“Miss reporter, from all the photos you took today, please publish only the photos of Her Majesty and George Abe.”

“Why should I do that?”

“Because there are security concerns within the imperial family. If photos of the empress or her officials appear in tomorrow’s newspaper, there is an order from His Majesty to punish whoever it is for insulting the imperial family. Keep my words in mind.”

The servant made a terrifying expression, and I didn’t even think about arguing as I usually did. I just nodded.

“Alright.”

It wasn’t a big deal. However, I was lucky that the photos wasn’t taken away from me. I decided to think the positive impact on this, that I at least had an article for the front page of tomorrow’s newspaper. If it would be about the interview with the imperial family today, it’d do great. I wonder if I could ask Claude to do an interview later… No, no. Because as an interested party, I know better how he has been. There was no need for an interview. It was enough for me to make it all up.

“And wait here for a moment. She said she wants to meet you.”

“What? Do you mean… The Crown Princess?”

Right. I couldn’t believe this. At the servant’s words, powerful energy began to come out of my weak body. It was as if the energy of the entire universe was assisting me. This was not an advertisement from an old-fashioned telecommunications company saying that what you think was going to come true. The main character of today’s article was going to give her extra time for me. I have to use this good opportunity to my advantage and went on with the interview. Seeing that I’m cheered by the good news, I must be the type who has a bad temper running in my bones.

If I knew this would happen, I should have at least thought about asking questions.

I should have thoroughly investigated what the princess’ preferences and her thoughts about his engagement whether she accepted this willingly or not. While waiting for her, I imagined the interview going on in my head several times and wrote down questions in my notebook. Since she wasn’t someone I could meet often, I thought about skipping the sweet talk part.

“The Honorable Violet Eaton is here.”

After waiting for a while, Princess Violet, who changed into comfortable clothes, entered. Before, the imperial princess looked like she was burdened with colorful yet heavy jewels back in the banquet hall. She was even expressionless while standing on the podium earlier.

However, she looked like she had all of her makeup removed now except for the jewelry she wore. Her hair was light blond with a hint of green, she also had a delicate body shape. She was someone who appeared not much different from me upon closer inspection.

‘She looks very ordinary without many adornment.’

She was probably two or three years younger than me. Born from the emperor’s concubine, she was sure that she would be left without any support in the imperial palace. After his concubine died, he accepted Diane, the mother of the eldest daughter, as the Empress. That being said, Princess Violet was one of my favorite characters. I felt somewhat bad for her.

“Please take a seat.”

She said to me, who was standing with my mouth wide open. The Princess of the Empire asked me to take a seat on the chair and settled herself on the other one as well. I bowed belatedly before greeting her.

“It’s my pleasure to meet you, Your Highness. My name is Haley.”