Chapter 113 – Part 2 Nobles – Elizabeth (3)

The celebration of the National Day is one of the kingdom’s most important events and the biggest social occasion.
No matter how busy I was, there was no way that I, the prince’s fiancé, would be able to miss it, and I had to drag my tired body to the party venue.

“My lady, are you okay?”
“It’s fine.”

Rachel, her maid, asks anxiously.
Rachel must be worried about me attending without an escort. My fiancé is the Crown Prince of this country, and everyone at the party doesn’t know that.
However, the crown prince said he would attend with another woman. Leave me alone, her fiancé.

I don’t know what the prince is thinking.
Recently, reports about the Crown Prince have been coming to my ears. My aristocratic friends at school gossiping about me, or being openly intimate with other women.

I know that the Crown Prince hates me, but why does he bother to let people know about it? Do you want to brag about your weaknesses?
Thanks to this, the rumors that the relationship between the royal family and the knights and dukes are bad are regarded as a fait accompli, and even the position of the crown prince is shaken.

Do you really want to be ruined?

“Really, full of troublesome work…”

I muttered and entered the party hall. Put a forced smile on your face.
Near the entrance, after a brief exchange of greetings with the sons of aristocrats with whom he is acquainted, he finds Crown Prince Lucius.
It was easy to find thanks to Her Highness’s personality of liking to gather in groups. The Highness was in the middle of the place where most people gathered.

As I approach it, the people separate and a path is made between me and the crown prince. The crown prince also noticed my presence and subtly frowned.

“His Highness, Crown Prince Lucius. It’s nice to see you today.”
“Huh.”

He looked around and ignored me.
And instead, the woman next to him steps forward.

“Hello, Elizabeth! I’ve been wanting to meet you!”

It smells like strong perfume.
Dark makeup in a dress with a bare chest. It couldn’t be said that it was the appearance of a noble lady attending such an event.

“Your Highness. Is this person your Highness’s acquaintance?”
“Hot. Are you saying you don’t know?”

Of course I know her name. The daughter of Viscount Remilia Frost.
With a relatively low status as the Viscount Young Ae, she is said to be leading trends among young women in makeup, perfume, and fashion.

It is said that her standards of beauty are always changing, but the fad she caused is honestly hard to understand. The thick makeup that made it hard to tell the difference between a bare face and a strong perfume that could only be perceived as a stench at first glance.
However, since many men are actually attracted to her, there is no doubt that she has her own charm.
And among the men fascinated by her was my highness, Crown Prince Lucius, my fiancé.

“Because I’ve never been introduced.”
“My name is Remilia! Lady Elizabeth!”

Remilia Frost intervenes again.
Among nobles, not interfering in conversations of superiors is the most basic courtesy. And it is also rude for a lower noble to talk to a higher noble first before being introduced to someone.
Needless to say, which is higher when it comes to dukes and viscounts. Moreover, calling him by name without permission was so rude that even I couldn’t keep my expression.

“…I’m talking to Your Highness right now. Please select your seat.”
“That… It’s too much!”

I just said it normally, but she hid behind her, grabbing Her Highness’s collar as if she had been seriously hurt by my words.

“Hmph. You’ve finally revealed your true colors. Jealousy makes women ugly, Elizabeth.”
“…I was just giving you the obvious advice.”
“Remilia has just been adopted by a nobleman, so she just doesn’t know the laws of a nobleman. Doesn’t the prince’s fiancé understand that much?”
“Lady Remilia Frost has already been a year since she entered her royal school as a noblewoman. She still doesn’t know basic etiquette, which means she has no will to learn.”

Why am I wasting my energy on this useless argument?
Why did the Highness take her fiancée’s side and not me?
In front of so many people.

I really hate it.

“Sorry, Miss Elizabeth. I don’t know yet… This is fruit wine made in my hometown! Please try it if you don’t mind!”

Perhaps to reconcile, the young lady in question presented me with a glass of red fruit wine.
Could there be poison in it? But there’s no way you’ll be poisoned in such a conspicuous place.

…No, it’s better if it’s poison.
It might be better to drink poison and die.

“…Gladly.”

A life without any hope. There is no point in continuing to live.
I’ll just live being abused and ignored until I die anyway.

I put my hand on the glass she held out.
However, the cup slipped and fell to the floor without being caught in my hand.

“Kyaaak!”

The glass falls to the floor and breaks with a loud sound.

Chaeng-Gran-
The dress of her close by is dyed red. And so did my dress.

“A precious dress left by my deceased mother…!”

Lady Remilia Frost made a fuss and started to cry.

Under…
I hope you don’t drag me into this boring play.

“Elizabeth! Tossing away the glass given to you as a favor, what kind of tyranny is this!”
“…Majesty.”

It’s tiring to explain.
Anyway, no matter what I say, they will embrace that young lady and accuse me of being a sinner.

“I can’t stand it anymore! Elizabeth Knight! I’m breaking my engagement to you!”

Break up.
…Break off marriage?

“Your Highness. Are you saying that you’re sane?”
“Yes! I mean it! I can’t stand to see your misdeeds any longer!”
“An evil deed? What evil did I commit?”
“Hmph. Are you thinking of making fun of it? If so, let’s bring witnesses! Hello! Witnesses here…?”

Her Highness, who was about to call a witness, was speechless.

Something large was approaching this way.
It seems I wasn’t the only one who felt that way.

Tumble.
Many people’s attention shifts from His Highness to him.

Neat face. But sharp eyes like a raptor.
The clothes he wore were clean, but they couldn’t hide the savagery that radiated from his body.
It was different from the sons of nobles and well-trained knights.
He was like a wild beast.

Dangerous man.
That was my first impression of him.

Why are you coming this way? Is it me or is it your highness?
I can feel that everyone in this room is nervous.

Between me and Her Highness, he stopped.
And what he did was completely out of my expectation.

The dangerous man got down on one knee in front of me.
And he held out to me the peonies he had just taken out of the vase.

“It was love at first sight. Please marry me.”

…Wedding?!
Having difficulty maintaining my expression, I spread the fan in my hand and covered my face.

In a place like this, in this situation, what the hell is this man saying?
Who the hell is this guy in the first place? He’s been socializing around the clock, but I’ve never seen anyone like this.

“…First, please state your name.”

I could barely speak out of the confusion.
The man looked straight up at me and answered.

“My name is Yuzu. I am Yuzu Brillante.”

Yuz Brillante.
He recalled the name that had been added to the recently updated list of nobles.

The person named Yuz Brillante must have been a commoner hunter and became an honorary aristocrat some time ago. I don’t know what kind of contribution he made, but it wasn’t common for a commoner to receive an honorary count at once. It must have been a great achievement as a Hunter.

“You are the honorary Count of Brillante, a renowned hunter. It is an honor to meet you.”
“Do you know me?”

All I know is the name. But that alone seemed to make him happy.

“Of course. It’s the first time I’ve seen Johnan, but…”
“You! Elizabeth! How dare you cheat on the prince’s fiancé with another man!”

Your Highness interrupts me and speaks nonsense again.

“Your Highness. This is the first time I’ve met Count Brillante. Please refrain from saying anything that could cause misunderstanding.”
“Yes, yes. This is an important moment, so my ex-fiance should stay away.”

I couldn’t help but be astonished at Count Brillante’s unpretentious attitude. The other nobles who were watching this situation were also screaming in small voices.

“What, what? Do you know who I am…!?”
“…Count Brillante. He is the crown prince of this country.

At my words, Count Brillante stood up in surprise.

“Ohh. Crown Prince?! I heard you’re wearing a dirty suit. Nice to meet you, Your Highness.”

Count Brillante reached out to His Highness in a friendly manner.
…Would you like to shake hands? Against His Highness the Crown Prince?

Of course, His Highness couldn’t hold that hand. On the contrary, he seemed so stupid that he didn’t even have the spirit to get angry.
Count Brillante shrugged his shoulders once, as if he knew it, then turned back to me.

“So, how about it? Will you accept my marriage proposal?”
“…I’m sorry, but I am the fiancé of Her Highness the Crown Prince. I cannot accept the Count’s marriage proposal.”
“Why? I just said they broke off the engagement.”

Of course, shouting ‘I will break off the marriage!’ Does not mean that the engagement will be broken off immediately. Even if it was just a commoner, things would get even more complicated with each crown prince.

“It is an engagement made under the names of His Majesty the King and His Majesty the Pope.
“Ah, is that so…”

Count Brillante scratched the back of his head as if feeling sorry for him.

What is it
At first, it gave the impression of a wild animal, but now it looks like an innocent child.
It seemed like he knew a little about why men were attracted to Lady Remilia Frost.

“Then, will you accept it when we officially break off the engagement?”
“That’s…”

Count Brillante took a step closer to me and asked. His eyes, full of life, catch me from the front and don’t know how to fall.
He thought in his head that he was right to refuse. But somehow his mouth didn’t come off.

I had never been courted so fervently before.
From the age of 5 until now, she has been raised as the Crown Prince’s fiancé. Even knowing that, there was no man who would woo her.
Not to mention His Highness Lucius, and His Highness Julius as well. Highness Julius was a kind person, but he had never whispered of love. The feelings that Her Highness and I have are not affection, but friendship or camaraderie.

But what the man in front of me is asking for is—

“Elizabeth!!”

His Highness Lucius’ roar interrupted my thoughts.

“You pretended to be noble by yourself, but then you’ve been hanging out with such a lowly man! You whore! The position of crown princess doesn’t suit a woman like you! I’m breaking off the engagement right away!”

His Highness shouted while pointing at me.

It seems that the Highness is trying to make the infidelity between me and the count a fait accompli. Is it to shift the responsibility of breaking up on me?
So many people are listening. No matter what the facts were, just the spread of such rumors was fatal to maintaining her position as the fiancé of the crown prince.

“Sigh…”

Even though I thought I shouldn’t do it, I let out a sigh.

If you want to insult me ​​like that, just insult me. If you want to break up like that, you can break up.
I was thinking of dropping everything like that. Because I’m tired of trying to catch up now.

But there were also people who couldn’t tolerate it.

“A prostitute?”

Count Brillante turned his face toward His Highness.
There was a hint of rage in his voice.

“You mean insulting my woman means you’re prepared to risk her life, right?”

…My girl?!
No, that’s not the problem now. Even for a count, disrespect beyond this could have been a sin.

“What, what, those eyes? I’m the crown prince? For blasphemy…?!”

His Highness’ words did not carry on to the end.

Squash-!
Count Brillante took off his glove and threw it into his Highness’ face.

I couldn’t close my gaping mouth, so I covered it with my hand. There were also young women who were screaming or fainting.

“I, Youz Brillante, challenge the Crown Prince for insulting Elizabeth to a duel!”

Count Brillante declared in a voice that could be heard by all in the hall.