TDKSR 26

Chapter 26

When they arrived at the Grand Empress Dowager’s garden, Ronan slightly loosened his jacket and escorted her extravagantly, and Jonathan, laughing continuously and half-leaning on Ronan, made his way to the wedding hall.

Livga rode a bit further in the carriage and then split off to observe Anat separately around the wedding venue.

Jonathan entered the hall with her hand linked through Ronan’s arm.

Everyone’s gaze converged on the disguised Rose.

‘Uncle doesn’t seem to have arrived yet. Daniel is…….’

Since he was to serve as an attendant at Duke Robert’s wedding, confirmation was needed.

Having located Daniel, Jonathan whispered in Ronan’s ear.

“Begin.”

Ronan began his shameless act.

“Aaah, Rose, could you wait a moment? It seems we’ve arrived too early.”

“Fufufu.”

Jonathan grabbed and tore off a few buttons from Ronan’s chest.

“!”

“Darling, your chest is pretty.”

“Uh, hahaha.”

Ronan escorted Jonathan well and seated him in a chair. He sat leaning back as if tired.

Meanwhile, Jonathan confirmed the woman standing beside Daniel.

He whispered in Ronan’s ear.

“There’s a woman beside Daniel. Who is she?”

“She seems to be the young lady I mentioned in the carriage.”

“Touch my rear, Ronan.”

“Pardon?”

“Hurry.”

Contrary to his awkward reply, Ronan’s hand quite boldly touched his rear.

“Where do you think you’re touching? Rose is expensive. Heheheh.”

Slapping Ronan’s hand with his fan, Jonathan looked back toward Daniel.

The Earl of Equon didn’t seem to have come.

Perhaps he’d written a sick leave. Well, would he come to his former wife’s wedding?

What mattered was that Daniel Evans, the only Aura manifestor in the empire besides Jonathan, wasn’t paying attention to “Miss Rose” despite such a conspicuous entrance……

“Aren’t you tired? It must have been hard. Want to sit here?”

Ronan tapped his own knee and smiled.

‘This bastard.’

It was an even more ridiculous antic than usual.

Without complaint, Jonathan approached and sat heavily on Ronan’s thigh.

“Your Highness, it hurts.”

“You’re good at this? Seems you’ve been longing for this kind of acting?”

“Ah, again. Why are you like this.”

Jonathan practically threw the fan at Ronan. Then, fluttering the lace of his clothes, he looked toward Daniel and smiled brightly.

“It seems a bit hot.”

Ronan began fanning Jonathan.

“Daniel won’t take his eyes off that brown-haired young lady.”

“Seems he’s really fallen for her.”

“Get me some information on the woman.”

Jonathan waved to a few gentlemen and whispered to Ronan.

“I only know she’s a former correspondence inspector.”

“A correspondence inspector?”

“Because of Sir Mnashe Gibati’s wedding, Earl Ezekiel Gibati was absent, and the Earl of Equon was distracted since his wife is today’s bride. So lately Daniel has handled all the knight order’s documents…….”

“My goodness.”

Daniel doesn’t know the noble language.

It seemed many things had happened while Jonathan was back in the capital, consumed by his power struggle with the Grand Empress Dowager.

“What’s the correspondence inspector young lady’s name?”

“What was it. Sara, maybe?”

Jonathan laughed and struck Ronan’s shoulder hard.

“Find out properly.”

“It hurts, Your Highness…….”

“Have I been too lenient with you lately?”

Jonathan then turned his gaze back to Daniel. Daniel and the brown-haired woman were conversing.

The woman looked a bit ordinary, but Daniel seemed quite taken with her.

The fact that Daniel had first mistaken Livga for a brown-haired soldier named Michael when he first saw her was a little concerning, but……

Thinking he’d developed a fondness for brown hair as an extension of that seemed like too much of a stretch.

‘For now, focus on what I have to do!’

—

Jonathan met his uncle and the new bride while still as Rose. Rather than met, it would be more accurate to say he saw them from afar and passed by.

Seeing their rotten faces the moment they laid eyes on him—

It was utterly delightful.

It was just a pity that this was the only rebellion he could manage.

‘That woman and Uncle are both extraordinary.’

Is this what money and power let you do?

Uncle, who stole another man’s wife and married her, and the woman who carried on an affair long enough to bear another man’s child—they both looked the same to him.

And a short while later, coincidentally, the Grand Empress Dowager appeared sooner than expected, and Jonathan had to be chased out.

“Please find Rose in the ‘Garden of Flowers.'”

He didn’t forget to hand out fake calling cards to a few gentlemen and wave.

Mother didn’t seem to have noticed, and most of the guests at the hall seemed completely unaware of his presence.

That was enough.

—

Jonathan rejoined Livga after he was chased out by the Grand Empress Dowager and got into the carriage.

Livga was already in the carriage.

“Anat?”

He asked about what he was most curious about first.

“She’s an Aura manifestor.”

“Damn it.”

Since Livga is a Star, there’s no lie.

“She’s still bound. If I don’t touch her, she could live her whole life without manifesting.”

“…….”

That was true. An Aura manifestor carries the talent, but cannot manifest without a Star’s help.

“So she really is Uncle’s child. She didn’t need to carry Aura of all things.”

Jonathan let out a sigh.

“Where’s Yona?”

“Waiting at my house.”

“What? Your house? Why?”

“To change clothes and properly reveal your identity to the people the Grand Empress Dowager sent, it’d be better to change at a house.”

“Why your house, of all places?”

“Because rumors spread that Your Highness recently confessed to me, didn’t they?”

“Haah…….”

Jonathan buried his face in both hands.

“No one’s home. My younger brother hasn’t returned from the Academy, my older sister is at Duke Robert’s wedding right now. Mother is at the Earl of Equon’s…… because of work, she’s been staying there.”

“I know. The Earl of Equon is the biggest victim in this matter.”

How much trouble had Jonathan been put through because that troublesome Duke Robert coveted another man’s woman?

“Don’t worry about going to my house. I received that ring with immunity, so I have nothing to worry about.”

Livga smiled brightly.

Jonathan let out a sigh and looked out the window. Perhaps because it wasn’t dark yet, Livga wasn’t reflected in the glass.

Jonathan closed his eyes.

—

The Wilton residence, reached after entering a narrow alley, was…… a bit small in Jonathan’s eyes to call a mansion.

‘It’s bigger than the houses in the alleys I wandered to deal with Duke Anlas. Still, it’s probably at a level where they can get by without trouble.’

Now he knew. That a small house is still a house, and that you shouldn’t pity someone over such things.

But it was still a pitiable thing that poor Livga had lost her father and was in a difficult situation without a proper head of household.

“Please come this way.”

Livga seated Jonathan on the sofa. Then she began untying the ribbons bound at Jonathan’s chest.

The dress came off easily. The problem was elsewhere.

The corset was the worst to put on, but even worse to take off.

“I’m suffocating.”

Now that the tension was released, it felt even tighter.

“It’d be better to just cut the strings on the back with scissors.”

“Yes. Please.”

“I’ll get the scissors.”

As Livga stood to find the scissors, only Jonathan, Yona, and a few knights including the guard Tern remained.

“The Earl of Equon’s condition seems very bad.”

Ah, that damn wedding.

“I’d be unwell too. He probably wants to kill but can’t kill the opponent. Power really is…….”

“About the young lord…….”

Yona glanced around. He was curious about Anat’s Aura manifestation.

“She’s Uncle’s child, all right. The worst. And on top of that, she was born with Aura manifestation?”

“Hmm, difficult.”

“…….”

“Your Highness.”

Tern spoke in a small voice.

“Yes.”

“A carriage has stopped in front of the house.”

“What?”

“I should have cut it with scissors right away instead of trying to untie it. Taking off the dress took too long. We’ve been caught.”

Caught by whom? Mother’s side? Or Uncle’s side?

“The brown-haired young lady is walking toward the door.”

“!”

Livga, who had also seen the carriage stop in front of the house, came running urgently.

“Your Highness! First, this way…….”

Livga quickly gestured and hurried everyone into the kitchen, closing the door.

“Can’t I just make us invisible with my ability?”

Jonathan said from one side of the kitchen.

“There are too many of us now, so there’ll be noise while moving. Anyone would notice something’s off.”

“Ah, right.”

“More importantly, who could it be?”

When Jonathan put his ear to the kitchen door, an unfamiliar woman’s voice tangled with Livga’s voice.

“You! What are you doing out there! What kind of person has no work to do and goes around pretending to be a woman!”

The sharp woman’s voice was probably the brown-haired young lady he’d seen earlier. Livga’s older sister, was it?

“Huh? What do you mean……?”

Livga was reacting as if she had no idea, but her excellent acting skills didn’t seem to work properly in front of family.

“Don’t play dumb! Tell me the truth. What happened! You naive thing!”

“……Sara, I’m not running away, okay? First, let me take off the dress Mother bought me, wipe off the makeup, and calm down, then we’ll talk.”

Livga gently soothed her sister and sent her upstairs, then immediately carefully opened the kitchen door.

The knights, Jonathan, and Yona moved stealthily. Livga silently gestured for everyone to go out the door.

Listening to the footsteps going up the stairs to the second floor, everyone moved cautiously.

Jonathan, finding himself in an interesting situation after a long time, thought he might laugh a little as he hunched down and moved stealthily.

That was when it happened.

“Hey! You!”

Suddenly, the sound of someone running back down at incredible speed rang out, followed by a woman’s voice.

“I need to talk now……!”

Yona’s and Jonathan’s eyes met.

‘It’s over.’

He should have used Aura sooner. He could have manifested it even at the door.

Well, what could be done.

Jonathan slowly turned around.

“Hello, Miss Wilton.”