It Turned Out to be a Useful Fraudulent Marriage - Chapter 12
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- It Turned Out to be a Useful Fraudulent Marriage
- Chapter 12 - Episode 2: Cinderella Who Loses Her Mother at a Young Age, Her Stepmother, and Her New Older Brothers
I wandered among the nobles, sipping on sticky soda under dim lighting, trying to seek out the princess’s whereabouts.
“The princess never leaves the secret chamber. She handles everything there.”
As I subtly inquired about the princess’s whereabouts, a young nobleman quietly replied
Handle? What could she be handling… Ah, seriously, are all these nobles perverts?
Ignoring the man’s strange smile, I quickly moved on to another area.
Ah, damn it.
I thought the princess, being a flirt, would naturally be around handsome men, but it turns out she never leaves the secret chamber.
My mother always said that when looking for a man, one must move quickly… but as expected, people with money and power live differently.
Feeling bitter, I gulped down the soda, feeling it leave a sour taste in my mouth, then glanced up at the upper corridor.
There were only two rooms in the corridor; one was a kitchen and the other was a hidden chamber blocked by a barrier.
Is that the secret chamber?
At that time, a man was coming out of the secret room.
His attire was rather peculiar compared to the decorative clothing worn by other men here. His outfit lacked embellishments, especially considering how ornate the attire of the men around him was.
Moreover, it was odd how he didn’t even glance back despite the subtle gazes from the ladies nearby.
‘Well, he’s the princess’s man… Why would he give attention to other women?’
With that in mind, I quickly walked towards the man.
But how do I approach him?
There was something I overlooked.
While my mother successfully arranged five marriages, I, on the other hand, had never experienced a single relationship.
Had I known this would happen, I wish I had paid more attention to those strange tips my mother told me!
That thought has just crossed my mind.
All I could think about right now was the strange things Philip said when he seduced women.
Have I ever had anything resembling a relationship before? Maybe Jack, the shoe shiner guy at our pub who would occasionally hang out at our pub and give me a piece of bread, was the closest thing… He was cute. I wonder what he’s up to now…
No, this is not the time for such thoughts!
I hurriedly shook my head as I climbed the stairs.
What should I say? Let’s try thinking about Philip… Philip…
‘Would you like to have a cup of coffee?’
Cliché. And who drinks coffee here anyway?
‘Let’s have some fun with me tonight!’
Ugh, that’s terrible.
‘It seems like your father is a thief. He must have stolen the stars and put them in your eyes.’
Hmm… Not bad?
Recalling the pickup lines Philip often uses on girls, I clapped my hands.
Well, it’s not bad for something I came up with in a hurry.
‘Your father is a thief… Your father is a thief….’
Reciting the line I planned, I arrived at the second floor corridor.
Then I saw the guy approaching from across the hall.
With his shirt untucked and hair all messed up, he looked like he just had a rough encounter with the princess.
‘You picked the right person.’
I deliberately rushed towards the man.
The intention was to cause a collision.
I planned to bump shoulders and then smoothly…
“Your father is a thieeef!”
I was just spitting out words!
But as soon as our shoulders bumped, I blurted out the line I had hurriedly memorized without even realizing it.
The face of the man whose shoulder I bumped into stiffened at my words.
Argh!
I was so nervous that nonsense slipped out.
No, I should have talked to someone other than Philip in my lifetime! And certainly not for such impure motives!
“Oh, no… I mean… my, my words are… um…”
When I covered my mouth and my ears turned red, the man’s expression softened for a moment.
“What’s up with you? You’ve been staring at me ever since I came up those stairs, right?”
“Pardon?”
He knew?
He saw me sneaking glances?
As I feigned confusion, the man spoke slyly.
“Aren’t you cute?”
Cute? What did I do…?
It was only then that I smelled the strong scent of alcohol flowing from the man’s breath. His eyes were unfocused.
What a situation.
I gently squeezed the man’s arm, thinking that it was actually good.
“Th-thank you. Um, let’s go over there…”
I subtly pulled his sleeve towards the vicinity of the princess’s chamber.
If I wanted to provoke the princess’s jealousy, I had to create a scene right in front of her, right?!
But how do you create a scene? Can I just roughly rub my lips together? Huh?
While I was thinking such thoughts, the man firmly grabbed my wrist.
“Ah…!”
A moan escaped from between my lips at the strength of his grip.
“Come this way.”
Ignoring my pain as if it were nothing, the man pulled my wrist towards somewhere.
We began to move further away from the princess’s secret chamber.
‘Huh…? his isn’t right?’
“Hey, there… Where are we going… Let’s go somewhere… Wait, I like it over there… Ah!”
One of my shoes tumbled down the stairs as the man grabbed my wrist and led me violently towards a secretive staircase.
“It’s new!”
I stared at my bare foot in disbelief and glared at the man.
“Stop it!”
As I shouted, the man furrowed his brows and halted his steps. Can he finally hear me now?
“… Stop what? We’re going upstairs!”
The man assertively pulled my wrist even tighter towards him. As a result, his rotten breath hit my face, making me recoil. gritted my teeth and stretched out my hand.
At that moment, a dark shadow moved under the stairs. There was no time to confirm who it was.
Because–
“Emeline Wedgwood. Didn’t I make it clear? If someone tries to use violence against you….”
At the same time, a voice was heard from below the stairs…
Swoosh—
I was already pressing the dagger I had drawn from my bosom against the man’s throat.
I spoke in a cold voice to the trembling man who looked at me with widened eyes.
“I told you to stop. Shouldn’t you stop using violence when it’s appropriate to use words? Seriously, it’s tiring, isn’t it?”
“Uhh….”
Without removing the dagger from the terrified man’s neck, I glanced down as I heard another voice. There I saw a man holding one of my glass slippers, looking at me incredulously.
Eric Orleans. It’s you again.
I sighed.
Eric gritted his teeth.
I smiled awkwardly and answered.
“Fight violence with violence. That’s what I’ve learned, Young Master Eric.”
Ahahaha….
How can I smoothly move past this?
I forced a smile with all my might.
“Fight violence with violence…?”
I took a step back as I saw Eric’s eyebrows furrow.
As if waiting for that moment, the man pushed me.
“Coming in with a weapon to Roses That Bloom in the Night, are you crazy?!”
Oh, if that bastard talks to the security guard, I’ll be in real trouble!
That was when I thought so. Eric threw the glass shoe he was holding at the man running toward me.
Thwack!
It was a direct hit.
“Ugh…!”
The man who was hit squarely in the head was unable to even scream properly and fainted.
My mouth dropped open. It’s just a glass slipper, made of translucent and soft material, yet a grown man fainted after being hit by them.
My eyes met the cold red eyes of Eric Orleans.
He was a royal knight commander, they said.
Is he some aura user or something?
Aura has a similar power and usage method to ancient mana, but it’s an energy source injected into weapons, and only those born with it can use it or something like that.
Anyway, I’m not sure, but I’ve never seen someone who uses something like that!
I shrugged my shoulders because I felt like I had met a powerful person that I had only heard about in legends and fairy tales in the South.
I also gained practical combat experience through evil and guts, but that was just a last resort for survival. It couldn’t be compared to something like an aura.
As I stiffened, Eric Orleans, who was at the bottom of the stairs, approached me with a cold expression.
“Why are you doing this?”
“W-what, what do you mean?”
I was pressed against the wall and stuttered to answer.
“You’re trembling like a frightened Southern country bumpkin again. Drop the act, Emeline Wedgwood.”
It’s not an act this time either, though.
I stared at Eric in disbelief.
“Young master just knocked someone out.”
“You were the one holding a knife to that someone.”
But our situations are different, aren’t they? I’m just a powerless country girl, and you’re an aura swordsman!
Eric glanced towards the corridor and spoke.
“The princess is here tonight. So the guards are particularly vigilant about weapon control. How on earth did you manage to bring in a knife?”
“Uh… that’s… um….”
By averting the guard’s gaze and then quietly sliding the weapon to the floor? I couldn’t say that, so I just rolled my eyes.
My mother always said to carry weapons at all times when dealing with men!
Storyteller Amourtentia's Words
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