Chapter 20…
“Just like the rumors.”
“Pardon?”
Daniel, the capable aide to Crown Prince Adria, set down the documents he had been holding and looked up at Adria’s sudden remark.
A red gaze dropped sharply.
Adria spoke in a voice tinged with a sigh.
“Clarissa of the Lisette family.”
Only then, hearing a tone that bordered on reproach, did Daniel recall what had happened to Adria the day before yesterday.
When Chancellor Vestas had lost his daughter in the imperial palace and caused a tremendous uproar, it was none other than the Crown Prince himself who had brought her back.
At the time, Daniel had been more focused on why Adria—famous for his indifference to other people’s affairs—had whimsically taken the girl with him. In doing so, he had forgotten that “she” was Clarissa von Lisette, the very girl known for dragging chaos wherever she went.
“Did she commit some discourtesy toward Your Highness?”
“Discourtesy? Well, you could call it that.”
She was a young lady with a notoriously bad reputation.
But no matter how infamous she was, would she really dare to be so rude even before the Crown Prince of the Empire?
Daniel continued firmly,
“I will report this to His Majesty at once—”
“That’s enough. Are you planning to draw a real blade over children’s play?”
Before Daniel could finish, Adria cut him off with an expression of utter distaste.
Daniel’s brows drew sharply together.
“Play?”
“Yes. Play.”
“And you would call something involving Your Highness’s safety ‘play’?”
Daniel’s eyes, unfiltered in their shock and anger, were more serious than ever.
Growing even more heated, he added,
“It’s obvious, isn’t it? She must be running wild, relying on her father’s power.”
“Hmph.”
Adria let the words roll off him.
In truth, he had thought the same at first.
Had they not spoken that day about the so-called “bet,” his perception would never have changed.
The girl named Clarissa was different from those who simply strutted about on the strength of their father’s authority.
And yet, she wasn’t like the sly, serpent-like Vestas either.
She was far simpler than that—and far more aggressive.
Adria had brushed off her behavior as childish mischief, but in truth, it was neither a joke nor play.
[But if I win… well, even if I don’t say it, I’m sure you will.]
The voice that fell at the end of her impudent proposals had been well within Adria’s expectations.
She was a girl notorious for her love of extravagance.
Adria had assumed she would demand nothing more than gold, jewels, or some other luxury.
It was a clear miscalculation.
[…You must become that child’s true friend.]
For a moment, Adria had to think about what he had just heard.
Clarissa’s demand was nothing like the bets he had known all his life.
The wagers he understood were ones where both gain and loss belonged to the parties involved.
But Clarissa accepted the loss for herself and handed the gain over to someone else.
All for “that child”—who would never even know this bet existed.
[And no matter what happens, you must protect him.]
[No matter how I look at it, I’m the one losing here.]
In truth, the initiative in the bet had always rested with Adria.
Whether he liked it or not, anyone could say no with a few words.
If it were just to toy with the impudent girl before him, Adria felt he could tell any lie without hesitation.
[No.]
Clarissa’s eyes, impossibly serious, shimmered as she looked straight at him.
[I swear here and now that this will only ever benefit Your Highness—never harm you.]
[Such confidence. Can you prove it?]
Driven by a strange sense of stubborn pride, Adria picked a fight he didn’t even need, the corner of his lips twisting upward.
Yet Clarissa did not waver in the slightest.
[Once Your Highness meets him yourself, you’ll understand…]
Her voice, soft like that of a canary, crossed the breeze and reached Adria’s ear.
A smile as beautiful as a blooming flower spread across her face—utterly unlike the sharp, irritating presence she had shown him at every turn.
[He’s a good person. Unlike me.]
“Ha!”
“Your Highness?”
A laugh bordering on irritation burst from Adria as the image of her face, still vivid in his mind, resurfaced.
Daniel stared at him in shock.
“Isn’t it curious?”
Adria’s strange behavior didn’t stop there.
Hearing words that barely qualified as a coherent statement, Daniel momentarily lost his composure.
Unfazed by Daniel’s confusion, Adria continued,
“What it is that the beast raised by Vestas is clinging to so desperately.”
The Lisette marquisate was busy receiving guests today. For once, Clarissa obediently wandered the estate, led by Eclea’s hand.
In the end, it was all to placate Eclea, who had grown sulky after Vestas and Clarissa had gone on their so-called “outing to the imperial palace” alone.
Dresses of countless colors flaunted their beauty beneath the sunlight. Beside an unusually excited Eclea, Clarissa stood like a well-behaved doll, doing nothing but blinking.
The stream of guests showed no sign of ending. Clarissa worked her small head furiously, searching for even the tiniest opening to escape as quickly as possible.
As if sensing her thoughts, a beautiful group of ladies approached the mother and daughter.
“Marchioness Lisette.”
“Oh, Countess Lawrence. Thank you so much for coming.”
“Not at all. I should be the one thanking you for the invitation. Have you been well?”
They were Countess Lawrence—an old business partner of the Lisette family—and her companions. While Eclea was happily absorbed in conversation for the first time in a while, Clarissa quietly took a step back.
But opportunity never came so easily.
“Ah, and this must be…?”
One of the ladies turned toward Clarissa and asked Eclea for an introduction. Judging by her tone, she must have been a first-time guest at the Lisette estate.
Otherwise, she would hardly have tried to strike up a conversation with Clarissa—infamous for becoming troublesome the moment one engaged her.
“Clarissa.”
At Eclea’s gentle call, Clarissa swallowed a curse and closed the distance she had just created. She bent at the waist with exquisite grace.
The ladies’ faces, stiff a moment ago, softened at the textbook-perfect etiquette. Clarissa didn’t stop there, responding in a canary-like voice.
“I am Clarissa, attending Marchioness Lisette today.”
“Lisa!”
Eclea let out a small cry of embarrassment at Clarissa’s phrasing, as though she had called herself a mere attendant.
Her apricot-colored cheeks flushed like ripe peaches.
“I’m sorry—my daughter isn’t yet accustomed to gatherings like this.”
“So it really is Lady Clarissa. Just as the rumors say…”
The lady who had asked for the introduction wore a twisted smile as she looked at Eclea, who was offering a brief apology.
It seemed she hadn’t been unaware at all—she had simply wanted to gossip about the rumors.
“Thank you.”
Clarissa promptly cut her off with a polite expression of gratitude.
“I suppose I’m a little prettier than the rumors, at least.”
The woman who had wanted to add more words hid her face behind her fan in embarrassment.
The gazes of the ladies—including Countess Lawrence—landed on Clarissa’s cheeks.
Clarissa, now clearly enjoying the attention, moved her lips with something closer to delight.
“Spending time with you ladies would be a true pleasure and the greatest honor, but I’m not very good with words. So, in order to prevent any ‘possible’ discourtesy, may I excuse myself now?”
Her tone was impeccably earnest, but the meaning bordered on a threat.
The ladies’ shoulders trembled slightly. Among them, only Eclea offered her thanks with genuine sincerity.
“Yes, thank you for today, Clarissa.”
“Yes, Mother. I hope you have a delightful time.”
Having received official permission to leave, a smile spread across Clarissa’s lips.
Bowing gracefully once more as she had at the start, Clarissa left the banquet hall without so much as a glance back.
LOL