Beguiling the Enemy’s Patriarch - Chapter 74

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 74
“Hades.”
[You want to preserve your own body too, don’t you, Soleia Elad?]
Soleia Elad bit her crimson lips. From the start, if her master commanded her, she had no other choice. The meticulously constructed plan was beginning to unravel—spiraling into a destructive and messy direction that Soleia Elad hardly preferred.
Yet in truth, considering that Auredhian Belgot had already decided not to accept Soleia Elad’s proposal, this was an unavoidable future that would inevitably arrive.
Thus, each passing day felt like the calm before a storm wearing a mask of tranquility.
* * *
Several days had slipped away since Clarisse had given me a heads-up about the delegation’s welcome ceremony. During that time, I had swept and scrubbed every corner of the Temple while wrestling with endless deliberation.
The welcome ceremony. Should I attend or not? With diplomatic tensions already tangled between the three kingdoms, could I, as Princess of Lebovni, simply skip it without consequence?
Yet truthfully, that worry was unnecessary. Less than four days after my brief tea time with Clarisse, I was summoned to the Imperial Palace. Had something happened in the meantime?
I stepped into the Imperial Palace again for the first time in a fortnight, my heart heavy with anxiety. Of course, Diego Schmart accompanied me.
“Summoned to the Imperial Palace so suddenly… what could they be thinking…?”
“Indeed, my lady.”
Diego Schmart trailed off uncertainly. He too seemed to have heard nothing. I furrowed my brow slightly, recalling how Auredhian Belgot had been visiting the Temple once every four days without fail. I had assumed he would come to the Temple and never summon me back to the Imperial Palace. Was something wrong after all? Was it related to Soleia Elad…? I entered the Imperial Palace, my anxiety multiplying like clouds.
To cut to the conclusion, that worry proved entirely unnecessary.
“Yerenika!”
“Oof!”
The moment I stepped into the Audience Chamber, something massive crashed into me, sending me staggering backward. The voice calling my name was strangely familiar. Could it be…? I stammered bewilderedly at whoever was crushing me in an embrace.
“S-Sergei?”
“Yeah, Yerenika. You’re alive and well!”
“Is it really you, Sergei?”
I blinked stupidly before gripping his shoulders firmly and pulling him back. A face on the verge of bursting into tears appeared before my eyes. Only after confirming it did my mouth fall open.
“Wow. It really is…?”
Black hair and the green eyes of House of Lebanon—this beautiful youth, prettier than most girls, was unmistakably Sergei Lebanon, my childhood friend I had left behind in Lebovni.
I stammered as I asked.
“You… what are you doing here?”
“Is that what you say to a friend you haven’t seen in three months?!”
Sergei Lebanon shot back loudly before crashing into me again. Not embracing me—he literally hung from my neck like a pendant. With a man a head taller than me dangling like that, I had no choice but to stagger again. If Diego Schmart hadn’t caught me from behind, I would have collapsed entirely.
He seemed taller than when I last saw him, and his frame seemed broader too… Ah, boys this age do grow rather quickly, don’t they? I swayed back and forth, barely managing to support Sergei Lebanon’s weight.
“Hey, hey. Calm down a bit…”
“I was so worried! I was certain at least one of your limbs would be broken!”
“I understand that, but first, let go…”
Sergei Lebanon showed no sign of listening. Eventually, I sighed and patted the tightly clinging Sergei Lebanon as tears streamed down his face.
“I’m fine. I’ve been living as luxuriously as I did in Lebovni. Besides, I even wrote letters.”
“All your limbs are still attached?”
“Of course they are…”
I’m standing here perfectly fine on both legs. What’s this talk about missing limbs?
“Let me see!”
“I’m fine, really.”
Sergei Lebanon set me down briefly, then examined me from head to toe with a tearful expression.
“But why are you so thin!”
“Well… there were some circumstances.”
The boy was perceptive to a fault. I laughed it off and patted Sergei Lebanon’s arm, when just a few steps ahead I spotted two men wearing expressions as tearful as Sergei’s own. One was my escort knight, Fernandis. The other was my sister Tezebia’s husband—my brother-in-law, Duke Lebanon.
“Ah…”
Only then did I grasp the situation properly. This group, in other words…
“The… the Lebovni Delegation has already arrived…”
“Princess Yerenika!”
“Your Highness!”
I couldn’t finish my sentence. Voices far louder than Sergei’s echoed through the vast Audience Chamber. Two men with frames like mountains rushed toward me with thundering footsteps and began inspecting my entire body.
“Are you alright?! You haven’t been hurt anywhere, have you?”
“Ferdi, I’m fine.”
“My wife threatened me that if even one hair on your head is out of place, she won’t forgive me. You’re truly unharmed, aren’t you?”
“Uh, brother-in-law…”
Even my typically stoic brother-in-law was reacting with such fervor. I could only imagine how my mother, father, and sister Tezebia must have been faring in Lebovni. Ah, I felt terribly guilty for having been so indifferent to them all this time. I smiled brightly, reflecting on my own negligence.
“It’s been so long, Ferdi. You too, brother-in-law!”
“I am unworthy of serving as your escort. Once we return to Lebovni, I shall resign from my position immediately.”
“No, it’s not really Ferdi’s fault…”
I trailed off vaguely while glancing at Sergei Lebanon, who was practically glued to my side. Truth be told, my abduction to Belgot happened because he hadn’t appeared when he should have. But if I said that aloud, my brother-in-law and Fernandis would surely throw him out the window. I struggled to placate all three men at once.
“I’m truly fine. His Majesty treated me as an honored guest rather than a hostage, and I lacked for nothing. I even saw much of Belgot, and ate many delicious things. I stayed at the Temple as well… and met many wonderful people…”
“You’re thin. Definitely thin. Just the other day you were as plump as a piglet…”
“There’s nothing to worry about… shut up, Sergei.”
I cut myself off and cursed at Sergei Lebanon with surprising gentleness.
“A piglet? You bastard?”
“That’s right. Just three months ago you were so chubby…”
Was this an insult or a compliment? Either way, my mood plummeted. What bothered me most was how serious his expression was when he said “chubby.” I shoved Sergei Lebanon away.
“Get away from me. Far away. Even after all this time, you’re still useless.”
“Your sharp tongue seems unchanged…”
Sergei Lebanon stepped back, muttering. It was an insult. Pure insult. I glared at him sharply, but then felt an even more piercing gaze directed at me. When I turned my head in confusion, I met the eyes of a handsome face watching me with a slight tilt from a distance.
“Oh, right.”
I drew in a sharp breath without thinking. Of course, this was the Audience Chamber. Whose audience would one have in the Belgot Imperial Palace’s Audience Chamber?
“Are you satisfied now? Duke.”
Auredhian Belgot spoke with evident displeasure. He reclined upon the imperial throne in a posture that was far too casual, almost arrogant, his head resting on his fingertips. At first glance, he cut an imposing figure befitting the master of an empire. Yet I noticed his expression was twisted with considerable discomfort. Auredhian continued in that same tilted tone.
“How dare you come to the Emperor’s Audience Chamber and threaten me for the princess.”
“What.”
I was the only one who gasped. Now I understood why Auredhian had summoned me to the palace. These overzealous Lebovni people had actually made demands of the Emperor himself…!
“Last time too, you threatened to blow up Glucaman if I didn’t send the princess’s personal letter…”
The problem was this wasn’t the first time. I pressed my temples. That’s right, it had happened before. Father had made quite a fuss demanding my letter be sent…
I opened my mouth.
“I’m… I’m sorry. It seems Lebovni was far more worried than I realized…”
His sarcasm felt strange coming from someone who never spoke that way. Something about his expression and tone felt deeply off. Moreover, Auredhian Belgot wasn’t even looking at me. His crimson eyes swept across my brother-in-law, Fernandis, and Sergei Lebanon. It seemed his gaze lingered a bit longer on Sergei.
Auredhian Belgot’s lips curved upward in a smirk.
“Your rudeness pierces the heavens. Does the master of Belgot appear so easily handled?”
I watched the faces of the Lebovni men surrounding me stiffen visibly. I blinked in bewilderment. Why, why was he being so difficult…!
“…Ah.”
But I grasped the reason in an instant. The moment Sergei Lebanon pushed me behind him, Auredhian’s expression turned glacial—a transformation so stark it took my breath away. A laugh escaped my lips before I could stop it. Sergei Lebanon stared down at me as though I’d lost my mind, then shook his head slowly.
“Something definitely happened between you two…”
“You’re secretly pleased by this, aren’t you?”
“Brother, forget the welcome ceremony. We should leave immediately. Something’s clearly wrong with her.”
Before I could fully surrender to my dazed state, Sergei Lebanon interjected with genuine concern.
“Be quiet, my friend.”
I set aside my joy at reuniting with my childhood companion and gently moved Sergei Lebanon aside. As he shifted a few steps to the side, Auredhian Belgot’s troubled expression filled my entire view. I offered him my brightest smile—the one I knew he cherished most.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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