I Was Marked as the Grand Duke Male Lead’s Stepmother - Chapter 43

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Chapter 43

 

“Good! Now Uncle will take care of it himself.”

 

Fleur clenched both fists and let out a sigh of relief.

 

When Marisselle first mentioned the debutante ball, Fleur had only listened with interest.

 

“My parents told me to keep an eye out for any decent people at the debutante ball. Hehe. They said they’ll do their best to make a marriage work out. They really are parents who cherish their daughter. Hohoho.”

 

But from this point on, he couldn’t listen with a smile anymore.

 

Marisselle getting married? To someone other than Uncle?

 

Anxiety began to creep in that Marisselle might be taken away like this.

 

‘No! Marisselle is going to be my mother!’

 

Marisselle has to marry Uncle…

 

Busy Uncle seemed oblivious to the fact that Marisselle was preparing for her debutante ball.

 

Uncle likes Marisselle. Though it seems Marisselle doesn’t like Uncle yet.

 

He believed without a doubt that Marisselle would come to like Uncle before long.

 

Because Uncle has lots of money, is handsome, smart, and strong too.

 

He also knew that countless noble ladies in the Empire wanted to marry Uncle. So surely Marisselle would come to like Uncle soon enough.

 

And since the Crown Prince, like Uncle, was desired by countless women in the Empire for marriage, he just needed to keep the Crown Prince at bay.

 

The Crown Prince he had seen at a royal banquet he attended with his parents was a very dazzling person.

 

So Marisselle might fall for the Crown Prince when she sees him, and since Marisselle is pretty, the Crown Prince might fall for Marisselle when he sees her.

 

But this was something that absolutely must not happen.

 

The only person who could prevent this was Uncle.

 

Since Uncle likes Marisselle, he would definitely try to become Marisselle’s cavaliere. Then he could keep the Crown Prince at bay.

 

He could also prevent Marisselle from finding a marriage partner according to her parents’ wishes.

 

So Fleur made a plan.

 

As soon as Marisselle left for the Main Estate, he went to the Duke’s Office.

 

And he instilled in Uncle the sense of urgency that he needed to claim the position as Marisselle’s partner.

 

Uncle understood immediately as expected and said he would handle it.

 

They even did a pinky promise and stamped it.

 

‘Uncle will definitely keep his promise!’

 

Since he had explained the meaning of the promise ritual, he believed without doubt that Uncle would definitely keep his promise.

 

With a much more relaxed expression, Fleur went to sit by the window to finish reading the book he had been reading.

 

* * *

 

After dropping off Fleur and returning to his study, Morgan sat at his desk and fell into thought, going over each point Fleur had mentioned.

 

Unable to contain himself, Rino opened his mouth with an annoying grin.

 

“Hahaha. Fleur is such a filial son, such a filial son.”

 

Morgan glared fiercely at Rino for breaking his train of thought.

 

“What do you mean? Filial son?”

 

“Well, isn’t it obvious? He came running to daddy because he was worried someone might snatch Marisselle away.”

 

Rino shrugged his shoulders and chuckled as if he found it extremely amusing.

 

Morgan looked at Rino with disdain and turned his eyes to the documents, pretending to be indifferent.

 

When Morgan didn’t react, Rino lost interest and left, saying he’d be back in a bit.

 

In the meantime, Morgan called for Porel.

 

“Bring me all the letters that came for me. Don’t sort them.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Porel went downstairs and came back up with the letters. He placed the sorted correspondence in front of Morgan.

 

More than half of the letters were requests asking him to become a debutante cavaliere.

 

Morgan received countless cavaliere request letters every year, and he was sick and tired of them.

 

However, he had never once attended a debutante ball.

 

All cavaliere requests with the same content.

 

Desperate to make a good impression, they used the finest paper, and there were plenty of letters with stationery that seemed soaked in perfume and dried or pressed flowers enclosed to show the sincerity of handcrafting each one.

 

Among them, one that made him frown.

 

A letter bearing the crest of House of Count Zelkova.

 

As expected, this letter was also soaked in perfume.

 

Since they were rival families, I checked just in case, and sure enough, it contained the same request asking him to become her cavalier.

 

Then Morgan felt disgusted when he saw the sentence at the end of the letter.

 

If Your Grace the Duke becomes my debutante cavalier, the dawn of glory will shine upon the Empire. -Bohra Cruyff Zelkova

 

It was hinting at a union between House of Yohaim and House of Count Zelkova.

 

Morgan, his face deeply frowning, ordered Porel to burn them all.

 

“What a waste of eyesight.”

 

Morgan found himself missing Marisselle.

 

He felt that seeing Marisselle would wash away all these filthy feelings.

 

‘Of all days, she has to be off duty today.’

 

“Liam!”

 

“Yes! My lord!”

 

Liam Levi, captain of Morgan’s shadow knights, released his concealment and revealed himself.

 

“Collect all information coming from the Manua Barony. And bring me everything related to Marisselle without missing a single detail.”

 

“Yes, sir!”

 

Liam’s beast-like golden eyes gleamed as he disappeared at high speed.

 

* * *

 

“Welcome! Marisselle!”

 

Hereise ran up and hugged her like when they were children, greeting Marisselle warmly.

 

The embrace was so natural that Marisselle found herself wrapped in Hereise’s arms before she could even be flustered.

 

If Morgan had seen this, he would have been horrified.

 

“Mm. Hereise. Have you been well all this time?”

 

Marisselle naturally accepted the greeting and created some distance from Hereise.

 

“Of course! How about you, Marisselle? Are you feeling alright? Do you know how worried I was?”

 

“Mm. Sorry, Hereise.”

 

Hereise smiled brightly with a face that looked comfortable, just as Marisselle had said, and spoke.

 

“Let’s go inside. I’ve prepared lots of things you like! My parents are waiting too.”

 

“Huh? The Baron and Baroness?”

 

“Of course! My parents were very worried too. They said they needed to see your face once to feel at ease. Let’s go in.”

 

“Oh. O-okay.”

 

Marisselle was nearly dizzy from Hereise’s overwhelming energy.

 

‘Marisselle, was this your type?’

 

Hereise, who approached without reserve like a puppy, wasn’t the type to judge people.

 

Perhaps he was the optimal person for Marisselle, who was quite shy with strangers.

 

Taking after the Baroness with green eyes and pink hair, his gentle eyes gave an impression completely devoid of wariness.

 

Should I say he was the type of person who naturally made you feel good just by being around him?

 

It seemed she had chosen her friend well.

 

The lunch with Hereise and his parents was as mentally exhausting as Hereise himself, with a barrage of questions.

 

“It would have been nice if Jenti had joined us too… What a shame.”

 

After lunch, Marisselle was enjoying tea time alone with Hereise on the terrace attached to his room.

 

“I know, right. He went to Bero Estate to see his newborn nephew. He’ll be back after quite a while. Let’s meet together again when he returns!”

 

“That’s unfortunate, but we’ll have to. Sister Jendra is healthy, right? Ah, I should call her Countess Bero now, not sister.”

 

“Countess Bero is healthy. Sister has always been the healthy type!”

 

Hereise chuckled as he reminisced about the past.

 

“Ah! I have something for you, Hereise!”

 

“Something for me? For me?”

 

Hereise pointed at himself with his finger and looked at Marisselle with expectant eyes.

 

“Here. This.”

 

Marisselle smoothly presented a beautifully wrapped gift package.

 

Each time Hereise unwrapped a layer of packaging, he glanced at Marisselle with excited eyes.

 

When the last wrapping was removed, Hereise’s eyes widened and his mouth fell open. Soon, tears welled up in his eyes as he smiled so widely that his mouth seemed to take up half his face.

 

Then he jumped up, approached Marisselle, and hugged her tightly!

 

“Marisselle! Thank you so much! This is really the best gift ever!”

 

Hereise wiped away his tears while still hugging Marisselle.

 

“Mm. Hereise. And stop crying.”

 

Hereise’s reaction was absolutely perfect, to the point where I wondered if there could be anyone more honest about their emotions.

 

‘This makes it worth giving gifts.’

 

He was someone who made you want to give him more things.

 

I thought this might be why Marisselle had liked Hereise.

 

After his excitement settled down, Hereise said that the book 〈How to Handle Ancient Mana〉 was truly difficult to obtain.

 

As the title suggested, this book was essentially an ancient text among ancient texts.

 

Hearing Hereise’s words, I understood why he had been so excited.

 

And also why Marisselle had tried to confess while giving him this book.

 

The Marisselle of that time had intended to confess while giving the book, but the current Marisselle had a different matter to discuss.

 

“Hereise. I have a favor to ask. I really hope you’ll grant it.”

 

“What is it? With a bribe this good, anything’s possible!”

 

Marisselle smiled softly.

 

“Be my cavalier for the upcoming debutante ball. You can do that, right?”

 

Marisselle was confident he would naturally agree.

 

As expected, he readily accepted.

 

“Of course! It would be my honor.”

 

“But what about Jenti?”

 

“Don’t worry! Jenti said he’s attending with Brother Gerard. Brother Gerard absolutely adores Jenti, you know. To an excessive degree.”

 

“Oh right. That’s true. Youngsik, who’s taking Jenti away from Brother Gerard’s nagging, will probably need to be a bit nervous. Most likely.”

 

“That’s right.”

 

Hereise enthusiastically agreed with Marisselle’s words. Perhaps enjoying this time of chatting while reminiscing about old memories, his laughter never seemed to fade.

 

During this time, Marisselle clearly realized that Hereise didn’t see Marisselle as a woman at all, but truly only as a childhood friend.

 

Marisselle thought it was extremely fortunate that she hadn’t confessed to him.

 

It had been a perfect case of unrequited love.

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