I Was Marked as the Grand Duke Male Lead’s Stepmother - Chapter 58

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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 58

Marisselle, who didn’t even have the strength to stand properly, sat down with Morgan’s support while panting heavily.

And with a sulky face, she glared at Morgan and huffed.

“Your Highness! You did that on purpose, didn’t you? How petty to get revenge like this just because I stepped on your feet a few times!”

“Revenge…!”

Morgan smiled slyly.

“How disappointing. The Grand Duke of the Empire himself became your dance practice partner, and all I get is accusations of revenge. I feel so wronged…”

“Your Highness. One song would have been enough for me, and I never wanted any practice. I’m the one who suffered unjust harm.”

“I have no idea what harm you’re talking about.”

Morgan lowered his eyes innocently and played dumb.

“Are you really saying that because you don’t know? Thanks to Your Highness, I danced four songs in a row without any break, and now my legs are so shaky that I can’t accept anyone’s dance invitation.”

Though Marisselle spoke in a grumpy voice, Morgan smiled with satisfaction.

‘That’s exactly what I wanted, Miss Marisselle.’

Morgan had deliberately exhausted Marisselle so she couldn’t dance. So she couldn’t dance with anyone.

“How very disappointing. I came to ask for a dance, but your legs are too shaky to dance. I must have come at the wrong time.”

A low, gentle voice.

Marisselle quickly turned her head toward the sound.

“Huh, what? Cr-Crown Prince, Your Highness?”

Without time to think, her body automatically stood up.

“I greet the small sun of the Empire, His Highness the Crown Prince.”

“Hmm… The greeting is done, may I sit for a moment?”

“Yes, yes. Of course. Your Highness the Crown Prince.”

Marisselle moved quickly to pull out a chair for the Crown Prince to sit.

“Pfft! Hahaha. This is the first time a noble lady has pulled out a chair for me to sit. Hahaha.”

Renegade seemed surprised for a moment, then laughed heartily.

‘Ah!’

Marisselle had acted without thinking, completely forgetting that she was a noble lady, with only the thought of serving her superior in mind.

Feeling embarrassed, Marisselle laughed awkwardly and scratched her head.

“Ahaha…”

Morgan spoke in a displeased tone without even looking at Renegade.

“As I said, she can’t dance, so please get up and leave.”

Renegade took a drink from a passing servant, placed it on the table, and said.

“I can wait until the lady recovers. That’s why I’m going to wait.”

Only then did Morgan glare at Renegade with murderous intent.

“His Majesty is looking for you. Go. I’ll take responsibility and keep the lady company.”

‘Cunning bastard.’

Tsk. Morgan clicked his tongue inwardly.

Using an irrefusable summons to separate him from Marisselle and wedge himself between them.

Morgan was extremely annoyed but had no choice but to get up and walk toward the Emperor.

But after taking only a few steps, he hurriedly returned and whispered sternly in Marisselle’s ear.

“Don’t go anywhere else and stay here until I come back. And don’t dance with that bastard.”

“…”

Still looking anxious, Morgan glared at Renegade and turned toward the Emperor.

‘What am I supposed to do? Does that even make sense? How am I supposed to refuse the Crown Prince’s dance invitation?’

Marisselle felt overwhelmed just having the Crown Prince in front of her, and her lips pouted in resentment at Morgan for leaving her with such an impossible request.

“Why, is being with me uncomfortable?”

Renegade asked with a bright smile.

‘Wow…’

A man can smile so radiantly…

When he smiled, he seemed to sparkle as if fairies were sprinkling gold dust.

Bright golden hair and deeply blue eyes.

Perhaps because he was Morgan’s cousin. They were similar yet different. If Morgan was autumn, the Crown Prince felt like spring.

“Un-uncomfortable? Rather than uncomfortable, it would be more accurate to say I’m humbly honored to be in your presence? Your Highness. Ahaha.”

So please leave quickly, she smiled awkwardly.

Did he understand? …Like hell he did.

Instead, he smiled even more brightly with his eyes and struck up a conversation.

“Are you two dating?”

At this completely unexpected direct question, Marisselle couldn’t swallow the drink she was having and spat it out.

Cough. Cough.

It went down the wrong way and she started coughing. But even while coughing, she worried about whether the drink had splashed on the Crown Prince’s clothes.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem to have gotten on the Crown Prince’s clothes.

“Oh my. Was my question that shocking?”

The Crown Prince spoke nonchalantly while naturally offering her a handkerchief.

“N-No. It’s just a question I’ve never thought about before, haha. Dating His Grace the Duke? That’s absolutely preposterous.”

Marisselle hastily took the handkerchief, roughly wiped her mouth, and immediately began cleaning her clothes.

“You’re not dating? Then how were you able to bring the Duke as your Cavalier?”

Marisselle stopped wiping the stains on her skirt and slowly raised her head.

“That’s because I had circumstances where I couldn’t find a Cavalier, so His Grace specially bestowed his grace upon me. I’m a person of just a tiny! A very tiny bit of importance as a nanny in the Duke’s Household. Ahaha.”

She brought her hand close to her eyes, narrowed the space between her thumb and index finger, and squinted her eyes to demonstrate ‘small’.

“Hahaha. Miss Marisselle. You seem like quite an interesting person.”

Renegade laughed heartily.

Then he gestured to summon his personal maid. When he extended his hand toward the maid, the quick-witted maid placed a neatly folded handkerchief on the Crown Prince’s palm.

“…?”

Marisselle startled and tried to pull back, but before she could, Renegade gently grasped her chin to hold it steady and began naturally wiping around her mouth and cheeks.

“Ah… Y-Your Highness… I-I’ll do it myself.”

Marisselle felt like she might die of shock. To suddenly come in without warning and wipe her face. And the Crown Prince no less, in front of everyone watching.

Her face burned hot and her heart felt like it would burst through her ribcage.

With someone who sparkled like sunlight doing this right in front of her, she lost track of where to look.

Oh, whatever. I don’t know anymore. She just closed her eyes instead.

But…

Who knew this would only add fuel to the fire.

“Why… is there something else you want more? A kiss perhaps?”

‘A kiss? What is he suddenly talking about now?’

Marisselle was startled and opened her eyes.

“Pardon? Your Highness? What do you mean by that? A kiss?”

Renegade smiled with his eyes crinkling.

“You closed your eyes when there’s a man right in front of you. That means you’re focusing on lips. Isn’t that what a kiss means? That’s what I understand…?”

When crows fly, pears fall.

How could such a thing happen?

“N-No, Your Highness. I didn’t mean that. I just didn’t know what to do since Your Highness was personally wiping for me. No, I was honored. Ah, no. Y-Your Highness was too dazzling. S-So I felt like I might go blind…”

“Haha, hahaha.”

Renegade couldn’t contain his laughter. His shoulders shook as he laughed for quite a while before finally calming down.

Wiping her face strangely felt good. After finishing, he oddly felt reluctant for it to end.

So he wiped the already clean spots again. Just as he was about to lower his hand, worried that her skin might get irritated, she squeezed her eyes shut.

Seeing her innocent face with closed eyes, Renegade felt like playing a little prank. But he never imagined she would react so amusingly.

‘Like sunlight, going blind.’

Strangely, the words that came from her mouth made him feel good.

“You’re so flustered that I’m starting to feel sorry.”

“Pardon? …Were you joking?”

An expression mixing bewilderment and indignation.

‘She really is interesting.’

Those watching this scene were just as shocked as the stunned Marisselle.

“Oh, oh oh oh… how could…”

“His Highness the Crown Prince personally, with his own hands, w-wiped her face…”

The surroundings buzzed with silent screams and gasps.

It was already remarkable that the Duke had come to Cavalier and danced four consecutive songs with one person, but now the Crown Prince was personally wiping her face.

The hall grew increasingly restless, to the point where it grated on Morgan’s ears.

Morgan turned his head toward the source of the commotion out of concern.

And sure enough, at the center of the disturbance were Marisselle and the Crown Prince. Renegade was holding Marisselle’s chin and wiping her face.

Morgan felt his blood boiling in reverse. He wanted to rush to Marisselle’s side immediately and tear that snake-like bastard away from her.

But the Emperor, who was in league with that brat, wouldn’t let him go and kept engaging him in conversation.

Meanwhile, the Crown Prince was rising with Marisselle and leaving the hall.

Morgan couldn’t hear the Emperor’s words. All his attention was focused on Marisselle.

He was trying to see where they were going when the Emperor interfered again.

“Morgan, instead of focusing on me, your uncle and Emperor, where are you looking so intently!”

Morgan had no choice but to turn his head and look at the Emperor.

The Emperor rambled on with pointless talk for quite a while before finally releasing Morgan.

But by then, Marisselle and the Crown Prince had already disappeared from sight.

Morgan looked around frantically, but it was futile.

Morgan asked people around where Marisselle had disappeared about her whereabouts, but they all answered that they didn’t know, as if they had conspired together.

Just then, Bohra approached Morgan with a coy manner.

“I greet Duke Morgan Ergana Yohaim. Your Grace, are you perhaps looking for Lady Marisselle?”

Morgan frowned at the familiar voice and slowly turned around.

As expected, it was the person he had anticipated.

“You speak as if you know something.”

“That’s right, Your Grace. I’ll guide you.”

Bohra spoke with a seductive posture, deliberately blinking her long eyelashes slowly in an enticing manner.

‘Disgusting woman.’

If it weren’t for needing to know Marisselle’s whereabouts, he wouldn’t have even glanced at such a person.

Bohra lifted her dress that emphasized her chest and waist lines slightly and led the way, swaying her hips coquettishly.

She stopped in front of a curtained balcony in the center of the hall.

“Are you saying Marisselle is here?”

Morgan asked coldly with a suspicious frown.

“That’s right, Your Grace.”

Bohra nodded slightly and gestured toward the balcony, telling him to go in.

“Is Marisselle alone? Or did she go in with someone else?”

At this, Bohra hesitated as if flustered by Morgan’s question instead of going in immediately, and answered in an uncertain voice.

“W-with His Highness the Crown Prince…”

Morgan nearly lost his reason at the mention of the Crown Prince and almost moved his body first.

“…You go in first, my lady.”

Bohra was standing too close to him and watching the door obsessively.

Morgan could instinctively tell that she was planning to pull some trick on him the moment the door opened.

Something like stumbling or getting dizzy and collapsing into his arms – that kind of obvious scheme.

So Morgan instructed Bohra to open the door.

When Morgan didn’t move according to her plan, Bohra had to quickly revise her strategy.

She had no choice but to open the door as Morgan requested, but decided to collapse into Morgan’s arms simultaneously as she opened it.

‘Everyone will see, won’t they? Me being held in Morgan’s arms. And they’ll spread rumors like crazy. Hehe.’

Bohra smiled just from imagining it.

Bang!

Bohra flung open the balcony door.

“Kyaah-!”

As the red velvet curtains fluttered in the wind, screams were heard simultaneously from both the balcony and the hall.

One was from a man and woman engaged in romantic activities on the balcony, and the other was from Bohra.

Bohra leaped toward Morgan’s arms as soon as she opened the door, according to her plan.

But Morgan quickly pulled his body back, causing Bohra to fall flat on the floor in an unseemly manner.

“Tsk.”

Morgan clicked his tongue in annoyance.

And soon after, everyone in the hall turned their eyes toward the source of the scream.

“Oh my! What on earth happened?”

They only whispered to each other and watched. Not a single person came forward to help Bohra, who was sprawled on the floor.

Of course, there were those who wanted to help her up, but with Morgan standing firmly in front of Bohra, they couldn’t easily move.

It would have been a good opportunity to score points with the House of Count Zelkova, but it was nothing more than pie in the sky.

“Is she unable to get up because she’s hurt? Or is she unable to get up because she’s embarrassed? Ho ho ho.”

“Well, isn’t it probably both? Ho ho ho.”

The nobles who harbored ill feelings toward Bohra were busy mocking her as she remained unable to get up.

Just then, Morgan turned his body toward the hall and swept his stern gaze across the entire gathering.

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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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