I’m Going to Change My Husband With a Predatory Marriage - Chapter 49
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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 49
The attendants brought in warm tea and refreshments.
I opened the conversation with a smile.
“Surely one doesn’t need a reason to help a lady in distress, does one?”
However, Isephin Solenu shook her head.
“That may be true in some cases, but I’m quite certain it wasn’t the case just now.”
“Why is that?”
Isephin’s usually composed gaze grew distant, as if looking far away.
“Because His Highness the Prince was drawing attention to himself so very conspicuously.”
“….”
I couldn’t possibly deny it.
Isephin, who had maintained her composure throughout, finally burst into laughter.
“That, pfft, Baby Squirrel was… truly remarkable.”
I felt like I wanted to find a mouse hole—or rather, a squirrel hole—and hide in it.
“Please, don’t bring that up.”
“Hehe. Yes, I understand.”
But she didn’t give up on subtly probing further.
“It seems that nickname wasn’t something you both agreed upon?”
“Of course it wasn’t!”
A squirrel, no less!
And a baby squirrel at that!
Moreover, Arpard had blurted it out right in front of the Empress.
By tomorrow, wouldn’t every nobleman in the Capital City know that my actual nickname is Baby Squirrel?
Why on earth a squirrel of all things?!
I felt like I could grab Arpard right then and there and shake him while demanding answers.
But this wasn’t the time for that.
I took a deep breath and tried to compose myself.
‘Get a grip. Now isn’t the time to be distracted by such things. Whether it’s a squirrel or a rabbit doesn’t matter!’
What mattered was the Princess Solenu sitting right before me.
I took a sip of tea with a bright smile and offered her some.
“Please, have some first. It will warm you up.”
Even though it was spring, she was someone whose body had gotten wet outdoors.
It seemed best to raise her body temperature with warm tea.
Of course, this tea was not the flower tea that Evangeline had sprinkled earlier, but something different.
Princess Solenu drank the tea obediently and broached the main topic I hadn’t even properly brought up yet.
“Are you perhaps asking for my help regarding the banquet at Artanus Hall?”
I asked with a smile.
“What makes you think that?”
“Well, my great-aunt, the Grand Duchess, is Prince Arpard’s maternal grandmother.”
Princess Solenu explained the situation with remarkable composure.
“Moreover, it’s well-known that the Western Social Circle turned its back on the Central Social Circle entirely because of the Grand Duchess.”
Even as Isephin spoke of weighty matters one by one, she remained utterly unmoved.
In truth, anyone involved in High Society would find such topics utterly fascinating.
It wasn’t merely a matter of factional strife within society—the question of imperial succession was entangled in it as well.
She listed the facts in a blunt manner.
“If Your Highness wishes to bring the Western Social Circle to your side, it’s only natural that you would extend your hand to me.”
“True. Everyone would think the same.”
Isephin stated this with her characteristic flat tone.
“But if that’s what you want from me, I’m afraid you’ve miscalculated.”
I wasn’t surprised. I already knew such words would come.
But I asked nonetheless. The conversation had to continue.
“Why is that?”
“Because I’m a cast-off child of my house.”
Usually, when someone says such things, they hesitate or show some shame.
But Isephin Solenu showed no such signs whatsoever.
She was merely listing facts as they were.
“I incurred my grandfather the Marquis’s wrath. Sending me to the Central Social Circle was essentially casting me out.”
Moreover, just moments ago when Evangeline had spilled tea on her, ruining her dress, she hadn’t shown the slightest disturbance.
She hadn’t even felt insulted.
If I hadn’t stepped in immediately, wouldn’t Evangeline have grown even more furious at her composed demeanor?
She explained her circumstances in an almost entirely monotone voice until the very end.
“I could never be accepted in the Central sphere controlled by the Empress—I’m simply meant to suffer humiliation and then return to the West to enter a monastery. So I’m in no position to be of help.”
For a noblewoman of a prestigious family, this was essentially a death sentence.
Yet she remained disturbingly indifferent.
‘And I, I know the reason why.’
Why the young lady had fallen from her grandfather’s favor, and moreover, what would become of her in the future.
Seeing my smile, Princess Solenu opened her mouth in surprise for the first time.
“Your Highness doesn’t seem surprised.”
“No.”
“Did you know beforehand?”
“Yes.”
She frowned in thought for a moment, then reached a simple conclusion.
“Prince Arpard’s intelligence network must be quite formidable.”
It was natural to think so.
After all, I had obtained information about Princess Solenu through Yulken.
The preamble was sufficient at this point.
I decided to move on to the main matter.
“Princess Solenu. I didn’t summon you to ask for your help with the Artanus Hall reception.”
“Then what did you call me here to ask of me?”
She asked without seeming particularly curious.
Still indifferent.
I was so eager to see that expressionless face shatter.
“Actually, I thought I might be able to help you instead. Princess Solenu.”
Up to this point, Princess Solenu simply tilted her head in confusion.
But with my next words, the shell of apathy that had wrapped around her like armor crumbled to pieces.
“No, not Princess Solenu. Rita Morgan.”
“!!!”
The woman who had been sitting with a vacant expression suddenly shot to her feet.
Those blue eyes, which had seemed perpetually hazy and indifferent to everything, always appeared as though veiled by mist.
But in this moment, that mist had cleared completely.
I continued with the information I possessed.
“You’re the owner of Morgan Atelier, quite well-known in the West, aren’t you? Why did you suddenly close your shop?”
I crossed my legs with a confident expression.
Anny refilled the empty teacup.
This time, a deep purple liquid filled the white cup.
Pale violet Shariga flower petals shimmered across the surface of the tea.
The reason I knew of the existence of ‘Rita Morgan’ was simple.
Before my regression, she had been the owner of the most famous atelier in the West.
She had briefly closed her shop and disappeared, only to reappear years later and sweep through the Western Social Circle with her innovations.
Because she produced only revolutionary and beautiful designs in limited quantities, even Central nobles desperately desired her creations.
During Rita Morgan’s heyday, there were whispers that the divide in high society itself was crumbling.
And not long after, Rita Morgan died of illness.
Her peak lasted barely two years.
Afterward, her identity was revealed through the seamstresses who had worked under her.
It was then discovered that Rita Morgan was actually Isephin, the daughter of the prestigious Solenu Countess.
‘It was truly an enormous scandal.’
Work as a costume designer or seamstress was not something a noble lady should do, much less the daughter of a distinguished house.
That was why she had operated in secret, until eventually her family discovered her.
Forced to close her shop, she entered a monastery, only to fall ill not long after.
Realizing her time was running short, Princess Solenu abandoned the monastery and threw herself into her work, ignoring her family’s interference.
The reason the Solenu family had stopped trying to stop her during those final two years, despite having obstructed her before, was likely because they knew her time was limited.
Because of these circumstances, Rita Morgan—that is, Isephin Solenu—became a legend in the future.
Since the number of her remaining works was small, each piece held tremendous value.
And there was one more distinctive characteristic: Rita Morgan never created dresses for Evangeline or those close to her.
‘This was why Evangeline had raged so furiously that it was easy to remember.’
And I knew the reason for it as well.
‘It was because of the insult Evangeline had suffered today.’
This seemingly indifferent woman possessed a passion that could set her very soul ablaze.
And once she had been slighted, she was the type to harbor grudges for a long time.
Princess Solenu gazed at me with disbelief before asking again.
“How do you know all of that? Ah, does Prince Arpard’s intelligence network reach that far? It’s not information worth that much effort.”
“Why wouldn’t it be worth that much effort?”
At my words, Princess Solenu, who had been drowning in confusion, lifted her head.
“Then what value does it have?”
“It has tremendous value. Because I know the capabilities of Rita Morgan.”
Though it was only two years, she had become a legend.
Had she been able to showcase her talents earlier, she would have undoubtedly made an even greater name for herself.
“I’m not asking Isephin Solenu right now. I’m asking the designer known as Rita Morgan.”
“Asking me…what?”
I lifted the fan resting on the table and unfurled it in one fluid motion.
As the fan that had hidden my face lowered, our eyes met.
I asked with my eyes narrowed into crescents.
“Don’t you want to create the dress for the protagonist of the Artanus Hall soirée?”
“…!”
I did not miss the flicker in her eyes.
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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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