Mad Rosetta - Chapter 59

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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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Mad Rosetta

Episode 59

I Have a Lover (5)

【…Darling, are you angry?】

“Yeah. You’re looking pretty yellow around the gills today.”

【Sorry. I got nervous thinking you might fall out of favor with the royal family.】

“And while trying to avoid that, I’m getting pressured into marriage?”

【…Right, exactly. They even granted garden access, which they usually only allow for banquets.】

The bastard’s troubled tone drained all my energy.

Cessia’s family was practically under the Empress Dowager’s influence.

It was essentially her pushing for my marriage, which would make things quite troublesome going forward.

“I’m tired, so let’s just go.”

【Hmm, that’s a shame… I thought I could walk with you a bit since we’re already out.】

“Yeah. So let’s take a stroll in the garden to change our mood.”

Sing responded with a giggling laugh at my attitude that changed like flipping a palm.

What’s the big deal about a stroll anyway. I’d been cooped up in the manor and felt stiff, so this worked out well as I headed toward the garden.

Summer wasn’t far off, and I was lost in thought about how the greenery seemed deeper and more vibrant than the flowers.

“Oh…”

Some little kid suddenly popped out from around a corner in the garden, then stared at me with wide eyes.

It was a girl with clean pale yellow hair tied in two pigtails.

This face, definitely…

“Jullia!”

A desperate cry rang out, and soon a grown man appeared from around the corner.

Right, I thought I’d seen this child somewhere… Besides the near-white blonde hair, she had a face that looked exactly like her father.

“I greet the noble of the sun.”

“…You are. The daughter of Duke Benatra.”

As I quickly bowed low in greeting, the man before me wrapped his arms around his child and gave a kind smile.

The young Emperor of Arkanis. It was Jeremias Eshed and his daughter Jullia Bell.

‘I don’t think her birthday has passed yet… So she must be six.’

With her plump cheeks and radiant blue eyes, the princess looked like a doll you’d see in a toy store.

“I also greet Your Highness the Princess. I am Rosetta Coco of the Benitra Ducal House.”

“Uh, um…”

It seems like today I’m meeting every royal there is to meet.

Perhaps she’s very shy. The princess just stared up at me and groaned without any sign of letting me straighten from my stiff bow.

Then the Emperor beside her patted the child’s shoulder and laughed softly.

“Jullia?”

“Oh, ah! You’re the Duke’s daughter. I’ve really wanted to meet you.”

“…You mean me?”

“Yes! You’re the one who discovered the seamstress from Eturaine, right?”

Ouch.

How it became Mother’s favorite dress, how the previous clothing had many inconvenient aspects…

Watching Jullia chatter away busily, I could only smile awkwardly.

‘I feel a bit sorry for stealing a child’s achievement.’

Originally, Miss Etienne would have shone through this tiny princess’s keen eye, so I felt a little embarrassed.

By the way, I heard the Emperor adores his children terribly.

Seeing them strolling through the garden together in broad daylight, it seemed like at least it wasn’t an unfounded rumor.

【…Little brat.】

Though Sing’s impression as he stared down at the child was nothing special.

“But I didn’t expect to encounter you in the garden. I heard you recently went through great hardship – is it alright for you to be out like this?”

“I’m grateful for your concern. Since I’ve also met Her Majesty the Empress, I was just about to return.”

“…Ah, yes. I vaguely remember hearing from the Empress. So that was today.”

I was planning to say ‘I’ll be taking my leave now.’

“Come to think of it, I recall the Duke’s daughter exchanging marriage talks with House of Montague.”

“…Yes, that’s correct.”

“Well now, you never know what will happen in life… If two great noble houses become in-laws, it would be a national celebration.”

Faced with the heartily laughing Emperor, the best I could do was stiffen and reply as if I had any choice in the matter.

‘Did everyone get possessed by ghosts who died from not being able to matchmake?’

I have a lover, you know.

* * *

“Aaaaah! This is so annoying, I’m going crazy!”

As soon as the guard opened the carriage door, I screamed and got in, and though I glimpsed the knights being startled, I had no energy to care.

Even when one of them looked at me nervously and tried to ask if I was alright, I just huffed and told him to close the door.

“…Why! Why is everyone so desperate to marry me off? Damn it, they should all try marrying the wrong spouse once and dying before they come to their senses!”

【Calm down, honey. Everyone outside can hear you.】

“Aren’t you angry? I’m about to marry some other bastard, right now!”

As I screamed loudly, the bastard blinked his eyes stupidly a couple times.

That series of expressions seemed to say he genuinely didn’t care, and I was preparing to be hurt.

【Their suggestions are unpleasant, sure. But I’m not really angry about it.】

“What?”

I was dumbfounded by this truly absurd statement.

While I was throwing a tantrum, he pushed back the hair that had fallen over my eyes and smiled cheerfully.

【Isn’t it time to kill Fordicus?】

“…”

【You’re not planning to make me your mistress, are you? Hmm?】

As the bastard approached with a clear smile as if nothing could bother him, I couldn’t even guess what I should answer.

I could only grip Sing’s chest as my pulse raced from the hand that touched my ear without hesitation, and our breaths became entangled so blatantly.

A man urging me to kill my prospective groom… What could he be if not more shameless than a mistress?

* * *

“How about Fordicus’s birthday?”

After deciding to kill Cessia.

We started making plans as soon as we returned to the manor.

Originally, I planned to pair Cessia with Odette and make their reputations fall first, but with the Empress Dowager getting involved in the marriage, there wasn’t much time left.

If I just waited for scandal, I’d inevitably become a wife who killed her husband.

【Come to think of it, was it around this time?】

“Given his age, he won’t make a big fuss, but House of Montague will probably hold a banquet at least.”

Cessia’s birthday was midsummer. In just a few months, there would definitely be an occasion with various nobles attending, and that would be our opportunity.

The problem was the method of murder.

I considered accidental death like pushing him off the terrace.

But if I made a mistake, I might be named a suspect, or if Cessia miraculously survived, I might end up in prison.

“Hmm… It would be troublesome if the cause of death was poison.”

I groaned thinking of the Panilnia concentrate hidden deep in my drawer.

It was something Marmint had given me after finishing her research last year.

I wanted to use the Panilnia poison, but it would be problematic if the cause of death was revealed as poisoning and an investigation began.

‘I don’t want our child to know that her guardian is plotting such murder…’

Crucially, to poison Cessia, I’d need to create a situation where we were alone together, so I’d naturally become a suspect.

“Ugh… It would be easiest to escape if he was assassinated during the banquet or something like that. My brain isn’t working.”

【It’s only natural when you’re trying to commit a crime you’ve never done before.】

As I sat on the bed pulling my hair, Sing spoke coldly watching me.

Right. Honestly speaking, I didn’t like it.

No, if I’m being honest, I desperately wanted Cessia to die in the Montague Estate just like how I had died there.

But actually planning to harm others and attempting murder countless times in my head brought on indescribable guilt.

Above all, I couldn’t let anyone find out I was the culprit… The things that killed me only felt more horrifying.

【There is one way for you to be excluded from suspicion even if you’re discovered at the scene.】

“Huh?”

While I was struggling with my dilemma, Sing spoke with an unusually calm expression.

【You become a victim as well.】

“…What?”

The problem was that despite speaking so matter-of-factly without averting his eyes, it was terribly cruel to me.

【It would only work if disguised as an assassination, but well… If you’re also severely injured, you’d become a witness to the incident rather than a suspect.】

“…Are you seriously saying that?”

This was the first time I’d ever seen someone tell their lover to self-harm.

Perhaps because it was so absurd. I was on the verge of getting angry without even having time to feel bitter.

【You went to such lengths to avoid it when taking my life.】

“…”

【Haha, it was the same back then. I thought you truly had an iron will.】

Every time I heard that heartless laughter, my mood would twist.

【That’s what killing someone is like, Rosette.】

“…”

【It’s something only those who aren’t in their right mind would do, to an extent that ‘courage’ would be insufficient to describe it.】

From the moment I dreamed of revenge, I had already fallen as far as I could fall.

So don’t harbor such naive desires to remain noble.

It seemed like he was warning me of that.

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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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