She Became My Friend’s Mother-In-Law - Chapter 57
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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 57. The Crown Princess’s Runaway Incident (2)
Standing in the drawing room to greet them was.
The Empire’s Crown Princess, Mary.
There was no time to think about why she was here.
Rainer hurriedly approached Mary.
“Your Highness, what brings you all the way here—”
“Oh, please stand up, Duke. Only the two of you and that maid over there know I’m here.”
Mary stopped Rainer from bowing.
As she said, Mary’s current attire was far too modest for a Crown Princess.
It was about the level of a modest noblewoman dressed neatly in outdoor clothes.
Rainer’s eyes wavered.
It was unusual for him to be this flustered.
Looking around, only one female knight assigned as a guard was visible.
She too was dressed in ordinary clothes.
“Don’t tell me you came out with only her? The Crown Princess of a nation?”
“Well, that’s…”
Mary shrugged her shoulders awkwardly.
After hesitating for a moment, she began explaining the whole story.
After the salon where Michel was called.
Crown Prince Nicholas consistently tried not to leave Mary’s side.
He was terrified that the Crown Princess might have her heart stolen by Michel.
Well, up to this point, it could have been seen as just cute jealousy and sulking.
The problem was that it became excessive.
“His Highness wouldn’t leave my side for even a moment, really not even for a single instant.”
Mary said with a frown, fuming.
“He wouldn’t even attend to state affairs, which made me worry about Their Majesties’ opinion, but aside from that, he tried to stay next to me even when I was changing clothes or going to the bathroom! Where on earth does such a thing happen?”
Mary vented with a voice mixed with indignation.
Cecilia and Rainer looked at each other.
The Crown Prince had been following Mary around like a puppy, she said.
Whenever she suggested they separate even briefly, he would make the most pitiful expression in the world.
“Being cute and pitiful is fine once or twice. I felt like I couldn’t stand it anymore, so I came out to catch my breath for a while.”
Mary had left the Imperial Palace without bringing even a single maid, as if she had made up her mind.
At first, she planned to go to her maternal home.
But Mary’s brother, the Marquis of Winchester, always went hunting in other regions at this time of year.
Having overlooked this hobby, Mary suddenly found herself with nowhere to go.
The person she managed to think of was Cecilia.
It was Wendy who discovered her lurking around the Duke’s Mansion.
Rainer shook his head at the absurd situation.
“Won’t the Imperial Palace be worried?”
“It’s fine. I received permission from Their Majesties to visit my maternal home briefly. But to His Highness…”
Mary turned her head away with a “hmph.”
“I absolutely don’t want him to know I’m here.”
“Sigh…”
Rainer pressed his forehead and let out a sigh.
Nicholas had a tiresome personality, but Mary, who caused such incidents, was no less troublesome.
Like husband, like wife, perhaps.
“Your Highness, although the Dowager Duchess is away, the Young Duke and his wife are still here. It seems you would be uncomfortable in various ways.”
This was a polite and roundabout way of saying she should return to the Imperial Palace.
Thinking of the Crown Prince who would cause a commotion saying his wife had run away made his head throb.
But Mary didn’t budge from her stubbornness.
“It’s fine. As a guest, I shouldn’t complain. I’ll really be as quiet as the dead.”
“No, that’s not…”
“Please, Duke.”
Mary clasped her hands together and looked at Rainer earnestly.
“Even if you send me away from here, I won’t return to the Imperial Palace right now.”
“…”
Rainer looked troubled.
It was already a strange sight for the Crown Princess of a nation to plead so earnestly with a Duke.
Moreover, he couldn’t just send Mary away to wander the streets like this.
Eventually, Rainer turned to look at Cecilia.
“Cecilia, I’m sorry, but could you stay by Her Highness’s side for a while?”
“What? Oh, of course.”
Cecilia also looked surprised but soon nodded.
He couldn’t entrust Mary to Elise or Rosena.
Mary’s face brightened.
“Really? Thank you, Duke! Duchess!”
“…However.”
Rainer raised his hand to calm the excited Mary.
He said firmly.
“We must inform His Highness the Crown Prince.”
“What? But…”
“Your Highness. If His Highness cannot attend to state affairs because of this, wouldn’t it be a great loss to the Empire?”
“…”
It was logical and reasonable.
If the Crown Princess had disappeared without even a single maid.
Naturally, the Crown Prince wouldn’t be able to concentrate on his work.
Although she had acted on impulse driven by emotion, Mary was still the Crown Princess.
She wasn’t someone so irresponsible as to abandon the Empire’s important matters because of a trivial quarrel.
“Phew, I understand.”
Eventually, Mary sighed and nodded.
“But please tell him not to come here today. Please.”
“…I’ll try my best.”
Even Rainer wasn’t confident this time.
Nicholas was a man who became blind when it came to matters concerning his wife.
* * *
Meanwhile, at the Imperial Palace.
“No one was at the Marquis of Winchester’s house?”
Nicholas had been pacing around his office for several rounds.
On his back, the Crown Prince’s heir was sleeping soundly, wrapped in a baby carrier.
The documents spread on his desk didn’t even register in his sight.
“Then where on earth did the Crown Princess go? Does no one know Mary’s whereabouts?”
“We apologize, Your Highness. We are investigating in every direction, so soon…”
The servants bowed their heads deeply.
Nicholas covered his eyes with both hands and tilted his head back.
In his mind, only the worst-case scenarios kept coming to mind.
‘My name is Michel Eimos, Your Highness.’
That handsome actor who had received everyone’s attention at the salon.
Could Mary be with him right now?
What if she had given her heart to a new man, saying her husband was now boring?
Anxiety continued in an endless chain.
“What if Mary… no longer loves me?”
Nicholas muttered with a despairing expression.
The servants beside him flinched in surprise and shook their heads.
“Th-there’s no way that could be, Your Highness.”
“But otherwise, why would she leave even taking our grandson with her!”
Tears welled up in Nicholas’s eyes.
The thought of spending his lifetime longing for Mary along with his son made his vision go dark.
“Deploy the Imperial Guard immediately! Find the Princess somehow—”
“Your Highness, please calm down.”
Just then, Rainer entered the office.
He looked the same as usual, but strangely seemed tired.
He let out a small sigh and approached Nicholas.
“The Princess is currently at the Duke’s Mansion.”
“What? At your house?”
Nicholas’s mouth fell open at the unexpected destination.
Even so, he felt his tension completely ease.
At least she hadn’t gone to meet a lover.
“…”
Watching his visibly relieved face, Rainer shook his head inwardly.
The Crown Prince who judged other matters coldly and sharply couldn’t hide his emotions when it came to the Crown Princess.
Nicholas adjusted his hold on the child and said,
“I should go fetch her immediately.”
“That would be difficult, I believe.”
“Why? I’m going to fetch my own wife.”
“Well, that’s…”
Rainer shrugged his shoulders.
“To soothe a woman’s heart, it seems necessary to give her some time.”
“What? You’re lecturing me about women’s hearts?”
Nicholas let out a hollow laugh as if dumbfounded.
Wasn’t this the man who had never had a serious relationship with anyone despite countless ladies’ courtship?
Suddenly, suspicion crossed Nicholas’s mind.
“You, don’t tell me…”
Nicholas narrowed his eyes and took another step closer to Rainer.
“Have you fallen for our Mary because she’s too beautiful?”
“…”
Rainer pressed his forehead.
Of course, it was true that Mary was beautiful.
But Rainer had never felt attraction to Mary or any other woman.
Except for one person.
“Your Highness, I’m not frivolous enough to have feelings for another woman when I have my own wife.”
“Hmm, if you say so, then I suppose that’s true, but…”
Even as he said this, Nicholas still couldn’t dispel his suspicion.
He looked Rainer up and down.
“The most beautiful woman in the world is currently at your house, and how am I supposed to believe you don’t have feelings for her?”
Rainer chuckled inwardly.
The most beautiful woman in the world.
Naturally Nicholas was talking about Mary.
But a different face naturally came to Rainer’s mind.
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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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