The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 155

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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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The Ghost Bride of the Abandoned Crown Prince
Side Story 5. The Empress Selection (1)

“An Empress Selection, you say.”
“There’s a rumor that even foreign princesses are coming to the Odrian Empire to participate in the Empress Selection.”
“I thought the Sebance lady would become empress, but she suddenly had her engagement dissolved…….”
“Why in the world was the engagement dissolved?”
“Who knows. Perhaps the Sebance lady committed some grave error?”
“But His Majesty took in that concubine first, didn’t he? I thought he would be making her empress.”
“Actually, I heard that concubine belongs to the Crown Prince, who’s become a Grand Duke now.”
“What? Is that true?”
“Yes. You know the Grand Duke handled what happened recently, don’t you?”
The cold winter passed, and warm spring arrived.
The new year of the Odrian Empire was in uproar over the Empress Selection proclaimed by the Imperial Family.
The aristocracy buzzed with anticipation that they might become Imperial In-laws, and consequently, gossip about the Sebance lady—who had nearly claimed the position of empress—circulated endlessly among the people.
The Odrian Empire, whose situation had been turbulent due to the Black Mages’ assault on the Imperial Palace, entered a new phase with this Empress Selection.
There was much talk and many speculations, but one thing was certain.
Whoever captured the Emperor’s heart would seize great power.
Lirlis set down the newspaper she had been reading and stared blankly out the window.
The cold air had faded, and the wind had grown warm.
Yet her chest remained filled with an icy chill, her entire body frozen solid.
After the Black Mages’ assault on the Imperial Palace, Lirlis had come to know the entire truth—why Leopold had fallen into a coma, and why, when he awakened, he seemed like a different person.
A woman who had learned her true feelings too late.
Yet it was none other than she herself who, until now, had turned away from that truth and averted her gaze elsewhere.
And so when the man she loved declared their engagement dissolved, Lirlis could offer no excuses whatsoever.
She accepted it with humility, believing this was the price for her foolishness.
There was only one small wish she harbored…….
“……I want to see you, Leopold.”
She had not seen Leopold even at the moment their engagement was dissolved.
If she could meet him, there was something she wanted to say.
Whether it would be an apology for everything that had happened, an excuse, or a confession of love, she could not say for certain—but one thing was absolute: she wanted to face his eyes and show him her true feelings, honestly.
Knock-knock.
A knock sounded in the room filled with only silence.
Lirlis gave no answer. As if anticipating this, the door opened without permission.
“Lirlis.”
It was the Sebance Duke who entered. Seeing his daughter unable to tear her gaze from the window, he clenched his fists tightly.
Watching his lifeless daughter, he found himself thinking that the days when she clung to Lucian had been preferable.
He had grown angry with her many times, had pleaded, had even shown tears—yet nothing reached a daughter who had lost something precious.
There was only one thing that could elicit a response from her.
“Do you know the Imperial Family is holding an Empress Selection?”
At last, Lirlis turned to look at the Sebance Duke.
The Sebance Duke noticed the newspaper in her hand.
“They are currently recruiting empress candidates, and they will begin the proper selection one week from now.”
“……I heard foreign princesses are also participating.”
At the sound of his daughter’s voice for the first time in ages, the Sebance Duke felt a catch in his throat.
“Aren’t you regretful?”
“……Do I have the right to feel regret? I am merely a foolish woman who could not properly see the many opportunities and love that were given to me.”
“Yet you have been longing for His Majesty for months now.”
“Longing and regret are separate things. I am being punished now. When I might be freed from this punishment, I do not know.”
Watching his daughter long for Leopold while remaining motionless, the Sebance Duke finally closed his eyes.
And he revealed what he had pondered for a long time.
“The requirement for Empress Selection participation is simple—you must be the daughter of a noble house. That is all. So Lirlis, you have the right to participate.”
Light flickered in Lirlis’s previously vacant eyes. Watching them grow gradually wider, the Sebance Duke continued.
“There is no provision restricting the Sebance House among the application requirements.”
“But Father, that would be……morally wrong.”
“Morality? That word hardly suits you, who once raised a hand against Leopold to take Lucian for yourself.”
When he dredged up the past she so wished to erase, Lirlis clenched her fists.
“Still, if I participate, people will curse the Sebance House.”
“We are already cursed plenty, ever since the dissolution of your engagement.”
As her father sat across from her in lamentation, Lirlis bit her lower lip.
“……Yes, it is all my fault. If you wish to blame me, do so properly.”
“Do I sound as though I am blaming you?”
“Are you not?”
“I am telling you to muster your courage once more, Lirlis.”
“…….”
“You have already betrayed His Majesty’s trust, and you are now disgraced by dissolution and pointed at by the people. If you continue as you are, you will not find a proper marriage at all.”
“If that is my punishment, I must accept it humbly.”
“No. If you have already fallen to the bottom, is it not time to make one final desperate struggle?”
At her father’s firm words, Lirlis’s eyes wavered.
“Can you truly let His Majesty go, as things are?”
Lirlis’s hand trembled slightly.
Soon her hand clenched into a tight fist.
Seeing the light of jealousy secretly kindle there, the Sebance Duke let out a low chuckle.
“From obscure houses no one has heard of to foreign princesses, all will vie for His Majesty. In the end, one of them will claim him. Are you truly confident you will not regret it for the rest of your life?”
“……What are you saying?”
“An application form.”
The Sebance Duke thrust the application form from his breast toward Lirlis.
“If you participate, you will surely be the talk of gossips. But no matter how much people curse, you are the Sebance lady. The Sebance House will not crumble because of such rabble.”
Lirlis took the application form with trembling hands. The Sebance Duke grasped her hand, stilling the tremor.
“If there is something you wish to have, then seize it. That is what the Sebance House is.”
After the Sebance Duke departed, Lirlis sat motionless for a long time before rising from her seat.
She then set the application form on the table and turned toward the window.
Beyond the window pane, the Imperial Palace appeared small in the distance.
The gentle blue eyes that had gazed endlessly at the Imperial Palace now held a firm, resolute light—the light of a heart that had made its decision.

* * *

“……Someone please kill me.”
“You die and I’ll die too.”
“That’s not bad. If only we could be freed from this agony…….”
Whack—thud.
Two people buried under mountains of documents each acquired a fresh bump on the head from punches.
“Dio, Harry. Don’t complain about something so trivial. You’ve worked with Lucian for years now, and yet you’re whining…….”
The one who had thrown the punches was Leopold himself. Dio and Harry fixed him with murderous stares.
“Complaining? Did you really just say complaining?”
“Since last autumn, we haven’t had a single proper rest. We’ve been working overtime every day. And you call that complaining?”
“I thought things would settle down once the Imperial Palace stabilized, and now—the Empress Selection! Aaaaah! I won’t do it! Can’t do it! I’m resigning!”
A rebellion had erupted. After months of relentless labor, the two had reached their limit.
Leopold, realizing that merely dangling carrots would not appease them, deployed his final measure.
“Three months.”
Dio and Harry’s clamor ceased.
“Once the Empress Selection ends, I will grant both of you three months of paid leave.”
Light returned to their previously vacant eyes. Soon they lowered their raised arms and sat back down.
“The moment it’s over, we’re leaving, you bastard.”
“And if you so much as mention wedding preparations or anything like that, I’ll smash the back of your skull in.”
It was hardly appropriate language to use with an emperor, but given that they had suffered through this time together, Leopold said nothing.
‘This is actually more comfortable anyway.’
Had he acted with proper formality, it would have made him more uneasy.
Watching his friends settle down, Leopold resumed work.
“……Hmm?”
Harry paused while examining one document.

.
.

“……Why are there so many incompetent fools submitting proposals?”
Leopold, who had been working diligently, tore up a botched national project proposal with a grim expression.
Having been suppressed under Leon for so long, Leopold had been influenced by him in certain ways, and was no longer the purely carefree Crown Prince of old.
While he was cursing out loud at a noble who had carelessly mangled a document, Harry approached him.
“Your Majesty, what should we do about this?”
“I told you to let most things pass.”
“I don’t think this is something I should decide on my own.”
Detecting the shift to formal language in Harry’s tone, Leopold accepted the document he offered.
Leopold’s eyes wavered at once.
What Harry and Dio were processing were the final-selected application forms for Empress Selection participants.
In Leopold’s hand was an application form bearing the name Lirlis Sebance.
“…….”
“Should we reject it?”
Leopold could not answer. Seeing his friend’s hesitation, Harry deliberately frowned.
‘What are you scheming, Lirlis?’
As Leopold’s friend, as someone who had witnessed all the truth from closest by, Harry understood well the feelings that had driven Leopold to push her away and renounce his own heart.
While opening the Empress Selection partly to redirect the confused gaze of the empire’s people, it had also been an act of will to forget his childhood love and move forward.
He had simply hoped that through this Empress Selection, a woman would appear who could steadily support Leopold’s side—but this situation was entirely unforeseen.
“……The requirements are indeed satisfied. There was no provision restricting the Sebance House.”
At last Leopold opened his mouth.
Contrary to his friend’s worry, Leopold showed no wavering whatsoever. Instead, he calmly returned the application form to Harry.
“Accept it.”
“What—! But……!”
“I have no personal interest in this selection. You know that better than anyone.”
“Are you really all right with this?”
“All right or not, what else is there to do? I simply need an empress who will govern the empire alongside me. If Lirlis meets that requirement, she will be chosen. If not, she will be eliminated. Am I wrong?”
“……No.”
“Proceed. There will be no reason for me to meddle in the Empress Selection anyway. Don’t overthink this.”
Given that Leopold had spoken so firmly, Harry had no reason to unilaterally disqualify Lirlis from participation.
In the end, Harry stamped the form and examined the next application, all while observing Leopold return to his work.
‘Are you really going to be all right?’
In this moment, Harry could not fathom his friend’s true thoughts at all.

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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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