The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 95

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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 Forsaken Prince — Chapter 95

“Ha ha… so what brings you here? What about Lucian?”
Lia asked after finally stopping her fit of laughter.
Dio, looking thoroughly worn out, spoke in a weak voice.
“…He told me to stay by your side for the rest of the day.”
“Me? Why? Even if I went anywhere, it’d only be within the Imperial Palace. There’s nothing dangerous here.”
If anything dangerous did occur, Lucian would turn the palace inside out. But even without danger, a crisis could still arise.
“Well… there are such things.”
Dio couldn’t bring himself to say that Lucian had sent him to keep her from running into his betrothed. Before she could press further, he changed the subject.
“But what are you doing here at this hour? I went to your chambers and you were gone, so I’ve been searching for you.”
“Kaiser wanted to go see Lucian, so we came out. But then he got moody halfway and we ended up here instead.”
When Dio shot Kaiser a suspicious look, the dragon smiled meaningfully.
‘…You knew?’
‘Would I have done it not knowing?’
‘Lucian will be furious if he finds out.’
‘Let the brat rage if he likes.’
After exchanging looks with Kaiser for a moment, Dio barely managed to swallow the sigh threatening to burst from his chest.
If he hadn’t gotten moody and had gone straight to find Lucian, the worst would have happened.
Just thinking of Lia and Liris clashing gave him a headache.
‘Wait, surely he didn’t do it on purpose to cause that?’
Kaiser laughed darkly from behind Lia. Dio’s face went pale.
“…Wait, we need to talk for a moment.”
“Sure. I had questions for you too anyway.”
Kaiser readily stepped away with Dio.
Watching the two of them retreat far enough that their conversation couldn’t be heard, Lia tilted her head.
She simply assumed the lizard had done something wrong, seeing Dio wipe his face and seemingly reprimanding Kaiser.
“Honestly, when will that fool ever grow up?”
Lucian had matured considerably in the five years since then, aside from his spoiled moments. But Kaiser, now that he’d reached his Adult Dragon form…
“…Wait, he’s only just passed three hundred, hasn’t he? In human years, that’d be about…?”
Eighteen, nineteen? Lia’s eyes narrowed as the realization of how young that truly was sank in.
‘It’ll take him quite a while to mature.’
In that moment, she felt a pang of sympathy for Kaiser’s parents.
As Lia was clicking her tongue and shaking her head, she suddenly felt a presence behind her.
Turning around, she saw a group approaching from not far away.
As they drew closer, Lia’s eyes widened slightly.
“You are…”
A woman who looked too young to be middle-aged spoke first.
It was Lucian’s mother, Serena, whom she had seen once before.
As their eyes met, Lia turned her body to face her fully.
Whoosh—
A lukewarm summer breeze blew between them.

* * *

“Please, stop it.”
“Stop what?”
Kaiser shrugged innocently, and Dio felt frustration welling up.
“What do you mean ‘what’! You deliberately tried to make Lia run into the princess!”
“The princess? Ah, Lucian’s betrothed?”
“You knew what could happen and still did such a reckless thing!”
“What could happen? Something interesting would happen, that’s what.”
“It’d certainly be interesting, but—no, wait, that’s not it! If they meet, they’ll definitely fight! Do you have any idea how terrifying a woman’s quarrel can be? And if something happens to Lia because of it…!”
“Dio, your premise is wrong.”
At his calm interruption, Dio faltered. Kaiser’s eyes gleamed, still holding that amused smile.
“If something happens, it won’t be to Lia—it’ll be to the betrothed. For one, Lia isn’t someone who’d be easily done in. And besides, neither I nor Lucian would stand by and watch.”
Despite finding his arrogance absurd, Dio couldn’t shake the feeling that the dragon wasn’t bluffing.
His entire body shuddered.
“I only wanted to see Lia’s true feelings. How much longer can you both stand watching them dance around each other without touching? You get frustrated just looking at them, don’t you?”
“Honestly, you really…”
“I thought provoking some jealousy might help him realize his own heart. But I didn’t expect their relationship to be quite this poor. Letting them meet head-on would only benefit Lucian. So I gave up—boredom is my sworn enemy after all.”
There was nothing to say. It seemed everything was just a game to Kaiser’s eyes.
“…It seems you know what you are now?”
As Kaiser’s eyes shifted to that of a reptile, Dio felt a chill.
“Lucian told me roughly what you are.”
He’d always found it strange—the unchanging appearance since childhood.
But once he’d met Aige the dragon and heard from Lucian that Kaiser was also one of the same species, Dio’s questions had been resolved.
‘He seems rather immature compared to Aige, or actually, quite immature.’
Still, the pressure radiating from him was not to be taken lightly.
That characteristic confidence and arrogant expression—truly befitting the strongest race.
But then again.
“Regardless, be careful next time. I’m the one who ends up suffering in the middle of all this.”
“Oh—not scared at all, are you?”
“Being scared of you is no worse than being scared of Harry.”
When Dio mentioned having been harassed by Harry all day, Kaiser fell silent.
That man certainly had an air about him that made it impossible to treat him carelessly.
“If you’d caused real trouble this time, you’d have faced Harry’s wrath far worse than Lucian’s.”
“Ugh, I don’t like that.”
Imagining Harry, who normally breathes fire at Lucian and Dio, turning those flames on him, Kaiser shuddered visibly.
Thinking he’d managed to persuade Kaiser somewhat, Dio let out a relieved sigh.
“Exactly what orders did Lucian give you? To guard Lia?”
“That too, but… the main point is to keep her from running into the princess or the former emperor’s couple.”
“I see…”
“But why is that?”
Kaiser jerked his chin toward something behind Dio. The confused Dio turned around.
His face went pale in an instant. Kaiser spoke to him, whose mouth had fallen open.
“To prevent a situation exactly like that, right?”
“No! You should’ve told me if you knew!”
“It’s not exactly a dangerous situation, so I just let it be.”
“Seriously! You’re impossible to talk to!”
Kaiser blinked at the sudden curse. Looking at Dio with a bewildered expression, he was already sprinting far off toward where Lia and Serena were.
“Why does everyone treat me this way?”
Lia, Lucian, everyone—the dragon increasingly felt he was being looked down upon by humans.

* * *

“…”
“…”
Serena and Lia locked eyes and gazed at each other silently for about a minute.
Lia was fascinated to see glimpses of Lucian’s features in her face.
Serena was tense about finally meeting her second son’s woman—the one who had made him so cold to them.
In that silence, no one spoke.
“Ahem!”
A handmaiden who had followed Serena let out an awkward noise.
Lia realized she was being glared at.
‘Is she telling me to bow first?’
Why should I to someone so young?
That thought flickered, but Lia soon realized they likely saw her as Lucian’s age, not as an adult.
Besides, she was a guest here, and Serena was the mistress of this place.
Having made her decision, Lia’s expression remained serene as she lightly gathered the hem of her skirt and lowered her head.
It was the Noble Etiquette that Harry had hastily taught her before.
Serena, who hadn’t expected to receive such a greeting from Lia, trembled slightly.
“It is an honor to meet you, Your Majesty the Empress Dowager.”
“So your name is…”
“Please call me Lia.”
“Very well, Lady Lia. It seems you come to walk here often at this hour.”
“I was taking a brief breath of fresh air with a friend.”
Serena spotted two men conversing in the distance.
One of them was the man Lucian had introduced as his friend alongside Lia.
Realizing Dio was at his side, Serena felt a flutter of anxiety.
Dio would surely try to separate her from Lia once he noticed her.
“Could we speak for a moment?”
“Hmm…”
Lia’s eyes rolled as she appeared to deliberate, and Serena’s handmaiden suddenly shrieked.
“How dare you not obey the Empress Dowager’s command at once! How disrespectful!”
“…Pardon?”
Lia was taken aback at being suddenly attacked. The handmaiden’s face flushed red, then blue.
“No matter if you are the Emperor’s honored guest, such rudeness is unacceptable! Are you showing disrespect to the Empress Dowager!”
“Please, calm yourself.”
“Yes, Your Majesty!”
Though Serena tried to restrain her handmaiden, the woman continued to seethe with indignation. Watching this, Lia spoke quietly.
“…It seems even a handmaiden may ignore her mistress’s wishes here.”
Her violet eyes grew cold and sharp.
Serena felt an aura emanating from her that was beyond reach. Yet the handmaiden had lost all reason.
“What did you just say!”
“If the handmaiden is not speaking her mistress’s true thoughts, I would appreciate clarification. Otherwise, I fear I shall labor under a misunderstanding.”
Lia completely ignored the handmaiden’s outburst and fixed her gaze only on Serena.
Serena looked between her handmaiden and Lia, then shook her head.
“That is not my intent.”
“Then I shall understand it as such.”
“Are you ignoring me!”
The handmaiden, still feeling treated as a ghost, stepped forward and grabbed Lia’s arm. Lia looked down at her with a frigid expression.
A sudden chill of killing intent made the handmaiden flinch back.
“Your mistress does not intervene. What right has a mere servant to act so freely?”
“I, you…!”
“Do you not understand that your conduct brings shame upon your mistress’s name?”
The handmaiden’s face reddened. She too recognized that she had overstepped.
But knowing her beloved mistress had been suffering because of this man and this woman, she had deliberately raised her voice at the outset to establish dominance.
The woman didn’t appear to have a family name, so she wasn’t of noble birth—but how was it…
‘How can I feel the aura of a Hegemon
”
from this woman?’
To her chagrin, the handmaiden realized she had been overwhelmed by Lia.
“That’s right—I am, as you say, the Emperor’s honored guest. How dare a servant like you attempt to suppress me? I wonder if His Majesty would truly allow you to remain in the palace if he learned of this.”
At this practical threat, the handmaiden trembled and released her grip on Lia’s arm.
“Mind your conduct. Had you been anyone else, your actions would have been taken as the Empress Dowager’s own wishes.”
With that, Lia passed the handmaiden by.
Serena, who had been standing behind, regarded Lia with a subtle expression.
“Would you care to speak with me somewhere more private?”
As Lia spoke gently, without dwelling on the handmaiden’s conduct, Serena’s eyes widened perceptibly.
Serena promptly dismissed all the servants nearby.

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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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