The Abandoned Prince’s Ghost Bride - Chapter 97

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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 Discarded Prince’s Ghost Bride, Episode 97

“Your Majesty! You must try it on yourself today!”
Lucian, who had been resting with Lia during a rare moment of peace, glanced up slightly at Harry’s pestering.
“You already know my measurements anyway. Just proceed as planned.”
“That’s exactly why you need to try it on and see if alterations are needed! Come on, let’s go!”
Harry’s patience had finally snapped, and he let out a roar of exasperation. At that, Lucian grumbled and got to his feet.
The two men left, and Lia’s expression turned bewildered.
“A fitting? Are they making clothes or something?”
James, who was in the same room, spoke up.
“His Majesty’s birthday is in a week. Several garments for the occasion need to be confirmed.”
At the mention of a birthday, Lia went completely rigid.
“Usually, the Empress would handle all party preparations and wardrobing, but since His Majesty has no Empress at present, Harry is managing it in her stead. He’s been complaining about the headaches it’s causing him lately.”
“A birthday, then…….”
James looked at her curiously at her trembling voice.
“……Birthday?”
“……? Yes, that’s right?”
As Lia’s eyes wavered, James’s expression shifted to one of dawning realization.
“You didn’t know?”
“No one told me what today’s date is…….”
Lia and James stared at each other for a moment, then both went pale.
“Surely His Majesty doesn’t know either……!”
“He doesn’t! He’s never even told me when his birthday is!”
“True, I’ve never informed you of the dates up until now. This is quite the situation…… So, a gift……?”
“How could there be one? I don’t have money to begin with, and I can’t go out and buy anything anyway.”
Everything she’s wearing and using now has been provided by Lucian.
“I suppose that’s true. Now that I think about it, the kid’s birthday was coming up?”
Crunch—
Kaiser, who had been snacking on sweets and gossiping nearby, spoke without concern.
“What does it matter? The kid has plenty of people to celebrate him now. The two of us can skip it.”
“We can’t do that even if others might. Lucian would feel hurt.”
“So what will you do? I can just toss something from my Subspace, but you? What could you possibly prepare in your current situation?”
The direct strike left Lia momentarily speechless. Flustered, James ventured a careful question.
“What have you done for His Majesty’s birthday before?”
“…….”
“Let me guess. A birthday meal, a cake, and other gifts—something like that?”
As Kaiser spoke on Lia’s behalf, her face flushed crimson.
Shame had suddenly washed over her.
She’d thought she’d done her best to make Lucian’s birthday special, but looking back now, it seemed terribly humble by comparison.
‘Specifically, when compared to the current situation.’
Though Lucian gives her considerable care and support, she knows that life in the Imperial Palace is far more luxurious and that she’s treated only with the finest of everything, compared to when they lived in the Mansion.
With five years having passed, Lucian must have grown accustomed to life in the Imperial Palace.
‘Will he actually like what I’ve prepared?’
Of course, Lucian would say he’s delighted, but she herself couldn’t shake the feeling that he’d be comparing it to what others might offer.
“And you forgot? On the day Lucian disappeared without a trace, all the food you’d so carefully prepared went to waste because he never touched it.”
Kaiser, disliking the melancholy in Lia’s expression, grumbled.
“There were circumstances.”
“Circumstances or not, you were hurt. And! After feeding and raising him for ten years, isn’t that enough without expecting birthday gifts too?”
“…….”
“I’m telling you, the fact that you’re simply by his side is a gift to that brat.”
“Ahem! If I may be so bold, I agree with you entirely.”
When James chimed in to support him, Kaiser’s expression turned triumphant.
She understood he’d raised his voice deliberately for her sake. Yet the helplessness enveloping her body was beyond remedy.

* * *

“……Harry, I’ll need another tailcoat made.”
Lucian murmured suddenly after catching sight of his tailcoat for the final celebration.
Hearing this, Harry felt a sharp pain in the back of his head.
“You little……—no, did you just say that? Your Majesty’s birthday is only six days away. To make a new garment in that time, everyone here will have to work through the night.”
The people Harry indicated were designers. After several consecutive nights of overtime, dark circles had already descended beneath their eyes.
Lucian fell silent for a moment but then displayed a look of regret.
“Still, it would look beautiful once worn.”
“Are you speaking of your own garment, Your Majesty?”
“No, not mine. Lia’s.”
Lucian was examining his current appearance in a full-length mirror.
In the mirror stood a man handsome enough to make anyone lose their breath.
His face alone was splendid, but with an ornate and striking tailcoat draped over it, his appearance shone all the brighter.
Looking at himself this way, Lucian suddenly wished to see Lia in a dress.
More precisely, he wanted to see her fully dressed and adorned.
“As for Miss Lia…….”
“She’d be beautiful no matter what she wore, wouldn’t she?”
Though Harry usually tried not to agree with him, even he couldn’t help but nod this time.
“Is it because it’s your first birthday as an adult that you’ve spent together, and you’re wanting to give her delayed gifts?”
“Miss Lia would be furious if she heard that.”
“Ha, she probably would.”
‘I told you to stop playing around!’
The image of Lia’s flustered face came unbidden to his mind, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
Harry watched the happy expression on Lucian’s face and hesitated.
“Miss Lia cannot be revealed to the public, you understand? For this occasion, you must follow my advice.”
“I know. I have no intention of bringing her to the party.”
This was the first birthday banquet Lucian would celebrate as Emperor, and its scale far exceeded those of the past.
It also meant he would need to meet with nobility and delegations far more frequently.
He had no intention whatsoever of bringing her to such an event.
Starting with the fiancée issue, all manner of rumors would attach themselves to Lia, and given how striking a presence she was, she would surely draw envious and jealous glances.
‘I hate seeing Lia hurt.’
He’d brought her here solely for her safety and out of love—never to cause her difficulty.
Even now, his own ambiguous position was already creating complications, and he had no wish to add further burdens.
“Still, I’d like to see it at least once.”
With a wistful expression, Lucian imagined Lia dressed and adorned, then went to change back into his usual clothes.
Harry, who had been waiting for Lucian to leave, felt oddly bothered by the melancholy that had crossed his face.
“Actually, I’d like to ask one more favor.”
In the end, Harry pulled aside one of the designers and began a conversation with her.

* * *

“……Lucian seems busy today.”
Lia sat on the Terrace, feeling the unusually quiet atmosphere of the Imperial Palace, gazing blankly out at the distance.
Far away, she could faintly see a crowd of people gathered. Today was the first day of the birthday banquet.
That’s why most of the staff had been deployed to where the event was taking place.
“Currently in full performance mode. Looks like he’s running around everywhere with his fiancée.”
Kaiser, sitting beside her, reported Lucian’s current status in real time.
Being a dragon, he could see and hear everything happening among the distant crowd with perfect clarity.
At the mention of fiancée, Lia nodded with indifference.
“Not jealous?”
“Me? Why would I be jealous?”
Kaiser was disappointed by the lukewarm response. There had clearly been some change between them, yet this felt like they’d returned to square one.
“You already know it’s a fake engagement. It’d be strange to be jealous over that.”
“So you knew?”
“Lucian explained it to me.”
“Even so, shouldn’t you feel some jealousy? Lucian might not think that way, but the other party might not see it the same.”
Lia hesitated and turned to look at Kaiser. Though he knew all the truth, he had deliberately withheld part of it to test her.
Lia, seeing right through him, narrowed her eyes.
“When did you become Lucian’s spy?”
“A spy?!”
“Stop trying to provoke jealousy. I know Lucian absolutely despises his fiancée. He almost hates her because she’s trying to push for marriage even knowing his true identity.”
“……Damn, you’re no fun.”
Kaiser grumbled that she’d known all along.
“There’s nothing Lucian hides from me.”
“Wow. That’s an obnoxious thing to say.”
“But it’s true.”
“Be honest with me. You don’t entirely dislike that Lucian follows you so unwaveringly, do you?”
Lia flinched and quickly turned her head away. Seeing that, Kaiser’s lips twitched.
“Hahahaha! So you were just pretending! You’re no different!”
“Shut up! It’s not my fault Lucian tells me things!”
“You know that’s not what I meant.”
In other words, she was quietly enjoying the affection and attention Lucian gave her.
Though she wanted to deny it, she couldn’t open her mouth because she truly had harbored such thoughts.
“Come on, admit it now. You don’t see Lucian as just a child anymore, do you?”
“Shut up.”
“Why take the long way around when you could just admit it easily?”
“This is really none of your business……!”
Only after she smacked his head did Kaiser stop his teasing.
“……Still, you’re right that I can’t keep going like this forever.”
“Oho?”
Ten days had already passed since Lucian confessed to her. Since that day, Lucian had shown no outward sign, but he was surely waiting for her answer.
By now, Lia had to admit to herself that her heart had tilted heavily toward Lucian.
‘It would be strange not to waver, honestly.’
How could she not love someone who was utterly devoted to her, always gave way to her, and expressed his love with just a glance?
Yet there remained an undeniable hesitation lingering in one corner of her heart.
“Ugh, I’ve already got a headache from the birthday gift problem! Are you trying to make it worse?!”
“Still haven’t decided? Just brush it off like I did, I’m telling you.”
“How is that supposed to work? I haven’t taken care of him for five years—I have to do something!”
“So what will you do?”
“……Hmm.”
“What?”
“……Maybe I could bake him a cake?”
Seeing Lia mumble in a small voice, Kaiser burst into laughter a few seconds later.
“That’s all you could come up with?”
“Cooking is all I can do right now. Even that would require James’s help to pull off…… Sigh, should I think of something else?”
Lia was genuinely troubled, but Kaiser found the whole thing entertaining.
He laughed quietly, then caught sight of Lucian in the distance and widened his smile.
“Fine, just bake the cake.”
“Won’t it be too shabby?”
“That brat would be thrilled even if you gave him garbage.”
Currently, Lucian was under considerable stress, having to deal with nobility and delegations while also managing his fiancée.
What he needed now was Lia and a gift bearing her heart.
“Trust me on this. I’m sure it won’t fail.”
“……There’s no other choice anyway. So, what should I make?”
As Lia began to ponder what to bake, Kaiser gazed at the distant Lucian with a pleased smile in his eyes.
‘Kid, you owe me one now.’
At the end of Kaiser’s gaze stood Lucian, who now wore the stern countenance of an Emperor.

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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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