The Eldest Daughter Walks Down The Flower Path - Chapter 32

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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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The Eldest Daughter Walks the Path of Flowers Episode 32

Empress Adrianne, comfortably leaning back on the long chair in the Imperial Box, opened her mouth.

“What a vulgar play. To use romance novels as source material. It will catch fleeting attention and then disappear. Don’t you think so, Olivier?”

Olivier, elegantly sitting with crossed legs on a small chair, nodded his head.

“Your Majesty the Empress is correct.”

At his response, the Empress let out a thin chuckle.

‘How cute.’

As far as she knew, this was Olivier’s second time watching this play.

Moreover, she knew he had even diligently read the original romance novel.

For a man past his coming of age, it was truly an adorable hobby.

‘He’s acting like that because he doesn’t want to be hated by me. What a cute little doll.’

Between the 3rd Prince Olivier, born to the deposed Empress Shartin, and the current Empress Adrianne, all sorts of rumors were rampant.

But Adrianne had no interest in such rumors.

Only the truth mattered to her.

And that was the fact that Olivier followed her like a loyal hound.

‘Poor child.’

Olivier, who lost his mother as soon as he was born.

Poor Olivier, who was therefore terribly hated by his father, the Emperor.

‘To have neither mother nor father. It’s a life I don’t even want to imagine.’

In that unimaginable life, Olivier had been terribly wounded and completely broken.

Before first meeting Olivier, Adrianne had thought he might become a political rival to Charle, her son and the Empire’s 1st Prince.

But that wasn’t the case.

Olivier, who had grown up physically without mother or father, receiving no affection from the cold hired servants in the cold Imperial Court, was merely an emotionless empty shell of a doll.

Sharing scraps of affection with that empty shell doll and making him hers was all too simple a task.

“Still, since we’ve come this far, let’s enjoy it. There must be a reason why the noble ladies sing its praises so enthusiastically.”

At her words, Olivier turned his head to look at the stage.

Adrianne watched him and chuckled softly.

Just as Olivier was loyal to her, he was also loyal to Charle.

If Olivier, the offspring of the former Empress, continued to support Charle as he did now, Charle’s position would become even more solid.

‘We have ‘that thing,’ so we wouldn’t need to go this far, but… the more cards we have, the better.’

The stage curtain parted, revealing the actors.

Adrianne gazed at the stage with a benevolent smile befitting the Empire’s Empress on those enchanting lips.

However, that smile didn’t last long.

Olivier watched Adrianne with emotionless eyes.

Adrianne was no fool.

By the time the play reached its midpoint, no trace of a smile could be found on Adrianne’s lips.

She had probably realized what this play meant.

And that was part of his plan.

‘This is just the beginning.’

No one would notice.

Everything was moving beneath the calm surface.

His mask that was moving all these things was perfect, and his plan was just as solid.

His gaze, which had been surveying the stage without enthusiasm, suddenly stopped at one spot.

Blazing red hair that immediately caught the eye.

“…!”

It was her.

Though her attire was completely different, he could recognize her at a glance.

That person he had met at his nineteenth birthday banquet held at the Russel Manor.

Diagonally below from the Imperial Box, she was leaning against the railing of a protruding box seat with her chin resting on her hand.

‘How?’

The question was soon resolved.

Behind her, the man who was deeply buried in his chair with crossed legs, not even bothering to hide his boredom, was definitely Lord Russel.

‘Your Highness Olivier, was ‘that sort of thing’ your taste?’

Eve Russel’s strangely sticky voice seemed to echo in his ears.

‘Did that person see through me? I must have been too careless thinking it wasn’t the capital.’

Displeased by the fact that Lord Russel had discovered his true intentions, Olivier turned his gaze away from him.

And he froze in place.

He had no choice.

Because she was smiling.

The moment he saw her smile, Olivier could feel something like wind or waves rushing in and washing everything clean.

The actors’ voices, the people filling the theater, and even the Empress behind him instantly became distant.

Instead of everything becoming distant, she became closer.

Red hair so vivid it seemed it would stain if touched, rose-colored cheeks with a blush as if that day’s pallor had been moonlight’s trick.

An incomparably bright smile.

‘How…’

Olivier looked at her with a face that had stiffened without any need for pretense.

‘Can you smile like that?’

That night at the banquet, their encounter had been the result of several coincidences overlapping.

When the Russel Manor’s maid announced the entrance of the Tilrod Family members, he had unconsciously looked toward the entrance.

This was purely due to his personal interest in the Tilrod Family’s ancestors.

Normally he would have turned his gaze away, but the strange appearance of the Tilrod Family members caught his attention.

Lady Tilrod and the younger-looking daughter were appropriately dressed for a banquet, but she was not.

Moreover, as soon as she entered the banquet hall, she became isolated.

In the flood of merrymaking people, she looked as pitiful as a single flower petal swept away by the current.

Perhaps that was why.

After wandering through the garden and falling down, he couldn’t turn away from her as she struggled to get up alone without anyone’s help.

Without any elaborate explanation, just from her eyes alone, he could understand her situation.

She must be suffering.

She probably wanted to cry.

He knew that face.

Knowing that a beast’s fangs were touching the nape of his neck, knowing that the moment he showed weakness his tender flesh would be torn and his artery bitten through, leaving an irreparable wound, he knew that face that had never once been able to freely bite its lips.

In that moment, she was a mirror reflecting him.

She had made him remove his mask of pretense, even if just for a moment.

And now, at this moment when everything was about to begin, she appeared again before him… smiling brightly.

There must have been a comical scene.

So she laughed heartily.

When she laughed loudly, she would scrunch up her eyes and spread both hands wide to cover her face while laughing.

He could see her thumb pressing against her cheek that had puffed out from laughing.

Then, something seemed to change abruptly.

She sighed lightly.

She might have even looked angry.

In the moment she turned to look back, he could see everything about her.

She was filled with blazing vitality like a red flower under the midsummer sun.

Her gaze, her smile, her gestures.

Everything was so vivid that he had no choice but to close his eyes.

When Olivier opened his eyes again, that crow-like Eve Russel was standing beside her.

She whispered something to Lord Russel, and the Lord nodded halfheartedly.

Seeing this, a reasonless, devastating sense of helplessness welled up.

He truly couldn’t understand the reason.

She stood at the railing again and focused on the play, while Lord Russel slowly raised his head.

Olivier and Eve’s gazes met in the air.

Eve Russel smiled.

He smiled like someone who had witnessed everything, or like someone who had read everything.

Olivier looked at him with a dry, emotionless gaze.

However, Olivier had to acknowledge it.

Eve Russel had grasped his emotions more keenly than he himself could, striking at his weakness and bringing down the steel wall he had built up.

Olivier quietly raised his index finger and brought it to his lips.

Seeing this, Eve Russel nodded his head.

The negotiation was established just like that, without a single word of conversation.

“How utterly vulgar. There’s no more value in watching this.”

As the play entered its latter half, Empress Adrianne rose from her seat.

For someone who claimed it wasn’t worth watching, she seemed to have watched intently, as her eyes were bloodshot.

Olivier also rose from his seat, following the Empress.

The Empress had already caught on to the true intent of this play.

His goal had been achieved.

And quite magnificently at that.

‘And…’

While the Empress briefly stopped by the lounge, Olivier wrote a note and handed it to Joel, his aide.

“To Lord Russel.”

Joel immediately disappeared.

When the Empress reappeared, she had considerably calmed her excited demeanor.

However, her mask was not very solid.

While walking with Olivier’s escort, the contemplative Empress rolled her eyes this way and that while chewing on her lips.

“Your Majesty the Empress.”

At his call, Adrianne opened her eyes wide and looked at him.

“Is there somewhere you feel unwell?”

Adrianne’s brow could be seen furrowing slightly.

However, the Olivier reflected in her blue eyes was no different from usual.

“…Ah, I’m just a little tired.”

Adrianne forced a smile.

Olivier nodded his head.

“Then let us return to the Imperial Capital now.”

“Yes, let’s do that.”

Adrianne fell into thought again.

After confirming that Joel had quietly joined the very back of the maids’ procession, Olivier ordered their return to the Imperial Capital.

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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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