The Obsessive Male Lead Is Obsessed With Me! - Chapter 113

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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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Episode 113

“What, really?”

“Really! There wasn’t just one or two people who saw it!”

Lionel felt the blue bird’s body vibrating violently inside his jacket pocket.

Reflexively patting the blue bird’s body through his jacket, Lionel whispered quietly enough that only Cecilia could hear.

“I’ll go warn them not to spread false rumors.”

“No! Don’t do that. That’ll just make the rumors spread more!”

Cecilia whispered from inside the pocket, asking Lionel if her voice was too loud.

Lionel looked around once and confirmed that no one had heard her voice.

“If you speak at that volume, you won’t be caught.”

“That’s a relief. …But wait! Rumors are really scary. We didn’t do it in the middle of the street, so why are there rumors that people saw us?”

“I’ll look into the source of the rumors.”

“No, no. There’s no need to go that far… But is that even possible?”

“If you put in the legwork, nothing’s impossible.”

Of course, it was possible because the ones doing that legwork were underworld informants.

Cecilia made a “hiik” sound when told that with their abilities, they could identify everyone who passed in front of the opera house at the time the two had visited.

“Scary, those underworld informants… Anyway, there’s no need to go that far… Though I am a little curious about how our rumor started. Let’s get a bit closer over there.”

“Understood.”

Lionel moved his seat closer to the shop’s tables, and thanks to that, he could hear the people’s chatter more clearly.

Fortunately or unfortunately, there was no more talk of kissing. Instead.

“I heard His Second Prince has a high chance of receiving the Grand Duke title along with northern lands as his estate at this title conferment ceremony… Is it really true?”

“It must be. Actually, who else knows the northern situation as well as His Second Prince?”

“True, if someone who knows nothing gets dispatched to the north, it would take at least a year just to grasp the actual situation… In many ways, it’s better for His Second Prince to go north.”

“He’ll have a hard time cleaning up the mess… But hey, will Duchess Roheim follow His Highness all the way to the north?”

“Of course. Is there anyone who doesn’t know how obsessed Duchess Roheim is with His Second Prince?”

“Liking His Second Prince and spending the rest of your life living in the north are two different things. Honestly, if it were me, I would have broken off the engagement the moment I heard my fiancé became a northern lord.”

“True… Setting everything else aside, what if monsters attack again?”

Listening to the people chattering that even Duchess Roheim wouldn’t chase him all the way to the north, Lionel looked down at his chest.

Perhaps thinking she might be overheard if she spoke since there were tables nearby, Cecilia showed no reaction.

Thus Lionel didn’t know what Cecilia was thinking, but it didn’t matter if he didn’t know.

If she didn’t want to go north, then he simply wouldn’t go either.

If they tried to force him, he would make it so they could no longer force him.

* * *

“Next, Sir Belrose!”

At the maid manager’s resounding call while holding a long scroll, Belrose in splendid knight’s attire with a half-cloak over her shoulders stepped forward confidently on the red carpet.

Belrose knelt on one knee a few steps away from the dais where the Emperor and Empress sat at the highest position, with the Former Empress seated one level lower.

“Though Sir Belrose was not selected for the support troops to be dispatched north, she volunteered to save the northern residents who lost their families and homes to vicious monsters…”

The maid manager spoke in a loud, leisurely voice so that all the nobles filling the great banquet hall could hear.

Below that, the court orchestra’s gentle concerto echoed, and this title and medal conferment ceremony that had been going on for over three hours was so boring it was making people drowsy.

“…In recognition of that merit, Sir Belrose is ennobled as Viscount Hausen and granted the Hausen Plains in the west as her estate!”

As soon as the maid manager finished speaking, resounding applause rang out.

“How many more people are left to receive titles?”

“It’s almost over. Just bear with it a little longer.”

Amid such whispers, the maid manager who had pinned the medal to Belrose’s shoulder strap handed her the viscount’s seal and coat of arms, along with the title certificate and estate documents.

Belrose gladly accepted them, paid her respects, and stepped back.

Next were the commanders of the 3rd and 5th Knight Orders who had been dispatched north.

After the two received earl titles along with northern lands as their estates, the final turn finally arrived.

“…Next, Sir Lionel!”

Though all the knights called here had been addressed only by their given names without surnames, since the other party was royalty, the voice calling Lionel’s name trembled pitifully.

Was it because Lionel was the last in order? Or was it because the sight of the brother sitting on the imperial throne on the high dais and the younger brother kneeling on one knee before him starkly showed their divergent fates?

Holding even their breath, people watched Lionel’s back with surprising concentration.

“Sir Li- ahem! Sir Lionel, as supreme commander of the north, led his knights and soldiers under his command to victory in countless battles, and also…”…”

The longer the maid manager’s words went on, the darker Cayen’s eyes became as he sat on the imperial throne with a bored expression.

Though the title and medal conferment ceremony had been going on for over three hours, he as Emperor had not said a single word.

It was because his foggy, murky head kept throbbing and his body was languid and powerless.

“His martial prowess in single-handedly defeating the Monster King is worthy of being recorded in history…”

Due to his considerable achievements, the maid manager’s praise was becoming very lengthy.

As if unable to bear that tedium, Cayen’s gaze moved elsewhere. The person who finally came into his view was Cecilia.

At the former Emperor’s funeral, Cecilia had worn a veil, and at the coronation held that evening, she had run out before the ceremony even began.

So today was the first time in years that Cayen was properly seeing Cecilia.

Perhaps because she was making her formal debut in society at this occasion, she was dressed more beautifully than any other lady present.

Her long hair, loosely braided and draped over her shoulder, was decorated with fresh flowers as if she wore a floral crown, and her slender nape and wrists were adorned with translucent amethyst accessories.

Her pale lavender dress, almost white, was embroidered with sparkling diamonds in the form of leaves and stems, with silk chiffon flowers of various sizes decorating her dress brilliantly at the ends of that jeweled embroidery.

But what stood out most were her eyes, sparkling as vibrantly as flowers and as colorfully as gems.

Just as Cayen’s gaze was fixed on her, her gaze was fixed on Lionel.

That gaze that seemed to be directed at him yet not directed at him made Cayen’s anger surge. At the same time, one corner of his head began to throb.

“Urgh…”

The person who noticed that faint sound was the Former Empress sitting in a chair on the dais one level lower.

Glancing back and confirming that Cayen’s condition was poor, she immediately signaled the maid manager to hurry up and finish.

So the maid manager roughly wrapped up his remaining words and recited the title to be bestowed upon Lionel.

“…Therefore, Sir Lionel is ennobled as Grand Duke Frost and granted the southern part of the Northern Mountains as his estate!”

“The southern part of the Northern Mountains?”

People murmured as if very surprised.

In truth, that Lionel would receive the Grand Duke title and northern lands as his estate was already a predicted sequence.

The same went for the Northern Mountains being included in that estate. The Northern Mountains were where gates needed to be built first to prevent monsters from invading again.

But they hadn’t expected him to be given only the southern part of the Northern Mountains.

Frankly speaking… they were only giving him poor land that was too cold and barren for self-sufficiency, let alone having anything to sell.

“That used to be the Rotman Margrave territory, right? I heard the margrave’s entire family died during the monster wave and Rotman Castle became almost like ruins…”

This way, the Grand Duke title felt like it was given as punishment rather than reward.

Even the nobles who loved to gossip glanced at the Emperor with looks suggesting this wasn’t quite right.

Whether he knew of those gazes or not, Cayen’s eyes were fixed only on Cecilia.

‘Now, what will you do?’

If she married Lionel, who had received the northern estate, Cecilia would also have to go live her entire life in that desolate place.

Since not only the mountain gates but also the castle below the gates had completely collapsed, she would have to make do by roughly repairing some usable mansion for the few years it would take to rebuild the castle.

Could Cecilia, the youngest daughter of Roheim who had lived enjoying every luxury as a wealthy duke’s daughter, endure in that barren northern environment?

If it really didn’t work out, there was the option of leaving Lionel in the north while she came to the capital for social activities.

Actually, that wouldn’t be bad either. Couples who chose to live separately like that usually each took lovers…

“Leo! You really received the Grand Duke title?”

“Are you pleased with it?”

“Of course, I’m extremely pleased!”

Cecilia’s excited voice heard from afar completely erased the thoughts that had been floating in Cayen’s mind.

Soon, receiving Cayen’s gaze with her whole being, Cecilia smiled brightly.

“How cool! Grand Duke of the North!”

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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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