The Obsessive Male Lead Is Obsessed With Me! - Chapter 54
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————
Episode 54
I must have been staring at her intently without realizing it while wondering where I might have seen her.
She looked flustered when she saw me and gave a light bow while holding the child.
I wanted to ask if I had seen her somewhere before, but now wasn’t the time for that.
So I also responded with a light bow and stepped aside to let her pass.
Meanwhile, the maid reported to the First Prince.
“Your Highness. Lady Cecilia Roheim has arrived.”
“Let her enter.”
For some reason, my gaze kept following the Bishop’s retreating figure, but now wasn’t the time for that.
I went straight inside and first paid my respects to the First Prince.
“Cecilia of Roheim greets His Highness the First Prince.”
“You may raise your head.”
How gracious of him to grant such permission. I grumbled inwardly as I raised my head and looked around the room.
‘Uni…’
Uni was kneeling beside the long sofa where the First Prince was sitting.
I was so furious for a moment that I almost shouted regardless of whether it was the First Prince or whoever. I barely suppressed my boiling emotions and smiled brightly.
“Your Highness. May I ask why my maid is kneeling here?”
“You can hear the reason directly from the maid’s own mouth.”
The First Prince seemed tired of sitting and leaned back as if lying down on the long chair.
‘Our Uni is still kneeling!’
Just as sparks were flying from my eyes, Uni opened her mouth.
“Forgive my presumption, Your Highness, but I have nothing I can say.”
“What?”
“Didn’t Your Highness just say earlier? That this matter would be treated as if it never happened.”
“…Ha!”
The First Prince looked down at Uni with an expression of disbelief.
He looked as if he had been insulted, so I quickly spoke up, worried that Uni might catch the fallout.
“I don’t know exactly what happened, but I also heard Your Highness say that this matter would be treated as if it never happened. Then isn’t that the end of it?”
“You heard? You speak so shamelessly about eavesdropping like a little rat without a trace of shame?”
“I can’t say I didn’t hear what I heard. Wouldn’t that be deception toward His Highness the First Prince?”
The First Prince let out a hollow laugh seeing me not backing down even a bit.
He looked at me with an expression that said ‘look at this,’ so I just smiled brightly.
‘What. Are you going to spit in a smiling face? What will you do?’
Of course, if he actually spat, I was prepared to run crying to my parents. I was also thinking of spreading rumors throughout the neighborhood about what he had done to me.
I don’t know if he thought that far, but a crooked smile appeared on the First Prince’s lips.
“Fine. Yes. I can’t take back words spoken from my own mouth.”
“Then…”
“However, your maid’s crimes are not just one.”
“Pardon?”
What is this about now?
Surprised, I immediately looked at Uni, and she also shook her head as if she didn’t know what he was talking about.
“Your Highness. What crime has my maid committed?”
“It’s very simple. She set foot in my palace garden without permission.”
At those words, I thought ‘oh no’ and looked back at Uni, and she too had a dismayed expression.
“I apologize, Your Highness. I had no intention of presumptuously entering the Prince’s Palace without permission. However…”
“You’re not going to give me that stale excuse about not knowing exactly where the boundary between the Prince’s Palace and the Empress’s Palace is, are you?”
But the boundary is ambiguous!
To be precise, the Empress’s Palace garden and the First Prince’s Palace rear garden were connected.
Originally there was a stone wall dividing the two gardens, but it was torn down by the Empress’s order to connect the gardens.
Because of this, people visiting the Empress’s Palace would sometimes mistakenly enter the Prince’s Palace, or those visiting the Prince’s Palace would take the wrong path to the Empress’s Palace.
This wasn’t a big deal if the palace owner forgave it, but it could become a major incident if someone wanted to make an issue of it.
And the First Prince was planning to add fuel to the fire. Exactly as the maid had told me just moments ago.
‘Fine. I’ll play along.’
I gritted my teeth inwardly and asked the First Prince.
“Your Highness. What must I do for you to forgive my maid’s mistake?”
“My lady!”
Uni cried out in surprise, but I gestured for her to stay quiet.
As if pleased with my reaction, the First Prince raised the corners of his mouth.
“What must you do… Yes, that’s right. The master must take responsibility for the servant’s mistakes.”
“No! It’s all my fault. So please punish me…!”
“Shut your mouth. I haven’t given you permission to speak.”
“Right, Uni. You keep your mouth shut.”
I gestured to Uni and then looked at the First Prince.
If he made an unreasonable demand, I was prepared to immediately take Uni and flee from here as I waited for his words.
“She didn’t steal anything or harm anyone, so I can’t demand too great a price… Yes, this would be good.”
He must have been thinking about it beforehand, but the First Prince spoke cunningly as if he had just thought of it.
“At next week’s hunting competition, how about tying your handkerchief to my bow instead of your fiancé’s?”
“Pardon?”
Is he insane?
Telling me to give a handkerchief to his brother instead of my perfectly fine fiancé? While knowing full well what it means to tie a handkerchief to a bow at a hunting competition?
Uni’s eyes widened as she shook her head vigorously, indicating this was absolutely unacceptable.
I knew this wasn’t right either. It was perfect for creating a scandal.
Not to mention rumors would spread that I had a crush on the First Prince or was playing both sides between the First Prince and Second Prince, and Lionel would also be ridiculed for not receiving a handkerchief from his fiancée.
But with Uni held hostage, I couldn’t openly refuse this.
After very intense deliberation, I opened my mouth.
“Your Highness. I’m sorry, but I cannot fulfill that request.”
“Why? Because you have to tie your handkerchief to Lionel’s bow? It seems your loyalty to your fiancé is greater than your affection for your maid. The maid must be very disappointed.”
“No. It’s not for that reason. I have no intention of attending the hunting competition.”
“What?”
“I don’t particularly like seeing blood splatter, so I never planned to go from the beginning, and I also can’t go. I haven’t made my social debut yet.”
I gave a meaningful look to the elderly attendant standing like a shadow behind the First Prince.
He soon understood my intention and explained to the First Prince.
“If the Duke’s daughter attends the hunting competition at this point, that day would become the Duke’s daughter’s social debut day.”
“Why? Is there some law against that?”
“Because she can’t be the main character.”
The main focus of the hunting competition was, after all, hunting.
If you’re confident in archery, it’s fine to debut at the hunting competition. You can firmly imprint your name in people’s minds through victory.
But I hadn’t learned swordsmanship, and officially I was someone who couldn’t learn magic. There was no way for me to win at the hunting competition, so how could I make my social debut there?
“Above all, my mother wouldn’t allow it either.”
When I mentioned my mother, who was called a celebrity of high society, the First Prince’s brow furrowed.
“So… you have no intention of coming to the place where the hunting competition is held, on the day the hunting competition is held?”
“Yes. I plan to just stay home.”
Then the First Prince narrowed his eyes and looked at me.
“Then there won’t be any chance of your handkerchief being tied to my brother’s bow either?”
He was asking if I was planning to visit Lionel beforehand and tie my handkerchief to his bow.
I had actually been planning to do exactly that, so I felt a pang of guilt inwardly, but I didn’t show it outwardly and nodded.
“Of course. I said I’m not going there, didn’t I? I can swear on my name.”
“…Fine.”
The First Prince looked sullen as if displeased that things weren’t going his way, but he didn’t push further as if this was sufficient.
“There shouldn’t be any sudden change of mind that day.”
“Of course. Your Highness won’t see even a single strand of my hair there.”
“Good. I’ll trust your word on that.”
And so Uni and I were able to safely escape the First Prince’s Palace.
My energy was completely drained, so it seemed impossible to go to the Second Prince’s Palace today. I sent someone ahead with a message saying I wouldn’t be able to come today, then climbed into the carriage heading home.
“Phew… Thank goodness. We escaped safely!”
Unlike me, who was simply happy about that fact, Uni’s face was nothing but dark.
Sure enough, before I could even offer words of comfort, she dropped to her knees on the carriage floor with a thud.
“I have committed a mortal sin, Lady. Please punish me.”
“What mortal sin? Forget it. How could you possibly stop someone throwing a tantrum because he doesn’t have a fiancée to tie a handkerchief to his bow?”
“But…”
“I said forget it. Tell the coachman something for me. Let’s stop somewhere else before going home.”
Uni looked puzzled when she heard my destination.
“Why the Tower of Magic all of a sudden?”
“He finds it unsightly to see a handkerchief tied to my fiancé’s bow. So I’m going to make it perfectly natural for there to be no handkerchief on my fiancé’s bow.”
How dare he make my maid kneel?
I’ll make him absolutely furious.
Look forward to it, First Prince!
* * *
One week later.
Finally, the day of the Hunting Competition dawned.
—————
This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
—————