Timid and Shy - Chapter 43

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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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43.

Since influential publishing figures had received invitations to the Engagement Celebration Ball, newspapers and magazines were saturated with coverage of the Imperial Court’s celebration. The articles welcomed the Imperial Court’s attempt to break down social barriers.
The magazine pieces openly displayed their proprietors’ intention to make the event more meaningful through their attendance.
They spoke of how freedom of the press and social reform moved together, and how this ball represented one of those triumphs. A word or two of congratulations for Prince Robert’s betrothal rounded out the pieces.
Meanwhile, an Imperial ball was being covered for the first time not as gossip but as politics and social affairs. Of course, gossip columns were running the story with equal vigor.
As the betrothal party became the talk of the town, interest in Sophia heightened as well. Her debutante ball resurfaced as a topic of conversation.
Helen, delighted, framed an article bearing a title that seemed to mock “The Most Unfortunate Woman in Uranos” with “The Most Fortunate Woman in Uranos” and gave it to Sophia as a gift.
Sophia found it pleasant that her past wounds had transformed into opportunity this way. Whether true or not, it was far better to be misunderstood as a happy person than to be pitied as an unfortunate one.

***

The debutante ball held at the Wiscom Estate for Isabel and Sophia had by now become common knowledge.
That day had been when Prince Robert and Sophia first met, and also when Prince Frederick and Isabel first met.
As Prince Robert and Sophia’s Engagement Celebration Ball dominated conversation day after day, talk of Isabel and Prince Frederick—which had been fading—surged back into prominence.
Curiosity about how their relationship might develop remained keen. It could hardly have been otherwise.
Prince Frederick had not been seen in high society recently. Everyone had expected him to approach Isabel more actively after his broken engagement, but he did the opposite—withdrawing entirely from public view.
In fact, Prince Frederick was making an effort to present himself differently than before. He couldn’t afford to appear as though he’d merely been capricious, breaking his engagement to Parma and now courting Isabel. That was Isabel’s thinking as well.
A week after announcing the broken engagement with Parma Gareis, Frederick had spoken to the Empress.
“I won’t be attending parties anymore.”
The Empress spoke with suspicion.
“You’re not planning to do something behind my back, are you?”
“Mother! If I cling to another woman right after breaking my engagement, what will people think of me? I must maintain at least a period of mourning. For Parma’s sake as well.”
The Empress agreed. Even if Frederick became engaged to Isabel, House Gareis had to be shown maximum consideration. The Empress believed Frederick’s original engagement had fallen through because of Wiscom’s scheming.
‘Those cheap novels! It was clearly the work of the Duchess of Wiscom.’
The Empress still disapproved of Frederick and Wiscom marrying. She wished to delay it as much as possible, even if an engagement did take place.
The Empress thought Frederick’s self-imposed seclusion was a plausible excuse to postpone the engagement, so she allowed him to have his way. Prince Frederick abstained from hunting and avoided going out.
Yet even during his seclusion, Prince Frederick and Isabel were meeting with the active cooperation of the Creole Countess. The Empress never imagined that the Creole Countess would dare betray her.
In fact, the Empress believed she had the Creole Countess completely under her control. How else could the scandal-tainted Creole Countess still be moving about in high society if not for the Empress’s protection?
What had driven Prince Frederick to impose seclusion upon himself was above all Isabel’s urging. Frederick had also come to recognize his own circumstances through reading the novels.
Isabel, tears brimming in her eyes, spoke to Prince Frederick with earnest intensity.
“Your Highness, there are many who blame me for your broken engagement with Parma Gareis. I’ve even heard it said that I commissioned the novels that have become popular. If you meet me now, I’ll hear even worse accusations. Your Highness, I’m still afraid of people’s eyes. Please give me time. I want to wait for people’s interest to fade. After that, I believe I could spend much more time with you, and be far happier. Would you grant me that?”
Prince Frederick replied.
“During that time, I too will work to gain the strength to protect us both.”
Prince Frederick would have done anything if it meant he could marry Isabel. Moreover, he believed that this ordeal would make their love all the more precious.
When Robert announced his betrothal to Isabel’s country-girl cousin, Frederick was overjoyed. The Empress and the Cressida had been anxious after Frederick’s broken engagement that Prince Robert might unite with House Gareis instead.
From his grandfather the Cressida, Frederick had even received a scolding for the first time. So Frederick was pleased at the thought that Robert’s betrothal would ease the pressure upon him.
‘No.’
Prince Frederick shook his head.
‘I can’t let myself fear Cressida. How pathetic to rejoice at something so trivial.’
Frederick could not forget the look in the Duke of Gareis’s eyes when he gazed at him. Under that gaze, Frederick felt weak and foolish.
He had vowed to repay that unpleasant feeling to the Duke of Gareis. So he had to endure and persevere. Besides, the Duke of Gareis was not entirely wrong.
‘I must escape from Mother’s and Grandfather’s hands.’
The moment the Emperor heard that Frederick had changed, he sent tutors he’d prepared in advance. The tutors began to press Frederick hard.
Frederick wanted to flee, but he couldn’t because of the condition the Emperor had set.
“If you don’t run away from the tutors I send but endure instead, I will grant you one thing you desire. One thing the Empress would never permit, and one year of persevering with the tutors. What do you say?”
‘If the Emperor helps me escape from Cressida and the Empress…’
From that day forward, Frederick spent his time attending lessons in the morning and afternoon at his quarters, doing assignments in the evening. The occasional notes from Isabel that reached his hands were his only consolation.
When he heard that Robert’s Engagement Celebration Ball would soon be held, Frederick found himself itching to attend, hoping that Isabel might come as well.
It would be his chance to see Isabel. Notes exchanged with her alone were not enough. But her latest note disappointed him.
‘I won’t be attending the ball. Please endure as well, Your Highness.’
Frederick was disappointed. He desperately wanted to see Isabel. Wondering if there was any way he could attend the ball, he sought out the Empress, though with reluctance.

***

The Empress spoke with a smile, the first in a long time.
“Don’t think of going to the ball either. Since you’ve been declining all parties, it should be possible to skip this one too without raising suspicion.”
“Do you think the Emperor will say nothing? It’s Prince Robert’s Engagement Celebration Ball, and if his brother doesn’t participate, I fear he’ll have something to say.”
“There are plenty of others the Emperor will be angry with. No one you know will attend this ball. Isabel won’t be coming either, so there’s nothing to regret.”
Frederick already knew Isabel wouldn’t be attending, but he gave no sign of it. He merely nodded weakly.
The Empress was delighted to see so many guests declare they wouldn’t attend the ball. It would make clear to everyone exactly what Robert and Sophia’s standing was.
‘I’ll show them all how worthless you truly are.’

***

While Sophia remained in the Capital as the Prince’s betrothed, invitations had arrived from time to time. But once word of the Engagement Celebration Ball spread, even those occasional invitations ceased.
Then, unexpectedly, an invitation came from someone entirely different. The Duchess of Wiscom had sent an invitation card to Sophia Ariel, Young Noblewoman of Ariel.
Sophia hesitated upon seeing the invitation.
‘Could the Duchess of Wiscom have sent this with good intentions? At a time when everyone is avoiding me?’
Sophia was puzzled.
‘Will the Duchess of Wiscom try to win me over, or threaten me?’
Frederick was in self-imposed seclusion, and Isabel had vanished completely from sight.
‘When on earth will those two announce their betrothal?’
Like everyone else, Sophia was curious about how things stood with those two. And whether the Duchess of Wiscom truly believed in Sophia’s betrothal, or not. In the end, curiosity won out. After all, the Duchess of Wiscom was Sophia’s relation.
‘I should at least try to reconcile. And I’m far too curious to see how Wiscom will treat the Prince’s betrothed.’
Sophia informed Robert of her invitation from the Duchess of Wiscom. Robert asked to meet with her to discuss it.

***

Robert wore an awkward smile as he became aware of the furtive glances from passersby, then asked his question.
“So you think something like this suits the List better?”
They sat at an outdoor terrace of a popular dessert café.
Sophia spoke in a bright voice.
“Maeub recommended this place. It’s delicious, isn’t it?”
She lowered her voice.
“We’re building an approachable image. Look around—there are couples dating all around us. A perfectly ordinary date, just like everyone else. It makes us seem down-to-earth.”
Robert looked at the unfamiliar cake before him and spoke.
“Do you think the Duchess of Wiscom intends to win you over?”
“Win me over or threaten me—probably both, actually. She’ll either threaten while appearing to win me over, or win me over while threatening.”
“What do you mean?”
“I’m curious too, about what the Duchess of Wiscom will do. Even if we’re betrothed, there are people who don’t believe it, aren’t there? The Duchess of Wiscom seems like she’ll be one of the disbelievers. I’m actually looking forward to seeing how she treats me. If she doesn’t believe, she’ll test me—and to test me, she’ll have to throw various things at me. All while treating me as the Prince’s betrothed. Don’t you find that fascinating?”
Robert leaned forward and whispered.
“If anything like a debutante incident seems about to happen again, tell me. Even if House Wiscom doesn’t believe, they won’t dare disrespect you. If you suffer humiliation or disrespect as my betrothed, I won’t tolerate it for a moment.”
Sophia leaned in and spoke softly.
“If the Duchess of Wiscom does that to me again, wrestle the Duke of Wiscom in front of everyone. Let them hear that you’ll stop at nothing for your betrothed.”
Robert laughed at Sophia’s jest.
“Should I go with you to House Wiscom instead?”
When Sophia straightened and looked at Robert, he gave a wry smile and spoke.
“I’m curious whether they’ll welcome me or be terrified.”
“Because of Isabel?”
“No. Everyone.”
Sophia spoke with a playful expression.
“Do you want to put on an affectionate display with me? Not as an escort, but like a betrothed who couldn’t wait and came to fetch you himself. The Duchess of Wiscom’s expression would be priceless.”
“I like the way you think. All right.”
Sophia, delighted, told Robert to come fetch her around three in the afternoon at House Wiscom, and decided she would arrive there around two o’clock.
Robert shifted restlessly in his seat and spoke with an awkward smile.
“How much longer do we have to stay here?”
“As long as possible. I’d say to let as many people see us, but let’s go now. It’s a popular place—we can’t monopolize a table. Come on, let’s get up.”
Robert stood and spoke.
“So this is Maeub’s taste. Now I understand why he longs for the Capital so desperately. He actually loves crowded places like this.”
As Sophia heard Robert’s sarcasm, she offered a prayer for Maeub’s well-being.
‘I hope Maeub is all right. Robert seems like he’ll tease him relentlessly.’

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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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