MPGF 18

Chapter 18 – We Came to See Our Anette?
If he thought he could brush it off as a joke, he was gravely mistaken.

In the end, it was his so-called “joke” that brought me all the way here.

“Sorry. I’m sorry, Anette.”

I didn’t need an apology. I never expected or wanted one. I turned away from him coldly.

“It’s fine. I was never yours to begin with, Your Highness.”

“Anette! You’re marrying just to spite me, aren’t you?”

I spun around quickly. He had grabbed me without warning. The very man who just apologized was now trying to handle me however he pleased. My teeth clenched in frustration.

“Let go. People are watching.”

“Come talk to me in private.”

I replied firmly.

“The only thing I had to say to you was through the invitation. I don’t want to talk or listen anymore.”

“You’re getting married because of me, aren’t you?”

“No? What are you talking about?”

Even if that were true, Serdis and I weren’t close enough to care about each other’s marriages.

“Tell me the truth!”

“Can you lower your voice?”

People were starting to stare. The glances we were receiving shifted in tone. It was a perfect moment for a misunderstanding. I didn’t understand how someone could be so shameless and foolish to act like this in public.

“Let go. People are watching.”

I tried to pull my arm free, but he didn’t seem like he intended to release me. His sharp eyes clearly said, Let’s settle this here and now.

He was always like this. No matter how much I tried to talk sense into him, it never got through. Just as I was trying to think of a way to avoid ending up in tomorrow’s gossip—

“You’ve really crossed the line now.”

A deep male voice echoed from the sofa in the corner of the boutique. The newspaper hiding his face was thrown aside roughly.

“Your Grace… the Grand Duke of Blandiche?”

There he was, legs crossed, head tilted in amusement—Hertian. I hadn’t noticed he was here. For a moment I was startled, but that was quickly replaced by the chilling shift in his dark eyes. He was focused on the hand that was still gripping me.

“You mind letting go of that hand?”

A murderous aura surrounded him, like he could slice off Serdis’s hand with just a glare.

Serdis’s expression twisted grotesquely as he noticed Hertian. Everyone knew the two half-brothers didn’t get along. The tension between their sharp gazes crackled in the air.

“What’s a brute from the battlefield doing somewhere so refined?”

“Came to see our Anette.”

Wow.

For a moment, I was genuinely moved. Showing up at the perfect time with that line?

His tone was so smooth and confident, it made you wonder if not being interested in women was a loss to the country.

“What? Our what?”

“Do I have to report it to you every time I miss our Anette and come to see her, Your Highness?”

He had now stepped closer and forcibly removed Serdis’s hand before switching to a polite formal tone—but even that sounded mocking.

“Go handle your business. Come on, Anette.”

“That bastard… how did you even win her over?”

“I didn’t win her over. I begged her to marry me the moment I saw her.”

Even I was embarrassed hearing that. But he said it without batting an eye.

“They say fortune favors the bold. From the looks of it, you didn’t have the guts.”

His crimson lips curled into a smirk.

“You…”

Serdis couldn’t come up with a single retort. Everything Hertian said was true. A perfect victory for Hertian.

“It’s time for our Anette to try on dresses. Looks like you bought a lot of gifts—if you don’t want people saying you squandered imperial funds, maybe donate some of it.”

“What does a bastard like you know—”

Just as he was about to reveal his ugly side, I stepped between him and Hertian.

“Let’s go in now, darling.”

At the word darling, Serdis’s foul mouth finally shut.

Hertian didn’t deserve to hear that filth. Nor was Serdis worth engaging with.

“D-Darling?”

“Yes, my darling.”

I giggled and playfully tapped Hertian’s thick arm. Hertian, quick on the uptake, smiled sweetly and played along.

“My honey already sent out the invitations. There’s nothing to hide now.”

“What? Honey?”

Suddenly, he picked me up. My body was weightless as I was lifted into the air. Before I could react, Hertian declared to the stunned room that looked like they were watching a drama:

“Please make sure the rest of the nobles know, too. Just how real and deep our love is.”

Despite the words, his hands were gentle. He carried me into the boutique’s fitting room and set me down as soon as the curtain closed.

“Did I do well?”

He had acted perfectly, yet still looked worried. Somehow, he looked even more handsome today.

“I thought I was the heroine in a legendary romance. Did you see the looks on their faces? Prince Serdis might not believe it, but I’m sure the others think we’re a real couple.”

I gave him a big thumbs-up. Only then did his face relax into a smile.

“By the way, Lady Anette… do you dislike the Prince?”

“I don’t know if it’s dislike, exactly… but I have my reasons. I just don’t want to get involved. I guess I react automatically now. I know I shouldn’t hate someone, but…”

“Well, I do dislike him. So please, join me in that.”

My furrowed brows eased at his honesty.

Where had this perfect man suddenly dropped in from?

Good-looking and flawless at acting?

“Hertian, let’s never become enemies.”

He was someone I wanted on my side, always.

“Naturally.”

Meanwhile, in the Imperial Palace…

A new visitor appeared before the Emperor.

It was his first son, Serdis, who looked just like him. Unlike the second son, who was only a few months younger, Serdis carried a completely different air—a greenhouse flower with flawless skin, raised in the safety of the imperial palace.

“Father. I beg you.”

So the immature son had come… with a request, of course.

“I said no.”

“Anette is not fit to be a Grand Duchess.”

He wanted to block Hertian’s marriage.

The Emperor knew the brothers’ relationship was strained, but this was the first time Serdis had directly tried to sabotage him.

He grew angry at his son for trying to meddle in Hertian’s life. He’d indulged him far too long as his precious legitimate son.

“That’s not for me to decide. It’s up to him.”

“Please, Father.”

Hertian had already made the same request—he wanted to settle down and marry. The Emperor couldn’t turn down his second son’s first and only plea. He had already failed to be a good parent, and if he ignored this too, he’d lose face forever.

“You should start looking for a bride too. Or I’ll have the Empress find one for you.”

“No. I already have someone in mind.”

“Who?”

The Emperor gave him a suspicious look when Serdis remained silent.

“It’s the same lady, isn’t it?”

Anette Le Anberia.

Both sons… interested in the same woman?

Serdis’s silence confirmed it. The Emperor clicked his tongue and gave his son a cold stare. He resented Serdis for trying to leverage power over love.

“Tch. You’ve already lost to him.”

“If you won’t help me, I’ll handle it myself. Don’t stop me.”

He was ready to defy everyone. He was a prince. Hertian was a duke. In succession and status, Serdis saw no reason why he shouldn’t win.

“Can’t you give up just this once?”

As Serdis turned to leave, the Emperor asked quietly. He pitied his younger son.

“I can’t give up Anette.”

Serdis refused to give up anything—not even a woman—to Hertian.

“Your brother grew up wandering battlefields to avoid your mother. He never once coveted the palace, the title, or this family. Can’t you yield even one thing to him?”

“That’s the fate of a bastard.”

It had always been like this. He’d break Hertian’s toys, drive away his attendants—just like his mother had done to the concubine who birthed Hertian.

“A bastard is still… my son.”

Because he knew this all too well, the Emperor had never openly favored Hertian. The more affection he showed Hertian, the more jealous Serdis and the Empress became. So he pretended to send him off to war.

But this time was different. He couldn’t ignore Hertian’s plea—his first show of desire in his whole life.

“If you cause trouble over this, I won’t forgive it.”

Back in the Prince’s Palace

Peace was a stranger lately.

“Even Father is taking that bastard’s side…”

Serdis was furious. His anger was taken out on the palace attendants.

“You gave me false information and ruined everything. Prepare to be punished.”

“I’m sorry, Your Highness!”

Romance novels Anette supposedly read were now scattered on the floor. Turns out, it wasn’t her—but a maid who loved reading them.

“I pay you and this is what I get? Can’t even find out something so simple? Do you deserve to serve in the palace?”

“I deserve death, Your Highness.”

The attendant bowed so low his nose touched the floor.

“Oh yeah? Then die.”

A cold blade pressed against the servant’s neck. A stinging pain warned that death was near. Desperate, the servant scrambled to find a way to survive.

“There’s another way!”

“I’ll give you one chance to explain.”

“Y-Your Highness, while you are the most dashing and skilled man in the Empire… the Grand Duke has a unique power.”

He referred to Serdis’s paralyzing ability, gained while hunting with Violet years ago.

“You’re not going to say I should cure Anette’s illness with that, are you?”

He had already tried. Standing near Anette, he used his paralysis to the limit—but she always rejected him.

“You didn’t properly show her.”

“Properly?”

“Lady Anette has lived with pain for so long, she’s probably used to it. She doesn’t feel the need for Your Highness.”

Serdis gave a small nod. He was intrigued.

“No one forgets the person who saves their life.”

The servant didn’t let up.

“So… hurt her?”

He had never once considered hurting Anette. But if she didn’t hurt… he would.

“Just enough not to harm her permanently… wouldn’t that be okay?”

Serdis’s eyes gleamed with dangerous resolve.