Chapter 113 - North Korean rabbit

Episode 113

The news that Aaron Müzen had reached the level of Sword Master spread at an astonishing speed.

It was only natural that gossipmongers' mouths grew busy.

"To be a Sword Master at that age is truly remarkable!"

"Everyone said if a Sword Master were to appear in this generation, it would be from the Müzen family, but I never thought it would actually happen."

"The young Duke of Teslan must be quite sore about it."

"Well, he too is a knight renowned as being on par with a Sword Master. Though there's no news yet of him having become one."

Two additional pieces of information accompanied this.

First, that the mother of the newly-minted Sword Master, the Duchess of Müzen, had formally become the Crown Princess's Head Lady-in-Waiting.

"Then what about Grand Duchess Axion?"

"Surely the relationship between Her Highness the Crown Princess and the Grand Duchess hasn't soured in the meantime...?"

"I heard it was a temporary role she took on to help her grandson's wife."

"To be honest, given the Grand Duchess's status and age, serving as Head Lady-in-Waiting was somewhat excessive."

The Duchess of Müzen becoming the Crown Princess's Head Lady-in-Waiting was also somewhat excessive.

After all, the Crown Princess's Head Lady-in-Waiting held a much higher status than the Empress's Head Lady-in-Waiting.

That fact now demonstrated the current prestige of Crown Princess Hilia.

And then another piece of news was added, fueling the rumors into a roaring blaze.

"But is that story true? That as soon as the young Duke of Müzen became a Sword Master, he swore an oath of knighthood to the Crown Princess."

"Surely not..."

"They say it's true. My friend, the Countess of Rasht, witnessed it herself."

"Good heavens!"

The authority over the Imperial Household's internal governance had already passed to the Crown Princess.

And now, a newly-born Sword Master had become the Crown Princess's knight.

Some were even beginning to think:

'Isn't this a situation where power is being concentrated on the Crown Princess to a somewhat excessive degree?'

If it weren't a love marriage (or rather, a marriage of abduction), but a political marriage, it wouldn't be strange for talk to emerge about the Crown Prince needing to check his consort's power.

* * *

Amidst this, a new romance novel serialized in the newsletter *Espitola* spread through the salons and quickly became a hot topic.

The title was 'The Noble Lady and the Knights.'

Ladies and young noblewomen passed around the newsletter obtained from the salons with great excitement.

"Oh my, you're reading *Espitola*? All their articles about Her Highness the Crown Princess last time were wrong, you know."

"That's right. The dress, and that baseless rumor about her saying to eat cake if there's no food."

The truth about the dress between Hilia and Evangeline had spread widely.

After all, it was none other than Frida Wes's atelier, which had directly made the dress in question, that was still in business.

Wes's atelier was so prosperous that it was booked solid for several years, and the flocking customers would often ask Frida about the related rumors.

And of course, Frida Wes (Isepin) diligently explained the truth on Hilia's behalf, contributing to the spread of the accurate story.

"The rumor is correct. The dress Her Highness the Consort wore was made by me, and of course, it did not copy Lady Ruth."

"By the way, how did *Espitola* know about something that hadn't even happened yet and publish it as an article?"

It was a fact that puzzled everyone.

That particular article had been distributed to salons on the morning of the Artanus Hall banquet.

Considering the time needed for printing and distribution, it had to be assumed the article was written before the incident even occurred.

"It seems someone anticipated it would definitely happen that way and distributed the newsletter in advance."

"A strange affair, isn't it?"

Thanks to this, *Espitola*'s credibility had now hit its lowest point since its first publication.

Fortunately, its recognition was maintained.

An apology and correction had been published, and there had been no false reports since.

Above all, the biggest factor was the lack of an alternative.

To learn about socialite or imperial affairs, *Espitola* was still the fastest and simplest.

The young noblewomen giggled as they exchanged words.

"Well, I was very disappointed then too. I almost canceled my subscription."

"And yet you..."

"But look. This isn't an article reporting facts. It's just a novel. Something to read for fun."

"That... is true."

Even the young lady who had been criticizing *Espitola* was immediately captivated by the gorgeous, pretty illustrations and provocative novel in the newsletter.

"Oh my, oh my. This is really entertaining. I might subscribe too."

The plot of the romance novel 'The Noble Lady and the Knights,' which was just beginning to become a major topic, was simple.

It was about a lady of noble status, already married, receiving courtship from outstanding knights.

The noble lady in the novel had married for love, but she was the object of admiration for numerous knights.

Among them was one knight who had served her faithfully since her maiden family...

It was revealed that this knight and the lady had already been lovers during her engagement period.

And in the novel, the lady's husband, upon learning this fact, was enraged.

Everyone was curious about how the story would develop.

* * *

"Hmm... Interesting."

*Crunch.* The sound of ripe green grape flesh being chewed came from between Hilia's teeth.

Arpad, who had personally fed Hilia the grape, asked in a somehow sulky voice.

"You can laugh even after seeing that?"

"Well, it's funny because the intention is blatantly obvious."

It was already a topic that Aaron, having become a Sword Master, had become Hilia's knight.

And then 'The Noble Lady and the Knights'?

The title seemed tailor-made. The content went without saying.

Hilia, who knew of the collusion between Evangeline and Wilhelm, had somewhat anticipated this situation. Naturally, she had also been preparing a response.

'But I didn't expect them to use fiction. I was a bit surprised.'

If it were Evangeline's method as Hilia knew it, she wouldn't have taken such an indirect means as a novel.

'She would have spread rumors openly.'

Hilia felt the need to be a little more on guard.

It seemed Evangeline had decided to approach more cunningly and cautiously than before.

Making that judgment, Hilia *tapped* the paper she was holding down onto the table.

It was the latest issue of *Espitola*, where the problematic romance novel was serialized.

Arpad looked at the novel's illustration with an expression full of displeasure.

It depicted the protagonist's husband witnessing the scene of his wife having a secret meeting with a knight and being shocked.

Perhaps the reason that scene felt particularly unpleasant was due to a recent event.

Just a few days prior, he had had to watch Aaron Müzen offer his sword to his wife.

Moreover...

He shifted only his eyes to glance at one of the guard knights standing in the corner of the drawing room.

Lord Beltain, with his pallid complexion.

Arpad turned his gaze away, grinding his teeth softly.

"The protagonist in this illustration, anyone can see it's drawn to resemble you."

"But you can't punish *Espitola* for that. You know that, right?"

They could simply claim it was a coincidence.

Even if *Espitola* had written 'The Noble Lady and the Knights' and drawn the illustrations with the intent to slander Hilia, there was no proof.

"If we did that, they'd make a huge fuss, saying the power-drunk Crown Princess is suppressing the press."

They couldn't give them a pretext to pretend to be the victim.

Arpad let out a low sigh and said.

"But I can find another excuse and make a fuss. If the mad Crown Prince gets upset about something again, no one would suspect a thing, right?"

Hilia's eyes widened.

"Do you dislike it that much?"

"Of course I do!"

Hilia nodded.

"Well. This is also an attempt to tarnish your honor along with mine..."

"It's an attempt to openly smear your honor!"

Hilia and Arpad's words overlapped almost simultaneously.

The two looked at each other.

"?"

"?"

Hilia soon grinned.

"You're that worried about me?"

"Isn't that natural? For a husband to worry about his wife. My honor doesn't matter. I never had much honor to begin with."

Hilia's eyes grew round.

Meanwhile, Arpad picked up an apricot this time from the fruit plate placed before him.

Then, using his aura, he peeled it, split it in half, removed the pit, and brought it directly near Hilia's mouth.

"Here, say 'ah'—"

"......"

Hilia frowned and asked.

"How long do I have to keep accepting snacks you feed me?"

At that, Arpad's perpetually raised eyebrows drooped.

"Do you dislike it?"

"No, it's not that I dislike it, but it's strange! It's already been three days!"

That's right. Arpad personally feeding Hilia various snacks like fruit had been going on for three full days.

It started three days ago.

The very day after Hilia received Aaron's oath of knighthood.

Over a truly trivial, insignificant matter, she ended up making a bet with Arpad. It was a bet about which direction a falling petal would go.

And Arpad won. The loser agreed to grant the winner one simple wish.

"You didn't use some trick, did you?"

"Haha. Surely you're not going to go back on your word just because you lost, are you, Hilia?"

"Who said they'd say one thing and mean another? So what do you want?"

She thought he might ask for something utterly absurd, but Arpad said something unexpected.

"Eat everything I give you without picking and choosing."

"...Pardon?"

"You are too thin."

Hilia pondered for a moment, then finally nodded.

She thought it would just be Arpad dumping vegetables he didn't want to eat into her mouth, like last time.

'It's not a difficult task, and the imperial meals are delicious.'

But Arpad didn't make her eat food he disliked, as he had before.

'Huh?'

Strangely, he even ate the broccoli from his own meal cleanly.

Instead, what he gave Hilia to eat during the meal were meats or fish that he himself liked.

"Here, say 'ah'—"

"Hmm?"

"You promised, didn't you? Say 'ah'—"

Since then, he had been delivering various desserts or, like now, fruits right to her mouth.

Peeling them, removing seeds, and preparing them to be very easy to eat.

'If this is the case... it feels less like a bet penalty and more like Arpad unilaterally serving me, doesn't it?'