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TWSB 223
🕑 Added 2025-03-06 07:41:56 +0000 UTC<Commedia dell'arte (1)>
“...The wait is getting longer than I expected.”
I said, and...
“It seems that way, your highness.”
Sir Johann answered.
- Squeeeee.
- Aarf!
The two divine beasts chimed in as well.
We could see the busy citizens of the vassal state and the indigo-colored sea outside the luxurious balcony.
It made sense that all four of us had the same thought.
We somehow ended up staying in Emma Corleone’s estate......
For three days. Not three hours but three days!
“Mm.”
- Ring ring......
I shook the toy in front of Tithé’s face as I fell deep into thought.
Signora Luchana, who guided us here, had not come back since the first day.
She said that she would let us know if she received any info from the Admiral, but she had not shown up.
Well, she probably had work to do as well and could not keep looking after us.
In the end, we ended up staying here confined in Villa Corleone, which was located in the middle of a busy street.
We had nice beds and the food was great (it was actually amazing), but I felt anxious and nervous because we had no idea what was going on.
Marquis François Duhem searched around the estate looking for information, but......
‘François, why don’t we just wait for now?’
‘Prince Jesse?’
I stopped him. The Marquis’ light pink eyes opened wide.
‘You’ve already been a great help bringing me all the way here. Please don’t push yourself when you are not feeling well. They say that no news is good news.’
‘......If a noble being like you says it, that must be the will of the Almighty God, your highness.’
He stopped talking for a moment before answering with elegant movements.
It took me a while to realize that I had called him by his first name. That happened yesterday.
- Aaarf!
“Is this fun? One of the uncles who work here gave it to me. He said it's for you.”
......Nothing had changed until now.
We were anxiously enjoying the peace and drinking tea.
‘What happened to my friends in the Empire? I hope they are safe.’
Admah, the older sister island of the vassal state that you could only arrive at by sailing a long time from the southern part of Riester, was currently in summer.
Actually, Captain Duhem said that it was this warm all year long.
The sun shined down brightly during the day and hot wind blew by in the early morning and night.
But the air was dry, so it wasn’t as hot as the Imperial Capital during the heatwave.
We could hear the sounds of the sea from all directions, making us feel better. It wasn't the time to feel that way, but anyway...
“The Admiral has her duties as well so she must be busy. Despite casting away her nationality in the vassal state, she is still one of the young ladies loved by all so I'm sure there are a lot of unofficial business she has to handle. Her home and family are here as well.”
“You are being so considerate about someone you haven’t even met before.”
“Hahaha.”
The Holy Knight gently pointed out and I avoided it with a laugh.
It might not be the case, but it was better to think about it like this.
I didn't want to become heartless because I was in a difficult situation.
- Squawk, squawk
“Hi there. Hey Demy, say hi to your friend. Please?”
- Cruuu.
The seagull on the ledge showed us some interest.
I smiled with the veil still over my face and enjoyed the exotic scenery.
Unlike the Imperial Capital, where the nobles had their own district for their homes, the vassal state had the residences of the upper class and the commoners all mixed together.
It was rare to find sleek white buildings and most of them were bumpy ash pink masonry buildings.
The roofs were red and beautiful.
I didn’t know how it ended being created like this, but as a foreigner, it was nice to see.
Luxurious carriages and seafood carts ran down the same roads.
It allowed us to watch the crowd and feel like tourists despite just sitting inside the grand estate.
The downside was......
“Eek, Demy. Don’t look at things like that.”
- Squooooo?
I gasped and covered the divine beast’s eyes. Demy wagged his tail.
“Tithé, don’t look either.”
- Aaarf?
I quickly turned my body to face the room instead.
There were lots of talks about how wild the people of the vassal state were, and they were all punks crazy in love.
I may be exaggerating a bit, but pink hearts were basically floating around everywhere.
The Holy Knight across from me leisurely smiled. I felt wronged and bit down on my lips.
‘I'm sure Sir Johann would have acted the same way if Gerrit was here.
I slowly poked my head out to see and...
‘Why are you stripping down?!’
- Muah, muah, muah......
‘What the hell are you doing in the middle of the street in broad daylight?!’
I clenched my eyes shut and mumbled ‘QNW is for all audiences’ as if it was a Buddhist chant.
The only disappointing thing was that I could not cover my ears because I was holding the kids.
I immediately passed through any suggestive scenes on TV because I was worried that our little Eunseo might see them, but seeing such passionate moments right under my nose was very uncomfortable.
‘< Game of Thrones > is a show but this is for real.
It’s not just one or two couples like them!’
“Let’s do it one more time.”
“Ah, ah, yes!”
‘Your lips are going to get swollen! Are you making soondae or something?!’
“This place is even worse than the rumors. Compared to the Empire or the Holy Kingdom, they are definitely......”
“Free, yes.”
I quickly finished Sir Johann's sentence.
“I was going to say lewd, but I’ll respect your choice of words, your highness.”
I quickly turned to see the Holy Knight enjoying this situation. ‘Yeah, yeah, you are a married man with experience.’
"Sir Johann.”
“Was I being too mean, your highness?”
“No, that......”
I patted the divine beasts as I chose my words carefully.
I suddenly thought about something after seeing the lovers on the street acting as if there was a skinship competition.
It was something I've wanted to say since we left the Duhem March, but I missed the timing until now.
I thought that this was a decent time to say it. I slowly pulled up my veil and made eye contact with the Holy Knight.
“I thought that you might be uncomfortable because of my role.”
“......”
“You’ve actually lost your wife, unlike me. I'm sorry I am acting out such a role right next to you.”
He might look at me weirdly for suddenly saying something like this, but I wanted to apologize just in case it hurt him.
His mint-colored eyes silently looked at me.
There was a reason Antoinette decided that I would be a ‘husband who is mourning his wife.’
Despite the people of the vassal state being known for hitting on any and everybody, she chose to believe the stories about how they had a culture of not messing with people who recently lost their partners.
That was indeed the case.
‘Signore, I heard that you suffered a tragedy. Please eat a lot and cheer up.’
‘Thank you very much.’
The staff bringing the food were like that.
‘The ocean breeze of the south washes away your tears. Sitting on the balcony will help your heart be at peace.’
‘We will do it, caring signore! Shall we get you a comedy to read?’
The Chief of Staff and really the entire staff at the villa were so nice.
They did not try to hit on me or anything like that.
Seeing how they kept hitting on Sir Johann and the Duhem siblings, my position of widow seemed to be working well.
I was relieved that my identity was not revealed, but it also did not feel good.
I felt like Sir Johann might feel sad while looking at me.
“I'm fine, your highness. It has already been six years.”
“Still.”
‘It’s only been six years.’
“My wife was a mercenary as well, so we both understood. We knew that it would not be weird for either of us to leave the world at any moment.”
“......”
“It was just that our expectations were very different from reality. We had Gerrit as well.”
The Holy Knight answered in a low voice before smiling. I could only nod my head.
Whether it was foreseen or not, losing a precious member of your family is a big shock to everybody.
Dealing with the storm afterwards was sometimes harder than the sorrow itself.
My siblings and I at least had each other, but Sir Johann had to travel around on his own with four year old Gerrit.
“To change topics a bit, I think Marquis Duhem is pushing himself a bit much here for similar reasons.”
“Excuse me?”
I asked back. The conversation suddenly switched topics.
Demy was having a staring contest with the seagull.
“Duke Sarnez tried to frame his family right when he was sick. He aimed for the moment when Marquis Duhem was at his weakest.”
“I guess you could see it that way.”
“Duke Sarnez pretty much openly threatened Marquis Duhem’s precious siblings. I'm sure he is quite angry on the inside.”
My jaws dropped on their own. I had not thought that far.
“Was I wrong to tell him to rest? I was worried his condition would get worse......”
“You did well, your highness.”
Sir Johann smiled in his uniquely gentle smile.
"Such a person doesn't listen to other members of their family trying to stop them. They see members of their family as people they need to protect and care for. They only realize it when a third party calls it out for them.”
‘Ah. His personality is similar to my brother’s.’
“So, thanks to you, your highness, everybody......”
It was at that moment.
- Squawk!
- Screeeech!
“Demy!”
Flutter! I grabbed the red panda in shock.
The results of the staring contest must not have gone well as the divine beast stood up and started threatening the seagull.
The bird did not submit and flapped its ash-colored wings. Sir Johann instantly extended his arm.
I was worried that the bird would get hurt.
“That’s okay. I'm o-, huh?”
The world suddenly turned bright!
“Your highness!”
- Squawk, squawk!
The seagull flew away as if it was teasing me.
I hugged the divine beasts and dangled on the ledge.
“Hey, you!”
‘You should admit defeat if you lost, why are you messing with someone else’s little troublemaker and stealing my veil......!’
“Huuuff.”
I made a bizarre noise as I stiffened.
The people on the street, male and female, young and old, were all looking at me with blank gazes.
‘They'll see my face!’
“You really can't be helped, your highness.”
- Claaaaang!
I heard sir Johann’s sigh-filled voice before my eyes were covered by a white cloth and my body was flung back.
“Ahhh!”
My sight was instantly restored. I was now in the living room and not the balcony.
My back touched the firm wall and Sir Johann’s white hair fluttered back down slowly, as if it was moving in slow motion.
The Holy Knight was holding the now broken curtain rod in his hand.
He had used the curtain to cover me as soon as my face was revealed and flew here......
“I'm sorry. I did something stupid again.”
I immediately apologized and rationally assessed my actions.
‘Squeee.’
‘Ooooong.’
Demy and Tithé had no differing opinions either. Sir Johann smiled bitterly as he answered.
“......I'm not so sure about that, your highness. I think you should feel sorry for future you instead of me.”
*
‘Does becoming a cardinal give you foresight?’
"Beautiful signore, where have you been my whole life? Please come back to the window just one time!”
‘Don’t hit on recently widowed people?’
"Ah, if I cannot kiss you, I think I'll suffer in pain until I die!”
‘They were all lies!’
“If you are not planning on becoming Donna Corleone’s second husband, please give me a chance as well!”
“Aren’t they supposed to be arrested for doing this at 10pm......”
- Whimper......
I bitterly mumbled as I consoled the divine beasts.
Demy was tired from walking around scoping out the villa and his confrontation with the seagull. He needed to sleep early.
Tithé always slept a lot like a newborn.
But these uninvited guests outside the bedroom window were preventing the kids from sleeping.
I couldn’t complain to anybody because it was technically my fault.
This isn't < The Masked Singer > so how could their behavior change as soon as my face was revealed?
“Oh tragedy of golden light, I have fallen in love with you. Even the pain of digging my heart out feels so sweet!”
“You should go to the hospital for that......”
I carried the two divine beasts as I groaned.
I was thankful that nobody seemed to have noticed my eye color.
According to Marquis François, the vassal state was not aware of the religious meaning of purple and gold.
It wasn't weird because most of them were atheists.
But he advised that they should know a famous person like the first prince of the Holy Kingdom.
At least my identity did not seem to be revealed yet.
“I knew this guy was handsome, but the impact is crazy.”
‘In my opinion, Sir Johann, the Marquis, or Captain Duhem are all much more......
- Knock knock.
Someone knocked on the door at that moment. I released my holy circle as discussed. Paaaat!
“Your highness, it's me! Maria!”
“Please come in, young lady Maria.”
I chuckled and deactivated my circle. The golden circle slowly disappeared.
My room was the innermost room of the guest rooms and you could not enter without going through Sir Johann's room.
It was impossible for a suspicious person to approach.
The Holy Domain was just to be safe.
The clumsy girl with the flowery pink eyes ran in. I tilted my head.
Maria was dressed in regular clothes and not her pajamas.
“Are you not sleeping, young lady Maria?”
“Yes, your highness! Eldest brother told us to get ready to leave right away. Sir Geens is packing up as well!”
“Leaving, then......”
"We received a message from Admiral Corleone. Her handwriting is so cool too!”
The young lady smiled before pulling out a neatly folded message from her vest pocket.
She then changed her voice to act it out.
“’I'm glad to hear that your heart is finally ready. I cannot leave Zeboim as there is an incident here right now, so please come here to be embraced. - E. C.’ I guess she gives hugs to the people coming with her plaything. I would have been satisfied with a handshake. This is so exciting!”
Maria's short hair shook like a foal as she moved around with joy.
I turned pale and looked at her and the window.
I would continue to receive these unbelievable courtships if we stay here, but if we go to Zeboim, the Marquis......
“Signore, our child would be the most beautiful child in the world!”
‘Yeah, let’s go to Zeboim as planned.’
