IDIBC Chapter 31

Count Enehaz’s Evening Party (4)

Ricardo clicked his tongue without any intention of hiding it. Usually, Julian openly disregarded the Second Prince. But that was only before the Crown Prince had fallen to his knees in defeat.

“Are you planning to squander all your wealth now that death is imminent?”

The Crown Prince looked at Ricardo with an innocent expression, as if to ask what he meant.

“Isn’t that too easy a bet?”

“Is it?”

Unbelievably, the Crown Prince looked surprised. Of course, Ricardo wasn’t fooled by Stuart’s clumsy acting. Though just because he was acting didn’t mean there was any reason to refuse the bet.

“I’ll wager my townhouse in Sebran that Julian will approach him before the Second Prince can even finish one glass of wine.”

The townhouse in Sebran was the estate with Duke Rochester’s most beloved garden. Strictly speaking, it wasn’t Ricardo’s yet, but it was part of the family inheritance he would receive upon his engagement.

The townhouse, which the ducal couple regularly visited during the changing flower seasons, would be overflowing with red roses by now. So the fact that he would wager that estate, Rochester’s pride, meant he was that confident.

“Paquin is… that predictable?”

“Of course. Now then, what will Your Highness wager?”

“No matter how much of an opportunist he is, he has built up some loyalty over the years…”

Ricardo chuckled. If there was one word that least suited Julian, he thought it would undoubtedly be loyalty. After thinking for a moment, the Crown Prince spoke with determination, wearing a somewhat playful smile.

“I’ll give the Schneider Sword that I received from His Imperial Majesty.”

Ricardo’s face momentarily hardened at Stuart’s absurd betting condition.

The Schneider Sword was a treasure passed down from the first Emperor, one that only the imperial heir could possess. There was a legend that it had been bestowed directly by the gods, and another theory that it had been seized in victory from a war against the gods. Whatever its background, there was no dispute that it symbolized the imperial family.

“Are you serious?”

“What would a man about to die gain from lying? It’s not as if the Schneider Sword will protect me after I’m dead.”

“You might as well be naming me Crown Prince.”

As laughter mixed into the heavy subject, Stuart also chuckled slightly, his chest heaving.

The moment the mirth had barely left his face, Paquin moved. Carrying a wine glass directly to the Second Prince. At this sight, Ricardo and the Crown Prince burst into loud laughter. It was a somewhat hollow kind of laughter.

“I’ll give you my sword at the Imperial Palace banquet.”

Ricardo’s eyes gleamed sharply as he looked down at the first-floor hall. The Imperial Palace banquet would be the grandest gathering held right after his engagement ceremony.

He couldn’t help but smile at the thought of Stuart handing him the sword there, with the Emperor watching.

It would be nothing short of a declaration of war. One that Stuart Reid Schneider would deliver directly to his own father.

And accepting it would be Ricardo’s own declaration.

That he would move forward according to the oracle’s contents.

Having won the bet, there was neither a way nor a reason to refuse that sword.

Ricardo looked at Stuart with renewed eyes. He was indeed a Schneider. Tenacious and brilliant beyond words.

Just then, Stuart’s eyes sparkled with curiosity. Ricardo found this truly fascinating. A human being whose eyes would light up at interesting sights even in the face of death.

“Look, a new Yellow Rose over there.”

Ricardo’s gaze naturally followed the direction the Crown Prince was pointing. But the new yellow rose he mentioned was already standing with her back to them. Her beautiful silver hair and silver dress of a slightly lighter shade rippled like waves, showing off their elegance.

“You didn’t see her face, did you? I need to get another look myself.”

Her body’s graceful lines that even the dress couldn’t hide, and her appearance with her long neck fully exposed, were perfect for stirring men’s lust. It wasn’t a vulgar dress with excessive exposure like other women wore, but that made it all the more eye-catching.

“She has quite good taste, judging by that choice of dress.”

Ricardo was ignorant about women’s ball gowns, but even to him, the distant woman’s back view was beautiful. Beautiful… had he ever had such an impression before?

“No matter how I look at it, she’s not from an ordinary family, so why is she holding a yellow rose?”

“How on earth do you know such things?”

“What do you mean?”

“Women’s clothing… and such.”

“This is the difference in experience between unmarried and married men. No, setting that aside, you’re the strange one for not knowing. At a glance, it looks incredibly expensive. Mariette said that price equals taste.”

Not only in the Dermeier Empire but in many countries Ricardo had visited, silver hair wasn’t a common color. Moreover, with such a beautiful back view, she would undoubtedly become the best Yellow Rose of this ball.

Weren’t even Julian’s eyes, as he handed the wine glass to the Second Prince, turning in that direction?

Then would this year’s legend of social climbing be achieved by that woman?

Ricardo thought calmly that today’s theatrical scenes were more entertaining than usual.

“It doesn’t matter how beautifully she’s adorned her appearance. The fact that her content is vulgar doesn’t change.”

“You’re lacking in most things, but flexibility is what you lack most. Instead of calling all those women down there wearing yellow roses vulgar, I would use the word fierce.”

“Isn’t it because His Majesty handed out noble titles indiscriminately that such fierce competition has arisen?”

It was an era of many wars. Most countries defeated in war were forcibly integrated into the Dermeier Empire, but maintaining power through force alone was difficult.

“I never said it wasn’t. I’m just asking you to understand.”

From the ancestors of the Schneiders several generations back to the current Emperor, imperial titles had been granted to the citizens of vassal states.

Whether for show or not, it was quite decent compensation for those who had lost their countries.

While the royal families of vassal states received relatively better titles, most nobles were given baronetcies of the Dermeier Empire.

Those titles, handed out to the citizens of vassal states like throwing food to dogs, seemed to be regarded as medals. Those who received even those titles suppressed their own surroundings, making even others pledge loyalty to the Dermeier Emperor.

The problem was that they gradually wanted to advance into the center.

The easiest way to advance into the center was through marriage.

So this ball itself was a large-scale festival of matchmakers. Whether it was the parents or themselves aiming for social advancement, unmarried women of viscount families and below willingly pinned yellow roses to their chests to become mistresses of men from count families and above.

He had heard that they wouldn’t hesitate to pay enormous sums to obtain invitations to this ball.

“But why won’t that woman turn to look this way?”

Women knew how to torment men even from afar. She looked around as if searching for someone, but never once turned backward.

“If Her Highness finds out you’re so curious about another woman, I wonder what expression she’ll make.”

At Ricardo’s rebuke, Stuart’s eyes grew genuinely wide.

“Don’t say such things even as a joke. You must know that Mariette is the person I fear most in the world. This is a secret among men.”

He shuddered as if truly frightened, then pointed his finger at a spot in the hall.

“Oh, there’s Walter.”

Where the Crown Prince pointed stood Walter Shaw Chaplin, heir to the Chaplin Ducal House. He was one of the few proper men recognized by many in the Empire.

While Ricardo somewhat agreed with that assessment, it didn’t mean he liked him.

Though Walter was still in the position of viscount, his father had been suffering from a serious illness for a long time, so he was already performing the duties of a duke. Impatient people already called him Duke Chaplin.

“Look at that. Even Walter, who’s notorious for his high standards, is approaching her, isn’t he? All men are like that. So don’t even think about breathing a word to Mariette.”

To be precise, Walter wasn’t approaching the new Yellow Rose.

It made no sense for him, who suffered from a cleanliness obsession only regarding women, to approach a Yellow Rose first. Rather, it would make sense if he were being chased by them and backing away.

But Walter’s obsession was something Ricardo had discovered with his eye for truth. That condition was as much a secret as the Chaplin family’s authority, so it wasn’t strange that the Crown Prince was mistaken.

For whatever reason, it was clear that this silver-haired woman was the star of this hall tonight.

The Crown Prince and Rochester, Chaplin and Paquin, even the Second Prince. They were all heading toward that woman. Whether with their gazes or their bodies.

Ricardo was chuckling hollowly at the situation unfolding before his eyes when it happened.

“With men rushing at her left and right, why don’t you try your hand as well?”

The woman who had been keeping her back to them the entire time turned around. At the same moment, the Crown Prince’s voice began to sound distant.