2. Golden Invitations Cannot Be Refused (part 1)
Arthur Digory began carefully implementing a plan he had been drawing up in his mind for a long time but hadn’t been able to execute.
This plan might be more challenging than putting Nell on the throne.
“I didn’t expect Lord Digory to visit.”
Now, this was the first step. Teon Morris, who was bristling with tension at the sight of him.
Arthur smiled brightly at Teon and picked up the tea he had reluctantly served.
“It has a good fragrance.”
It was the most terrible fragrance he’d ever encountered. Still, Arthur breathed in deeply, pretending to enjoy the aroma.
Disgusting. To serve such tea was unforgivable, but Arthur decided to forgive Teon.
“Lord Digory, what brings you all the way here?”
“Please call me Arthur. We became friends at yesterday’s party, didn’t we?”
He couldn’t say no to that. Arthur put force behind his eyes and threatened Teon. He could see Teon flinch and step back.
“Is this tea from the east?”
“Yes, from Morris…”
He had brought carelessly managed tea, hoping Arthur would leave quickly, but Arthur said it had a good fragrance? Teon looked at Arthur suspiciously and trailed off.
If this had been tea prepared by the hotel, Arthur would have gone downstairs immediately to have the tea leaves changed, but since it came from Morris, he decided to respect that.
“The reason I came here today—Teon, do you have any idea what it might be?”
“I’m sorry. I really don’t…”
Terrible liar. Looking at Teon’s unnaturally contorted face, Arthur raised the corner of his mouth wickedly.
“Where is Lady Marcella? Is she perhaps out?”
Arthur deliberately put force into his voice, knowing Marcella was in the inner room. She was probably pressing her ear to the door, eavesdropping on their conversation.
When a clattering sound came from behind the door, Arthur smiled and lifted his teacup. It was hard to decide which was worse—the tea’s taste or Teon’s lying skills.
“Why are you looking for Marcella?”
Teon’s voice, which had been nervous and cautious, sharpened.
Though basically a coward, he didn’t have the courage to chase after the Emperor and demand to know what he had done to Marcella, but he wasn’t naive enough to hand her over just because asked.
“Teon.”
Though Arthur was smiling, his voice was dry.
It was understandable that Teon would be on edge from his perspective. But Arthur didn’t want to waste his precious time just convincing Teon Morris. He had so much work to do when he returned.
“I’ve only come to deliver something to Lady Marcella.”
“Why would Lord Digory want to give Marcella…”
“Oh, it’s a misunderstanding. I’m not the one giving it.”
“What? I’m sorry, but I don’t understand. If you’ve come but you’re not giving it, then who…”
Teon, who had been looking at Arthur with confused eyes, froze.
“Are there many people in the Western Empire who can use Arthur Digory to deliver things?”
So stop talking nonsense and bring Marcella Morris here. Arthur smiled warningly as he looked at the frozen Teon.
At that moment, the closed inner door opened with a click.
When the nervous-faced Marcella Morris appeared, Arthur smiled as harmlessly as possible.
“Lady Marcella!”
Arthur got up from his seat and strode toward Marcella, who had finally shown herself.
Marcella flinched and stepped back, but soon composed herself and curtsied to him, lifting her skirt slightly.
“Lord Digory.”
She was better than Teon Morris, but how had such an ordinary, timid-looking lady thrown a shoe at Tamarin? And incredibly, she had even burned his mane.
Both stories were hard to believe, but what looked ordinary on the surface was often the most frightening.
Arthur smiled brightly and extended his hand to Marcella.
Marcella hesitated.
She didn’t want to give him her hand. But that would be rude behavior that could later become a problem between families.
“This is the first time I’m formally introducing myself. I’m Arthur Digory.”
Arthur nearly burst into laughter seeing Marcella reluctantly place her hand on his after hesitating, but he held back.
When he lightly kissed the back of her hand, he heard Marcella quietly inhale.
“You came looking for me?”
Her desire for him to leave quickly wasn’t hidden. Moreover, she didn’t seem to care about hiding that she had been secretly listening at the door.
Arthur, who also had much work to do when he returned, preferred that the conversation proceed quickly.
“Yes, by His Majesty’s command.”
Arthur smiled brightly and turned to look at Teon.
Teon looked at them with a blank face, unable to speak or close his mouth. How could he be so clueless?
Arthur clicked his tongue inwardly and smiled at Teon.
“Teon, I have urgent matters to discuss privately with Lady Marcella, so please excuse us.”
Teon’s mouth opened even wider.
“I am Marcella’s guardian. If you have something to say, please say it in my presence.”
Oh, so you’re going to be like that? Seeing timid pacifist Teon Morris come on quite strongly, Arthur’s genuine laughter burst out.
“Isn’t it rather intrusive for such an interference with a proper lady who had her debutante ball yesterday?”
“Even though she’s debuted in society, she hasn’t had her coming-of-age ceremony yet.”
“The coming-of-age ceremony is soon anyway.”
“Lord Digory, I swore to Count Morris that I would be Marcella’s guardian, and I will keep that oath.”
To bring up an oath with the deceased just because he asked him to step aside for a moment.
Arthur found Teon laughable, but seeing his determined face, he raised both hands. Even if her guardian was present, someone like Teon Morris wouldn’t be a problem.
“If the guardian’s will is so firm, it can’t be helped. It’s as if I came to do something bad. Ah, please be at ease. It’s nothing like that at all.”
Arthur pretended to drink his tea while carefully observing Marcella.
“I was worried that Lady Marcella might have been seriously injured, but at least you don’t appear to be, so I’m relieved. Are you uncomfortable anywhere?”
“Thank you for your concern, Lord Digory. I’m fine.”
“It wasn’t my concern, but His Majesty’s.”
Marcella’s eyebrows twitched. She looked at Arthur with suspicious, wary eyes.
“Tamarin often plays such tricks on His Majesty. Since His Majesty thinks Tamarin’s pranks are less than a kitten’s scratches, he was perhaps a bit slow to realize how frightening it must have been for you.”
So slow that he still doesn’t understand why you were scared, though.
Arthur let out a slight laugh seeing Marcella’s face gradually become confused as it stiffened.
He placed his teacup on the table, pushed it aside, and put down the box he had brought.
“This is what Lady Marcella left behind last night.”
Arthur was kind enough to open the box lid as well.
Looking down into the box that had been prettily wrapped with a red ribbon, Marcella’s expression darkened. The shiny, ugly green shoes contrasted with the pretty, expensive packaging.
“You came just to return this? You could have sent someone.”
She wouldn’t have minded if he hadn’t returned it at all.
Seeing Marcella swallow her words, Arthur smiled brightly.
“So His Majesty sent a ‘person.'”
He emphasized that he was, after all, a person sent by Nell.
Then he placed another box on the table. This one was also tied with a red ribbon.
Marcella looked back and forth between the box and Arthur. This time, he didn’t ostentatiously open the box lid, making it difficult to see the contents at a glance.
“Was there something else I left behind?”
“You’ll know if you open it.”
You caused quite a commotion. Maybe a hair ornament or something fell out.
Marcella couldn’t understand why he was drawing this out and grabbed the ribbon’s knot. Though she had been indifferent, her hands began to tremble involuntarily when she touched the box whose contents were unknown.
No matter how much she recalled, she hadn’t lost anything besides her shoes.
“His Majesty is sending this to Lady Marcella as an apology.”
Arthur, who had been waiting for the right moment, spoke quickly just before the box opened.
So this wasn’t something she had left behind, but a real gift.
Marcella hesitated and looked down at the gift box again. It was the same size as before, with identical packaging.
It even had a subtle floral fragrance, as if perfume had been sprinkled on it.
Marcella couldn’t guess what was inside and slowly opened the box with trembling hands.
“His Majesty was so concerned about Lady Marcella leaving barefoot.”
“…You didn’t need to give me something like this.”
Marcella couldn’t decide whether to prioritize feeling burdened that the Emperor had given this, or feeling happy about receiving a gift.
The gift was soft velvet green shoes. The kind of shoes the young ladies had been wearing last night.
“His Majesty gave this?”
Teon was shocked and interrupted.
Arthur found answering him bothersome but decided to use him. He could serve as a witness to explain how unprecedented this was.
“I was surprised too. For His Majesty to give a gift to a young lady. Such a thing has never happened before.”
Marcella thought Arthur Digory seemed like a con man. He might just be the type who exaggeratedly praised the Emperor in aristocratic fashion to show off his loyalty.
The Emperor might have given gifts to other ladies without Digory knowing. To be so confident and say it never happened was either con artistry or close to being a liar.
“His Majesty…”
Teon opened his mouth but couldn’t continue. When he saw the imperial crest stamped on the ribbon’s end, he made a “huh” sound and exhaled long.
Arthur felt grateful enough to thank Teon for reacting exactly as he intended.
“His Majesty chose these shoes for me?”
The fashionable shoes the ladies had been wearing? Marcella couldn’t believe that the indifferent-seeming Nell had done that.
As Marcella expected, Nell hadn’t chosen these shoes. The ribbon color, box color, and perfume sprinkled on it—Phoenix had excitedly decided all of it.
It was Arthur Digory who had brought shoes that were trendy among young ladies and told the imperial artisan to make shoes of this foot size by tomorrow, throwing the shiny shoe at him. It was Tamarin who stepped on the foot of the shoemaker who was about to cry and bared his teeth widely.
Meanwhile, Nell didn’t know what they were doing and was just lying on the sofa in his bedroom reading an old notebook.
But Arthur was genuinely confident. He had received permission to send it in Nell Hairi’s name and had given it in Nell Hairi’s name, so this was truly a gift sent by the Emperor. Hadn’t he even stamped the imperial crest on it?
But even seeing the imperial crest, the lady didn’t withdraw her suspicious gaze. She looked timid but was just full of suspicion.
Arthur hid his inner thoughts and smiled brightly at Marcella.
“Oh, my lady. Unfortunately, His Majesty is someone who takes no interest in women’s shoes, fashion, or even the clothes he himself wears, so I did help him.”
Of course, he wanted to say His Majesty had chosen them, but that was a lie with a high risk of being exposed. It wasn’t important enough to risk lying about. What mattered was that His Majesty had given the lady a gift.
“Then it’s not His Majesty giving it, but Lord Digory giving it.”
At Marcella’s firm conclusion, Arthur was silent for a moment, then smiled brightly. Damn. The lady had flipped the story in an instant.
“I merely helped.”
That’s the same thing—if you’re the one who chose it.
Marcella smiled at Arthur just as he was smiling at her.
“Thank you, Lord Digory.”
