Chapter 8
Suddenly, Natalie felt a wave of doubt and muttered to herself.
“…I thought my life would be special. It’s hard to explain, but I really believed I’d do something different.”
“Something other than being someone’s wife, mother, or an old maid, right?”
Natalie let out a small laugh at Christina’s blunt words.
“Of course, I’m not saying a lady’s life isn’t valuable.”
“Sure. You mean it just doesn’t quite fit you.”
“…I know it sounds childish to just complain like this when I haven’t achieved anything on my own.”
“Yeah. You’re whining right now.”
Natalie couldn’t help but laugh again at Christina’s cold comment. She smiled helplessly and continued.
“Lately, I wonder if maybe my mother was right. Maybe I am the problem. She always says, ‘Why are you the only one who can’t just put up with things like everyone else?’ and it really hits home…”
“Oh, Natalie. Don’t you start too! This place is boring enough without you getting like that.”
“……”
“You’re not being dramatic. Honestly, I think about the same things. I wonder every day who I really am. What I truly want.”
“…Maybe that’s why we’re friends?”
“Of course.”
Christina and Natalie looked at each other and smiled.
“But it’s not like we have any other choices, so shouldn’t we at least enjoy what we can here? So, Miss Dawes, shall we talk about something fun now? Listen to what I overheard while you were dancing with those idiots.”
Christina linked arms with Natalie and started weaving through the ballroom crowd, whispering in a low voice.
After the story about the widow who recently reunited with her first love, there was a tale about a young soldier in love with his mother’s friend.
Natalie’s eyes widened again and again as she covered her mouth to stifle her squeals. That was the charm of a ball.
“And you really can’t tell anyone this.”
Finally, the magic phrase that always grabbed attention.
“They say David is actually Prince Ian.”
“……”
“Isn’t that wild?”
“…Pfft!”
Natalie couldn’t hold back her laughter at the ridiculous claim. She felt people staring and quickly covered her mouth.
Christina narrowed her eyes at Natalie’s reaction.
“Don’t laugh. If you think about it, it makes sense.”
“Oh, Christina, you’re the best. You’re the funniest person I know.”
“There are rumors that Prince Ian has made women cry everywhere with his looks. Supposedly, he has lovers in every country. David’s novels are all based on those experiences.”
“What are you talking about? Ha! No way. If that’s true, how do you explain his latest book?”
“Well… but think about it. The male lead in David’s first novel is exactly like Prince Ian. He basically gave us the answer. Bright blond hair, blue eyes, pale skin. And he’s a duke. Prince Ian is the Duke of Valderma, isn’t he?”
“So every duke is David now?”
“Exactly! And even the pen name ‘David’… ”
“What about it?”
“Prince Ian’s middle name is David!”
…Well, I didn’t know that.
Who memorizes the full, grand names of royals anyway? Most people just remember Prince Ian or the Duke of Valderma.
“Doesn’t it sound right? They say rumors are everywhere these days that David is Prince Ian. Some say the serialization was stopped by the royal family.”
Because of the scandalous new work about a lady and a stable boy’s affair, there was a lot of controversy around David lately. People were betting on his identity in gambling halls, and reporters were pounding on the publisher’s doors every day. David ended up stopping the serialization.
“Another ‘Noble Cut’ thing? That place is a mess. Half their news is fake. If they’re right, great. If not, oh well.”
“…It did start with ‘Noble Cut.’”
Of course. Christina must have been very impressed by that article about Ian, David, and the prince.
“Everyone’s going to get fined for insulting the royal family soon. Why is everyone so obsessed with who he is? You seem smart, but whenever it’s about David, you lose your mind.”
“You really think it’s not true?”
“I’d bet everything I own it’s not.”
“You don’t even have money.”
Since Natalie didn’t play along at all, Christina pouted and grumbled. Natalie shook her head at the sight, then fell into thought.
For some reason, she felt like she could finally say it now.
“…Christina, actually…”
Just as Natalie, after a brief hesitation, was about to confess something…
“Breaking news!”
Ding! As the bell rang for midnight, someone shouted.
Sometimes, if you stayed at the ball late, you could be lucky enough to hear about a secret scandal before it hit the papers. Tonight seemed to be one of those nights.
“Natalie, what were you just saying?”
“It’s nothing.”
Natalie laughed awkwardly and shook her head. Her courage had vanished in an instant.
‘I already quit that life. I’ve decided to seriously look for a husband and live a normal lady’s life.’
There was no point in confessing now.
No more adventures.
Natalie steadied her pounding heart and pulled herself together.
***
“Those pesky nobles are probably gossiping behind my back again.”
There was old resentment and anger in the dry voice.
Ian slowly set down his teacup and looked up. Across from him sat his mother, Queen Violet, her expression as cold as her voice.
She was in her late forties, but still looked barely over thirty. She was famed for being the peak of the Astiers family’s legendary beauty.
Before Princess Charlotte became known as the ‘legendary beauty,’ that title belonged to Violet. Now, she was the ‘legendary beautiful queen.’
With her brilliant blond hair and blue eyes, Queen Violet was a beauty of the century. Her husband, Ernest II, with his pale green eyes and platinum hair, was a handsome man. Their son, Crown Prince Edward, looked like a sculpture. Charlotte, called an angel, and Ian looked so much like Violet that people joked she could have had them on her own.
“I’ve never been so disappointed. Even more than when Ernest first brought his mistress to Windsorbell Palace.”
She was still beautiful today, but Violet looked utterly exhausted.
The scandal of her husband had been a huge shock to the once noble and innocent young queen. Violet had suffered and raged through endless scandals, and finally resigned herself to them.
She kept her dignity alone. She endured for over twenty years. It was only natural that she became obsessed with duty, responsibility, and high morals.
Ian, knowing this well, quietly held his breath at the word ‘disappointed’ from his mother.
“Edward, and even Eris. How could they disappoint me like this? They must have forgotten everything I did for them.”
“Hmm. I thought it was Grandmother who raised her.”
If you were being precise, it was the late Queen Dowager who cared for the siblings and their cousins at Malik House.
“So you think that makes it okay?”
Violet glared at her son, her voice calm but sharp.
“Now, among the nobles, people are saying Eris was divorced because she had an affair with Edward. You really don’t care, do you?”
“If I really didn’t care, I wouldn’t have come when you called. I was just tortured by all those princess portraits a few days ago.”
Ian softened his eyes, trying to charm her, but Violet didn’t fall for her son’s smile.
“Yes. You’re better than Charlotte, at least.”
Violet frowned, thinking of her daughter who never came when called.
“No, Charlotte will always be better than me.”
Ian smiled brightly and gently contradicted his mother.
“So, why did you call me?”
“You and Charlotte knew, didn’t you?”
“I had no idea it would turn out like this.”
He meant it. If she was asking how rumors about Edward and Eris had spread so quickly among the nobles, he could only call it a coincidence.
“Should I be happy about good things, even if it’s between siblings?”
“The only thing the Astiers family has going for it is looks.”
Violet glared at her son, who was joking around.
“Dave, enough with the word games. I didn’t call you here just to complain.”
She scolded Ian using the childhood nickname she rarely used now, then gestured to her lady-in-waiting. The maid set a magazine on the tea table.
“There’s a reason I called you for this unpleasant talk.”
Noble Cut.
It was a third-rate magazine, but anyone who could read had seen it.
As the name suggested, Noble Cut mostly covered noble scandals. It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say it grew on the scandals of Ernest II.
There were limits to how much the press could be controlled. Violet despised the magazine, calling it “a bunch of parasites.”
“Edward’s embarrassing problem has, thankfully, only spread among the nobles so far. But your problem seems more urgent.”
Who is David?
The headline for the special feature, timed to coincide with David’s new release, was big enough to read from several meters away.
Below it was an elaborate illustration. Five people suspected to be David were drawn in detail. The man in the center wore a name tag that said ‘Prince Ian.’
“They really have no fear. This is all your father’s fault for ruining the royal family’s reputation. How dare they put a prince’s face in such a ridiculous magazine.”
They had published a huge article about a romance novelist. Ian looked at the black ink that didn’t capture even half his real self and thought the world had nothing better to do.
