I Tamed My Ex-Husband’s Mad Dog - Episode 32

Meanwhile, time goes back to just before Reinhardt entered Amaryllis Hall.

 

Reinhardt held the crystal in her hand. It was what Wilhelm handed over to her.

 

The crystal used when passing through the Crystal Gate was closely managed by the Imperial family because of its symbolism. Each person passing through the Crystal Gate could receive only one crystal. If the crystal was lost, it could not be reissued and had to be purchased again at a huge toll. Therefore, the crystal must remain in the hand of the person who was passing through the Crystal Gate unless it was the blood of the Imperial family.

 

As soon as she passed through the Crystal Gate, Wilhelm came to her and fixed her clothes. To others, he would be seen as a loyal young knight pulling up the shawl of a respectable lord.

 

However, the look in Wilhelm’s eyes as he lightly held Reinhardt’s hand, at least to her, never looked like that. Through his black curls, his eyes blacked out with uncanny goodwill. Wilhelm smiled lightly at the startled Reinhardt and whispered.

 

“It’s probably the one you want to check the most.”

 

“…Wilhelm.”

 

Reinhardt opened her mouth, but the next words did not come out. She had a lot to say but didn’t know what to say first. Wilhelm put a round object in her hand and removed the dust from her hair. And he said softly.

 

“I decided to give it to the fox in Glensia.”

 

“…You.”

 

It was the moment that Reinhardt vaguely expected as he passed through the Crystal Gate.

 

‘You really revealed your lineage to that Glensia’s fox.’

 

It was the moment when Reinhardt became convinced of what she had been wondering for a long time, whether that Will Krona was right. It was because of that that she should have rejoiced, but she couldn’t fully rejoice.

 

‘Since when did you know that?’

 

Reinhardt was madly curious, but at this point, she could not ask.

 

Whether or not he knew what Reinhardt was thinking, Wilhelm raised her hand and kissed the back of her hand. Reinhardt glared at Wilhelm with slightly angry eyes, but the young man turned away without hesitation. Looking at the back of her knight, who was arranging the knights and talking to Count Murray, Reinhardt felt a distant feeling.

 

‘Kids grow up really quickly.’

 

That was what her father said when he looked at her.

 

Ironically, Reinhardt heard that when she was sixteen.

 

Hugh Linke did everything in his power to make Reinhardt the highest-standing lady in the Empire. Her engagement to Michael Alanquez had taken place before then, but sixteen-year-old Reinhardt liked someone else. It was Dietrich.

 

After crying and worrying, Reinhardt ran to her father and confessed all her clumsy feelings. After Hugh Linke listened to Reinhardt’s words with a serious face, he said that.

 

<My little apple pie is already liking a man. I want to pull out all of Dietrich’s hair.>

 

<Father!>

 

<Yes, yes, my pretty daughter.>

 

Hugh Linke patted Reinhardt’s apple-red cheek with his thumb, then smiled mischievously.

 

<Okay, if my daughter likes him, would it be a problem for the marriage to be broken? My daughter’s happiness is the most important thing for this father. But, my child… Love is supposed to go both ways. Okay? After asking Dietrich, let’s decide whether or not to break off the engagement with the Crown Prince.>

 

To Reinhardt, who had been thinking about it for three days and nights, Hugh Linke gave a very clear answer.

 

Of course, Dietrich Ernst said, “What? You? Me? Engagement? Me?”

 

And he continued, “Ugh! An older brother getting married to his own sister! It’s disgusting!” That was a situation in which he strongly refused.

 

At that time, Hugh Linke’s response was never an adult’s, but Reinhardt thought she knew Hugh Linke’s mind. Therefore, even after being dumped like that, she was able to smoothly prepare to become a Crown Princess.

 

However, Reinhardt thought that she might understand a little bit about her father’s feelings.

 

It was not a pleasant experience for the little boy to suddenly appear big in front of her at some point, and to reveal a side of him that she did not know. When she realized the Wilhelm she knew was going in some other way and that a strange young man was standing before her. And…

 

<I love you, Rein.>

 

As soon as she remembered those words, Reinhardt sighed.

 

Dietrich Ernst was sentenced to one month for cleaning the stables for remarks about his ‘sister.’ But…

 

‘If he could clean the stables and get rid of those words, I would love to do so…’

 

Even when she stood in front of the door of Amaryllis Hall, she thought of Wilhelm.

 

She had never really thought of a situation like this. The young man whom she cared for, thinking of him as her younger brother, suddenly confessed his love to her. It wasn’t just because of debt. She had lived far too long away from that kind of feeling. She loved Dietrich when she was a sixteen-year-old girl, so looking back on her previous life and counting the years was funny.

 

‘Was I too careless?’

 

She remembered Dietrich shaking her head, saying she was too ignorant.

 

‘Ah, Dietrich…’ 

 

She felt her chest tighten. The sadness and anger at the loss of her most trusted and beloved knight were okay, but at some point, the sudden surge came like a wave and attacked her.

 

‘I wonder if I could have been a little more calm if you were by my side right now.’

 

She desperately missed the one who could never return.  The eerieness that Reinhardt often felt in Wilhelm’s eyes was the same as the feeling felt when a stranger was being too kind.

 

If there had been Dietrich, would this unfamiliarity have been a little less?

 

It was then.

 

“…Do you know the etiquette when meeting the Emperor?”

 

Count Murray, who was standing in front of her, glanced back at her and asked. Reinhardt reflexively raised his eyes. Count Murray flinched.

 

“Well, just in case…”

 

‘Come to your senses.’

 

Reinhardt really would have slapped herself if she wasn’t in front of Amaryllis Hall. Dressed in her black dress, she stood in front of none other than her enemies.

 

The Emperor always accompanied the Crown Prince when he visited the Great Lords. Since the Crown Prince was an only child, he wanted to bring the Crown Prince face to face with the few Great Lords in the Empire.

 

…So today, there will be someone who will tear Michael’s head off.

 

Reinhardt looked at Count Murray with eyes that quickly grew cold and said,

 

“How could I not know?”

 

“Yes, of course. How about…?”

 

Count Murray said behind her. He was talking to Wilhelm. Come to think of it, it was a very long time ago that she taught him Imperial etiquette. She should have told him again, thought Reinhardt. However, Wilhelm also answered quickly from behind.

 

“I know.”

 

“Good.”

 

Count Murray nodded and turned around. Reinhardt glanced back. Wilhelm smiled as if he knew she would look back at her. Reinhardt, whose heart was complicated by that smile again, looked ahead.

 

Soon the door opened.

 

Sigh.

 

Count Murray took the first step. And Reinhardt also reflexively took a step. Picked up at that moment… A sound echoed from under her feet.

 

The floor of Amaryllis Hall was made of Southern marble. Reinhardt certainly knew the sound of the marble ringing against her shoes. Just right… The sound of marble clashing with her shoes. It was obviously a very common noise when she was living in her Imperial castle, so it was a sound she had never deliberately thought of or thought about.

 

But Reinhardt, for that very reason, shuddered at the sound.

 

Suddenly, memories flooded Reinhardt. The unique scent that lingered in the Imperial castle, the sound of walking there. The memories of several years of living in the Imperial castle attacked Reinhardt all at once. Throughout her current life and her previous life, even though nearly twenty years had passed since she left the Imperial family, there were things her body remembered.

 

She raised her head straight up. Amaryllis Hall. Among them was someone she hated. A man standing with his silver hair hanging down to his shoulders and looking down at her with arrogance. It was Michael.

 

Amaryllis Hall was so large that she and he were so far away from each other that it was difficult to identify the face, but Reinhardt saw it hundreds of times in her dreams. The next moment she ran out without realizing it and almost kicked the brash face of the b*st*rd.

 

The reason she could barely not do that was because the crystal was still in her hand. Surprisingly, the crystal effectively calmed the hatred seething inside her. Reinhardt raised her head straight and looked at the Emperor.

 

Even though Reinhardt Delphine or Alanquez, nor Reinhardt Delphine or Linke, they named her Faydon, the Emperor’s expression did not change. The Emperor seemed insensitive to see her, who was once a member of his family but later stabbed his son, and who has now returned as a Great Lord.

 

That’s what she will do. She had been wearing Alanquez’s coffin for so long. How can she show joy and sorrow because of a man standing in front of her?

 

She deliberately did not look at the Prince. Michael’s eyes staring at her from behind the Emperor were enough to see from the side of her eyes.

 

‘You can’t throw away your hatred for me either.’

 

Reinhardt almost laughed. She thought it was a failed revenge, but now she confirmed with her eyes that he changed at least in one way. In her previous life, she hated the Crown Prince; while she was harming her health alone in Helca, Michael enjoyed power as if he had forgotten about her. But what about Michael now? At the event in Amaryllis Hall, even though there are not one or two people watching like this, they can’t hide their hatred.

 

‘Yes, living would be hell.’

 

She was delighted. No one knew better than Reinhardt that a life lived with hatred was hell. And even though she couldn’t get out of that hell, she succeeded in attracting the one she hated. Reinhardt wanted to laugh out loud again.

 

‘Why don’t you go to hell, too?’

 

Of course, that was not the end. Reinhardt had the intention of chewing up the man’s intestines and swallowing them. Then the Emperor opened his mouth.

 

“…How old are you?”

 

“Viscountess Faldon…yes?”

 

Count Murray, who was about to speak, made a stupid sound. Reinhardt’s eyes widened. The Emperor had asked Wilhelm, and she recognized that this was a sign of some sort.

 

Reinhardt strained her eyes and looked at the Emperor. His eyes were a little blurry with age, but his eyes were clearly black. His hair was now half-gray and looked gray, but his hair must have been dark. She tried to remember the portrait of the Emperor as a young man hanging in the inner chamber of the Imperial Palace.

 

“I am twenty this year.”

 

“…Twenty years old. What a great man at such a young age.”

 

“I’m flattered. I owe it to my lord.”

 

The Emperor looked away. His thin black eyes met Reinhardt’s golden ones. In those old eyes, a whirlpool of emotions was swirling, from shock and curiosity to doubts about her.

 

“Are you a commoner? You don’t have a surname.”

 

Wilhelm was silent. Instead, Reinhardt opened her mouth.

 

“His mother lost her family to an attack by nobles or barbarians, and she died barely giving birth to the child.”

 

“…Wouldn’t there be a father?”

 

“Yes. However, the northeast is a barren place. Sometimes a child is born faster than a marriage certificate can arrive in the capital. So he has no way of knowing his father’s last name. So, I came across him by chance and took him in after he had been wandering around as an orphan.”

 

Reinhardt squeezed the crystal in her hand again, then realized why Wilhelm gave the crystal to her instead of handing it directly to the Glensia fox.

 

Wilhelm had no intention of directly grabbing the benefits of his lineage. He would have been able to deal directly with the Emperor as he did with Glensia. But Wilhelm didn’t. It must be because he knew that she felt uneasy about Glensia’s case.

 

In front of the emperor, he reminded him that he was subordinate to Reinhardt by saying that she was his lord.

 

<Whatever I do, it’s your power and your wrath. I will be the thunder and lightning of the storm that is you. The storm has a way, but thunder and lightning follow the storm, and they have no will.>

 

Not only that, Wilhelm held the handle of the sword in his hand. It wasn’t something like clumsily stabbing the Crown Prince’s leg or ending up being stabbed. Become a great lord, raise soldiers, and avoid the Emperor’s checks…  It was a sword that will show her a more certain path than anything else.

 

‘Ah, Wilhelm.’

 

Reinhardt felt like covering her face again.

 

“…Do you have that marriage certificate?”

 

The Emperor asked. Reinhardt replied expressionlessly.

 

“But that’s not what I’m here to talk about in this Amaryllis Hall. It’s because it can be a shame for a family. To those who do not know the conditions of the Northeast, his mother could be seen as a dissolute woman.”

 

“Right.”

 

The Emperor nodded his head.

 

“Two days later, in the evening, we will hold a banquet to celebrate the birth of a new great estate. Be happy to attend. Both of you.”

 

“Yes.”

 

“And may I invite Lord Linke to an afternoon tea time soon?”

 

Reinhardt’s eyebrows twitched for the first time. Lord Linke. It wasn’t Viscount Faydon. The Emperor called her that without any ceremony of her succession to the title or her return.

 

His meaning was also clear.

 

“We still have a lot left to negotiate. In general, there are only a few places in the Empire that are great territories, and the approval of the territories and the return of titles must be done delicately and quickly.”

 

“It’s an honour. I’m willing.”

 

Reinhardt took an example by bending her knee. Even out of the corner of her eye, she could see very clearly the contortion of Michael’s face.

***