My Sweet Deceiver - Chapter 75

The nails, which had always been neatly maintained, disappeared without shape. If the confidence that she was superior made her feel relaxed, the sense of crisis that she was now being chased by unclear things made her nervous.

She cited factors that make her nervous.

The first was the absence of the Second Prince, Fabrice Grammoir.

Giselle gnawed at her molars.

She thought she could control Second Prince. However, even past events that were barely covered up were exposed, jeopardizing the reputation and position of the Lemac family.

The Prince of Valloise, who took the lives of the people, and this made people nervous!

All the biting media rushed in and accused Fabrice of his past activities. Whenever the new charges were made public, the public became angry and voiced the need to punish the Second Prince. The public’s anger was in an atmosphere that would not cool down anytime soon.

Besides, there was something else that raised Giselle’s anger.

Yvonne.

The name that had disappeared into the back street.

Fabrice’s former fiancee, Yvonne Dubeau, who had broken her engagement with the Second Prince, became a hot topic again. Some even said that Yvonne, who had stepped out in advance, was wise.

What if Yvonne was wise?

Then, wasn’t it tantamount to saying that Giselle was stupid?

Giselle was the kind of person who believed in herself as intelligent and competent, so she couldn’t stand being compared to others. Being compared to others itself was an extremely rare experience for Giselle.

She had accumulated so much wealth as a commoner that she can earn a title. It had been the long-cherished desire of the Lemac family to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with the old nobility in Valloise.

Her father, Count Lemac, was an aristocrat who raised his only daughter to settle in the capital. So Giselle only enjoyed the best from a young age. Best education, best craftsmen’s dresses and best grade jewellery, etc.

Finally, Giselle would marry the Second Prince and become a Princess, and the Queen in the future. Those were the days she spent looking only at that goal. Giselle also had a temper that she did not treat unless she was the best, so she thought the Queen’s seat was naturally hers.

But the problem was that the Second Prince was engaged before she made her social debut. The only Prince left was a weak child less than ten years old, so she didn’t have to touch him.

So while Giselle made her social debut, came of age and carefully examined the atmosphere, Fabrice’s s*x scandal broke out. She couldn’t miss this opportunity. In the end, Giselle Lemac took the seat of Yvonne Dubeau, who had fallen out of the engagement.

Until then, Giselle thought it was her victory.

The defeat of stupid Yvonne Dubeau and the victory of wise Giselle Lemac.

Both Yvonne Dubeau and the Duke of Briem were stupid. It was from Giselle’s point of view.

The Duke of Briem, who had his neck hanging in the square, believed that he had chosen the Lemacs, but in fact, it was the result of Count Lemac’s influence secretly.

Otherwise, how could the Duke of Briem, who was the head of the old nobility, choose a lady of the new nobility, whom he despised the most, as his grandson’s fiancee?

So Giselle was taking a step closer to the royal family and her long-cherished desire. But there was one thing she overlooked. It was about the Prince’s condition to move with her as a partner.

The King clearly favoured Fabrice. It was not difficult to guess which of the two Princes would be the next King. However, apart from the King’s favour, Fabrice was a waste by Giselle’s strict standards. He was like a rotten apple, except for a secured shell. The Second Prince was of insignificant quality for her, who always enjoyed the best.

But she changed her mind. She tried to think positively as possible that if there were fewer people to be King, wouldn’t he and the Lemac family be able to take control of this country?

But what was this now?

Giselle was dumbfounded by the situation she was in.

‘How dare you run away when you’ve managed to make it look like a human being?’

Giselle gritted her teeth to make a crackling sound again.

Giselle was even feeling betrayed by Fabrice’s behaviour.

Although the King used his hands, it was frustrating that he could not even tell where Fabrice had gone. She tried to visit the King and ask him, but she was rejected immediately. The King was sick, so he asked her to come next time.

‘You’re just playing, aren’t you?’

Giselle almost burst out of her mouth, but she bowed nicely and stepped down. She had no choice but to move independently and secure Fabrice’s whereabouts.

No matter how long it took to search the South, she had to find Fabrice.

The second factor that made her nervous was the bad news at Lemac Bank.

They said an internal accuser came out at Lemac Bank.

In order to do business in the capital as a commoner, the backing of the aristocracy was essential. If they did business without the backing of the aristocracy, it was easy to lose property and business to the aristocrats, and even if they went to court to complain of injustice, they were often judged unfavourably.

So Giselle’s father, who had only money, bribed the aristocrats of powerful families before becoming a Count.

He said, “I’ll do business in the capital from now on, so please take a good look at it.”

It was like that at first, but as time went by, his personality changed a little.

Not only the nobles in the capital, but also the officials working in the royal palace and the working-level officials working in the bank were bribed in advance to keep their mouths shut. It was a package of money with the message, “We are in the same boat.”

The list of people who manage it in that way had prepared a book. However, the employee who managed the list went to the newspaper with some of the contents as evidence.

Giselle could not forget her father’s white face.

On the last day, she went to the bank to find her father through the protesters. The person who was meeting with her father was a newspaper reporter.

Giselle asked her father with a questioning face.

“Why did the employee say that, father?”

“The newspaper reporter said he came to the staff after receiving a tip-off. At first, he said he handed over the list because he felt guilty.”

“Well, well, what happens to the bank, father?”

“The employee was in a bad mood. The bank doesn’t know about it yet.”

“What happened to the employee?”

“I fired him. I have been through this countless times, Giselle. There’s nothing wrong with the list that’s been handed over. Didn’t the newspaper reporter come to see me because there was no evidence? If the whole list is exposed, it’s not just my family that dies.”

Count Lemac, who had spoken so far, turned his dishevelled hair back.

“Half the aristocrats in the capital will be in trouble. They all will be doomed. I don’t think there are any stupid people who want to be.”

Count Lemac, who comforted Giselle, put aside the aristocratic rhetoric that he always emphasized to his daughter and said it rudely. It was a curse from her father, that she had never heard of since she was a child.

His last words seemed like a resolution to himself.

Seeing that, Giselle noticed that it was not a situation to just be optimistic.

A negative factor for her. Where did it start? Were they from different places or the same place?

Anxiety crept up and fluttered under her ankles. She must find the cause quickly before it is consumed by greater anxiety.

Her intuition kept pointing to one place.

‘It couldn’t have been. Is there something I haven’t figured out yet?’

Giselle never stopped recalling old memories, fiddling with the sofa with her fingertips

She had not slept properly for several days, and her complexion, which had been bright and fresh, had deteriorated terribly

Knock knock

Anghel, who went out at that time, came in and greeted her.

“Madam, I have identified the source of the Prince’s murder charge.”

“Where were you?”

Giselle asked back in an urgent voice.

“The first newspaper that published the article was Le Monde newspaper, and as a result of checking with the newspaper, the reporter who wrote the article has now resigned. But one interesting thing is that the reporter often stopped by Flamingo. The biggest gambling house in the capital.”

“To the gambling house? What money did he gamble with?”

It was a plausible hypothesis that the reporter who was caught in a gambling debt wrote a fake article to get a kick out of it. Then it would have been natural for him to contact Fabrice and ask for money, but why did he quit the newspaper?

It was a part that she didn’t understand.

Anghel shook his head.

“He didn’t gamble, but I think he met a person there. I don’t know what the conversation was about because they only met in a separate room. But I confirmed who he met at the gambling house.”

“Who is it?”

Anghel’s voice fell further.

“It is Melby, the server of the gambling house. One of the members of the First Princess.”

Giselle jumped up and looked at Anghel.

“Say it again, Anghel.”

Anghel spoke again in a voice without hesitating.

“It appears that the First Princess has charged Prince Fabrice with murder, My lady.”

It was the origin of anxiety that was fluttering under Giselle’s ankle.

* * *

Late at night, Tehez, who was looking down at the flowerpot in her office, returned to her bedroom.

There was no attendant left in the room next to her office because she asked everyone to leave early.

Was it because of the cold weather? She felt chilly looking out of the dark window.

Somehow, Tehez, who was depressed, lay in bed and tossed and turned without even knowing what caused her feelings.

She couldn’t sleep. It was a matter of course. The night customer, who she had been waiting for, also did not visit her.

It was a night of her own.

Tehez sat against the head of the bed. The room where the fire was lit was warm, but she couldn’t understand why it felt so cold.

Tehez thought it over and realized that her feelings were caused by anxiety.

Anxiety about whether it was okay to be this happy.

And the anxiety that someone will reap this happiness and make her as unhappy as before…

What you pile up on sand doesn’t know when it would collapse.

Tehez doubted whether her happiness had been piled up on the sand castle.

And the anxiety that she might be shunned by him again kept bothering her.

For nine years she had only looked at Dennis, and it had only been less than half a year since he had responded.

What if his mind changed in an instant…?

Things that didn’t even happen to her kept making her anxious.

Tehez smoothed the necklace around her neck like a habit.

Then she felt a little better.

Even if she didn’t see him, it reminded her that his heart was here.

Tehez spent the night trying to force her anxious mind to rest.

(To be continued in the next episode)

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