CH 21

I closed the door and asked her.

“Are you really going to meet him?”

“What can I do? I have to repay you for taking care of me all these years. On the other hand, he is still my father.”

There were many things I wanted to say to Gloria, but I couldn’t. She had an expression as if she was hurt on her face. Even with that expression, she still stared full with pity at the back of Claude’s head who entered the room, as if she had any lingering feelings.

‘I’m sorry. I’m going to fix it myself.’

I clenched my fist and promised myself. I will clean up the things I caused myself.

The next day.

I quickly rented carriages pulled by two horses. Even though they were very expensive, I deliberately rented a luxury one. However, this was the only way to prevent Gloria and the old man she was going to be married to from meeting today.

I stopped the carriage in front of the house first before calling Claude to ask him again.

“Claude. You didn’t forget what I told you yesterday, did you? Your mission is to take Gloria away somewhere far away for today. In the meantime, I’ll meet the old man and try to negotiate with him a bit, so you can trust me and think of this as going to a date with her today. Got it?”

Claude’s eyes widened when he heard the word ‘date’.

“Date?! Noona, I’m not romantically interested in her! The girl I like is …. Sigh, argh!”

Why did he act so naive? He’s already trembling merely from hearing the word dating. How would he be like when he get married properly later?

I patted the back of Claude who seemed embarrassed by himself.

“Oh, I got it, so you just have to do what I tell you today. Got it?”

“What do you think of me…”

Then, Gloria seemed to have finished preparing to leave the house. She was surprised to see a luxurious looking horse-drawn carriage already parked outside.

“Aren’t we going to go now? I can just walk to Stephen’s house. Or take public transportation.”

No, she wouldn’t. No matter how much she thought walking was better, I thought it was better for her to take a horse-drawn carriage rather than to have to walk for more than an hour.

‘Did I make the main character too stingy?’

I mentally cursed, but managed to talk with a bright voice to Gloria.

“Oh, you don’t have to be discouraged by the thought of that old geezer. I deliberately brought you a luxurious horse-drawn carriage to accommodate your meeting. I have money, too! So you can’t disregard it! You have to show this attitude to him as well.”

“Nevertheless. I’ve received a lot of favors from you so far. I’m really sorry about this.”

“It’s okay, no problem. Don’t feel down because you are my friend and I’m helping you because you are beautiful.”

Gloria’s shoulders drooped. She’s been eating and sleeping without having to spend money in my house, and even receiving lessons about medicine from my mom. ‘I feel indebted to you’, she murmured.

I patted Gloria’s back as she was feeling down.

“I have to go somewhere today for the construction of the newspaper office building, so you should go to Stephen’s house accompanied by Claude. If that old man talks ridiculously, just kick his ass! Got it?”

Of course I wasn’t as good as Gloria. Gloria wouldn’t use violence against someone she met for the first time. However, I guessed my joke acted like a bit of relief to her because she chuckled and laughed.

“Thanks, Haley. Thank you for everything.”

“Come on, come on. Go. Go and tell him that you will never get married to him. Alright? If you hesitate because of your soft heart, those cruel old geezer will seize the opportunity.”

When I looked back, Claude was looking at us with a grim expression. He turned his face away as soon as he made eye contact with me.

‘He’s upset again.’

Ever since he was caught reading the book I secretly published last time, it seemed that the second phase of puberty had come to Claude. He kept having a grim expression and saying, “I have something to say.”

I’ve been frustrated lately whenever I look at my younger brother. I was scared and worried whether he could date others properly in the future.

I approached Gloria and whispered to her.

“If it’s necessary, you can tell the old man that you love Claude so he will give up. Got it?”

Gloria’s big eyes widened hearing my words that told her to make excuses to act as Claude’s lover. She climbed into the carriage with full embarrassment. However, the corners of her mouth curved up, as if she was happy with what I just said.

I was the one who would be going to meet Baron Stephen, not Gloria today. I would go and propose to the old man that I would be the one getting married to him, not the female lead.

It’s not that I really wanted to marry a rich old geezer.

However, as the writer who created this world, I thought of it as a kind of responsibility. And I even already thought about how to get through this brief marriage. I already prepared several plans for the future having known the original story of the novel.

The phrase in the novel I wrote which was floating around over her head before she got into the carriage lingered in my mind. The phrase turned into red letters as if warning me about my plan that was going to change the content of the novel after this.

[Gloria went to meet Baron Stephen. The Baron smiled in satisfaction after eyeing Gloria’s appearance, and immediately threatened her.

“If you marry me, I will consider your father’s debt clear. However, if you refuse this marriage, your father, as well as your sister’ and her husband who are currently enjoying their honeymoon, will not be safe.”]

It should be fine, right? If I ignore what’s supposed to happen today?

‘It will be a big problem. What will happen today?’

I ignored the original story lightheartedly until now. This was the novel I wrote, so what could I do? I, as an author, just wanted to fix it. I shrugged and went back inside.

Now it’s going to be show time. The destination of the horse-drawn carriage that transports them is the lakeside, where they have to drive for more than half a day from the capital. They can have lunch at the lake and enjoy a little picnic, and the day would have already passed by the time they return home.

In the meantime, I was going to meet Baron Stephen and make a marriage deal on behalf of Gloria.

Standing in front of the mirror, I brushed the loose hair with a comb and arranged them together and also pushed them up a little bit. My neatly pushed-up red hair made me turn into a woman who had a shy vibe and elegance just as the noble soul from noble families. White and smooth skin without any flaws and sparkling eyes that looked like emeralds. Gosh, I was so happy to be reborn.

‘As expected, I’m beautiful because I look like my mother.’

The concept I pulled out today was a cool city girl style. With a dark blue dress that created an elegant atmosphere for me. I didn’t know how Baron Stephen’s preference is, but if such a beautiful girl had asked to meet him, he wouldn’t refuse.

Looking at myself in the mirror, I smiled pleasantly, and heard the clatter of horses’ hooves outside. Looking out the window, there seemed to be another carriage approaching the house, the one that I’d hired as well. This carriage was slightly more expensive than the one Gloria got in earlier. However, since it was expensive, its look was worth the price. It was a dark brown carriage ridden by a dashing black horse. Just getting out of this luxurious carriage would already attract his attention.

The well-dressed coachman greeted me.

“Where should I take you?”

“Baron Stephen’s Townhouse, please.”

I made up my mind in the moving carriage.

‘Huftt… You can do this. Let’s be determined.’

How could I propose a marriage to an old man? He was even as old as my grandfather.

I was starting this with a strong determination, but I still couldn’t properly control my trembling heart.

If I took Gloria’s place to get married to the old man, he would be walking through his own death path from the first night we’re together, that was if my plan went well. After that, I could become a lucky widow and get rich in an instant. Although in the process, her notoriety as the new bride will grow. Well, the world would have been easier to live in if she had a lot of money, so she would just laugh the rumors off.

In the original novel titled, “The Prince Who Loved the Widow ” the Baron died a week after getting married to Gloria. The Baron ordered someone to find a drug that was supposed to increase stamina, like Viag**, but it ended up taking his life quicker than it was supposed to. The medicine was made by a famous witch around 200 years ago. It was his fault to have believed that and he took it without checking the condition of the medicine properly.

I found a loophole while recalling the contents of the novel I wrote. I should set the wedding date a week after the Baron was supposed to be dead. In other words, postponing the scheduled wedding date by a week was my other goal today.

Shriek-!

The carriage suddenly shook and stopped with a clatter of horses’ hooves. The sudden halt even caused my body to bounce forward.

“Oh my!”

My body bounced into the opposite seat and my arm hit the wall of the carriage harshly. I rented this horse carriage and spent more money because I heard it was comfortable to ride, but I couldn’t believe I’d just experienced this. I grunted while trying to lift my head to look out the window.

“What happened?”

“Oh, I apologize. Something suddenly blocked our path.”

The driver assured me. Soon after, he shouted at the person who was blocking our path.

“Are you crazy, wanna die? How can you suddenly jump out to the middle of the road like this?”

“Oh, I’m sorry. I have some business with the person in the carriage. May I come in for a moment?”

“What the hell are you talking about?!”

“I’ll give you a lot of money for your hard work.”

There was a clattering noise, and soon the carriage door opened. It seemed that the person who had run in front of the carriage and blocked our path had given the coachman quite a lot of money. I couldn’t see the situation in more detail through the small window, so it was an assumption.

I stared sharply at the person who pushed their way into the carriage. At that moment, the sunlight was shining blindingly into the carriage. Oh, it wasn’t that. It turned out to be a halo.

The person who got into the carriage was a handsome blond-haired man with a natural halo around him. When I saw his handsome face, my anger melted in an instant.

‘Wow, what kind of man shone with that kind of halo behind him?’

The man’s self-luminous presence made it seem as if there were 100 blinding lights behind him. Blond hair that seemed to melt in the sunlight, smooth skin and flushed lips. His face, with its bright red eyes and fine lines, shone such a very demure beauty that was enough to leave me speechless in an instant.

However, I grew up looking at Claude’s face since I was a child. I was sure that I was already immune to the face of someone with such beauty. A little bit.

“Whwo are you?”

Well, I thought I was already immune to this. Surprisingly, a low-pitched voice came out of my mouth. D*mn it.

The man smiled as he closed the carriage door, and took the seat opposite me.

“Are you going to meet Baron Stephen? Since our destination is the same, I will also be riding in this carriage. My name is Ciel.”

Honestly speaking. I couldn’t hear the man’s name very well at that moment because I was only focused on his gorgeous face as he spoke in front of me. And at that moment, I didn’t think that this man would meet me again. He was a handsome and rare man in the empire. To the point that he was almost on par with Claude.

“If you don’t mind, I can lend you a handkerchief.”

When the man said something out of the blue, he held out a handkerchief across from me. When I was thinking about it, a drop of saliva dripped from my chin on my navy blue dress.

‘Oh my! Did I drool because I was distracted by his face?’

What an embarrassing and shameful sight I’d shown him. I couldn’t believe that I was mesmerized by a man, whose face I was seeing for the first time and I got so mesmerized to the point that I drooled. I was so embarrassed that I couldn’t even get angry at him for the fact that he joined the carriage I was on. I dropped my head. I was embarrassed. I wished time would pass quickly.

I felt his interest-filled stare that was directed at me, but I couldn’t bring myself to raise my head because I was so embarrassed. While I was still looking down at the floor of the carriage, the coachman announced our arrival.