I said, annoyed by the awkward tone and the way he approached me playfully.
“I was telling you not to call me that, Franz.”
Franz, my younger brother, born to the same mother as me, and the Crown Prince of the Empire.
Even though I scolded him, he looked at me and shrugged.
“So what do I call the crow?”
When I stared at him without responding, he leaned closer to me and whispered.
“No way, do you want me to call you my sister?
You are just a defective product.”
‘If I am a defective product, what are you?
An idiot who can't do anything?
Or stupid and stubborn?'
To be honest, there was nothing I couldn't do to criticize Franz in words.
Franz, despite the Empress's enthusiasm for education, still had trouble with his teachers because he was still unable to properly understand the required subjects at the age of nineteen.
His behavior was so rude and foolish that it was only natural that the people rebelled when he became emperor.
'Well, there's nothing good about bumping into this guy.'
Franz was a domineering but narrow-minded little man, so he never forgot his spite.
That's why it was better to avoid it even if it was dirty.
When I was trying to avoid him...
“Awesome, are you trying to go without my permission?
She married the crow and became arrogant.”
I said quietly when I saw the man holding my wrist,
“Let go of my wrist when I still say nice things.”
Then he laughed at me and smiled.
“Oh, what will you do if I don’t leave him?
Flawed is useless.”
I looked around.
The knights who looked at me with troubled faces, and the servants in the imperial palace.
None of these people came forward to help.
It was a familiar landscape to me.
There was nothing good about colliding with Franz as much as possible, but it was necessary not to ignore him from time to time.
‘As expected, I should do this..’
Just when I had made up my mind, someone intervened.
“Your Highness, the Crown Prince, that’s shameless.”
Duke Brant's knights, who had been stiff a moment ago, were standing there as if protesting with extremely hesitant faces.
'These idiots'
Franz enjoyed making fun of me and teasing me, but that was only when his inferiors didn't notice.
Franz must have had his eyes on her at some point and he had not noticed them.
“Why are you doing this?
I said I would talk to my sister after a long time, is this wrong?”
I don't know if they were afraid of Franz, or if they didn't want to protect those who hated her.
In any case, it was clear that the knights, including Chester, were uncomfortable with the current situation.
However, Franz objected again, as if it was difficult for him to stand still because of the eyes of the people around him.
“Yes, isn’t it inappropriate to hold a lady’s wrist without permission?”
For reference, one of the words that causes Franz to throw a tantrum is when someone points out that he doesn't look like a respectable gentleman.
Franz let go of my hand as if he was shaking off something dirty...
“Did you dare say that I, the Crown Prince, am not a gentleman?”
His mood and manner of speaking had changed a moment ago, and before I knew it, his eyes were the same bloodshot purple as mine.
“Are the little insects insulting the imperial family now?”
Franz, as his eyes wandered, tried to pull out the sword he had around his waist.
“I will kill them all!”
To be honest, if he defeats a few knights, there is nothing wrong with me.
Because they abused me and made it clear that they were always dissatisfied with me being the lady of the palace.
The problem was that I was now pregnant, and Franz was a tyrant who did not hesitate to take any life.
When I remembered a memory I didn't want to remember, I stomped hard on Franz's shoe with the heel of my shoe.
"Ahh!
You crazy piece of shit!"
I stared at Franz as he struggled with his hands wrapped around his foot, and said sarcastically.
“How is this?
How does it feel to be beaten by me who said she couldn’t do anything?”
Franz frowned greatly and then shouted loudly.
"Oh crow!
Are you really crazy?"
Franz was an idiot who had no place for rehabilitation, but he was still somewhat concerned with the idea that this would not reach his father's ears.
Even though he was attacking me, at least he didn't attack in the Imperial Palace.
Franz said then in a threatening tone.
“Now you believe in my father and act as you want, but if I become emperor, I can handle things like you at any time.”
I shrugged and smiled widely.
“You must be crazy, Franz Riessen Schwanhilde”
She slowly approached Franz and whispered in his ear.
“You weren't even afraid to get your hands on my father's private fortune.”
“How could you...”
I could have explained it, but honestly, I didn't want to spend time with Franz or something.
“Ask Her Majesty the Empress for details.”
He must believe that I gave him the land, but on the contrary, if he finds out that I took the mine, he will probably have a headache for a while.
But I had no intention of ending it here.
“And if you touch me in the future, it won't end in foot pain.”
I let out an evil look and looked at Franz, who stared at me with puzzled eyes.
“Just as you don't treat me like a sister, I don't treat you like a brother and I will respond to you.”
At my words, Franz gritted his teeth angrily.
'Is he thinking of revenge?'
However, due to the fact that I was holding on to his weakness, he stopped cursing at me.
“Okay, I will do as you say, because I don’t want revenge, but...”
I wondered if he would obediently follow my words, but Franz stared at the knights with a gleam in his eyes.
To be precise, he was staring at Mr.
Chester who was trying to stop him.
“Do you realize that this knight was rude to me before?”
Franz smiled with satisfaction, like a cat that has found easy prey.
“For this reason, I think I will have to punish that man who dared to say something ridiculous to me...”
Slap-!
Before Franz could finish speaking, she slapped Chester in the face.
A smug sound quickly escaped my lips
“Yes, it is unacceptable that a knight without a title would dare to speak frivolously to the Crown Prince, the next sun of the empire.”
One, two, three, I slapped Chester on the cheek until my hand was swollen and then I said to Franz,
“So now that I punished him, rest assured.”
As if there was nothing else to hold on to, Franz swayed and looked at me.
“You!
I will remember what happened today, so don’t regret it later!”
In other words, he was threatening to make me worry after our father died.
Instead of replying, I raised my fan and, like a fool walking down the street, Franz must have understood the meaning and left with bloodshot eyes.
“You!
The next time we meet, you will die!”
He was talking the same thing again.
And I know very well that he was sincere in his actions.
So it was better to refrain from going out for a while.
I looked for a moment at Chester, whose face was puffy.
'He must be upset...'
First of all, if I hadn't come forward, Chester would have at least had his tongue cut out.
Even though she hated them, it was clear that seeing things like that wouldn't be good.
However, in the eyes of others, it seemed that I had taken the initiative to strike down a knight who was trying to protect me.
'No matter what I say, he'll think it's an excuse'
Already considered the villain, I wouldn't be shocked if my relationship with the Brant family worsened.
So I spoke to the knights in a cold tone.
“I will be riding the imperial carriage, so don’t follow me anymore, because it is annoying.”
I was about to leave then.
At that time, the knights knelt in unison.
Looking at the scene, I raised one eyebrow.
"Mr.
Chester, what are you doing here?
Could it be that you are protesting about being beaten by me?"
Chester shook his head at the ridiculous comment.
“It's not a protest, we're just thankful that you saved us a short while ago.”
“Thank me?
I only did it because if you get hit by my brother, things will get messy, so don’t bother...”
Then Lord Chester hesitated, then answered calmly,
“And...we just want to make up for our mistakes.”
At that time, I opened my eyes wide, then smiled.
"Wrong?
What did you guys do wrong?"
At my words, they hesitantly mentioned what had just happened,
“We did not follow orders.
And… you were not escorted properly.”
I laughed at the answer I expected.
'Yes, it was like that'
Memories of contempt for knights came to my mind for a long time.
They did not recognize the princess who married their lord as a duchess.
The fact that they never called me “Duchess” or “Madam” showed how much they ignored me.
There was no way they were going to accompany a woman they didn't recognize as a duchess.
They didn't always ask me about the situation, and unconditionally sided with others on the basis that I was wrong.
It was like that a little while ago.
If they really meant to protect me, they should have tried to take Franz away from me.
However, they only came out after Franz grabbed my hand, and they only realized the mistake after I paid attention to the situation, as they were supposed to fulfill their duty to accompany and protect me.
“We were wrong, please forgive us.”
As I watched them beg for forgiveness, my heart rang with excitement.
Maybe this is because, having gone through difficult times in the past, I was reactive to the situation.
'But, what's the use of blaming those mistakes now?'
One day soon, I will leave the Duke's house.
Therefore, even if you blame them or forgive them, nothing will change.
Then I looked at them and opened my mouth.
“You guys did nothing wrong.”
Lina
LENA_0158