I Don’t Want to Be a Lady - Chapter 36

Charter was dumbfounded at first, then laughed. I didn’t expect she would win. It’s really amazing. The more Charter learned about her, the more he felt like he was falling for Arianne.

She was an unusual woman who was completely unpredictable. He couldn’t find anything ordinary about her, and he won’t hate her even if she was wasting his money.

When Arianne smiled brightly at him, Charter raised his hand and unconsciously stroked her head.

“Good job.”

Arianne was momentarily taken aback by his unexpected touch. Still, the fact she was praised made her gladly accept his touch. She had never received such sincere praise and caring touch in her life, so this situation made her heart flutter and feel ashamed at the same time. However, she didn’t want to be caught in the mood, so she raised her chin on purpose and made an arrogant expression.

Charter just regarding her behavior was cute.

Seeing it, Luiden was shocked. How could the cold-blooded Charter have his eyes dripping with honey like that? Charter praising others? Charter stroking his fiancée’s hair?

By any chance… is this an omen of ruin for the empire? A situation he thought could never happen was happening before his eyes. If it wasn’t the omen of ruin for the empire, it could be an omen of ruin for the world.

It was Charter who warned him as he had a ridiculous thought, ‘Could that woman be a witch?’

“What are you doing? You make a stupid face.” Charter looked at him with an expressionless face that didn’t contain courtesy.

“Is that so? It must be because my eyes were playing a trick a while ago.”

Although Charter’s eyebrows wriggled, Luiden ignored it and told Arianne, “Then, Lady Arianne. Let’s go get the winning prize.”

“Alright.”

Standing behind Arianne, who smiled and followed Luiden, Charter’s expression hardened. Why… are they pretending to be close?

He couldn’t figure out why he felt down when he saw his best friend and his fiancée talking. It took him too long to realize it was jealousy, as he had been suppressing his emotions for a long time. Charter eventually gave up finding out what that feeling was and followed Arianne without saying a word.

* * *

“Hahaha. Are you having a good time, ladies? I prepared this hunting competition so that you can have a cool drink with special care,” said the crown prince, ordering the servant to bring the ice-cold drinks for the women in the waiting place.

“Oh my~ Your Highness, thank you so much for preparing such precious things.”

“My wrist is already hurting because I keep fanning myself as it is hot. You’re so considerate~”

“Ah, it’s nothing. I can’t let Lady’s wrist hurt more. Do you want me to serve it for you?”

“Oh my~ How dare I ask such a favor to the noblest person in there? Thank you from the bottom of my heart. Hoho.”

Emperor, empress, and crown princess watched him silently as he flirted with the women.

Pathetic bastard. The emperor was displeased with the crown prince, who was complaining about woman’s problems, but there was no way he would listen to his father even if he told him. He didn’t even know the right time to meet a woman and took them as his concubine.

The emperor loved only one person all his life. Still, he had no choice but to watch his son’s pathetic behavior of bringing women as his concubines.

A person I hate to see. The crown princess was looking at the crown prince disapprovingly. She was the daughter of Marquis Rodri, one of the influential figures of the empire. She had been suffering headaches ever since her political marriage with the crown prince.

At first, she was delighted to become the crown princess at the command of Marquis Rodri at the thought that she could enjoy wealth and glory at the highest position of the empire in the future. But now, she was sick and tired of her husband’s private life. However, she couldn’t give up her position as the nobles woman in the empire. She couldn’t give up just because she wanted to.

She just had to be content with her position as the empress later. Her husband’s love was a luxury. Most of the nobles of the empire arranged political marriages. Marriage without love eventually led them to have concubines. However, the crown prince already has five concubines. Judging from how they were doing today, it seemed there would be six soon. The crown princess habitually pressed her temples and frowned.

It’s hot. Layla seemed to be going out of her mind from the heat as she wore colorful clothes that weren’t suitable for the weather and heavy jewels in an attempt to stand out in the crowd. She was kind of annoyed at why that human being, the crown prince, came here to flirt, leaving his wife behind, and why the women were accepting such a lame joke.

Contrary to Layla’s expectation, no one paid attention to her at today’s hunting competition. From the beginning, attention was drawn to Arianne, and she was thinking of sitting down and conversing with people. But, this time, the crown prince came and monopolized women’s attention.

Nervously fanning herself, she drank the cold drink given by the crown prince. Then, when she suddenly looked away, she saw black hair in the distance. Duke? Layla raised her hand with joy, then it froze in the air.

“Lady Arianne?” It wasn’t a loud voice, but the women sitting near her managed to hear that and turned their heads to follow Layla’s gaze. In fact, Arianne was the biggest concern of women who participated in today’s hunting competition, so everyone was waiting for her appearance.

“Oh my, isn’t that Lady Arianne? Seeing that she’s already coming back, I guess she must be making fun of herself.”

“I knew it. For a woman to participate in hunting… It doesn’t make sense.”

“That’s right. Such an uneducated person would become the duchess… I can’t accept it. But why does Duke Kaien support such a woman?”

So what if you can’t accept it?

“Could it be that his judgment is clouded by her appearance?”

“If that’s true, it’s really disappointing.”

Well, I admit it. Layla nodded as if she was convinced by the women’s words.

Then, a woman listening to the woman who ignored Arianne asked back. “Why does it make nonsense for a woman to hunt?”

In response, a woman turned her head to check who said it, then shook her head and said, “Ah~ Lady Alice. I already knew it was you. Don’t tell me… are you still shooting arrows? Marquis Hood won’t tolerate it.”

Alice Hood, the troublemaker of the Marquis Hood’s gifted archery family, was a well-known figure in society. It was an open secret that a few years ago, she had been severely scolded by Marquis Hood and placed under house arrest for a month because she announced her intention to carry a bow like her family tradition from generation to generation.

“Just because you’re a woman doesn’t mean you should rot your talents.”

Then a woman replied to Alice’s words, “It’s a talent women don’t need. There are noble talents like embroidery, flower arrangement, and playing musical instruments. Why are you putting yourself over such a wild thing to do?”

Alice wanted to give a slap to those women who belittled her talent, but she gritted her teeth and endured it. It was because she remembered her father’s words that she wouldn’t be able to leave the mansion for the rest of her life if she caused problems again.

My archery skills are second to none… Alice’s archery skills surpassed her brother, Robin, who was hailed as the best archer in the empire. She was a great talent who had the most outstanding talent in the history of the Hood family, although she learned it from the side without anyone teaching her.

Even so, nothing changed. Just because she was a woman, and this empire didn’t allow women to grab weapons. Her father acknowledged her skill but never allowed her to hold a bow.

But today, a woman who had only been rumored in society appeared and proudly participated in the hunting competition. Alice seemed to be thrilled with some unknown joy.

Lady Arianne… When she showed up in paints, she looked confident and not at all intimidated by those who criticized her. Her fiancé stood by her side and supported her. Alice was envious of that face.

Alice was confident that if she was given a chance, she would do better than anyone else. In the end, she didn’t have any chance. Instead of grieving, she cheered for Arianne. She wanted to show others that women could do it too by winning in the competition instead of wasting their talent. And Arianne lived up to her expectations.

“Oh my! Isn’t that a golden ribbon?”

“Really? It has a golden ribbon around its neck!” A woman jumped up from her seat and said that.

The crown prince, who was pouring drinks to the woman despite the commotion, hurriedly turned his head at the word of the golden ribbon. No way. The embarrassed crown prince’s mouth opened wide.

The emperor, empress, and crown princess, sitting on the hunting ground platform, were also looking at Arianne as if they had noticed the commotion.

Arianne’s silver hair glistened brilliantly in the light. Something white in her arms was seen wearing a golden ribbon around its neck.

Perplexed settled on Navier’s face as he waited for Arianne. “That brat!”

And then,

“Oh my gosh!”

“What’s happening… then… is Lady Arianne the winner?”

“No…way.”

The women who had laughed at Arianne a while ago started making a fuss about her victory as if they had never laughed at her. A woman won the hunting competition for the first time in the empire. That meant one thing.

“Then… is Lady Arianne going to be crowned?”

Silence fell on the hunting ground at the one word that they didn’t know who said it. That was simply a major event.