I Don’t Want to Be a Lady

It’s a mess. I ignored the glances and reactions of the buzzing people and headed straight to the emperor.

“Your Majesty, I have caught the animal wearing a golden ribbon here,” I said confidently as I stood in front of the surprised emperor.

Huh. This is it. The emperor felt his heart race. This young and bold woman ended up doing something. He cheered for her, but he never really expected her to be the winner.

At this moment, the empire’s future would be changing because of this woman. Maybe this woman would fulfill his lifelong dream. A warm heat seemed to spread in his heart.

The emperor lowered his gaze from Arianne’s lively purple eyes and looked at the white animal in her arms. That must be the special animal of the event. An animal smaller than I thought… Wait! Emi…ly?!

The emperor doubted his eyes. Why is Emily in that woman’s arms? Even with a golden ribbon tied around its neck? Don’t tell me…! The emperor’s eyes hurried to find the crown prince. He was looking at Arianne with a stupid face not far away. It seemed that the special animal she had captured, no, Emily, was the special animal of the event.

The emperor closed his eyes tightly with indescribable pain. He knew the relationship between the crown prince and the second prince wasn’t good. He also knew the crown prince had been openly harassing prince Luiden. Still, he didn’t say anything about it and let it be. Because he knew the personality of his son, who got more crooked the more he got scolded.  But this time, the crown prince crossed the line.

What was Emily? To Luiden, who had no family except the emperor himself, Emily was like his family. It was like his younger sibling, whom he fed and cared for every day.

However, using such existence as a special animal of the hunting competition, a national event, as a means of harassment… Moreover, the ending of animals in the hunting competition was already known. The hunting competition wasn’t an event to capture animals alive. Emily’s life or death was decided as soon as the golden ribbon hung around its neck and tossed it to the hunting ground.

He must have left it to die. The emperor knew the crown prince lacked the qualities to become the next emperor. However, the crown prince had already established himself as the next emperor just because he was the eldest son with the empress’s power on his back. He somehow tried to stabilize his position in his father’s generation to prepare for the next generation.

But, even though they were only half-siblings, how could he do that to his own family? The crown prince must know what that weasel means to Luiden. If he treated his blood relatives like this, it was obvious how he would treat others. An incompetent tyrant. It’s the worst.

The emperor finally made his decision. The decision not to place the crown prince on the throne. After a long time of deliberation, he finally came to this conclusion.

“Crown Prince, is this the special animal to win the competition”

Hearing the low-pitched voice from the emperor, the crown prince looked at him with his mouth shut as if he finally came to his senses. However, he didn’t answer as if he couldn’t open his mouth, only biting his lower lip. It meant that he knew the current situation was not normal.

“I will ask you again. Is this the special animal to win the competition?”

The crown prince finally opened his mouth at the emperor’s repeated questions. “Yes… that’s right. Your Majesty! I didn’t expect the woman to catch that special animal. Isn’t this because of Your Majesty, who allowed her to participate? It’s not my fault.”

The emperor was even more disappointed by the crown prince’s continuous excuses. The crown prince didn’t make excuses for releasing his younger brother, the second prince’s pet on the hunting ground. Still, he only made excuses for the woman winning this competition.

It must be that he doesn’t feel the slightest bit of guilt for letting Emily go to the hunting ground in the first place. It was a thing that had already happened.

First of all, the emperor had to figure out how to roll this situation so that it could grow like a snowball on a slope, then deal with the problem later. And one more thing. How did she show up with Emily in her arms?

As soon as the hunting competition started, Luiden, who said he was going back to the imperial palace, appeared with a pale complexion. Did he find Emily and give it to Arianne in that short time? But why?

There was absolutely no reason for Luiden to let Arianne win. Rather, he was more likely to lose the support of nobles if Arianne won the title, so the emperor couldn’t understand what had happened.

The emperor asked Arianne, “Is it right that you caught this animal yourself?”

Arianne looked at the emperor and said proudly, “Yes. It is correct that I caught it by myself.”

“Nonsense! That’s right! Luiden must have helped her!” The crown prince approached the emperor and shouted loudly.

People began to whisper again at the crown prince’s words.

“He’s right. That makes more sense. Didn’t she come back with the Second Prince and Duke Kaien?”

“That’s right. Duke or His Highness must have caught that animal. But why did they do that?”

“Isn’t it because she’s Duke Kaien’s fiancée?”

Arianne, Charter, and Luiden were stunned by those baseless and contextless murmurs.

It was then.

“Oh my, what is that? Aren’t those wolves?”

“Right. Is that Lord Drude? He caught the wolves.”

Behind the crowd gathered around Arianne; Drude and Hulteban, who brought three wolves, appeared.

Drude, who looked so confident, seemed taken aback for a moment because he didn’t know why people gathered in one place, but he soon straightened his shoulders and began to show off his hunt.

Now! Everyone, look at this! The victory is mine, hehe. However, people’s reaction wasn’t that amazing. He expected them to surprise and cheer, but the only reaction that came back was, ‘He caught wolves.’

What’s wrong with the reaction? What in the world… The prey that winners of previous hunting competitions caught were deer, foxes, and wolf cubs that had fallen from the herd. There was no history of catching three wolves, but what was this lukewarm response?

Arianne came into the eyes of Drude, who was bewildered. With an arrogant expression on her face, she held a white animal in her arms. But at that animal’s neck…

“Golden… ribbon?”

Only then did Drude understand the situation. Arianne won the competition by catching that white animal with a golden ribbon. No wonder she easily yielded the wolves. It must be because of that.

I’m finally able to get a title, but because of that damn bitch! Forgetting that it was Arianne who caught the wolves in the first place, Drude didn’t even think to hide his anger toward Arianne, who took away his victory.

I clicked my tongue when I saw Drude revealing his true emotion. “Tsk. You don’t seem to admit your fault until the end. Don’t you know the shame?”

“What do you mean?”

“It’s nothing.”

Arianne answered Charter’s question casually. Judging from what Drude was doing, Charter seemed to know that Arianne ended up going all the way.

“Today’s winner has been decided. Arianne Bornes, come up to the podium.”

The emperor decided to end the hunting competition to prevent further disturbances.

“But Your Majesty! Are you going to accept that woman’s victory as it is?”

The emperor gave a cold answer to the crown prince’s words that the winner couldn’t be a woman. “This is all your own doing.”

“T-That!”

The emperor whispered in the crown prince’s ear. “You will be responsible for giving that woman a title.”

“That can’t be!”

“Otherwise, I will deprive you of your crown prince position. You should be responsible for your own actions.”

The crown prince looked at him with his mouth open, surprised by the cold words of the emperor. You couldn’t do this to me. Who do you think I am?

It was a fact that no one could deny that he was the eldest son of the emperor and the most powerful person was his mother’s family. That was why he was appointed as the next emperor. However, there was a presence that could change that fact. It was the current emperor, his own father. Such a presence was saying that he would deprive himself of his position.

The crown prince’s eyes turned red. Tears welled up. He couldn’t believe he could be deprived of his position just because of that woman. He couldn’t neither understand nor tolerate such a father. Still, he couldn’t go against her father. Not yet, until he became the emperor.  

“…I understand.”

The crown prince’s answer was fixed. Later, he might be able to talk about this to his mother and use his mother’s family power, the Krow family. Still, now, standing there, he was powerless.

The emperor turned from the crown prince and looked at Arianne again. “Arianne Bornes, come up to the podium.”

At the emperor’s call, I rose to the podium. I did it! I’ve proven my worth!

I stood in front of the emperor, holding my hands which were trembling with excitement. Under the platform, I could see people staring at me with half a murmur and half a discontented expression. Charter and the second prince were the only ones who had smiles on their lips. No, it was just the second prince who was smiling.

Arianne glanced at Charter and smiled. What an amazing woman she is. My fiancée.

It’s unexpected, but it will be fun in the future. Besides, seeing the crown prince’s rotten expression makes me feel refreshed. Luiden thought as he looked at the crown prince standing foolishly.

In fact, Arianne didn’t see that, but prince Paku, standing far away, raising the corners of his mouth. I don’t know how far she could go.

Navier was half out of his mind looking at it.  “Ho…”

The emperor looked at Arianne once and opened his mouth again, “The winner of this hunting competition has been decided here, which is Arianne Bornes. The title ceremony will be held at the Imperial Palace in a week.”

“Your Majesty! I request an emergency meeting!”

At the shout of Marquis Hood, the cold hunting ground became quiet as if it were dead.

“You mean by emergency meeting?”

The Marquis of Hood answered the emperor’s question. “Yes, it’s that big of a deal. Please accept it!”

“Please accept it!”

“Please accept the request!”

Starting with Marquis Hood, several nobles began to shout.

That’s right. It’s not going to work out easily. It was already expected. I stared at Luiden with a gaze that said, ‘Now is the time for you to work hard.’

Luiden also accepted Arianne’s gaze without avoiding it. He nodded slightly so that Arianne could see it. From now on, I will take over, Lady Arianne.

Eventually, due to the nobles’ request, the emergency meeting was finally decided for the next day.