The Goal is to be Self-made

y cheek?”

Naturally, she touched her cheek to see what that meant, belatedly realising why.

It was the exact spot where the duke had slapped her.
Even though it was covered with makeup as much as possible, it seemed like it was showing.

Sheldrick continued without taking his gaze off her cheek.

“The Duke of Basel is said to value and pamper his stepdaughter too much.
That’s why his stepdaughter always acts recklessly and wastes her family fortune immaturely.
People often find her ignorant and laughable.”

“Have there been such rumours?”

This must have been one of the stories that Sheldrick could not bring up in front of her.

Vivian always took along Violet when she was invited to a tea party or ball.

It was rude for anyone who wasn’t invited to attend, but Vivian always said, ‘It’s nice to have Violet with me’, and ended up going with her stepsister.

Rumours of ignorant behavior must have come from here.

The one about her spending her family’s fortune immaturely was probably because of the clothes or accessories that Vivian gave her.
She always said to her, ‘This looks perfect on you!’

“I thought Duke Basel was an unbiased gentleman.”

“To correct you, he wants to be seen like that.”

The Duke of Basel was a character that resembled the emperor in that respect.

He valued practical gains, what could truly benefit him, but how he was seen was important as well.
He could be said to be very aristocratic.

Sheldrick, who was looking at her quietly as she answered, lowered his eyes slightly and fell into thought.

After a while tapping the table with his long, thin fingers, he soon came to a conclusion.

“Fine.
I’m going to keep you confined like this.
His Majesty won’t be able to drag you out with you in my hand.”

“The second way is to defame the Duke, are you really okay with that?”

“Your reputation will be tarnished first.
Now it’s our turn to repay you, so it’s right for me to be at some degree of loss.
Good reputation doesn’t matter to me anyway.”

In fact, she was also not very interested in having a good reputation.

The capital, the center of the struggle for the throne, was a dangerous place to get caught up in, so even after leaving the Grand Duchy, she did not plan to return.

There was no need for her to step forward and stop the other party from saying they were willing to take the loss.
However, she just wondered why he was so uninterested in the affairs of the capital.

This part was not revealed even when playing the game.

The nobles of the empire always strain their ears for news about central politics.

It was because of this tendency that everyone flocked to the capital during the season when the House of Lords was held to socialise.

His father, the predecessor of the Grand Duchy, also had a great deal of influence in central politics, but Sheldrick was an exception.

Perhaps if I had chosen Sheldrick’s route, I would have known all the hidden stories… 

Since she poured everything into the second Prince Yediel route, she didn’t know much about the other routes.

In the case of the Crown Prince, she knew a lot of things because she used Violet as a spy, but there was still a lot of uncovered information about Sheldrick.

Is it possible to learn this gradually in the future?

“If there is something you must bring from the dukedom, I will send my subordinates to get them.”

“There is nothing in particular though.”

If she were the real Violet, there might be some things she wanted to bring, but to her, all of them were meaningless.

Thanks to Duke Basel and Vivian sending her to the Grand Duke whilst adorning her with expensive clothes and accessories, she would already have a decent saving from it.

With this as the basis, it is called independent funds.

Wasn’t that a great plan?

“By the way, how were you planning to get the items from the duke’s mansion if I were to need something? The duke won’t open the door for you.”

As she tilted her head at the sudden thought, Sheldrick slightly raised one corner of his mouth.

“Who knows.”

He did not say much, but she thought it wouldn’t be a very elegant way whatsoever.

“…I shall not pry further then.”

Sometimes one’s better off not knowing.

“Right, Your Grace.
I have a place I need to stop by for a while.
It’s important.”

“At this point, it won’t be a confinement, but an outing.”

Sheldrick said with a smirk.

“I will tell the coachman.
If you want to go somewhere, just tell him.”

“Aren’t we going together?”

“Do you want me to come along?”

“No… It’s just that you trust me a bit too much.”

Sheldrick stared at her, questioning.

“What I’m trying to say is…I know I’m suspicious.
I came out of nowhere and asked you to marry me.
This is going to be a confrontation with His Majesty, so you might think that I am trying to create a conflict.”

“You knew that and still made the offer?”

“There was no other way.
I thought I would put up with a little bit of doubt.
So you can openly monitor me for anything suspicious.
At least that way, I won’t feel bad.”

Shedrick’s mouth stayed shut for a moment as he stared deep into her eyes.

She too looked straight ahead without averting his gaze.
His brow furrowed slightly.

“…there were no rumours that you were such an assertive person.”

“Right, like I would expect the rumours to say that.”

“I have never heard of someone so confident.”

Sheldrick smirked, but it did not last long.

“I contemplated for a while whether I needed to repay you even when I had to go as far as confronting His Majesty, but… I have no regrets now.”

Before she could even ask why, Sheldrick looked at her and said.

“It would be such a waste for you to become the Crown Princess, my lady.”

It was as if there was a faint smile on the corner of Sheldrick’s lips when he said that.

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