When the Female Lead Went Off-Script, the Main Male Lead Became the Tyrant's Empress - Chapter 18.1
“Aura Blade! Aura Blade!”
“Aura Blade! Aura Blade!”
What are you doing here?
Another crease formed between Haster’s eyebrows.
While he stalled meaninglessly for time, another bastard had joined in and begun chanting with her.
One was stubbornly demanding it to satisfy her curiosity, while the other had joined in simply because it looked amusing.
Faced with the unbearable behavior of the two blond menaces, which seemed unlikely to end forever, Haster wrinkled his nose and picked up a wooden sword.
The wooden blade was soon enveloped in a transparent blue light.
Clary stared at the Aura Blade with her mouth half open.
The pressure radiating from the brilliant and destructive light made her skin tingle.
“From now on, if you want to see an Aura Blade, ask the person standing beside you.”
Thinking this should be enough, Haster withdrew the aura.
At his words, Clary’s eyes widened.
What? You’re a Sword Master too?
Arden spoke to his niece, who was looking at him as though this were unexpected.
“I might show you if you ask.”
“No, thanks. I don’t particularly want to see yours, Uncle.”
This brat?
He had gone to the trouble of showing her kindness, yet she responded with an indifferent face without the slightest gratitude.
Dumbfounded, he sent her guardian a look that asked, ‘What is wrong with this child?’ but Haster merely told him that he was interfering with the training and should leave if he had no business there.
That wasn’t all.
A few days earlier, Clary had briefly left her seat, and Arden had opened his mouth to have a proper conversation with Haster.
At that moment, someone suddenly screamed, “Her Highness the Duke is having a seizure!”
At the news that his goddaughter had collapsed, Haster hurried away, leaving Arden behind.
She looks perfectly fine.
Having followed Haster into Clary’s room without thinking, Arden looked at her suspiciously.
For someone who had supposedly suffered a seizure moments earlier, his niece looked remarkably healthy.
“It wasn’t a seizure. I was just dancing.”
Clary mumbled an excuse with her face burning red at the people who had rushed in.
Had she been possessed by the ghost of someone who died from a lack of attention?
What kind of dance involved lying on the floor?
Whether she had intended it or not, Clary had drawn all of Haster’s attention toward herself.
She was truly detestable.
“He wouldn’t show me when I asked to see his Aura Blade!”
Mishien looked down with bleak, dry eyes at the Crown Prince, who slammed his desk.
Honestly. Are you the same as his adorable ward?
If you feel wronged, beg His Highness the Grand Duke to accept you as his godson.
An uncle who grew jealous of his niece was truly pathetic, but that pathetic man was Mishien’s liege, so he held his tongue.
The Crown Prince was being stubborn, but the Grand Duke was also at fault for refusing to show him even the slightest interest, even as an empty courtesy.
Mishien had served as Arden’s attendant since childhood.
Because he understood Arden’s personality so well, he didn’t take Arden’s childish behavior lightly.
Arden was the Crown Prince.
He was the Emperor’s legitimate eldest son and the man promised the future position of ruler over the Empire, its autonomous states, and its allied federation.
He was always the center of attention.
Everything that caught his interest eventually fell into his hands.
Because the world wasn’t always accommodating, there were times when it wasn’t easy.
Still, with a little effort, he could obtain nearly anything.
On top of that, he was lucky.
Therefore, Arden took everything in the world for granted.
But Haster was different.
Haster was within the range of Arden’s interest, yet Arden was not within Haster’s.
Arden couldn’t tolerate the fact that he had taken an interest in someone but failed to receive equal attention in return.
His attempts became stubborn defiance, and that defiance transformed into obsession.
As time passed, his patience grew increasingly thin.
Furthermore, Clary’s appearance had drawn all of Haster’s attention toward her.
Arden’s obsession with Haster appeared playful and light, but in reality, it had already surpassed anything simple.
Strengthening imperial authority required absolute loyalty.
The Emperor governed the nobles, and the nobles governed the people.
To put it differently, if a noble trusted by the people submitted to the ruler, then the ruler could gain the support of countless subjects through that single person.
Among the nobles respected by the people, the most influential was unquestionably Grand Duke Haster.
Because of where he had been born and raised and the circumstances of his upbringing, his disposition was more military than aristocratic. He had realized early on that gaining the goodwill of the people was essential.
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