For My Birthday, I Was Gifted Five Husbands - Chapter 80
The startled Apollin took a step back, but Eugenie’s punch that had grazed her cheek, left a ring mark behind.
“How… How could a lady strike…”
“When you hear nonsense, your fist just moves on its own.”
Eugenie raised her left hand, clenched into a fist again.
Her hand, adorned with five wedding rings, looked as menacing as could be.
“Mention that incident again, and I’ll lobby to have your inheritance returned to society’s development tomorrow.”
“You… You! Ugh, my face…”
Apollin cried out with her face bruised, but Eugenie calmly walked out of the bathroom.
Though Tristan was the star of the evening, the attention on her and her husbands was overwhelming.
If she had been an ordinary noblewoman, the attendant wouldn’t have even called her to meet the imperial family.
‘It’s because I have such distinguished husbands.’
Normally, she would have been the one waiting outside with Cassius, not stepping foot in the hall for an audience.
The Emperor… still seemed to be somewhat in a drunken stupor, his nose red from the lingering effects, as if he had barely survived.
“Mmm… Duke Troys, Margrave Wilberforce, Count Napier, and… Priest Livingston. Quite the remarkable… family.”
The Emperor cleared his throat in a dignified manner, but having drunk heavily with the professors, Eugenie knew that what he really needed was honey for his raspy throat, and she ignored him.
After all, didn’t everyone in this palace already know?
“Long time no see, Eugenie Norton.”
The Emperor, shocked by seeing his mistresses die before his eyes, had no idea that another woman was the true power here.
Empress Silvea.
Though she had been flustered and disorganized during the wedding disruption incident, now that she was back in her nest, she was as fierce as ever.
“It hasn’t even been that long since you were married, but I haven’t gone a day without seeing your name in the papers.”
“It’s an honor to be seen by Your Majesty.”
“You and your mother, both leaving your mark in society in ways no one could have imagined. The Empire’s first polygamous marriage!”
“…”
“Truly remarkable. No other woman could have even imagined such a thing. But in the end, it’s better that you’ve held onto your husband.”
The praise wasn’t necessary.
Eugenie silently forced a smile on her lips. Normally, she would’ve treated such a woman with calm disdain, but perhaps it was because of what Apollin had just provoked in her?
‘I really do hate this woman.’
She hated her even more than Agatha, who tricked her father and made her mother look like a fool. In fact, it was a hundred million times worse.
And the blind irresponsibility of letting that madman—her own son—run free made her want to scream in rage.
“Eugenie Norton. Long time no see.”
The protagonist of today, sitting to the left of the Empress.
Tristan didn’t even look at Eugenie’s husbands and addressed her first. It was a bonus that a slight wrinkle appeared on Empress Silvea’s usually smooth forehead.
“I’m honored to see Your Highness, and I congratulate you on your birthday, Your Highness.”
“Why so formal between us, Norton? It makes me feel a bit hurt.”
Between Eugenie and Tristan, there was a vast, barren desert of nothingness. Outside of these typical pleasantries, when had Eugenie ever had a conversation with the Crown Prince?
But Tristan, holding a champagne glass, smiled mischievously.
“I’ve missed you. I didn’t expect you’d get married before I even had a chance to try anything.”
“You mustn’t have had any reason to feel hurt. Even I, holed up in my lab, knew about the marriage proposals coming from foreign lands.”
That was because no opportunities had been offered within the country…
Even the families indebted to the Empress had learned of May’s tragic fate, and had begun pulling back, realizing what had happened.
‘But why the hell is he talking to me like this for so long?’
And why was he looking at her so unpleasantly, with that slimy, leering smile, scanning her up and down…?
“I’m serious, Norton. This is the first time I saw a woman as beautiful as you in the Empire, lost to academia. Now, you’re the wife of not just one, but five men.”
“…”
This guy really knew how to make everything feel disgusting.
‘To be more precise, it’s creepy.’
It was like seeing a complete scoundrel pretending to be human… But just as Eugenie was processing this, someone placed a firm hand on her shoulder from behind.
