In the Doghouse - Chapter 10
“Then it’s settled,” the Emperor said.
“Pardon, sire?”
“You said it’s an honor for you. So, we’ll proceed right away.”
“…Sire?”
Something had been decided in an instant—probably her marriage, the imperial wedding with the Crown Prince.
So this is how power works, Courtney thought, blinking in confusion, now wearing the same dumbfounded expression her father had moments ago.
The Emperor’s gaze shifted from her to Count Devon.
“The imperial family will take care of all the preparations, so you don’t need to worry about anything.”
“Y…Yes, sire!”
“Now, we’ll handle the finer details. Lady Courtney, why don’t you go enjoy some tea for a bit?”
Courtney looked down at the untouched teacup in front of her. Being told to go have tea after it was already served… It was clearly a polite way of saying, Leave us.
In the end, discussions like this were always handled between fathers. So, Courtney found herself ushered out of the audience room as if she had no place there. Was she still dreaming? Maybe some devil was playing a cruel trick on her.
The chief attendant waiting outside greeted her with a knowing smile.
“Allow me to escort you, Milady.”
It was as if everything had been preplanned. With a dazed nod, Courtney followed him.
He walked slowly, accommodating her injured ankle. The persistent pain served as a reminder that all of this was real, not a dream. This was reality.
At first, she thought she was being led to a waiting room for her father to finish his meeting. But when the chief attendant took her west, deeper into the palace, Courtney began to suspect where they were headed.
She was about to meet him—Crown Prince Richard.
A fresh wave of anxiety washed over her.
Even if this marriage proposal had come from the Emperor, what did the Crown Prince think about all this? Could he possibly be happy about marrying the daughter of a low-ranking, nearly bankrupt noble family? The grand hallways of the palace now felt like the final steps to her execution.
But it didn’t take long for her to realize how needless her fears were.
“Courtney!”
The moment she stepped into the reception room, a voice filled with warmth greeted her.
It wasn’t ‘Lady Devon’ or ‘Lady Devon’, but ‘Courtney’—a name spoken with such familiarity that it startled her into halting mid-step.
The Crown Prince of the Empire, Richard, had stood from his seat and approached her with a gentle smile.
“Oh, my apologies, Lady Devon. I’ve been eagerly awaiting you.”
As the rumors had said, the Crown Prince was indeed a gentleman. But more than that, seeing him up close, it was clear that he was incredibly—no, overwhelmingly—handsome. Courtney could only stare in awe at the stunning man standing before her.
Her eyes first fixated on his gleaming golden hair. Wasn’t that the first requirement of a fairy-tale prince? She always told her nephew, Edvard, that he would grow up to be just as handsome as a prince because of his golden hair.
Next, her gaze shifted slightly downward to his brilliant blue eyes. His deep, ocean-like eyes were framed by thick, golden lashes, making them seem bottomless. Not even the clearest lake on an autumn day could be as blue.
Courtney stood mesmerized, studying each perfect feature of the man before her, from his smooth forehead to the elegant slope of his nose and finally, his slightly parted red lips.
‘Beautiful…’
There was no need for more elaborate words. He was simply beautiful, no matter how she looked at him. If beauty alone could determine the next emperor, Richard would have already inherited the throne.
It hadn’t even been three minutes, and Courtney already realized how powerful and absolute beauty could be. As she continued to gaze at him, lost in thought, Richard’s red lips moved.
“Lady Devon…?”
His voice snapped her back to reality, and Courtney suddenly realized she had been shamelessly staring at the Crown Prince—intensely.
Flustered, she bowed deeply.
“I-I apologize!”
“What for?”
“For being rude… I… I was just… it’s just… You’re just so handsome.”
She didn’t even have time to come up with a more polite excuse. Her blunt compliment filled the room with an awkward silence.
Please, puh-leeease, get it together, Courtney Devon, she mentally berated herself, overcome with embarrassment. If her leg had been in better shape, she might have sprinted out of the palace entirely.
But Richard’s expression didn’t change. Perhaps compliments about his looks were so common to him that they had no effect. Still wearing a subtle smile, he leaned slightly toward her.
“Thank you. But if you’ll excuse me for a moment…”
Courtney, not knowing what he meant by ‘excuse me’, nodded. Such was the power of beauty—she was willing to let him do whatever he wanted, simply because of how stunning he was.
But what the Crown Prince did next was far beyond anything she could have imagined.
Without hesitation, he bent down, slid his arms beneath her, and lifted her off the ground.
