The Sub Male Lead is Burning with Jealousy - Chapter 9 Part 8
She was so lovely, and yet he’d soon have to leave her for some mundane meeting. He couldn’t skip the meeting, and he couldn’t bear to let Anais go. If it were possible, he wanted to kidnap her and take her along.
But, of course, Anais would never agree to such a thing.
‘What if other men try to seduce Anais when I’m not around?’
No one in their right mind would dare covet the emperor’s wife, but love often blinded people to reason.
‘No, even if they couldn’t bring themselves to reveal their feelings and could only admire her from afar, I still can’t stand it. After all, she is far too precious, even for me, to keep hidden away just for myself.’
A sudden wave of jealousy rose within him at the thought of the attendants, escort knights, and aides who would remain by Anais’s side in his absence. They wouldn’t know about this beautiful side of her—nor should they ever—but even the mere possibility that they could, made him want to kill them all.
“Anais, how about we stay together today?”
Perhaps it was due to his excitement, but Rahil’s gaze had taken on a dangerous edge. Anais snapped back to her senses, offering him a bright smile as she tried to pry his hands off her waist, but Rahil held on tighter.
“You’ll be late for your meeting. We’ve kissed plenty, so you should go now.”
“No, I won’t. Today, the empress should join me. You’re interested in politics, aren’t you? You might as well attend more often.”
“I have no interest in politics!”
She had only learned about it for the sake of Ruol Family; not because she liked it. Even now, her efforts were purely to gather the information necessary for her duties as Empress. But Rahil seemed to have made up his mind.
“You don’t have to be so cautious. I’ll only have a little bit of skinship.”
“A little? How about none at all?”
Rahil rolled his eyes evasively. Despite avoiding her gaze, he lifted her up in one arm and began walking toward the bedroom door.
“Ah! Your Majesty!”
“We’ll be late for the meeting! Let’s hurry, Anais!”
“I don’t need to hurry… Kyaa!”
Rahil opened the door with his other hand and started running. Instinctively, Anais wrapped her arms around his neck. The escort knights would somehow manage to keep up, but what about the attendants, maids, and servants? How could he expect them to follow at this pace!
She wanted to shout at him to stop this ridiculous behavior, but there were far too many eyes watching. Seeing Rahil smirking slyly, Anais’s irritation flared, and she reached up to pinch his cheek in retaliation.
***
Rumors about the Emperor and Empress were the noblewomen’s absolute favorite pastime. This time, a completely absurd piece of news had spread: supposedly, the Emperor had carried the Empress in his arms and run through the imperial palace. The ladies were abuzz, arguing over whether it could possibly be true.
As soon as Duke Noer heard the rumor, he gnashed his teeth while eyeing the now-pale Jeremy.
It was as though, with his former mistress gone, all that remained in Jeremy’s heart was his longing for Anais. He gathered every rumor concerning the Empress, and whenever he heard that she and the Emperor were on good terms, he would sink into depression. His behavior was utterly exasperating, and though Duke Noer had scolded him several times, Jeremy showed no sign of stopping.
‘You idiot! If you felt that way, you should have dealt with your mistress long ago!’
Because of Anais’s overreaction, an incident that could have been discreetly brushed aside ended up staining the Noer family’s honor.
They had gotten rid of Laila, but most nobles in high society believed that it was the Noer Family who had killed her. Now it would be difficult for Jeremy to form ties with a family that met Duke Noer’s standards.
And in the midst of all this, the news that the Emperor and Anais were living happily together only made things worse. Duke Noer had hoped the Emperor would never abandon his lingering attachment to the Duchess of Calix. Had Anais remained merely a Empress in name, it would have been a pleasing sight for him.
‘As long as that woman clings to the Empress’s throne, it will be difficult for our family to regain its former power!’
Only six ducal houses existed in the Empire. Two of them had supported the Crown Prince and Euphira, plotting to assassinate the Emperor and thus were destroyed for treason. Another two survived by secretly backing the current Emperor. That left only the Latrazzi Dukedom and the Noer Dukedom.
Because the Duke of Latrazzi had been ill for a long time, that family hadn’t taken part in the imperial succession conflicts. Duke Noer, though rather late, had tried to align himself with the Crown Prince, but after judging that Rahil was concealing his true power, he hesitated, which ended up saving both his family and his own life.
He had even been prepared to lower the family’s standing and pursue an engagement with the Marquis Ruol’s household. The Ruol family was known for its neutrality, and taking the Marquis’s daughter as a daughter-in-law would lend legitimacy to the Noer family’s own precarious neutrality, making it less of a laughingstock.
‘It’s all ruined! We’ve fallen out of the Emperor’s favor, and now we’re a scandal-ridden family that failed to uphold even the bare minimum of noble duty!’
Once this rumor settled, Jeremy might be able to become engaged again, but the scandal would trail behind him for the rest of his life. That was an undeniable fact.
Duke Noer surveyed the guests gathered inside the banquet hall with dim eyes. Preparations for the Harvest Festival were going smoothly, and he’d heard that each region’s representative noble family had put forward candidates for both the Knight of Autumn and the Maiden of Abundance.
The eve celebration of the festival was set for tomorrow. Technically, it took place two days before the Harvest Festival, making the term ‘eve celebration’ somewhat misleading. However, it had long been customary to hold the trials early to determine the winners who would participate in the festival’s grand parade.
