THE VILLAINESS TURNS THE HOURGLASS

Translator: Khan

Editor Group: Liber Reverie

It was amazing to have melted her mind at an instant. As Aria, with a look of relief, stared quietly into the eyes of Asher, he slowly kissed the palm of her hand that he was holding.

There was no young man who had just been longing for affection. It was just her palm at best and above her glove, but his kiss was dense and subtle, and her cheeks were red.

“Ah, Mr. Asher…”

‘Is it okay to do this in a carriage on the way to the wedding?’ On the lips that passed through the palm of her hand and rose to her wrist, Aria called Asher’s name, but he did not stop his daring acts.

Rather, he had the audacity to look up at Aria without blinking an eye and gave her a look that seemed innocent. As if determined, his ears were no longer red.

‘What shall I do?’ She had seen a lot of men who were more aggressive than this and knew how to refuse it without difficulty, but somehow, she couldn’t do it to Asher… No, she didn’t even think about doing it.

So she left Asher, who was winding his hands around her waist, unsure what to do, and it was not Aria but others who unexpectedly stopped him from doing it.

“Waaaah!”

“Hurrah for Her Highness the Crown Princess!”

“May you bring prosperity to the empire!”

It was the voices of the people who started to shout out of the window. Everyone who found Aria’s procession blessed her as loud as they could, as the carriage that had escaped Carin’s mansion had entered a busy place.

“….” So, as hard as a stone, Asher could not ignore the voices of the people outside, who spoke to the wagon, no matter who he was.

“… I don’t know why I’m annoyed when they’re celebrating.”

“You can’t say that because they’re the people of the empire.”

“I know that, but…”

‘Until the day of the wedding, why would his people disturb him?’ Asher, who wanted to say so, straightened himself and moved to the other side of Aria. She watched him do it quietly, and he asked Aria if he could open the carriage window, adjusting his dress.

“May I open the window. It is the Crown Prince and Crown Princess’s duty to greet them today, isn’t it?”

It was exactly what Aria should have done, getting into the wagon and traveling to the Imperial Castle, but Asher shamelessly included himself. He seemed to have not forgotten to greet the people of the empire while he was annoyed. As expected, he was the Crown Prince.

“Yes, please.” Aria laughed small and allowed it, and the carriage window opened. Then, a huge voice that had a size she didn’t know when the window was closed poured into the carriage.

“Oh, my God! How beautiful!”

“That beautiful lady is about to become the Crown Princess of the empire!”

“Please make the empire happy for a long time!”

They blessed today with bright faces and voices in unison.

It was she who was getting married, but it was so strange that so many people were happy and were congratulating her that Aria waved her hand with an awkward face.

“Oh, oh! She waved her hand!”

“I think the Crown Prince is there, too!”

“Your Highness, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess!”

“Please make this country, the empire, a good place!”

Aria could not hide her joy as if she had been blessed by God. This caused a responsibility that she had never thought of because she realized that this marriage was not only about Asher and her own but about everyone who had grown up in the empire.

Their lives could change in the future, depending on how she and he were determined. She could make a lot of children and make their childhoods as unhappy as she had been, or she could not.

She couldn’t make it disappear completely, but she thought she could keep it to a minimum, just as investing in the academy to fill her private appetite had become a hope and a light for some.

“Mr. Asher.”

“Yes.”

“Do you mind if I keep doing everything I’ve been doing so far even after becoming the Crown Princess?”

When she asked him what he would allow, he said, with a smile far more intense than she had expected,

“Of course, you can do everything you want to do as the Crown Princess, besides what you’ve done.”

‘How could I not do anything that would help you, who believed in me without asking, without questioning, and trusting me?’ She could have ignored the people and lived like a stupid villain in the past, but she did not think of it at all when she faced those who cheered enthusiastically.

“I see.” Aria’s answer was buried in the crowd’s shout.

It took a long time for the wagon to reach the Imperial Castle, but there was no place where the people’s shout couldn’t be heard.

* * *

The carriage turned very slowly around the capital, informing everyone of the birth of the Crown Princess, and it headed for its destination, the Imperial Castle. The carriage was so slow that a procession of people followed it.

Even though it was a carriage that turned a long way to its destination, people quietly followed the carriage without showing a single sign of hardship. It didn’t take too long before the wagon arrived at the Imperial Palace. Some nobles, who knew the order of the national marriage, expressed their curiosity since the Crown Prince, who should have welcomed Aria, didn’t appear.

“Why does His Highness not come out?”

“And now the Crown Princess would get out of the wagon alone?”

“Oh, my God, this is such a shame.”

“I’m so sorry to hear that she’s waiting here alone…”

“He should have come out as soon as the wagon came up in the distance…”

Asher was not there because he had gone to meet her arbitrarily, and it was unusual enough that no one would dare imagine. So they were sorry for Aria, who was waiting alone in the carriage without the Crown Prince, and one of the knights who escorted the carriage opened the door.

“No way, she’s going out alone.”

“Oh, poor lady…”

And, of course, once again, the sympathy for Aria was pouring out, and it was not Aria but Asher who broke all their expectations and appeared out of the carriage first.

“…!”

“… Why is His Highness there…?”

“What the hell is this…?”

It was also the place even the royal families of foreign countries were in attendance, and it should be more than ever worthy of formality, but what was happening?

“Please get off.” Then he reached inside.

‘Don’t tell me, he came in the wagon together before the ceremony was officially held!’ Of course, it was not considered as a taboo for a man and woman to ride a carriage together, but today was the day of the national marriage. With hundreds of thousands of people watching the face of the empire, it was not a matter for the two to boast proudly that they had broken the order and even ridden a carriage together.

Because of that, some nobles, calling it an international disgrace, repeatedly denied it, but without waiting, Aria finally took Asher’s hand and got out of the carriage.

“… Oh, my God.”

“… How could His Highness have done this…?”

‘Why did he do such a scandalous act in public…’

But unlike the reactions of some of the nobles of the empire, the majority of the people and foreign nobles laughed happily.

This was especially true of the nobles from Croa. It had not been long since Aria had been a lady of the Marquis family of Piast in Croa, but they had identified themselves with Aria because she had been so powerful that the rumors about her had spread quickly beyond the empire and Croa to other countries.

The nobles of Croa seemed to be quite pleased that the way Asher was hanging on Aria and behaving as if he were a dull fellow, in violation of the order and the etiquette of the ceremony. They thought that Aria, a noblewoman from Croa, was treated well. Of course, it was not a wrong idea.

Asher thought he would do it for Aria if she were to ask him to propose to her again right here, right now. Above all, the character of Lohan, the King of Croa, was quite free-spirited, and he had often shown manners that had been far from being graceful, and they were not in a position to blame others.

“Well, it could be.”

“He is quite normal compared to Mr. Lohan.”

“Yes, he is. What is the matter with the order? Wouldn’t it be important to have a national wedding?”