The Princess Who Saw the Fall of Her Homeland Strives to Change Fate by Becoming the Cold Prince's Bride! - Chapter 29

Even within the Ernstahl royal court, the bride selection contest had become a hot topic.

“Have you heard? About Prince Richard’s bride selection?”

“Yes. Honestly, I thought the Duke of Liebner’s daughter had it in the bag.”

“I never expected such an upset to happen!”

She was supposed to be just a number—a princess from a small, weak kingdom on the frontier.

The rumor that this very princess had received an evaluation as high as the Duke of Liebner’s daughter shocked the gossip-loving nobles.

“The Duke of Liebner must be stunned right now.”

“Well… He had been working behind the scenes for quite some time to make his daughter the future empress.”

“So in the end, will the one who becomes Prince Richard’s empress be the Duke’s daughter, Princess Elze, or maybe some other candidate rising to the top…?”

Some people even started betting on ‘Who will win the seat of Prince Richard’s bride?’, and by now, there wasn’t a single person in the court who didn’t know the current status of the bride selection. That’s how much attention it had gained.

But, when attention grows, so do the whispers behind the scenes.

“It seems the upper levels of government have voiced their concerns. They’re saying there may be underhanded tactics happening in the bride selection.”

“They’re not naming names openly—perhaps out of consideration for the Duke of Liebner’s honor…”

“He probably went too far to ignore. He moved too boldly.”

“Especially since there are princesses from other countries participating. Even a great nation like Ernstahl can’t act too arrogantly without risking its reputation.”

“So then, what’s going to happen with the rest of the selection?”

“I heard that from now on, each bride candidate will be assigned a personal examiner.”

“If that works out, it’ll be good.”

“Well, we’ll see, won’t we?”

While the tired Elze was fast asleep, the glittering night of Ernstahl’s royal court went on without rest.

◇◇◇

“Huh? An examiner?”

As always, the bride candidates had been gathered in the palace hall, when a lady-in-waiting suddenly made an announcement. Elze stared, mouth slightly open.

Apparently, to make the rest of the selection process more fair and strict, each bride candidate would now have their own personal examiner.

(Saying ‘fair’ at this point… Well, I guess for me, that might actually be a good thing.)

If she had an examiner, then if someone tried to sabotage her again, she’d be able to properly protest.

Some of the other candidates looked nervous, while others looked somewhat relieved as they exchanged glances.

“Ladies, please settle down! We will now introduce the examiners who will be assigned to each of you!”

With that announcement, the hall doors opened, and the examiners entered one by one.

As each examiner went to their assigned candidate, the one who came to Elze was—

“Nice to meet you, Princess Elze. I have been appointed as your examiner. My name is Abel.”

He wore glasses so thick that his expression was impossible to read. He looked exactly like a ‘young civil servant from the countryside.’

“Look at that! There really are lucky and unlucky examiners, huh.”

“I don’t even want that country bumpkin in my line of sight!”

As usual, Gloria’s followers laughed loudly when they saw Abel come to Elze’s side.

Their words were so rude that Elze couldn’t help frowning.

Abel stood calmly, as if he hadn’t heard their mockery (though really, his glasses were so thick his expression was unreadable), but he was probably hurt inside.

Elze smiled brightly at him.

“Nice to meet you, Abel! There are still a lot of things I don’t know about Ernstahl, so I’d really appreciate it if you could teach me a lot!”

She wasn’t feeling sorry for Abel. She was happy to have someone she could rely on.

His unique look only made him more interesting to Elze, sparking her curiosity even more.

Abel’s shoulders twitched slightly in surprise at her words.

“…Understood, Princess Elze.”

“Hey, are you from Ernstahl? What’s your family like? Working at the palace must mean you’re really smart! Oh, and also—”

As Elze fired off question after question, Abel answered all of them calmly—without showing any dislike.