TRAPPED BY THE SECOND MALE LEAD
CHAPTRE 17
The party went quite smoothly even though the tension managed to rule the hall— ah, maybe this party was not counted as successful for Ziel and his family whose name became tarnished.
Marigold's feast of maturity could not be considered a success because after declaring his official entry into the social world of nobility, his name and also his family immediately disabled. Despite trying to correct the mistake, not all suspicions in the hearts of everyone present disappeared afterwards.
How not, Ziel's attempt to explain the truth of his version has produced nothing but increased suspicion. There were many nobles who were familiar with the woman who worked as a maternity healer so it was not impossible if the woman knew the secrets of some noble families.
Unfortunately for the past year the woman has not been seen again in Norfolk and no one knows of her whereabouts. However, some people still believe what Veronica informed. Ziel cannot hold him accountable.
This morning Ziel was not excited about the day. Since last night he has been overwhelmed with anxiety and anxiety. What other problems will he face? When will the bad luck come? How can I handle every problem that happens? Those questions filled up to his skull.
His hand was used to scratching ink on paper so he could continue writing reports even though his mind was not there. Not only did it fill the table, the stack of books and other copies of documents were already evenly distributed on the floor. Soon the King will hold a joint meeting so that he must prepare all reports well.
Johnson, Ziel's personal butler brought a warm cup of tea to the office to make her feel calmer. “Your Majesty, I brought you tea.” with great care Johnson put it in the very corner of the workbench.
“Thank you Johnson.” Ziel did not take his eyes off the paper in his hand, he busied himself to forget what happened last night.
Twenty minutes Ziel kept struggling with his work. His mind was slightly entertained by working on the county management report under his supervision. Dizzying to record funds and supervision of regional developments, but while he could make him forget the problems with Meridia, Ziel was able to do it until late at night.
The sound of knocking on the door four times broke the difficult concentration he woke up. “Honey, I'm in?” Ziel looked up to see his beloved wife had been wearing a more luxurious dress than usual “You want to go?”
“Yes, I was invited to the opening of a new boutique belonging to Baroness Vista.” Zoya smiles to Ziel “Take care of yourself, I will be home soon after the show is over.”
To be honest Zoya felt embarrassed, there was no more confidence to raise her face up high. But after knowing he still had to take in Meridia, the cause of the trouble at home, it made him sick and wanted to find solace outside.
Seeing his wife's smile made Ziel's stress slightly less, he accidentally shifted the end of the book and finally dropped the tea glass on the floor. “Gosh!” several copies of the document were soaked until the ink faded.
Johnson immediately took the glass and tidied it up “Your Majesty, are you okay?” johnson asked worriedly. His hand painstakingly picked up a piece of glass. “I will soon replace it with new.”
“Ya, thank you.” Ziel sighed furiously. This morning he made more than five mistakes when making reports, dropping glasses, then what else? Thinking about it made Ziel seem to want to end everything.
Johnson walked out of the study to ask the waiter to clean up the remaining shards and make a new tea. As he was about to leave, there was a knock coming from the main door.
Johnson frowned confused. Ziel did not tell her to welcome the guest. In fact, Ziel advised not to accept anyone who came.
“There are guests?” he nodded closer to the door and opened it. At first he was confused, someone he had never seen at all stood at the door and dressed neatly like a higher-caste noble from Ziel “Sorry, may I know who you are?” butler was confused.
The masculine-faced young man smiled faintly “I'm Lucien Clein Navarro. I came here to see Marquess Emerald.” she replied quickly. Johnson was hesitant to accept directly without telling the owner of the house first “Have you made an appointment with His Excellency Ziel before?”
“No. I won't be here long, I just need to talk for a while and everything will be done soon.”
Johnson regretted his decision to open the door. Lucien immediately slammed inside without waiting for an answer from Johnson which was obviously a rude act or a subtle gesture it was disrespectful “I'll wait for him to come to the living room.” concluded.
Lucien acted like one of the Emerald family members. He seemed to know very well all the locations of the rooms in the house, he did not need to ask for guidance. Lucien knows where the Emerald mansion's living room is.
Weirdo? yeah that's also what the old Butler felt. Johnson himself was still standing at the door, surprised to find a guest who did not know manners.
“Who exactly is he? I'm like no stranger to hearing his name.”
Johnson had not expected Lucien to even enter the correct room. He really knows where the living room is. Then the six-headed man gasped “He is the famous young Duke?! What business did he suddenly appear in here? It's really a miracle.”
The young man who rarely came to the surface was suddenly present in the Emerald residence without even prior notice. Johnson immediately followed Lucien into the living room to apologize.
“Sorry for my impoliteness, Your Highness Duke Navarro. I'd like to say that at the moment the Marquess is busy so she can't see you.”
The aura Lucien exuded was unusually large. Johnson felt he was more afraid and more respectful of her than he felt for his own employer.
Lucien's crimson iris was fixed on Ziel's personal butler, he raised his eyebrows and looked at the trembling Johnson with the glare of his sharp eyes, Lucien said “Call him here.”
“B-good, Your Highness.”
Willing to fight and continue to give an excuse even Johnson did not dare. Not because Lucien was higher than his master. There was something that made it heavy to resist, if it refused maybe he would lose his head.
Johnson ran back into Ziel's office and Marigold, who was descending the stairs, saw Johnson in a hurry, his face turned deathly pale “What's wrong with him?” marigold asked the wind that passed.
The beautiful girl who owns the power of purification was curious about where Johnson ran “Originally from the living room. What's wrong?”. At first Marigold intended to find Meridia, but he paused because he saw something more interesting.
Marigold headed to the living room as soon as Johnson walked into his father's study, he muttered “I want to see who's coming.”
“Your Majesty, you have a guest waiting in the living room, Ziel's personal butler's” is standing at the door with cold sweat on his face.
Ziel who was recording monthly expenses stopped his activities and looked at Johnson a little annoyed “Yesterday I told you, I will not receive guests today.”
Ziel with his pretty good analytical ability immediately knew that Johnson was faced with a difficult situation for him to decide something “Who came to visit?”
“It was Young Duke Navarro, Your Majesty. He came to visit and directly want to talk to you.”
As rumors spread, Lucien almost never appeared among the nobility even he was only occasionally seen in the palace alone. It was only natural that Ziel felt astonished at the arrival of such an unexpected person like him. Moreover, he directly said that he had come to talk to her.
At the same time, Marigold came into the living room out of curiosity after seeing Johnson get out of there in a hurry “Who is there? if it was Arden, I don't think he would have panicked like that.” Marigold muttered as he peered over the wall near the door.
His head poked out from the open door. Immediately after that his two sapphire irises were rounded when he saw a very beautiful figure sitting quietly there. His good sitting pose made him look like a sculptured statue of a master.
The girl was amazed by the cool cool charm emitted by Lucien's mysterious figure. The young man sat up straight with both hands folded in front of his chest.
“He's handsome once!” Marigold covered his own mouth so as not to let out a voice, he felt very anxious to see the little-faced man.
Marigold gasped when Lucien landed a glance at himself “Gosh!” the Meridia twin died a flea when their gazes met.
The young man with the nickname Young Duke greeted Marigold using a smile until his eyes narrowed, he then nodded small to add a friendly impression.
“Someone please hold me! I almost fainted!” inner Marigold hysterically.
The girl slightly styled her hair and then entered the living room with graceful steps but still displayed the cheerful and friendly side of herself “Happy afternoon, Your Majesty.” greet Marigold gently as if to highlight the side of a Saintess who loves everyone.
Lucien returned in reply with a small nod accompanied by a knotty smile. Marigold sat on the sofa facing the chair occupied by Lucien. “Do you want to meet my father?” ask Marigold politely.
Lucien grinned thinly “How about I say I want to see you?”
Marigold jerked “Sorry?” the girl was pounding even more when she saw Lucien's grin that seemed sexy in her eyes “I haven't known you before.” Marigold channeled his nervousness through squeezing his skirt.
The young man with a pale skin can really make anyone groggy with just a look. Marigold felt his face was already heating up. Blood boils.
Lucien standing from his seat “I joke,” he turned his face towards the door welcoming the man who is the head of the Emerald family in the living room “Good afternoon, Marquess Emerald.” said.
Ziel smiled in surprise in the sense of not welcoming guests well “I did not expect that a young Duke who had long chosen to remain silent in hiding suddenly came to my house.” Ziel showed dislike for Lucien's sudden arrival and for him the young man was completely disrespectful.
Lucien did not respond, he still put on a fake smile “Can we talk about something serious elsewhere? I only have a minute here.”
Who is not surprised by the attitude of a guest who is even flatter and more commanding than the host? That's what Ziel felt. His forehead was furrowed deeply, his two brows until fused together.
Ziel snorted softly “I didn't say I'd accept you in this house,” he stared flatly at Lucien but he used a tone that fully described his dislike for the uninvited guest.
“Why don't we finish this soon, Marquess? I said I wanted to talk to you about something and I'll leave soon.” Lucien said with great emphasis. “You alone are holding me back longer in this house.” he continued.
Marigold, Johnson, and Blair are confused when Ziel does not immediately answer, there is a pause that Ziel does not usually do. Next Ziel gave way and let Lucien go further into the mansion or rather to the workspace.
Lucien patted Ziel's shoulder “Good, thanks for the cooperation, Marquess.”
The two of them entered Ziel's workspace. Lucien's eyes swept across the entire room in the atmosphere like that of a broken ship.
Without waiting to be invited, the pale white man like a zombie with charming sharp jaws immediately sat sweetly on the available sofa, waiting for Ziel to sit there with him.
Right after Lucien sat down, Ziel blinked his eyes a few times quickly. He was astonished to see himself already in the office, he turned around here and there “Why am I here?” ogre. He glanced at Lucien who had been sitting idly on the sofa “Why are you here?”
Next to Lucien's eyebrows raised “You told me to go in.”
“Really?” Ziel shook his head, he did not want to take a headache and sat down on the sofa opposite Lucien, looking at the young man suspiciously “What do you really want to talk about this sudden?”
Marigold, Johnson, and one private maid Marigold peeked out from behind the door that was not tightly closed. The golden-haired girl was very curious about the arrival of the mysterious handsome Duke whom she did not recognize to the house without making an appointment first.
“What matters?” ask Marigold in your heart.
“My destination here is only one. I want to marry your daughter.”
Everyone was surprised by the answer given by Lucien, especially it was spoken without hesitation and without any burden at all. His relaxed expression and serious tone made Ziel inexhaustible think of where he could get that courage from.
Lucien's tone is not asking for good but it is like hammering or as obvious as forcing Ziel to obey his will.
As others know, last night the Marigold maturity party had just finished, which meant that Marigold had entered adulthood and deserved to be in a relationship with a young man. It is natural that many cover letters begin to arrive.
One more thing, people generally know Ziel only has one daughter in the public eye which can be interpreted that Marigold is what Lucien intended.
Marigold's face could not lie. She blushed in shame because she felt the so-called was herself, plus saw Lucien's courage in asking for such a truly brave man. Putting aside the fact that Lucien's actions were so presumptuous and disrespectful.
Marigold cupped his cheeks with both palms, trying to resuscitate himself. He already has Arden who will be his future fiance although in fact Marigold does not mind accepting others whose good looks are comparable to Arden.
The point is, Lucien straightforwardly and boldly immediately tell the father the purpose of his goal. Marigold did not know Lucien yet, but he could not resist if there was a handsome young man of high status who wanted to marry him. The shadow of their marriage left Marigold unable to think clearly.
“How is this? I couldn't possibly hurt Arden,” inner Marigold was worried. He looked at Lucien with admiration in his eyes “He was so brave, how is this? why does my heart explode like this?”
