Chapter 169 - Short stories 7.1: Snare and bait> (1/2)

Chapter 169: <Short stories 7.1: Snare and bait>

Roberto said to Amarince with his sweetest voice, “You get it, right? You are my accomplice. If this gets discovered, you will be punished alongside me, so you better keep your mouth shut.”

Amarince couldn’t deny the logic. All she could do at the time was to return home in the intricate outfit.

Roberto became suspicious.

“You want to keep the costume?”

Amarince replied calmly, “If you take this… Then how can I trust you not to use this against me? I can’t trust you, so please let me at least be the one who destroys it. I will burn everything right away. I don’t want to be executed for treason. My alibi will be that I returned home immediately after my performance. I didn’t see or hear anything.”

Roberto smiled in satisfaction. He kissed her forehead and dropped her off at her home.

“What should… What should I do… What can I do to make this right…?”

Amarince remembered the first time she saw the empress.

The first time Amarince performed at the castle, the empress looked like a little girl because she was so excited. Empress Sa Bina looked at her like she was her hero. The empress applauded for her.

However, she didn’t deserve it. Amarince was useless and weak, and she was the culprit who was causing the empress so much grief.

Those pure and kind black eyes.

How could she call herself an operetta prima donna if she treated her biggest fan in this horrible way?

“…”

She started to calm down after long contemplation. Her body finally stopped trembling as the sun started to set.

Amarince took the black wig and stood up. Her eyes looked determined.

***

Roberto was satisfied with how everything was going. On the last day of the celebration, his cousin Yulia will be dancing the first dance with the emperor.

If an unmarried woman appeared by the emperor’s side at an official event, the emperor had no choice but to marry her. Yulia would become, at the very least, his concubine.

“As you hoped, you will finally get your own puppet in the royal family, mother.”

Yulia was still resisting the idea, but once she was placed in the ballroom, she would have no choice but to do whatever was asked of her. His mother had already told her that this was what the emperor and the empress wanted.

Yulia had to do it if the emperor asked, unless she wanted to ruin the whole event.

Now, the only problem left for Norma and Roberto was one person.

“Empress Sa Bina.”

Duchess Lonensia’s spies had given her the news about the empress. Apparently, her carriage arrived at Maram. The spies saw a black-haired woman and a black-haired child walk into the Maram castle.

Roberto sighed in relief. If the empress came back before the last day, this entire plan would be ruined.

Not even he predicted that the empress would leave the castle like this. He hadn’t realized this would work so well.