Secrets with the Crown Prince 14
After meeting the empress, I planned to meet Duchess Roadbalt. Then, I bid farewell to the madman and Argan.
A couple of days later, I visited the Alpine publishing company. At my arrival, the publishing company flipped over. Some might think I was exaggerating, but it was actually true.
As I sat in front of the director of the Alpine publishing company, I heard a ruckus outside of the room. At the ruckus people made, the young director looked embarrassed.
“It seems my employees are excited to see you in our humble place, Lady Lubiche.”
Rather than excited, they looked curious. I didn’t feel that uncomfortable, but I didn’t feel pleasant either. The young director, who looked like he was in his early thirties with his clearly brushed dark brown hair looked at me with interest.
“But what did you come to place for…Ah, before that, I should introduce myself. I am director Herald.”
He reached out his hand to me politely. I placed my gloved hand onto his palm, and he pressed his lips lightly onto the back of my hand. No matter how many times I received it, I thought this way of greeting was very uncomfortable. I would have probably hated it even more if I had to kiss a guy’s hand in reverse.
“Since you already seem to know about me, I will skip the introductions.” I replied while smiling, and director Herald made an embarrassed face and returned the smile.
“I am planning to submit a novel I am working on.”
I released the strings around a brown paper bag and took out some documents.
“A novel?’
He squinted his eyes at me and looked at me like he couldn’t believe it. It was understandable why he would be suspicious of me. He must have been surprised for an aristocrat lady to approach him out of nowhere and submit a novel.
“Yes, I am aware that writer Dunerad’s novel will soon be completed. Please publish my novel as a follow-up.”
The director looked taken aback by my words again, and his expression stiffened.
“By the way, I read the interview you wrote about me with Lady Serene— in addition to the defamation you wrote about crown prince Reynold very well.” I spoke nonchalantly and smiled.
Director Herald’s face immediately stiffened. It seemed like he thought I would use my authority as Lady Lubiche or bring crown prince, Reynold to make a fuss in his company.
“Don’t worry. I didn’t come to tell you to take responsibility. There’s no need for you to clear up the false rumors you made about me.”
At my words, director Herald looked clearly relieved.
“Is publishing this novel the only thing you want, lady?” Director Herald made an unbelievable face again and asked.
“Well, maybe also an interview after the novel is completed? And I also didn’t bring just any novel. If you read it, you would think it’s fun too. I assure you of the quality.”
I had been a writer after all. Before, I wrote provocative content as a variety program’s writer, and I had even been nominated for a literary contest as a novelist. And for the lacking areas in the novel such as its writing or word choice, my academy teacher, who taught me the empire’s language, helped me. But overall, it was me who wrote this novel.
“Frederika’s man. Are you talking about Lady Serene?”
Frederika Anne Serene was Lady Serene’s full name. The novel I wrote told the story of Lady Serene’s real life in a Soap Opera genre. Of course, since I could be accused of defamation from prince Verdi or the royals on his side, I altered the characters’ names and situation a bit except for the name, ‘Frederika’.
Director Herald read my draft’s title and scowled. And I widened my eyes in fake surprise and covered my mouth.
“Oh my. I just realized that the title is same as Lady Serene’s name. But look at it, the family’s name is different.”
“…I see.” Director Herald tilted his head and turned the pages of the draft. As if he forgot that I was in front of him, he placed his nose close to the rough draft and flipped its pages. Then, after a long time, when the tea had already cooled, he asked me loudly.
“What is this?! Does Lady Serene have another man besides his highness, Verdi?” At director Herald’s question, I made a stunned expression.
“I already told you it’s not about Lady Serene… If you read the rough draft again, she is not his highness Verdi but his highness Victor. The story is set in an imaginary world.”
“Ah, that’s right…” Director Herald muttered with a dumbfounded look. I was very pleased with his expression.
“Is there a next episode? How can you end it here?” he asked, and I smiled at his question.
“Well, how is it? Don’t you think it will create quite a commotion?”
I watched as Director Herald calculated the profits, he would get from selling this novel. It would probably make his head hurt, but I was sure that this novel would become a big issue.
“Have you heard that the Batos Publishing company is suddenly rising recently? I heard that the Canjis family is supporting them, so they are gaining quite the influence. Just last year, didn’t the family invest in the Alpine publishing company?”
At those words, Director Herald quickly took out a feather pen and an ink bottle in front of me.
“Let’s sign the contract,” he said.
I carefully read the contract he handed to me and said, “I’m going to make my pen name different.”
Director Herald, who had been reading my rough draft eagerly nodded.
“Do as you wish. What pen name would you like to use?”
“Could you make it to Kaden?”
The name of Lady Serene’s secret lover was Kaden in my novel. I wrote that he was a government employee of the royal’s executive order and was a Bourgeois level commoner. Anf I knew that this kind of story would attract a lot of attention.
The Director’s eyes shone as he looked at me. It seemed he had realized what I intended. On top of the story about his majesty, Reynold and the lady he was crazy about, he now had the story about his highness Verdi and his fiancé. It was a messy war that I was sure even the Batos publishing company would love to get their hands on.
After I finished the contract, I walked down the publishing company with a light heart. Then, I suddenly stopped when I saw a journalist chasing after me.
“Uh, I… have something to tell you, Ms.”
As if the chestnut-haired man had hurriedly chased after me, he was out of breath.
“Please help my companion.”
I was taken aback.
“I heard that his highness, Reynold likes you very much.”
I was surprised to hear him mention the madman so suddenly.
“I didn’t mean to publish that article about you. I got a letter.”
“Wait a moment. What do you mean by an article? What are you talking about?”
“The article that tarnished your name. You know, his highness Reynold fired journalist Eleanor for writing that article.”
“Sorry?”
“You didn’t know?”
The man looked surprised this time and stared at me again.
“I apologize, but could you explain the situation to me in detail?”
Like he thought I would help him if he told me the situation, he explained to me what happened in detail. It seemed like there were some exaggerations mixed in between his story, but I thought he was telling me the truth.
So—in short, the madman was going around firing journalist who wrote articles that tarnished my name. I thought I could also use this situation to my advantage and took the chestnut-haired journalist’s business card.
* * *
“Frederika’s Man” was popular among the aristocrat ladies and even the men. The novel became such a trend that a person couldn’t have a conversation with their friends if they didn’t read it.
I had thought the novel would gain a lot of attention, but this was more than I expected. I didn’t intend to start a trend and was a bit stunned. Director Herald told me that he got tens and hundreds of letters everyday asking him who Kaden was.
“Lady Lubiche, did you read the novel ‘Frederika’s Man’?”
Armand found me as I was organizing my desk and spread out the newspaper excitedly.
“It so, really fun! It’s my first time reading about such a story! How could the story progress like this?”
It was the power of Korean soap opera’s storytelling, I thought inside my head and nodded satisfyingly.
“But no matter how much I think about it, the main character seems to be Lady Serene. I heard that among the employees in the royal executive order, there is really a person named Kaden.”
When the record reached its record sales, the novel’s ardent fans began to dig up as much information about Lady Serene as they could.
“I guess it’s fun,” I answered Armand’s question and smiled like I didn’t know anything. But Armand glanced at me suspiciously.
“Lady Lubiche, is there any chance that you have a connection with writer, Kaden?”
I didn’t answer her and simply smiled. Then, Armand smiled in response like she caught onto something. It seemed like she thought I was Kaden or had brought a writer called Kaden.
“As expected of you. Just trust in me. I will promote this novel well.” Armand gripped her fist passionately. Even if she didn’t do anything, the novel’s popularity was already astounding; but it wouldn’t be bad to get her support since she unexpectedly had many connections.
* * *
The madman came out of the Lubiche mansion. So, I called him to the library and told him my request.
“What? You want me to help you in what?”
The madman looked at me like he couldn’t believe it and blinked his eyes slowly. But I raised both of my hands and made a scissoring gesture.
“You used to be an expert in provocative editing. Please participate in this.”
“Expert in provocative editing? Who? Me?” The madman pointed to himself and asked. I slowly nodded.
PD Cha Do-Hyuk was famous for making click-bait titles and editing celebrities’ dark pasts in a provocative way in the show “We Will Erase Your Dark Past: Eraser Road”. Furthermore, “Eraser Road’ became a hit as soon as it was aired. Thanks to that, it became a regular program after its first episode and became a legendary variety show. Later on ,even top celebrities came forward to reveal their secret pasts.
“What is it that you want to do exactly?”
As he leaned next to the chair I was sitting in front of, he looked down at me and asked.
“I want to flip my reputation upside down.”
I took out some of the documents that I had stuck between my test papers and handed them to the madman.
“I wrote a plan. Could you take a look?”
Then, the madman’s expression turned strange as he read the plan I wrote.
“What? Is this… Korean?”
“Isn’t it best for writing a secret code? Since we are the only ones who know the language.” I laughed carefreely, and his face stiffened even more.
I knew what his expression meant—he couldn’t read Korean perfectly.
“Did you forget everything?”
“I didn’t forget everything. But there’s a limit to how much I can remember, and I forgot a lot of words.”
He placed the documents on top of the desk and took out a pen. Then, he drew a circle on the document.
“This and that. I don’t remember what these words are. Explain it to me.”
I suddenly felt a great sense of gratification from my head to toe. The madman was asking me something he didn’t know; furthermore, it was something that I could teach him perfectly. Thus, I excitedly explained the Korean words to him and briefed my plan.
“So, you are saying that you would use the Alpine publishing company.”
“Yes. Aren’t you skilled in controlling the media?”
[Who? Me?] He said the same questions as before in Korean.
I thought his face looked unfamiliar as he asked while his eyes were widened in shock.
[Yes, you.] I also responded in Korean. Maybe I was a bit curt, but I didn’t intend to be.
“I am also attracting many people’s attention with my story.”
“Yes, Mouse-bell. You were always good at that. But what is your reason for doing this? Is it forfor revenge against the people who tarnished your name?”
“PD-nim. Why are you looking at this from such a narrow point of view? Do you think I would do this just for revenge? My goal is to gain more recognition. I don’t want to be a person who would be swung by a couple words of gossip. It makes me look too cheap.”
I bobbed my thumb up and down and smiled. The madman burst into laughter like he thought I was unbelievable.
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