The Lotus Of East Palace
Chapter 25 (Constanza)

I will never get used to my reflection in the mirror. Perfect smooth skin with no scars, long red hair framing a soft-looking oval face, golden brown eyes, natural red lips and these plump eyelashes are all not mine. This isn't my face.

As I was removing my makeup, revealing my cousin's beautiful natural face in the mirror, someone tapped on the window of this room—Anastasia's room, not mine. I knew who was knocking because I was waiting for him to come. I quickly finished removing the makeup and opened the balcony window of this room.

Ludwig did not go straight in, he was still standing on the balcony, "The meeting with the nobles lasted longer than I thought. Sorry I'm late, Constanza." Said.

And with those words, saying my name, my face returned. My black hair is back. The scars on my face are back. How much I miss being myself. I took a few steps back to give Ludwig some distance to get in. But he just stood there quietly while looking at me.

I always liked it when he looked at me like that. Like he can't see anything else around him and there's only me. I knew he was fascinated by me, just as I was always fascinated by seeing him even though I was reluctant to admit it. I know he still loves me, like I still love him. I can't hate him even if I try. So I gave up trying to hate him.

Does he know that even my heart is pounding because of his gaze?

"Would you just stand there?" I asked, trying to keep my tone as flat as possible.

"You're letting me in?"

"Is there a reason I won't let you in? You need an invitation first?" I turned to her back, went into the room first for her to follow. Actually, it's because I don't want him to see my face blushing. "Come in, Ludwig. You can teleport straight into the room, why knock?"

"Because this isn't my room."

I laughed at her, "This is not my room either."

"But you're in here."

"Then?"

"It's rude of me to just walk into a lady's room, especially at night."

"Basar the northern men with your decency who frustrate me—Why? What's up there? Did your mother see us?" I asked when I saw Ludwig looking out the window.

"There's nothing." He said without looking at me. Her ears are red. Her face flushed. I could see it even though he was trying to hide it. He nodded, "Just about it... You're wearing nightgowns. You want to get dressed before we start talking?"

I breathed in frustration. "No. I'm gonna be like this. It's late and I'm so tired of pretending to be my cousin all day. I'm going to bed. I don't want to change clothes anymore. Do you know how many times I changed clothes today? Eight times! At breakfast, at tea, while going to the library, while meeting the designer of the wedding dress for the final release, at lunch, while walking in the park, while meeting Alexis, at the end of the day, and at dinner. So whether you want to talk or not, I don't want to bother changing clothes anymore."

I sat on the long sofa, but Ludwig was not sitting next to me. He sat across from me, seeming to keep his distance from me. I tried to ignore her attitude and poured her a glass of wine. I kept a few bottles of wine in Anastasia's room just in case I needed one.

"Didn't royal princesses usually like that?" He asked while sipping his wine. I try not to look at her lips. I envy that goddamn wine glass.

"Where do I know. I'm not a royal princess." I dipped my glass. I don't know why I suddenly feel thirsty.

"You're the Grand Duchess." Said. As if that explains everything. I took over my father's duties for a few weeks and became the Grand Duchess. Ludwig seemed to be pouring wine for me, but he undoed his intentions. He's meticulous. She saw three empty bottles of wine I hid on the dressing table, "You've been drinking too much."

"If you don't know yet, the Grand Duchess doesn't change clothes as often as she breathes." My reply. Ludwig still took his eyes off me, so I took out a coat and covered myself with it. We kind of went back to the starting point, to a time when he was still acting stiff on me when we were engaged. I miss her who doesn't look up to me. "You're a freak. You used to take off my nightgown."

"Jeez, Constanza!"

"What's? No one's listening." My protest. I was just about to pick up the bottle of wine he had placed on the table between us, but he hurriedly picked it up and kept it away from me.

Now he can look at me. Her face flushed. "That's because I was your fiancee. And we were planning to get married."

"Now right? What is this ring?" I asked while showing the engagement ring that should be on Anastasia's finger. The ring looked ordinary compared to our engagement ring that I threw at her the day my parents were murdered. But still the ring was extremely luxurious with a glittering amber gem.

"I'm engaged to your cousin."

"So you're really going to marry her?" I unconsciously raised my voice. I know it's not like that, but still I can't help but be jealous.

"No." Answer directly. She walked towards Anastasia's dressing table where I put the bottles of wine I had just finished. "Why do you drink so much? Was my mom being bad to you today?" Ask, shifting the topic about her marriage.

Selena, my former future-in-law, was so busy that she didn't really notice that the Princess Anastasia she was trying to get rid of was a little changed. I can't really imitate Anastasia. She was born Princess Schiereiland. Although as the eldest daughter of the previous Grand Duke I also studied royal manners, but I am different from her. I wasn't walking as gracefully as she was, I couldn't sit as upright as she was, and if Selena was meticulous, she should have been able to see that we were completely different.

I took advantage of his ignorance by playing around with him a little. I was so kind and loving that I didn't put poison into his drink even after what he did to this country. I think I deserve revenge on him. Because Selena was the witch of Nordhalbinsel into Schiereiland and took the children of our land to be slaves. Because of him, Ludwig's Morta was used freely by the Nordhalbinsel soldiers and my parents were killed. I should have had enough hatred to kill him, but in fact I just stuffed laxatives into his soup. I also did other things to disturb him all this time like messing up his sleep schedule by putting caffeine in his drinking water so he couldn't sleep all night, and many other things I did to disturb him. I did it all because I couldn't kill him. Selena, no matter how bad she is, loves her children even though the way she does it is wrong. He loved Ludwig, and Ludwig loved his mother very much. I know what it's like to lose a mother.

"Luna completely ignored me." I finally said. Of course I didn't say that I was bothering his mother all day. "He was too busy seducing Alexis and influencing her. Alexis is like a doll, obey everything he says. Poor kid." I took the bottles of wine and hid them under the bed so that they would not be found by the servants tomorrow morning. I didn't tell Ludwig that I drank a lot of wine because I had a lot of thoughts. Especially about her wedding.

"So my mom still doesn't know that you're not the real Princess Anastasia, right?"

"of course. Otherwise he would have canceled your wedding plans with Anastasia." Even saying it just doesn't feel right. Though I knew Ludwig would not marry Anastasia. I knew that the one who would stand at the altar would be myself and not Anastasia, but still I didn't like to call it their marriage. "Wedding's tomorrow." In the end I voiced my anxiety.

Ludwig nodded. "So you want to go tomorrow or now? If you're willing, I can teleport you."

"Then what do people say? The princess ran away on her wedding day? It could damage the relationship of the two kingdoms that had just improved."

"Actually, I have no problem—“

"I see it as a problem." Cut me directly. Ludwig was silent, thinking. I've always wondered what's inside that brilliant brain. "What are you thinking?"

"How to thwart this marriage. I don't want to marry Princess Anastasia."

"No need to be thwarted. Marry me."

What did I just say? Why did I say it! But it's too late to retract my words.

Ludwig looked surprised. He was so shocked that he could not speak. I love it when he's a genius, all-knowing, and as if he can figure everything out, showing such an expression. Makes it look much more human and more attainable. Compared to his cold mask that he always showed everyone, as a prince who was perfect, as a genius magician, as a usurper of the throne, I prefer Ludwig who is like this. The figure that only he showed me in front of me.

Ludwig was still sculpting, so I repeated my words to make it clear that I had indeed said them. Because if I don't tell you now, maybe he'll forever not know my heart. Maybe there won't be another chance. "Married to me. Tomorrow."

"I thought you hated me." He looks confused. As expected, he still thought that I could hate him. I can hate everyone in this world, but I can never hate him.

"really. You can't imagine how much I hate you. I hate your insensitive self. I hate that you think that I can really hate you. I hate you because you can never get out of my mind all day and every time. I hate you because you made me stop loving you even after everything that happened in my life. I hate—“

My words came to a halt as he began to kiss me.

...****************...

Actually I don't want to wake up. I don't want to leave this bed anymore. Then I realized we weren't in Anastasia's bed. Not in Anastasia's room. Last night he brought me here with teleportation magic.

The sky is still dark. The sun had not yet risen, even though it was already morning. So I knew that we were in Nordhalbinsel, in one of Ludwig's mansions, somehow. I'm not really sure how many mansions he has.

Ludwig beside me, still asleep in his sleep. I fell asleep in his arms, in his arms. Just like the moments before I called off our engagement. Now we're back together.

I watched her sleeping face up close. He seemed to be sleeping peacefully, as if the burden of one country was not on his shoulders. Her breath felt warm on my skin, and I tried to resist the urge to kiss her again. If I want to wake her up. For now, for just a few minutes, I want to enjoy this togetherness.

I stroked her delicate, white hair. Selena has the same hair color. Ludwig once said that it was a characteristic of the Clera people. But I joke by saying that her hair is white because she thinks too much.

I kissed her lips softly. He opened his eyes slowly and I immediately felt immersed in his gaze. "Good morning." My speech.

But Ludwig just looked at me in silence, not saying a word in the next few seconds. So I went back and said, "It's our wedding day. The servants in the Palace will be looking for their Princess."

"You..." His pupils dilated. His voice is still hoarse because he just woke up. "Aren't you a dream?" Ask.

I smiled at him and kissed him again. "Does this feel like a dream? Did last night feel like a dream?"

He hugged me tightly. "Every night I dream of you. So I thought this was a dream too."

"Am I not dressed in your dreams?"

She laughs.

She smiles. I can feel his love from the way he looks at me. "Don't have any more nightmares, Constanza. Just dream about me, so don't have any more nightmares."

...****************...

Ludwig helped me get dressed and took me back to Anastasia's room at Schiereiland Palace before the sun really rose. Someone was waiting for us there. Not one person, but two people. A man and a woman. I breathed a sigh of relief when I saw the woman's red hair.

"Constantinza!" She screamed in excitement and immediately hugged me when she saw me on the balcony. "We're looking for you. I was shocked to see this room empty. Where have you been?"

I'm just about to answer, brainwashing to give a reasonable reason without explaining what really happened. But Ludwig first grabbed my hand and stood beside me. "Sorry to worry you, Your Majesty. I brought her to my house last night." Ludwig.

Anastasia looked at the two of us alternately, then smiled. "It's okay. I get it."

This time I looked back at the two of them in turn. Anastasia and Xavier were close. No, they were lovers of course they looked close. But there was something different about their closeness this time. It felt like an invisible distance that had previously existed, had now disappeared. I don't know what happened to them in the Orient, but it seems like it brought their souls together. Did I miss something?

Oh, I did miss something. I immediately turned my gaze towards Anastasia's ring finger and found a ring there. Rings with ruby gems. I don't think I need to ask to be sure.

"Did your mother know?" Xavier asked Ludwig. He clasped Anastasia's hand with a protective attitude that could make anyone envious.

"No." Reply Ludwig.

"What do you need to do here? Is the business in the Orient done?" I asked.

Anastasia answered my question, "We plan to return to Nordhalbinsel soon, but we previously had to solve the problem of marriage—“

"Wait a minute." I cut his words because I heard a strange sentence. We are returning to Nordhalbinsel. Anastasia said it as if her house was there. Like he lives there. "You want to go to Nordhalbinsel? What's for?"

This time it was Xavier who represented her to answer my question. "We had negotiated and decided that it was better to return to Nordhalbinsel soon because we had to have an official wedding there, the coronation of Anna as Queen, and also later Anna will give birth there, so—“

"Just a second!" Cut me again. I looked at them both in turn. Then I glanced at Ludwig who was equally confused. His eyes seemed to say that he knew nothing. "I'm confused."

My cousin seemed to understand why I was confused, so he immediately explained quickly. "We're married. I pregnant. And Xavier was fussy about sending me to Westeria because he said it was safer there. So I said that we better go back to Nordhalbinsel. The change of plans due to the situation in the Orient had already changed since Qin was killed and Haru was appointed Emperor."

"And that way the situation there gets more complicated so it can't be solved by the way we disguised ourselves and stayed there. It would now be far more effective to watch over Haru from afar and try to establish good relations with the empire diplomatically. I need to go back to being King to do it." Xavier. He pointed that last sentence at Ludwig.

"Today has come too." Ludwig looked relieved and pleased. I didn't know she felt pressured to take the job of replacing her brother all this time. "I'm tired. You can take your throne back."

"So why don't you guys go straight back to the Main Palace? Why are you even here?" My toot.

"It's their wedding day." The words Xavier refer to Anastasia and Ludwig. "But I'm guessing you've been thinking of something to cancel it. If not, we've already thought of something to cancel."

"It will not be cancelled. I'm still getting married." Ludwig. And before she made her brother angry, she hurriedly added, "With Constanza."

"Your mother won't agree."

"really. But for now she's not my mother. She is currently Luna, the lover of King Alexis, the future Queen of Schiereiland."

"She doesn't need to be Selena to harm Constanza at the altar once she knows her bride has changed." Xavier. I understood that he was looking for a loophole that Ludwig might have forgotten in his plan to make sure we could actually get married. He just wanted to make sure that Ludwig had perfected his plan.

"I see what you mean." Ludwig. The sister looked at each other, a wordless conversation that I would not understand. "You brought that device?"

"I brought it at your request. Are you sure you can let it go?"

"could. Must be. Just so you promised you wouldn't kill him."

Xavier laughed cynically, "You always think badly of me. I have absolutely no intention of killing him. I just want to make sure she can't hurt anyone with her magic."

"What are you talking about?" Many finally. I glanced at Anastasia who had been listening to the conversation of the two brothers ever since. But he seems to know everything so he doesn't seem as clumsy as I am.

Xavier took something out of his pocket. It was like a pair of gold bracelets with beautiful and glittering gemstones. "Ludwig's creation." Said.

"What's this?" I asked because I'm sure that if Xavier calls it 'the Ludwig creation', it's no ordinary bracelet. Maybe there's some magic in it. I looked at the beautiful bracelets, then turned to Ludwig who was still silent looking at the two bracelets with an expression I could not read. Afraid? Worrying? Relieved? Saddened? I don't know for sure, maybe it's all combined. "Ludwig, what is this?" Ask again.

"Jewelry for my mother." Ludwig replied quietly as if his mother would be able to hear him. He then turned his head towards me and smiled soothingly. "You'll see later."

...****************...

I walked to the altar. The typical wedding music of Schiereiland accompanies me every step of the way. My wedding dress made of satin swept the red velvet carpet. To my left and right, blossoming flowers welcomed my arrival as the happiest bride of the day, the guests focused only on me. My father should have been with me, but he was gone and I had no one to run for, so I walked alone. In front of me, my future husband waited with a gaze that could make me want to run straight towards him. Ludwig looked perfect in his official attire. Usually he looks like a cold, cunning tower wizard, or a handsome nerd, or an evil scientist, but now he looks more like a prince in a fairy tale I could only imagine. Now he's not just in my fantasy. He's prince. My love. My husband, soon.

I'm still undercover. My cousin's red hair is neatly and beautifully styled. A tiara was pretty on top of my head. I look like Princess Schiereiland on her wedding day.

But I soon returned to being Grand Duchess Smirnoff as soon as Ludwig said his marriage vows to me by saying my name.

"O woman who is before me, O woman whom I love with all my heart, my heart and my soul mate, to you dear ones I promise to have each other and also to keep from now until forever. In times of trouble and pleasure, in times of abundance and lack, and in times of health and illness. To always love and cherish one another, until death do us part and after. I take you to be my wife, O Constanza Smirnoff."

I knew I had returned to my true face when I saw that loving gaze from Ludwig. "I'm willing."

I no longer hear long words. I no longer hear the murmurs and gibberings of the line of invited guests and wedding witnesses. I don't even want to see Selena's expression right now.

Xavier has already ordered our ruler to continue with the wedding ceremony no matter what. Even though the bride changed. Even if someone objected. Even though the marriage witnesses voiced their shock, our marriage was legalized and nothing could stop us.

I no longer waited for him to say "you may kiss your bride" because I had already kissed my husband.

Everyone gasp. Astounded. Protest. Like I'd care.

"Stop this marriage!" That's Luna— voice younger version of my mother-in-law's voice. He came forward to disrupt this finished wedding ceremony. The bodyguards that Anastasia had placed in order to ensure the wedding ceremony went smoothly immediately detained her. "Do you guys oppose me?" He shouted in disbelief at the bodyguard. If they were Schiereiland's men, they wouldn't dare oppose the future Queen Schiereiland, but they were bodyguards from Nordhalbinsel. They only obey their King and Queen.

"Where's my sister?" Alexis asked beside him. He looked just as surprised, yet he tried to remain calm before everyone. A wise choice. He would look incompetent as a King if he lost his composure in the atmosphere and official events like this. He should have been a good King if not easily influenced by Luna.

Before I could answer, the door was wide open. That's the sister he's looking for. Princess Anastasia. No. gabe. Not a princess anymore. She is now Queen Anastasia. She, looking like the Queen from the north, with her official outfit—not the wedding dress— entered this room. Everyone was busy whispering when they saw him. Anastasia smiled confidently.

I understand why he seems so confident. Right now, behind him, lined up the soldiers of Schiereiland and Nordhalbinsel complete with their weapons. He held the power of two kingdoms in his grasp, and he led them.

"Catch that con man." His order.

Everyone was shocked when they saw him speak. The daughter they thought was helpless and mute, who was devastated after seeing the deaths of her two parents, turned out to be nothing like they thought. The princess is now a queen.

I glanced at the corner of the room where Xavier had been observing the wedding ceremony in silence without anyone's knowledge. He will act immediately if he finds suspicious behavior from Selena. But now he seemed to enjoy the view of the Queen who brought her troops to capture her stepmother. His face was full of pride as he looked at Anastasia.

All the soldiers deployed by Anastasia immediately captured Luna. The young girl looked like she was going to attack them with her magic, but nothing happened. He can't use his magic.

Ludwig's creation, I remember the words of King Xavier. A pair of bracelets I saw early this morning were now attached to both hands. Ludwig must have persuaded his mother to wear the bracelet. And Luna—I mean Selena, for believing so strongly in her eldest son, without asking anything she was wearing Ludwig's bracelet. The bracelet seals his magic. He would not be able to use magic anymore as long as he was still wearing the bracelet. And the bracelet won't let him off unless Ludwig unlocks the magic key. But I know Ludwig won't do it for now.

"Take me off!" Luna looked rebellious, but it was useless. Selena's stronger physique might be able to fight against the soldiers who held her back, but Luna was smaller and weaker. Luna is just a teenage girl who is not strong enough to fight them all. No. gabe. Even if she were to return to Selena, she would not be able to fight a fully armed army without magic. My mother-in-law had relied too much on her magic all this time, so when her magic was taken away from her, she became helpless.

"Sister, what's going on?" I heard Alexis ask Anastasia. He looked surprised, but did not try to help free Luna. Whether it was to keep his wi-bawa or maybe he was already getting bored with Luna.

"Laluna of Clera, you were arrested on charges of harming a member of the royal family and deceiving King Schiereiland by pretending to be a young girl and influencing the King to your own advantage. Falsifying state financial data and embezzling state taxes." Anastasia said firmly as a Queen. I suspect he already holds all the evidence for those allegations, otherwise he might not have seemed as confident as he was facing my mother-in-law.

And with herself pronouncing Selena's real name, the transformation magic was gone. Luna disappeared, replaced by the beautiful figure of the exiled empress, my mother-in-law, the tower-ruling witch. Selene. Princess Laluna of Clera.

I didn't get to see the process of his arrest until the end, because according to his plans and agreement with Xavier, Ludwig immediately used his teleportation magic to take us both as far away from the place as possible. But I'm sure the King and Queen of Nordhalbinsel will take good care of it.

...****************...