Heroine On Strike

“That’s the invitation. That’s nonsense… Tens of thousands of people read it. Are you saying all of them were invited here?”

“No way. We’re not that rich. Do you even understand how big of a price we had to pay to bring you here?”

His playful words began to turn frightening. The familiar appearance of her cousin began to look foreign to her. Then, the word “price” was engraved in her mind, so she asked, “Wait. What do you mean ‘price?’ What price are you talking about?”

“You don’t need to know. We won’t ask you to pay it back. We just want you to know that we worked hard to try to bring you here. We’re in a bad situation.” He looked very irritated and a bit tired. It was easy to read his feelings as he had Jaeik’s face.

“Why did you bring me here?”

“For world peace?”

“Hey!” exclaimed Ella.

‘World peace? Like the world peace that beauty pageant contestants mention?’

Joking in this kind of situation wasn’t funny at all. Not only that, he wasn’t smiling either. Then the man retorted, “Did that sound like a joke? Well, I did hear people in your world talk about it as a joke, but not here. We truly brought you here for world peace. This world is on the brink of being ripped apart.”

Although his face showed how serious he was, he had chosen the wrong target to say it to as Ella replied, “I’m just a cook.”

“I know,” replied the man.

“But you said you brought me here for world peace.”

“Why? Do you think I want you to take up arms for world peace? Oh, and actually we sent you the wrong invitation. There has been a mistake. The real invitation that should have been given to you was this,” said the man as he made a funny hand gesture that caused Ella to remember a certain memory. It seemed it wasn’t her imagination that the real Luciella would have easily forgiven Cladis. She was sucked into the memory flooding in.

***

Luciella had experienced what Ranhee experienced at the debutante. She became enraged but held her anger back and smiled at Cladis. Then, unlike Ranhee, who silently planned to no longer become the crown princess, Luciella immediately ran to the Emperor.

“Your Majesty! Please proceed with our marriage as soon as possible!”

“I heard what happened at the party. But Ella, I doubt your father will agree to this.”

“I’ll persuade him.”

“Will you be able to persuade him?”

“Yes, Your Majesty.”

Luciella looked up at the Emperor with a determined look on her face. The tip of the Emperor’s mouth pulled up. Originally, he wanted to hasten the marriage but had to postpone it because of the Marquis’s strong disagreement. Even the Emperor had to take a step back because of the Marquis’s love for his daughter.

‘She wants it so badly. A merciful emperor like me had to heed to her wishes.’

“Then, I’ll allow it. We will hold the marriage immediately after he returns.”

“Thank you, Your Majesty.”

After acquiring a satisfactory answer from the Emperor, Luciella immediately hired an assassin to kill Clara. She believed everything would be solved by getting rid of her. At least, that’s what she learned about how the world works. However, fate worked differently.

Cladis found out about the assassin Luciella had sent. In that new memory, Cladis was deeply in love with Clara. He ran to save her without the slightest hesitation. After surviving the attack dramatically with the help of Cladis, Clara appeared at the Royal Palace holding his hand.

“Your Highness! How can you do this to me?!” shouted Ella in rage.

“What have you done? How dare you try to kill my woman!”

“Your woman?! Your only woman is me!”

“Cut it out! Clara is my only woman.”

“Your Highness!”

Hiding behind Cladis was Clara with the face of the most innocent and kindest woman in the world. He hid her behind him as if he was trying to protect her from Luciella. And that drove Luciella completely insane.