TWO CAN PLAY THAT GAME

ZOE clearly remembered the chapter where the readers of the novel 'Raised as a Tyrant Empress' went completely ballistic in the comment section.

It was the chapter where Empress Veronica tried to "offer" Eunice Harper to the old and violent king of a neighboring kingdom. If she remembered it correctly, it happened after Eunice Harper rejected Vaughn Wilson's marriage proposal.

[In short, Empress Veronica devised a plan where Eunice Harper would get sexually assaulted.]

But of course, the empress's evil plan didn't succeed.

[And as far as I remember, it's also the chapter where Vaughn Wilson…]

She purposely stopped her thoughts when a sinister laugh escaped from her lips.

[Emperor Veronica, your tricks never change, huh?]

How did she know that the empress planned to do what she did to Eunice Harper to her?

It was quite simple.

She also received the letter that Count Nigel Ratliff had sent to her house. The content of the letter was similar to how the king proposed to Eunice Harper in the novel.

In the book, the king invited Eunice Harper to have dinner with him. Since the king was an important guest and the heroine didn't want to cause an international conflict, she agreed to have dinner with the king with the intention of politely rejecting his marriage proposal.

But it was Empress Veronica who prepared the restaurant where the king invited Eunice Harper. Thus, the food and the red wine that were served to the king and the heroine were also prepared by the empress.

[A glass of that red wine is equivalent to three sleeping pills. Moreover, the restaurant has a secret room for guests with perverted intentions about their partners. It was later revealed to the public that noblemen who wanted to take advantage of their drunken partners would use that restaurant for their perverted scheme. Surprisingly, it wasn't Isaak or Emperor Rino who ended up destroying the restaurant.]

Anyway, Count Nigel Ratliff had invited her to that infamous restaurant.

"Lady Zoe?" Dal, her attendant who was drying her hair with a towel, asked nervously. "Is everything alright?"

Zoe, who was sitting on a chair, crumpled the letter in her hands. Then she looked at the mirror in front of her to meet Dal's curious gaze. "Father informed me that Count Nigel Ratliff has sent an official letter asking him for my hand in marriage."

Her attendant covered her mouth with her hands when she gasped. "A marriage proposal?"

"It's too early to get surprised, my dear Dal," she said playfully. If she didn't act this way, she would go batshit crazy from anger. "My father told me to extend my vacation here and not to worry about Count Ratliff's proposal. But Secretary Anderson sent me a separate letter."

Secretary Roy Anderson was Marquis Hendrix Rochester's aide and most trusted employee.

The secretary could be accused of defying the marquis's order when he sent her a separate letter informing her of what was truly happening to the mansion. Her father might get mad at Secretary Anderson for acting on his own.

But she appreciated it.

"According to Secretary Anderson, Count Ratliff is demanding my presence," she said to her attendant. "And apparently, if I don't show up when he's courting me properly, Count Ratliff will assume that I'm insulting the Royal Family."

"That's so petty," Dal said, then she gasped softly when she realized that she had just insulted a member of the Royal Family. "Oops."

She just laughed at her attendant's cute slip-up. "Yes, that's really petty. But you know what's worse, Dan?"

Ah, just thinking about it was enough to make her blood pressure increase.

[That damned puppet!]

"Could the count get any worse, my lady?"

"He sure can stoop lower than that," she said while laughing. But even she could see the fire in her eyes from her reflection in the mirror. "Secretary Anderson informed me that Count Ratliff threatened that he would bring my father to a noble trial if our family insults him by "hiding" me from him. And apparently, if that happens, Count Ratliff will demand for the Dragon Lair as compensation for his bruised ego."

Dal gasped loudly. "The Dragon Lair! So the count is after the Dragon Lair after all?"

She nodded as confirmation.

The 'Dragon Lair' was the source of the precious gems that produced the best weapons in the empire. But she knew that Count Nigel Ratliff wasn't interested in that. His character was just a rich royal who craved the validation of Emperor Rino.

In short, the count was too dumb to see the real value of the Rochesters' Dragon Lair.

[This must be Empress Veronica's plan.]

"I will protect my father's Dragon Lair," she said determinedly.

To be honest, after her talk with Isaak earlier, she had finally considered the fact that the real Zoanne might already be dead.

And thus, the probability that she was stuck in that world was also high.

[If I can't escape from this world, then I might as well live to the fullest.]

"Lady Zoe, a-are you going to marry Count Ratliff?" Dal asked nervously. "Is that how you're going to protect your father's Dragon Lair?"

"Nah," Zoe said, then her eyes fell to the violet ribbon on the vanity table. "I'm more creative than that."

***

ZOE may be dumb, but she was good at getting revenge against the people who wronged her. It must be the blood of the mafia in her.

[An eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth.]

It wasn't the mafia who invented that phrase, but whatever.

With the violet ribbon in her hand, she knocked on the door continuously. She knew that Isaak hadn't gone to sleep yet. Although she knew that she was being rude by disturbing his rest, she was kind of in a hurry.

[Empress Veronica, I know how you plan to force me to marry your puppet and get your hands on my father's Dragon Lair. You won't get either of them.]

Her thoughts were interrupted when the door finally opened.

It was Isaak Viotto, and he looked so good in his light/sleeping clothes.

[Yep, I made the right decision.]

And so, she got down on one knee while offering the violet ribbon to the Grand Duke.

"Isaak Viotto," Zoe said while smiling. "Marry me?"

Isaak just looked at her with a blank look on his face. Then he washed his face with his hands. "I wanted to play hard to get for a moment, but seeing you from this position…" He let out a sigh, then he removed his hands from his face before closing the door behind him. Then he squatted down to meet her eye level. "I could see the valley of your breasts."

Ah, it was probably because of the low neckline of her nightgown.

"Way to ruin the wholesome atmosphere, you lewd man."

"I merely stated a fact," he said in a defensive tone, then he swiftly changed the topic. "What's the ribbon for?"

Instead of answering verbally, she just asked for his hand.

Well, literally this time.

Then she wrapped the ribbon around his left ring finger. She asked Isaak to cut it off with his wind since she didn't have scissors. When the ribbon was cut, it finally looked like a cute "engagement ring."

She smiled, then she shifted to a more comfortable position. This time, she sat on the floor while hugging her knees. "That's our engagement ring."

"I haven't said 'yes' yet," the Grand Duke said, then he sat on the floor in a lotus position.

"Then stop playing hard to get."

He smirked, then he used the remaining ribbon and tied it to her left ring finger. "When do you want to get married?"

"Now."

He froze for a moment before he looked at her with serious eyes. "What happened?"

Ah, as expected of the male lead.

[He knows that I didn't propose to him on a whim.]

"Count Nigel Ratliff is pressuring me to marry him," she said casually, but her voice was firm. "According to my father's secretary, Count Ratliff threatened my father that if I offend him by hiding from him, he's going to bring my father to a noble trial. Then he will ask for our Dragon Lair as compensation for insulting a member of the Royal Family."

Isaak clicked his tongue. It was cute to see the usually stoic Grand Duke showing his irritation plainly. But the anger in his eyes was quite intimidating. "That bastard…"

"I can't escape Count Ratliff even if I turn down his marriage proposal," she said calmly. She was angry, but seeing that Isaak was on the verge of going mental, she realized that one of them had to be sane. "Your dumb brother is after our Dragon Lair. It's not that I'm greedy, and House Rochester won't go bankrupt even if we give it up. But why do we need to give him what he wants when I have done nothing wrong to "offend" him?"

The ghoul duke nodded in agreement. "You're right Zoe. Don't fcave to that bastard's threat."

"That's why I'm going to use you as a shield," she said honestly. "You're also a member of the Royal Family, so the count won't be able to bring you to a trial. Plus, His Majesty favors you. I bet Count Ratliff will finally give up if he finds out that we're already married. It's the best excuse to turn him down."

"I understand," he said seriously. "I will protect you from my brother."

"In return, you can use me to complete the adoption papers," she said. "I don't think I'm fit to be a mother, but I promise to be good to Princess Runa."

"I know that you will be good to Princess Runa," he said. "I wouldn't have chosen you as my wife otherwise."

"Aww, I'm touched."

"Let's go."

"Where?"

"To get married," he said bluntly. "I thought you said you wanted to get married now?"

"Ah, I did," she said. But now that she had calmed down, she realized that getting married right away seemed to be a little difficult. After all, she didn't know the laws of this world with marriages. "Can we get married without the presence of our family members? I don't want to inform my father about our marriage, since I'm afraid that the count has planted a spy in our mansion."

In Korea, a couple could just register their marriage even without holding a ceremony.

She didn't know how a wedding worked in this world.

"We can get married even without the permission of our families, since both of us are already adults," he explained. "But since I'm still a member of the Royal Family, we have a custom that we must adhere to when we get married."

"What is it?"

"Dowry," he said. "Even if we get married legally, the empire won't recognize our marriage if you don't bring me a dowry. And since I'm the younger brother of the current emperor, the dowry that they will demand from you might be an unreasonable cost. But I will help you–"

"Will the Dragon Lair be enough as my dowry?"

His eyes widened in shock. "The Dragon Lair?"

"Yes," she said casually. "My father told me before that he'd give the Dragon Lair to me as a part of my inheritance. I'm sure he won't mind if I give it to you as a dowry."

"The Dragon Lair is too much of a dowry, Zoe."

"Nah, it's perfect. I can't protect the Dragon Lair on my own," she said, then she put her hands on his shoulders. "Thus, I entrust the Dragon Lair to you— my husband."

"Let's just hope that Marquis Rochester agrees to hand the Dragon Lair to me as a dowry."

"The marquis looks stoic, but he loves Zoanne dearly," she said, then she smiled bitterly. "So much that it hurts my conscience."

As if to comfort her, Isaak gently patted her head.

That made her chuckle.

[Yes, this is not the time to be a softie.]

"Isaak, where will we get married?" she asked curiously. She couldn't remember how Isaak and Eunice Harper got married in the novel. It was painful for a fangirl like her, so she skipped the wedding part. "Do you know a priest who can officiate our wedding?"

"I have an acquaintance," he said casually. "He's a priest, and he'll officiate our wedding as long as the price is right."

"A materialistic priest? Interesting," she said. "May I know his name?"

"Yosef Geronimo," Isaak said casually. "Do you know him?"

Zoe gasped when she finally remembered who Yosef Geronimo was. How could she forget one of Isaak's few closest friends? "The hot priest!"

***

NOTE: Hi! Please consider ADDING 'I Won't Let The Ghoul Duke Go Hungry!' to your LIBRARY. Thank you! <3