I Don't Want To Be Loved

Chapter 175: The Truth Revealed

“AHHH!!”

After Rihannan and Mrs. Cessley were at a far distance, Basil snapped and grabbed his hair in a fit of rage.

“Your Majesty! Why… why would you stand there and do nothing? If she already had tea, then immediately suggest a meal together! If not a meal, then suggest a merry walk! If not a merry walk, then anything! But… you should’ve tried to say something at the least! Why’d you let her go? Don’t you understand that it’s rare to meet them coincidentally like that?”

Basil couldn’t understand this… this uncanny beast. From the looks of it, he had no inkling intention of repairing his relationship with Rihannan. None at all. Basil thought he’d warm up and beg for forgiveness after Rihannan covered his sleeping body with a blanket, but instead… he became cold and avoided her presence even more.

Basil couldn’t wrap his head around it.

What was Igor doing? Basil knew he wanted her back, so why was he not making any effort?

“Argh! Your Majesty, please say something. The only way you’ll be able to appease her anger is to suck it up and admit defeat! If this tactic worked with my wife, it’ll work for you! Now’s not the time to keep your dignity, Your Majesty. I’m not sure what happened, but go and ask Her Majesty for forgiveness right away with a sorrowful face like this!”

Basil’s eyes bulged, eyes similar to a puppy.

Basil knew he’d receive lashing from Igor, but instead, he let out a long sigh.

“Basil.”

“Y-yes?”

“I appreciate your care and worries, but it’s no use. Right now… she’ll never accept me.”

A look of solemness bore deep in his eyes, and with dejected steps, he walked towards his destination.

Basil realized the gravity of the situation was not something easily mendable after hearing the words from Igor that akin to giving up.

“Foolish brat, just what did you do? Ugh… what do I do about this situation…?” Basil rested his chin on his palm and fell into deep wonders.

It looks like he’ll have to risk his life and intervene.

《Act 7: The Truth Revealed》

For a while, Rihannan busied herself with work.

The first work she dived into was the law on gambling. Though the king and queen had the right to motion a law in sequence, it required the full approval of the Council. If the royalty failed to persuade the nobility, the laws would never see the light and be thrown in piles of trash right away.

Rihannan didn’t want to see failure but success, so she poured all her heart and soul to the proposal down to the nitty-gritty detail.

From the background information as well as the effects of the laws together with problems that’d arise, she wrote it down.

She knew the law was passed in motion in her previous lifetime.

Many noble houses and the head of the families fell into a gambling addiction and accumulated debt that they gave away their houses, lands, even children to pay it off.

Then, a heated dispute between making gambling illegal or regulating gambling arose and a passionate discussion came to play. From the dissenting point of view, no one can prevent human nature’s basic instinct for pleasure and gambling was pleasure.

Back then, Rihannan watched at the series of many debates from afar. She didn’t know much about the issue, but the knowledge that people sold their children hit her in the heart.

In this timeline, this was the very first proposal she thought after returning to Arundell as the would-be-queen. Her father’s passing had also pushed her to solve the issue. He, too, was once a wealthy man with power to his name. It was of an extreme shock to her after learning he took his own life due to his gambling addiction.

And then… she met Leticia at Duchess Saphia’s banquet.

Regardless of any personal resentment Letica harbored towards her, Rihannan felt pity for her. Leticia grew up in a problematic environment. Rihannan wondered if her father had thoughts of selling Leticia at one point. He seemed like the type.

Putting any bitter conflict they had, Rihannan hoped to deal with the issues of gambling. She hoped that many children need not suffer a terrible fate due to the actions of their parents. And it just so happened that Marquess Pless’ current dilemma coincided with her goal.

It meant that Rihannan’s success in passing the law heightened.

But… she was aware how difficult it’d be to pass the law in motion under the discerning eyes of the nobility. In their viewpoint, it was no different from a foreigner passing a suggestion to them even if she was queen.