Chapter 3

I wanted to get out of this wretched place as quickly as possible. But the moment I stepped out of the room, someone else was waiting for me.

‘Nothing is going right today.’

The paper cut had indeed been a warning that my luck was bad. Seeing me smirk, Redic Bangeger charged forward like an enraged bull.

“Saya Erdona! How dare you make a fool of me?”

I had expected this much. Redic Bangeger was a thoroughly petty and violent man.

The reason I had ended up engaged to him was that he was desperate enough for a match to marry a fake noble like me, and he had just enough reputation not to be a stain on the Erdona name.

Above all, he was not foolish enough to show his true colors before the engagement.

“How dare a wretch like you make a fool of me?”

My shoulder blade ached from hitting the corridor wall. He must have shoved me quite hard.

“So let’s break off the engagement.”

“Break it off? Ha! Break it off, you say?”

As Redic Bangeger drew closer to me, Jessie—standing diagonally across from me—trembled nervously.

“Of course we will. Break it off? I’ll make sure a thing like you never shows her face in high society again.”

That threat did not faze me in the slightest. It was exactly what I wanted.

There was no trace of reason on Redic Bangeger’s face as he ground his teeth and glared.

“Is that all you came here to say?”

When I sneered, he closed the distance he had barely opened.

“All? No, no. I came here because I have something to collect from you.”

A sinister smile spread across his face. This man was trash who possessed both the pettiness to fly into a rage whenever things did not go his way and the violence to match. I knew well enough what would happen if such trash were humiliated.

Still, my circumstances were urgent enough to endure this.

“Get on your knees.”

Redic finally shouted at me.

“Get on your knees and admit that you were a fool.”

Redic seemed to think I would not do it.

“…My lady!”

At his words, Jessie took a step forward, but I held her back. Truly, he was a man who never deviated from my expectations.

It was not as though Redic Bangeger was innocent, either. I knew of at least three women he was involved with. He cheated habitually. Of course, since I had no feelings for him, that fact had never wounded me.

I could have asked the guild to find evidence of his affairs. But if I did that, I would earn not only sympathy but ridicule—and worse, I would not be able to leave Erdona as originally planned.

If things turned out that way, Gizelle would try to find me another match as quickly as possible to weather the crisis. Which was why the one who had cheated had to be me, not him. So that Gizelle could not resolve it by any means.

For the sake of my plan, I could kneel a hundred times over.

I slowly dropped to my knees. At the sight, Jessie finally burst into tears. Only then did a satisfied smile curl Redic Bangeger’s lips.

“And? You have to say it, too.”

He coaxed me as though manipulating a marionette.

“…I was a fool to dare insult you.”

“Louder!”

He screamed right in my face. My body flinched involuntarily. I spoke to him again, louder and more clearly.

“I was a fool to dare insult you.”

“Ha!”

“I deserve to be broken up with.”

So please, just break off the engagement with me.

Swallowing the words that followed, I finished speaking, and Redic laughed as if he could barely breathe.

That was when it happened.

“…What is going on here?”

A chilling voice came from behind me. I did not need to think about who it belonged to—heat rushed through my body.

I had not wanted to show this side of myself in front of Kirill.

“This is not something Your Grace the Duke of Dobnik need concern yourself with.”

“I asked what you are doing.”

I felt Kirill’s steps approaching me. I did not want to meet his eyes, so I fixed my gaze on Redic Bangeger’s knees.

“Kirill, this is…”

I heard Gizelle’s voice from behind him, but Kirill acted as though he could not hear her.

“Is this what they teach you in Bangeger—to treat your fiancée like an animal?”

“This woman is no longer my fiancée. In Bangeger, we are taught that there are things that sometimes should not be treated as people.”

The two men’s gazes tangled dangerously in the air.

“Redic, this is between you and…”

“Shut that mouth!”

The moment I opened my mouth, a fierce roar came crashing down, and I had to close it again.

“It seems there is a different kind of beast here altogether.”

“This is none of Your Grace’s concern—urk!”

I heard Gizelle’s startled gasp from behind. I, too, looked up at Kirill in surprise.

He was not looking at me. Kirill was staring down at Redic, who had already taken a fist, with an expression that suggested he wanted to hit him several more times.

“If you utter even one more word from now on, I will smash that useless jaw of yours.”

At his words, Redic’s lips, which had been about to retort, quivered. Breathing raggedly through his split lip, Redic’s gaze landed on me. His face flushed red with anger he could not vent. Redic staggered to his feet.

In the end, unable to say a word, he retreated backward, and only after he was far away did he open his mouth.

“You’ll regret this! Both of you!”

After finishing his cowardly threat, he disappeared from sight, and Jessie rushed to me.

Having been on my knees for so long, my legs had gone numb. As I swayed slightly, Jessie quickly caught me.

“My lady, are you all right…?”

“I’m fine, Jessie.”

I wanted to leave this place as quickly as possible. I did not want to be any more humiliated than I already was. I quickly walked past him.

“You don’t even say thank you.”

Kirill spoke in a low voice still. I had no choice but to turn around and meet his eyes.

Heat rose to the back of my neck from the embarrassment.

“You didn’t do it for me—you did it for Gizelle. So I wouldn’t stain the Erdona name any further. You should hear my thanks from Gizelle.”

When I retorted coldly while looking at Gizelle, she let out a hollow laugh. Perhaps feeling it was not worth a response, Kirill shut his mouth and glared at me.

Sometimes, very occasionally, I imagined what it would feel like if his golden eyes were warm. Even with such a warm color, he had only ever looked at me coldly. It was the same now.

Having said my piece, I took Jessie’s arm and walked away. Neither Kirill nor Gizelle nor anyone else stopped me. That was a relief.

Once Jessie and I got into the carriage and drove off, I could finally breathe.

‘Today, I’ll just pay the balance and head straight back.’

With my luck this bad, I was afraid even worse fortune might come rolling in.

“My lady, are you really all right? I knew that bastard was crazy, but…”

“I’m fine. It was something I had to go through at least once anyway.”

When I spoke lightly, Jessie put both hands on her hips and scolded me.

“Still, making a noble lady kneel? That’s simply unacceptable!”

I could not agree with that. I had not been born a noble.

I had never once thought of myself as a noble lady. I figured I was just paying my dues now that it was time to take off clothes that did not fit.

“Well, that settles the broken engagement, doesn’t it?”

“…Are you smiling right now, my lady?”

Why wouldn’t I smile? I shrugged.

“I’m going to send this to Trillin.”

When I handed Jessie the envelope of documents, her face lit up.

“…You’ve decided on the house?”

“Yes. It’s too late to back out now, isn’t it?”

“Of course not!”

I had finally chosen a house I liked from the catalog and prepared the contract—everything was in its final stages.

Now all I had to do was find Chadwick, and my plan would be complete.

* * *

“Jessie, you go mail this. It’s not urgent, so don’t run and hurt yourself.”

“Understood, my lady.”

The mail I entrusted to Jessie was the contract to purchase the estate. Knowing that, Jessie was resolute. While Jessie went to post the letter, I had something to do as well.

After tossing a few coins to the coachman and telling him to wait, I familiarly navigated the alleyways. Even at midday, the back alleys had a strangely ominous air. I walked without meeting anyone’s eyes as much as possible.

And then I stopped in front of a door that looked like nothing more than a wall. I secretly handed a gold coin to the vagrant dozing in front of it. The vagrant silently took my coin and tucked it into his clothes.

With a click, the door opened, and I slipped inside.

“Are you satisfied with our handling of the matter?”

“It was a very thorough job.”

The woman who greeted me smiled and offered me a seat. She was the employee who had taken my request last time.

Unlike other guilds, this place did not have rough mercenaries taking requests. That was one of the reasons I had chosen it.

I paid the remaining balance I had prepared. The woman carefully examined the pouch she had taken from my hand, then smiled.

“That’s exactly right.”

“Good. And I have one more request.”

“What kind? Just say the word.”

“I want to find someone.”

“There is no one we cannot find.”

After planning my escape, the next thing that came to mind was Chadwick’s existence.

Before I was adopted into Erdona, I had lived at the Dollin orphanage. That fact was reduced to a single line in the book.

That Saya was the adopted younger sister of Gizelle Erdona.

My life before being adopted into Erdona was the only thing in the book that did not exist—it was entirely my own. Something even Gizelle could not touch.

Finding Chadwick was my greed—my determination to find something of my own in this world where everything was made for Gizelle.

Once I found Chadwick, there was so much I wanted to say. Though more than ten years had passed without contact, I wanted to tell her that I had kept missing her all that time.

Above all, I needed to apologize—to tell her that I had not abandoned her there.