Chapter 01.
*Click, clack.*
The sharp sound of high heels striking the smooth marble floor echoed.
The woman wearing white shoes had a face so beautiful that ten out of ten passersby would turn to look.
Ruby-red eyes sparkling in the sunlight, delicate white-blonde hair as fine as silk threads, a fragile jawline, and drooping eyes with a melancholic air. And eyelashes fluttering like bird feathers.
Following her was a man, seemingly a hotel employee, with an anxious expression.
“Haa…”
Unlike the forceful stride with which she had stepped on the marble floor, she stood before the hotel room door, letting out a trembling breath.
Her slightly lowered eyelashes quivered faintly. She raised her hand but then, as if unable to go through with it, brought it to her chest and clenched her fist.
Her eyes, which seemed to imagine the scene that would unfold upon opening the door, were soon hidden by trembling eyelids.
The quiet hotel corridor allowed the faint sounds from within the room to tickle her ears.
“Oh, Jace…”
“Roena, my darling. Truly…”
The passionate voices of a man and a woman carried the heat of their breaths. It was clear they were entwined with each other, oblivious to whoever stood outside the door.
Her closed eyelids snapped open, revealing ruby-red eyes filled with shock.
With a face that looked on the verge of tears, she bit her lower lip hard and spoke to the hotel employee who had followed her, her voice thick with emotion.
“Please, open the door…”
The hotel employee looked at her with pity, took a key from his waist, and with a *click*, unlocked the door. The moment the lock was undone, she flung the door wide open.
*Bang!*
The door hit the wall with a loud thud, and the two figures entangled on the bed turned toward the entrance with startled expressions.
The woman, completely bare, and the man, half-naked, gaped at the woman standing in the doorway, their faces pale.
“You, how did you…”
The white-blonde woman’s voice trembled as she spoke, on the verge of tears.
Jace, her husband.
“H-Honey! It’s not what it looks like…!”
Her husband scrambled to pull on his clothes and got up from the bed. But there was no hiding the scene of infidelity.
A hundred roses on the table spoke to the depth of their passion, and the sweet fragrance lingering in the room seemed to hint at how ripe their emotions were.
“Hic…!”
Tears finally spilled from her ruby-red eyes, and unable to bear the sight any longer, she turned and began to run.
“Honey…!”
Jace’s voice called out from behind, but she didn’t stop.
Jace, still struggling to pull on his pants, stumbled with a crash, while she fled down the corridor and raced down the stairs faster than anyone else.
“How could you do this to me…!”
Tears rolled down her pale cheeks. Her cry drew the attention of other hotel guests, who looked at her with pity, as if they understood.
“Hic, sob…”
With a tear-streaked face, she headed to the hotel lobby’s front desk.
Wiping her tears with a handkerchief she had pulled out at some point, she spoke to the employee in a sobbing voice.
“…Please give me the reservation card for Room 706.”
“Yes, Mrs. Verdandi.”
The hotel employee handed her the reservation card with a deeply sympathetic expression.
The reservation card, used in imperial hotels, typically indicated who had booked the room.
“Stay strong this time too…”
The reservation card was private information that even hotel staff couldn’t casually view, but it was different for spouses.
If a husband had reserved a room in his name, it could serve as evidence of his infidelity in court.
The hotel employee, well aware of this, handed it over without hesitation.
She took the card, no longer bothering to wipe the tears streaming down her face, and rushed out of the hotel.
The employee watched her leave, glancing briefly at the stairs.
Her husband showed no sign of coming after her. Well, in a situation like this, he’d probably find it too awkward to show his face.
“How many times has this happened?”
“…The fourth.”
The hotel staff whispered among themselves.
No, not just the staff—her name was infamous throughout the empire. Infamous in the worst way.
A beautiful face, a kind heart, but somehow cursed with the worst luck in husbands.
This was the fourth time her husband had cheated on her, which meant—
“Madame… no, Lady Iris, it seems you’ll be getting your fourth divorce.”
“It’s like the god of love must hate her.”
The chatter of the hotel staff faded into the distance. With a tear-soaked face, she climbed into a carriage. The carriage, as if sensing her mood, sped off quickly.
* * *
*Bang, bang, bang!*
The court’s verdict was predictable. The guilty party: Jace Verdandi. Undeniable infidelity! Adultery!
The judge’s gavel unhesitatingly ruled in Iris’s favor.
“Jace Verdandi is ordered to pay his former spouse, Iris Verdandi, 100 million gold in alimony.”
She had obtained what she wanted.
“Honey! Please, just give me one more chance!”
“Don’t do this. You must leave the courtroom!”
Jace Verdandi shouted after Iris’s retreating figure, but he was restrained by the courtroom guards. With a tearful, mournful face, Iris left the courtroom.
*Click, clack.*
Her steps, though weary, were steady. And when the crowd on the street thinned and she was alone—
*Tap, tap, tap.*
She began to walk briskly. Bathed in sunlight, she moved as if dancing.
All she had done was frequently create opportunities—disguised as coincidence—for her husband to spend time with a baroness she had recently befriended.
Knowing they shared the same hobbies, giving up her opera ticket so the baroness could go with her husband was merely an act of “kindness.”
Sending red roses in her husband’s name was just a playful prank.
“In the end, those two fools fell for each other, didn’t they?”
Neither of them had drawn a line, and as they grew closer, they headed to the hotel without a hint of hesitation upon receiving a letter with the room key.
Their eyes met, and then their bodies did too.
A hundred roses prepared in the room, the subtle scent of candles tickling the nose. That fragrance, that atmosphere, must have drawn them deeper into a sweet dream.
And then, *bam*, Iris appeared. It was her.
She boarded a carriage waiting a short distance from the courtroom. The curtained carriage seemed secretive.
“How did the verdict go?”
Someone was already inside the carriage.
A man with red hair and sharp eyes, a large scar across his cheek, gave off an aura far from that of a common thug.
She pulled out the reservation card with the hotel’s registered name and opened it. Yes, she hadn’t presented it as evidence in court.
Because the name on the card was—
<Iris Verdandi>
“How did it go?”
Her tear-soaked lips, which had seemed so distressed, curved into a smirk. Her beautiful face, at some point, carried a mocking expression.
“Everything went according to plan, as always.”
“What a vicious woman.”
“Not something a filthy debt collector should say.”
She tore the card to shreds, tossed it out of the carriage, and let out a cackling laugh.
Iris Verdandi, the former wife of Count Jace Verdandi, who had just divorced her—
“Less than I expected, but this should cover half of my remaining debt.”
—was a professional divorcee, now on her fourth divorce.
If anyone learned the truth, they’d point fingers and call her the villainess of the century.
But no one knows, do they?
Hello? I’m Iris.
My specialty is divorce, and my talent is “being cheated on.”
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By Anna 💓
