I began to sob loudly so that my parents could hear me.
“Ugh-heuk. I want to stop now… I’m exhausted from loving him. My heart aches so much it feels like it’s being torn apart. I wish I didn’t even have a heart… I feel so miserable, Mother, Father. The fact that I’ve lived being treated like this by the person I loved until now is so horrific and sorrowful.”
I immersed myself further into the acting while delivering the lines I had prepared diligently earlier.
“Belita…”
At my storm-like wailing, my mother called my name in a voice thick with distress.
“Don’t cry, Belita…”
“My heart has crumbled as much as it can. I don’t want to see him anymore.”
“Belita, stop crying and stand up… It breaks our hearts so much when you cry.”
“Mother, Father. Please tell me what I should do. What am I supposed to do? How am I supposed to live from now on? Ugh-heuk…”
I cried as hard as I could to show how sad, how futile, how desperate, and how difficult things were for me.
It was then.
My father, who had remained silent throughout my ceaseless crying, finally opened his mouth.
“You did well. So do not cry, Belita.”
At his words, I raised my tear-stained face and looked at my parents.
It was a sudden compliment, completely different from anything before.
My father now wore a cold and serious expression I had never seen until now.
Seeing that expression on his face, I knew that the words he spoke were not empty.
“Father…?”
“Dear?”
“For a long time now, I’ve felt that our daughter was far too good for that rascal. You did well, Belita. So stop crying.”
‘Oh…’
Belita’s—no, my father—was a much better and more reliable person than I thought.
Until now, I had regarded my father only as a person driven by emotion, but somehow I began to see him in a new light.
Seeing as the situation didn’t require me to cry anymore, I raised my arm and wiped away the tears.
“Thank you, Father. And I’m sorry… I’m sorry for being so weak. I’m sorry… I’m sorry…”
However, since a sudden change in complexion could arouse suspicion, I maintained the appearance of being lost in the sorrow of being dumped until the very end.
“Belita.”
My mother rose from her seat, came to my side, and pulled me into a tight embrace.
“Mother, I’m sorry…”
I apologized to her as well.
It was to show how deep a despair I was feeling regarding this breakup and how uneasy my heart was.
“There is no need to feel sorry to us, Belita.”
“Yes, Belita. We are your parents. We have no intention of ever forcing you to do things you do not want. So do not feel sorry to us.”
Judging by the current situation, I could feel how much they loved Belita.
And the more I realized my parents’ feelings, the more my small conscience pricked me at the thought of deceiving them.
But I soon steadied my heart, telling myself there was no need to feel such guilt.
It might be self-justification, but either way, by entering Belita’s body, I was able to save the lives of many people.
In the original work, Belita dies while trying to kill Adela after bullying her, and this incident escalates into a war between families, leading the House of Hates to ruin overnight.
The House of Hates was not a family that would fall so easily, but because the House of Maxius and the House of Bayon launched a joint attack, the House of Hates was left helpless and defeated.
‘Nasty people.’
Trying to kill Adela, who stole her fiancé, was Belita’s fault, but honestly, even if I were Belita, I could never forgive the two of them.
Nevertheless, her greatest mistake was loving Kane, who deceived her and betrayed his promise, until the very end.
Because of that, she didn’t touch Kane at all and only provoked Adela, which led to her being killed by Adela’s younger brother.
‘Come to think of it, I’m the one who saved this household, aren’t I?’
If I hadn’t possessed her, the family would have eventually faced total annihilation, but fortunately, I prevented that.
“Is it correct that the Maxius side asked for the breakup first?”
“Yes, that’s right…”
“I see. Then that’s enough.”
Looking at my father’s eyes as he answered like that, I felt I knew what he was thinking.
Separate from loving his daughter, he was the head of a ducal family that led one of the largest houses in the Empire, and he was a noble to his bones.
He seemed to be calculating what he could extract from the House of Maxius through his daughter’s broken engagement.
“So, regarding that, I have something more to tell you…”
Sensing my father’s intentions, I hurried to speak in order to tell them what I had gained from the breakup.
“What is it?”
“In exchange for the breakup, the Duke decided to give me alimony.”
“Alimony is only natural.”
My father looked at me with a face that asked why I was stating something so obvious.
‘Father, it’s not just a few pennies.’
I suppose both of them will be shocked if I tell them I obtained a diamond mine.
I continued speaking immediately without delay.
“I decided to receive the territory that contains the Maxius family’s diamond mine.”
“What?”
At the news that I would receive a diamond mine, my father’s eyes widened in shock.
“If it’s a diamond mine, surely you don’t mean Grence?!”
Grence was the name of the territory containing the diamond mine I had secured today.
“Yes, that’s right.”
My father was so surprised that he couldn’t quite close his gaping mouth.
“Really, is it true?”
My father asked me once more, as if it were hard to believe even though the words came from my mouth.
“Yes, it’s true. It’s a verbal promise, but the Duke promised he would definitely give it. So, we can just prepare the documents and send them to the House of Maxius right away.”
A verbal promise was a contract with full legal effect.
However, both of them were staring at me with eyes that still couldn’t believe it.
“Hah, well. To think the Duke gave up that mine so easily…”
I certainly understood their reaction.
No matter how I thought about it, it didn’t make sense that I received a diamond mine from Kane.
Although I had brought up the diamond mine as the price for the breakup earlier, I didn’t think he would give up the entire mine so easily either.
So, my initial plan was to throw out an unreasonable demand and then negotiate from there.
Because that is the basic rule of negotiation.
Yet, he didn’t hand over just a part of the mine, but the entire territory to me without hesitation.
‘It must mean his love for Adela is that deep.’
He loved her enough to think he would rather throw away something like a mine than let my existence make things difficult for Adela.
‘So, you two go ahead and love each other for a thousand years.’
Well, the end of this novel was a happy ending anyway.
Even without my unnecessary worry, it was certain the two would live happily ever after.
“Grence… Grence. Belita, you have truly achieved something incredible.”
I snapped out of my thoughts at my father’s voice, which was filled with emotion.
Then, I shrugged my shoulders at my father’s praise.
After that, my father and I began to discuss the details of the alimony to be claimed from the House of Maxius.
However, I felt my mother watching me silently since a while ago.
Feeling quite conscious of her gaze, I stopped talking to my father and turned my attention to her.
“Is there something you want to say to me, Mother?”
Since it seemed she had something to say no matter how I looked at it, I asked her cautiously.
My mother hesitated for a moment and then spoke in a voice full of worry.
“Belita… are you alright?”
“Pardon?”
I looked at my mother.
Her face was filled with anxiety.
“Are you really alright?”
