Askin frowned at Aria’s words. It was nonsense.
That woman hadn’t said anything? Hadn’t done anything?
“Aria, you promised never to lie to me again. I’ll ask you once more. Did that woman really do nothing?”
“Yes…”
“Not a single word?”
“Yes… She didn’t do anything.”
Aria hesitated, her knuckles white as she clutched her dress.
*If anything…*
She replayed the moment in her mind: the look on Charlize’s face, which had been far more shocked than Aria’s own trembling. Aria was bewildered by a side of Charlize she was seeing for the first time.
“Excuse me, is anyone there? Someone has collapsed…!”
She hadn’t fainted the moment she hit the ground. Because of that, she had heard Charlize’s voice—desperate, calling for help.
It was strange.
That was behavior Charlize Alzbeit would never, ever display.
“I’m not sure. But Brother, the Duchess-to-be really didn’t say or do anything.”
“…”
After a long silence, Askin let out a jagged sigh.
“She just hasn’t done it yet, that’s all.”
Gery, the family physician, stood politely by Aria’s side. When he caught Askin’s gaze, he gave a slight nod. It meant Aria was fine.
“The young lady is uninjured, Duke. She simply fainted from the shock.”
Even with Gery’s reassurance, Askin could not shake his unease. It was a chronic, gnawing anxiety he knew all too well, but he kept it to himself, opting instead to stroke Aria’s hair.
“It’s a relief you aren’t hurt. I’ll be breaking off the engagement with that woman soon, so please, just wait a little longer.”
“…Okay.”
Aria nodded, forcing her confusion to settle. She convinced herself that perhaps the Charlize she saw today was merely a misreading of the situation.
* * *
The next day.
Askin opened his eyes later than usual, a rarity for him. He had spent the night wrestling with his fury, dwelling on the atrocities of Charlize, who had turned his estate upside down the previous day.
*It won’t be long now. The means to pay off the debt are being prepared.*
When she had shamelessly demanded money yesterday, he had been caught off guard, but the day he would no longer be swayed by her financial grip was approaching.
“Please take my hand whenever you like, Your Excellency. I will be waiting.”
Askin stood, thinking of the collaborator who had reached out to him.
Stepping into the hallway, he sensed an unusual restlessness in the air. The Remut duchy was a duchy in name only; because they poured an exorbitant amount of gold into Aria’s treatment, their staff was kept to a minimum.
Yet, it felt as though every servant in the house had congregated in the hallway.
“What is going on?”
“Ah, Duke…!”
A senior servant jumped, his face a mottled mask of embarrassment, astonishment, and deep-seated intrigue.
“Um, Duke, you’re awake?”
The head butler, Bond, stepped forward to answer.
“It is mortifying, Your Grace, but there is something you must see…”
“What is it?”
Bond didn’t offer an explanation; instead, he guided Askin toward the window, implying that the sight would explain itself far better than his own troubled words ever could.
Askin looked out, and his composure shattered.
*That is…*
Beside the garden, along the path wide enough for two carriages to pass, a vehicle sat idling.
In front of it, Charlize Alzbeit sat with chilling ease in a lounge chair she had evidently brought herself, sipping tea as if she were in her own parlor.
Askin, a man who prided himself on maintaining his cool in any crisis, felt his jaw go slack.
*What on earth am I looking at?*
The carriage was obscenely opulent, bearing the unmistakable Alzbeit crest. He hadn’t misread it. He certainly wasn’t dreaming.
Askin groaned, burying his face in his hands.
“What kind of madness is this…”
“…”
He had always considered her eccentric, but when he stopped to think about it, Charlize was the sort of woman whose “wickedness” was enough to leave anyone breathless.
Beyond the drunken rampages and petty villainy, she was an arrogant, haughty creature who, when sober, carried herself as the very paragon of refinement.
She was not the type to abandon common sense.
‘Don’t tell me.’
“If you don’t give me money, I won’t break the engagement. I’m not moving from this spot.”
“…Do as you please. Whatever it is you’re after, it won’t go your way.”
Could this truly be the result of her taking his words at face value?
Askin refused to believe his own dismissive retort had led to this. His internal groan lasted only a split second before a mask of cold rage settled over his eyes.
Just how little did she think of him and his family? There was a limit to how much mockery he would endure.
“Duke? Duke?”
Askin turned on his heel and strode toward his office.
“Duke, you’ve arrived… Oh, Duke?”
“Ben. Bring ‘that document’ immediately!”
Askin dropped into his chair. Before long, a letter lay on his desk, inscribed in his elegant, sharp handwriting.
‘Debt. She wants to make an issue of the debt?’
For Askin Remut to sever his engagement to Charlize Alzbeit, he was required to repay the dowry he had borrowed upon their betrothal. But Duke Alzbeit had been far more predatory; he had stipulated that any dissolution of the engagement would trigger a ruinous penalty, compounded by astronomical interest.
“We believe we might be able to help you… Duke, we would be excellent partners.”
Thanks to a certain family offering their cooperation, a flicker of light had finally appeared at the end of the pitch-black tunnel of his debt. He had hesitated to join forces with them, wary of their true intentions, but it seemed he no longer had the luxury of choice.
“Send this letter to them immediately. As quickly as possible.”
“Yes!”
Between Charlize’s visit to his sister yesterday and this current, unhinged stunt, had she finally lost the last of her sanity?
“And keep a close watch on that woman outside. See to it that she never encounters Aria again.”
“…Yes!”
And so, Charlize Alzbeit began her vigil, camping directly in front of the Remut ducal mansion.
* * *
The infamous villainess, Charlize Alzbeit, is camping in front of the Remut ducal mansion!
“…Is that the rumor going around?”
“Ye, yes! Duchess-to-be.”
The maid nodded frantically, though she stole a cautious glance at me. It was clear she feared that relaying such gossip might earn my displeasure.
I smiled faintly.
“Let it be.”
“Yes?”
“It’s the truth, isn’t it?”
I took a sip of steaming tea.
‘Wow, the view is spectacular.’
Why was the grass of the Remut estate so vividly, impossibly green?
Three days. It had already been three days since I began my campaign.
‘I was turned away at the door at first, wasn’t I?’
The rumor was that Charlize had been barred from entry by her fiancé for two days, and so, like the stubborn bitch she was, she had simply set up camp in the garden.
‘The rumors really are accurate.’
I sipped my tea with leisurely grace.
Honestly, calling it “camping” was a stretch. Once the maids realized I was staying in the garden, they had provided a top-of-the-line mobile carriage, making my “suffering” surprisingly comfortable.
‘Who knew magic was this convenient.’
Thanks to that, I was enjoying a lovely time, tea in hand.
…Is it wrong to be this happy while technically under siege?
I hadn’t been completely isolated. I saw my fiancé quite often. He would storm past me, teeth gritted in pure, unadulterated fury. The problem was that his rage-twisted face looked so much like a sculpture crafted by the gods that I found it hard to be truly bothered by his hostility.
‘…I know it’s absurd for you, too, but please bear with it. I’m quite aggrieved myself.’
My body felt reasonably comfortable, but my heart was anything but.
It made sense, of course; I had to prevent the engagement from being annulled, yet I couldn’t conjure a single viable solution.
“Let’s break off the engagement.”
The look in Askin’s eyes when he shouted those words was, to put it mildly, the real deal. It was a face etched with one hundred percent pure sincerity.
I knew that if the engagement truly collapsed, the emotional toll would be devastating. If we actually ended it like this, I was certain I would just keel over and die.
‘How on earth does he plan to solve the money issue?’
He would have to pay off his debts to break the contract, but I couldn’t even begin to guess his source of funds. The Alzbeit family was an institution, rivaled only by the Imperial family. They were overflowing with cash, gold, and influence, and they were notorious for their ruthless behind-the-scenes lending practices.
‘It won’t be easy to pay back money that was only lent out because they were the Alzbeit family.’
On top of that, my maternal grandfather was a man who would jump out of bed mid-sleep if he heard the jingle of coins. If he felt Askin—a man he had been coveting—was slipping through his fingers, he would never let the debt slide. He would demand a mountain of interest on top of the principal.
Without a brilliant plan, all I could do was lie here and stew. There was no progress, no results.
‘I can feel my fiancé’s gaze growing colder by the day. Plus, he’s starting to ignore me. It’s frustrating, but…’
I hadn’t asked to wake up in this body, but for my happy return, I absolutely needed him.
‘Isn’t there a way that would be beneficial to both of us? No, there is one.’
However, to use that method, Askin would have to trust me, even if just a little bit.
I was back to square one.
At this rate, I was only fueling his anger. I needed to reach a final decision, and as it turned out, that day arrived much sooner than expected.