……Now, a question.
What do you think the reaction will be from my fiancé, who will hear that thunderous news while he is with me?
Option 1: he kills me. Option 2: he kills me after causing a lot of pain. Option 3: he shouts for an annulment and I die of cardiac arrest from the shock.
‘Wow, what fantastic options. I’m going crazy!’
I tilted my head coyly and opened my mouth.
“What is this about an announcement when the fiancé knows absolutely nothing about it?”
I pouted. I tried to act as if what Grandfather said was trivial, yet still bothersome.
“It makes it sound like I’m tucking my tail and making an announcement because I can’t handle it on my own. Do you intend to make a public fool out of me?”
Of course, if I could just maintain the engagement for one year, I wouldn’t mind being a fool.
‘But in the current situation, a marriage announcement only brings me closer to a death ending!’
“Just leave me be. Do you really think I can’t handle that one man?”
“You haven’t done anything properly until now, have you?”
“I have a plan. So, please let me make the announcement myself once I have perfectly swayed him.”
“Enough.”
“Grandfather!”
“You claim you will do it now when you couldn’t do it all this time? Do you expect me to believe that?”
“…….”
“Tsk, that’s why I told you to do it properly when I gave you the chance.”
No, this old man?
It’s only possible because the essence inside is me!
If it were the Charlize of the past, it would be a miracle if they didn’t tear each other apart, let alone win his heart, even after a thousand years!
“Forget it, you just stay still. If you just stay still…… this old man will handle it.”
Wow, look at that smile.
No matter how I look at it, that is a villain’s smile—though, truth be told, this grandfather is actually a villain—but I hated seeing it even more today.
However, if I kept insisting here, it would only lead to another forced escort by the knights like last time.
What I need right now is logic to persuade this old man.
“Grandfather, with Duke Remut’s personality, if he hears that, he will definitely do something that will only bring shame to the Alzbeit family.”
“Tsk, my granddaughter. This is why I say you are still young and immature.”
Grandfather stroked his beard as if I were pathetic.
“There is nothing in this world that cannot be done with money.”
There might not be a task that cannot be accomplished with money.
But that man’s upright nature could never be moved by gold.
I grew frustrated.
“My pretty granddaughter, just do as this old man tells you.”
Although his face looked benevolent at a glance, I could feel it in his unsmiling eyes.
A powerful warning, and a demand for me to simply follow his orders.
If I didn’t comply, I didn’t know if I would be dragged away once more, or locked up until the banquet started.
I had never been locked up since I opened my eyes here, but the shock of being forcibly carried away by the escort knights warned me that it could go even further than this.
I felt it once again.
The ‘affection’ this grandfather speaks of is nothing more than looking at a pretty doll.
One does not entrust decisions to a doll.
“This old man trusts that his granddaughter will follow me well, as always.”
If this isn’t a threat, then what is it?
I smiled sweetly.
Along with the smile, I clenched my hidden hand tightly.
* * *
Grandfather said he would go to the banquet this evening first to talk to people, and told me, the protagonist, to arrive last.
What a ridiculous thing to say.
Even while saying that, he told me he had commissioned a new carriage for me and that it was outside, so I could take a look.
Naturally, I wasn’t in the mood to look, so I vented my anger and left the office.
‘……Damn old man. What did you say, what?’
I have no intention of defending Charlize, but.
If there is one thing that contributed to Charlize growing up so crooked, it must be that old man’s twisted, wretched way of raising her.
I’m certain of it.
‘This is why education is important. Education.’
But now that it’s too late, what use is there in me resenting Charlize’s upbringing? What I must do is plan for the future and establish countermeasures.
‘My fiancé will definitely… not stay still when he hears that news. This much is certain.’
The worst-case scenario is that he gets so furious upon hearing the marriage announcement that he immediately demands an annulment. Of course, an annulment isn’t achieved through words alone, but the one who will be hit by the fallout is none other than me.
My poor heart!
I recalled my lost, lovely coins and barely steadied my breathing.
When I returned to my room, it remained exactly as I had left it. The maids were waiting and greeted me.
“Could you all leave for just one hour?”
At my sudden command, the maids wore bewildered expressions, but they bowed their heads and retreated. However, my personal maids—Beth, Susan, and Anna—hesitated, searching my face.
“……Duchess-To-Be, if I may be so bold, you aren’t feeling ill, are you?”
“If you are unwell, I will bring medicine immediately.”
At their worry-filled faces, the anxiety gnawing at me regarding the banquet melted away for a moment.
“I just need some time to think. Please, head out.”
Seeing my smile, the three maids finally looked relieved and departed. The moment the door clicked shut, the smile vanished from my face. I smoothed back my hair and let out a long, heavy sigh.
‘Now, what do I do?’
I have to find a way. I cannot attend the banquet unprepared—especially now that I’ve finally had a proper conversation with that man, and at a point where he even asked me to be his partner.
‘I can’t ruin it like this.’
I stood still for a long time, mentally cycling through various methods and discarding them one by one. After pondering for a while… I muttered without realizing it.
“Should I just run away?”
That was the moment.
“……Where are you planning to go?”
Startled by the unfamiliar voice, I spun around. A jagged, black tear in reality was forming in the corner of the room.
‘Is that… the rift Noah creates when he teleports?’
Sure enough, through the shimmering dark space, I saw water-colored hair.
“I apologize. I heard you muttering against my will.”
As our eyes met, Noah stepped into my room. The black space vanished at once. I stared at the handsome, blue-haired man, my expression a mix of bewilderment and indignation.
“Just now in my room…”
I was about to ask, half-incredulous and half-annoyed, but I stopped. Noah appeared? Naturally, I thought of the tyrant brother.
“……Did brother go on a rampage again?”
“No. That is not the case.”
What is it, then? If Loxidian didn’t go on a rampage, why did he appear here?
“Don’t tell me you came to pick me up in this way again?”
“……I have not come to escort you to the Imperial Castle, Duchess-To-Be.”
“Huh? Then what is it?”
A question bubbled up.
“Then you just appeared in my room without any reason?”
“……I apologize.”
“What would you have done if I were changing my clothes?”
“Yes?”
“I asked what you would have done if I were changing clothes and you just showed up like that.”
Because I had just met my grandfather, my mood was already at its worst. Moreover, my question was entirely reasonable. It was reasonable, yet the reaction Noah showed was one of sheer, flustered panic.
Soon, his ears turned bright red, and he hurriedly waved his hands.
“No, no, I only move when I am certain… that, that there is no such… concern!”
At Noah’s words, I realized it immediately.
‘The Imperial spies are reporting the situation in real-time? That’s it.’
“Then what about those red ears?”
“……I stake the entire honor of His Majesty the Emperor that I am absolutely not that kind of person.”
“……Huh. You’re the one who entered, so why are you staking his honor and not your own?”
“That is because His Majesty ordered me to go to the Duchess-To-Be.”
Noah spoke clearly, though he looked visibly flustered. I furrowed my brow even more deeply.
An uneasy chill crept over me.
*To think that tyrant sent him—this brings a different kind of anxiety…*
I clearly remembered the day he had imposed that insane dress code for today’s banquet. What kind of madness had he sent Noah to relay now?
Noah pulled something from inside his coat: a square box.
Recognizing it at a glance as a jewelry box, I raised one eyebrow.
“It is a gift sent by His Majesty.”
Noah politely knelt on one knee and held out his hand. He opened the box, revealing a necklace.
*A necklace?*
*Didn’t that tyrant brother already provide one as part of the dress set?*
Looking closer, the design was far simpler, lacking the flamboyant excess of the previous piece. That did not make it unattractive, however. It held a subtle charm, with silver-white diamonds densely embedded into the frame.
If I were to compare it to a flower, it had the delicate grace of baby’s breath. But baby’s breath was usually meant to support the vibrant beauty of a rose, not stand alone.
That was exactly how this necklace appeared to me.
Most of all, this was simply not to Charlize’s taste.