I rose to my feet.
Immediately, a swarm of knights materialized out of thin air, surrounding me. I blinked at the wall of men closing in. Every face I turned to held the same look of fear and bewilderment that I had seen on the attendants earlier.
“Ah, please, sit down, Duchess-To-Be!”
“Hi-His Grace ordered that you must not leave this spot.”
I felt troubled. I knew all too well how my fiancé handled me. I wanted to obey his order, but…
*Ugh, I’m so dizzy.*
The problem was that my body refused to cooperate. Feeling a wave of nausea rising, I surged to my feet. The knights flinched, instinctively moving in to restrain me, but when I glared at them, they faltered and retreated, unable to bring themselves to lay a hand on me.
I was surprised—I hadn’t even done anything, and they backed off. It was fascinating, but hardly the time for observation.
*I cannot lose my human dignity in my fiancé’s house!*
I suppressed the bile rising in my throat. Behind the knights, I spotted a building with its door standing wide open. As I took a step forward, the knights flinched, retreating exactly one pace to mirror my stride.
Cold sweat trickled down my back.
“Move.”
“Du-Duchess-To-Be, you cannot…!”
“If you block my path again, you’ll see something you won’t want to see. I’ve warned you.”
Did I look like someone three seconds away from losing their mind? Apparently so. The knights, terrified of being the target of my unfocused, murderous gaze, merely exchanged glances rather than trying to stop me.
*Now is my chance.*
Driven by sheer, frantic urgency, I shoved past the knights and sprinted through the doorway and down the hallway.
A surge of self-loathing hit me. *What is this? Next time, I will absolutely, absolutely not drink! If I do, I’m a dog—a dog!*
Blissfully unaware that I would be barking in the near future, I managed to scramble into a restroom I had finally located, unintentionally chasing out a maid who had been inside.
*Whew… I think I’m going to survive.*
Fortunately, perhaps some deity was looking after my dignity; I didn’t actually vomit, though the ten rounds of dry heaving left my stomach feeling raw and hollow. Come to think of it, I hadn’t eaten a single meal yet.
“……But where am I?”
I left the restroom, regained my composure, and looked around. I had only intended to duck into the building closest to the garden. I’d assumed it was the Main Building where I’d met the adjutant, but peering through a window, it was clear that wasn’t the case. The Main Building stood separate, visible across the grounds.
If the Main Building was already a bit shabby for a Ducal estate, this place felt even more dilapidated. And yet, it felt as though it were being meticulously cared for.
If I had to describe it…
*It feels like a place where they couldn’t afford a remodel due to a lack of funds, but they’ve maintained it with great care.*
Unlike the desolate hallways of the Main Building, this space was filled with signs of effort: cute pansies, vases, and ornaments with charming patterns scattered throughout. I wandered, glancing here and there.
*Because I ran here in such a daze earlier, I’ve forgotten where I entered.*
I shouldn’t have touched that alcohol; it felt like I was being punished from all sides. The flustered knights were likely still chasing me—had they lost my trail? Since my fiancé would certainly not find this situation amusing, I needed to find an exit quickly.
It was the moment I turned a corner with that thought.
*Thump.*
I turned my head at the sound of something falling. Not far away stood a young girl. She had a pure, delicate expression and looked significantly younger than Charlize.
No, she wasn’t just “pure.”
*Wow, she’s stunning…!*
1.
Despite her youthful, teenage appearance, she possessed an otherworldly beauty.
The flower she had dropped onto the floor was white, a pale bloom that echoed the snowy silver of her hair.
As our eyes locked in her moment of shock, a jolt of recognition snapped me to my senses.
‘Ah, silver hair and blue eyes… Could it be?’
Is she the male lead’s sister? No, she *is* his sister. The realization hit me a second too late, but it was absolute.
Aria, Askin’s younger sister.
She was Askin’s entire world, his one and only treasure, and the reason he had plunged into such ruinous debt. But she was also a fragile girl, haunted by an incurable illness, her life flickering like a candle in the wind.
As these fragments of knowledge raced through my mind, a bitter memory surfaced along with them.
‘That dress… I remember it.’
The former Charlize had once sneered at Aria:
“Does the Duke not love his sister very much? Judging by the fact that he allows you to wear such shabby clothes.”
A sharp pang of guilt pierced me.
God, Charlize really had been cruel to her, hadn’t she?
As I looked away, unsettled, a hiccup escaped Aria’s throat. *Hic!*
Cold sweat beaded on her skin, which was already pale to the point of being ghost-white.
“Ah, I, ah, ugh, I greet, I greet the Duchess-To-Be…”
“Ah, wait!”
I wanted to tell her she didn’t need to be afraid, that there was no reason to cry. But the moment I opened my mouth, she turned even paler, and my words died in my throat.
“I, I must, I must… pay my respects…”
Caught in the throes of a panic attack, Aria collapsed.
Startled, I rushed toward her.
“Hey, is anyone there? Someone! She’s collapsed…!”
Her breath came in ragged, wheezing gasps. It sounded wrong. *What do I do? What do I do…!*
Just as I hesitated, wondering if I should leave her to fetch help, the rhythmic *tap, tap, tap* of boots echoed against the stone. The knights had heard me.
“Do not touch her!”
The man at the front was Ben, Askin’s adjutant.
Startled, I pulled back the hand I had been about to place against Aria’s cheek.
The knights surrounded me, their faces twisted into masks of ferocity. They hadn’t drawn their swords, but their eyes were savage, silently commanding me to vanish.
I hadn’t done anything, but I rose quietly and backed away.
Then Ben, his voice dripping with a restrained, vicious rage, spoke through gritted teeth.
“Return at once.”
“…….”
“……Please, return. Please.”
I parted my lips to explain.
“Otherwise, finally… even the young lady!”
His threat cut me off. I suppressed my retort and retreated further. I glanced at Aria one last time with pity, then cautiously opened my mouth.
“……I’m sorry. But I really didn’t do anything.”
It seemed my words were lost on men blinded by their own fury.
…Of all the bodies, why did I have to wake up in this one? I swallowed a groan, turned on my heel, and ducked through the nearest door.
As I walked, a wave of resentment washed over me.
It wasn’t like I had chosen to inhabit this body. Why should I be the one to bear the crushing karma of this villainess?
The weight of it felt like a hand tightening around my throat.
*Trudge, trudge.* With listless steps, I wandered back to the bench where I had started.
When I arrived, I found a man waiting.
No, the moment I locked eyes with that massive, imposing silhouette, I realized he was no stranger.
My fiancé, Duke Askin Remut.
“……Duchess-To-Be.”
My mouth fell open.
…How could I have failed to remember this level of beauty?
His hair was silver, white as winter snow. Beneath it, his brows were thick and dark, shadowing a sharp, high-bridged nose.
1.
It was a face so beautiful, one could believe it had been sculpted by the hand of God Himself.
Even if those eyes, currently fixed on me, were brimming with bone-chilling cold and a flickering, volatile rage.
I stumbled back, driven by instinctive fear, yet I found myself unable to tear my gaze away.
‘……Wow, this man is my fiancé? Seriously, he is impossibly handsome.’
In this novel, regrettably, these were men defined by their exquisite features and their utterly ruined personalities. They were everywhere—the archetype commonly referred to as “pretty trash.”
The prime example was Charlize’s brother and the male lead: the tyrant Loxidian, whom I had already encountered.
Askin Remut, however, was a rare—no, a near-unique—exception. He was a man who possessed both beauty and character.
He was like an apostle of justice: a defender of the righteous, abstinent, and devout, a man who would sooner die than fail to protect those within his inner circle.
Perhaps that was why he couldn’t be the male lead; he simply didn’t fit into the wreckage of this novel.
‘…Though I suspect his commitment to premarital celibacy had a larger part to play in that.’
He was the kind of character who made readers clamor, “Author-nim, why did you create him if you weren’t going to give us anything to eat!”
Yet, if there was one person for whom this man abandoned his reason and morality—someone he loathed and detested with a burning, singular hatred—it was none other than me. Charlize.
The reality of the book’s setting hit me with a stinging clarity that required no further explanation.
I felt it in the cold gaze he leveled at me, a look sharp enough to tear my very soul apart.
“Have you finally come to kill my sister with that hypocritical face of yours?”
“What? No, excuse me?”
“Don’t play any tricks.”
Askin took a step closer. My eyes were involuntarily drawn to his shimmering silver hair.
“You must have intended to kill my sister once and for all this time!”