Chapter 11

After Kersian left, Heila couldn’t fall asleep for a long time.

When she looked in the mirror, her cheek was swollen, and her lip was split.

She rang the bell, called a maid to bring cold water, then washed up and went to bed.

Even though there was plenty of firewood in the fireplace and the windows were closed, keeping the room warm, her body kept trembling strangely.

The next day, Marlene was shocked when she saw the wound on Heila’s face.

“My lady, what happened to your face? It looks like you were hit.”

At those words, Heila looked into the mirror.

The swelling had gone down, but there was a faint bruise near her lips.

The memory of the previous day surfaced on its own, and Heila bit her lip.

Strangely, she felt even more resentful today than she had yesterday.

“My lady, don’t bite your lip.”

Marlene, not knowing what to do, looked at Heila’s wound with pity.

“I dropped a book on my face while trying to take it out. It doesn’t even hurt much. It’s just a bruise.”

Heila answered casually, but Marlene noticed the subtle change in her expression.

There was clearly a wound that hadn’t been there the night before.

No matter how she looked at it, the injury on Heila’s face seemed like it had been caused by being hit.

At the thought that suddenly crossed her mind, Marlene’s expression darkened.

Her eyes reddened.

“I heard His Grace returned late last night. Did he come back, hear about what happened during the day, and then come to see you? That’s not it… right?”

“No.”

Heila answered firmly.

“Is that really not the case?”

“I couldn’t sleep at night, so I wandered around and got bored. I was trying to read a book and made a mistake, that’s all.”

Marlene didn’t seem convinced.

But she didn’t press any further.

Seeing her silently touching her hair with stiff hands, she seemed angry, yet through the mirror, Heila could tell she was barely holding back her tears.

Heila let out a deep sigh inwardly.

It didn’t matter to her that she had been hit, but she didn’t want to see the people close to her hurting and suffering because of it.

Still, she couldn’t think of any plausible excuse to explain away the obvious injuries left behind.

“Does it look that bad?”

“Yes, of course. I’ll bring you an ice pack. It’ll go down quickly.”

“I think it would be better to cover it for a while… would makeup hide it?”

“That wouldn’t be good for the wound.”

Heila hummed softly and looked into the mirror.

A day had passed, yet instead of the swelling going down, her face had become even worse.

Still, it was far better than Uriel’s face, which had been completely ruined after being struck by Count Bettia.

Thinking that, she felt a little lighter.

At that moment, there was a knock from outside.

“My lady, His Grace has sent flowers.”

When Marlene opened the door, a maid stood there holding a large bouquet.

“Leave it there and go.”

Heila replied without even turning her head.

The maid awkwardly placed the bouquet down and left the room.

After finishing fixing her hair, Heila stood up and picked up the bouquet the maid had left behind.

The neatly wrapped white tulips carried a fresh and subtle fragrance.

Even in her previous life, she had received many gifts from Kersian.

Sometimes it was flowers, sometimes jewelry, and other times dresses.

There was even a time when she received a small garden as a gift.

She had once mistaken Kersian’s gifts as signs of his affection for her, but in truth, they were no different from scraps thrown to a well-behaved dog.

Whenever she thought of how she had cherished those gifts—given only when he needed something after neglecting and treating her coldly—she wanted to strike her past self to bring her to her senses.

As that thought crossed her mind, the fragrance of the flowers began to feel like a foul stench, and from the fresh bouquet, it felt as though she could see the grotesque faces of the two of them.

When Marlene said she would bring a vase to arrange the flowers, Heila replied that it wasn’t necessary and threw the bouquet straight into the fireplace.

The flames, mingling red and gold, quickly devoured the bouquet.

As she watched the sight, a certain person suddenly came to mind.

Curly red hair and striking yellow eyes that looked as if gold had been embedded within them.

Grand Duke Halis.

He was unusually tall compared to others, with a firm build, and had a fiery temper.

Just looking at him made one shrink back under the pressure, and his cold-blooded face seemed like it wouldn’t bleed even if stabbed.

Yet he had once handed her a handkerchief when she was crying, left medicine for her when she was injured, and even offered his carriage when hers had broken down and left her troubled.

At the banquet, when she endured people’s disregard and ridicule because of Kersian and Uriel, standing by the wall, he had been the first to ask her for a dance.

Looking back, aside from Marlene and Heinrich, there had been no one in the East who had treated her as kindly as he had.

Unlike someone else, he showed kindness without ulterior motives and expected nothing in return.

Though he always wore a cold and rigid expression, seeing those moments made it clear he wasn’t as ruthless and cruel as people claimed.

Recalling those moments, a small smile spread across her lips.

They weren’t even close enough to call it a relationship.

They had only crossed paths a few times and exchanged a few short words, yet whenever she thought of him after returning, he felt strangely familiar.

“My lady, an invitation has arrived from the House of Hameln.”

Just then, a maid brought in the invitation.

As Heila opened the envelope and read the invitation, Marlene, standing beside her, asked with a puzzled expression.

“My lady, this is the invitation you mentioned before.”

“Yes.”

“But didn’t you say you had already received it earlier?”

Only then did Heila realize why Marlene’s expression seemed strange.

She answered calmly.

“I must have mistaken hearing about it in advance for actually receiving it.”

Marlene still didn’t quite understand, but when she saw the wound remaining on Heila’s face, she soon forgot about it.

***

Count Bettia’s residence.

From a room on the third floor, the sound of a woman screaming and objects breaking could be heard.

In front of the door, frightened maids stood holding trays with dinner, hesitating to go inside.

They had only relayed the news from the duke’s residence as instructed, but upon hearing that Kersian had sent a servant with flowers along with an apology to Heila that morning, Uriel had gone into a frenzy like a madwoman.

The maid who delivered the news had been struck by a glass bottle thrown by her, barely managing to gather her senses and escape the room, covered in blood.

An hour had already passed, yet Uriel’s anger had not subsided.

“Why are you all just standing there instead of going in?”

It was Countess Bettia.

She looked at the maids with a contemptuous gaze before opening the door.

Standing in the middle of the wrecked room, Uriel was about to shout at them to get out, but when she spotted the Countess among them, she faltered.

Her face, twisted like a demon with rage, instantly changed.

With a cunning gleam in her eyes, she approached and asked,

“Mother, why are you only arriving now?”

Countess Bettia carefully brought her hand to Uriel’s cheek, but seeing how badly it was bruised, she couldn’t bring herself to touch it and withdrew her hand.

“I heard something happened while I was away at my family home. I was told your father scolded you the other day—what is the meaning of this? Your father has gone too far.”

“That’s right. Father slapped me, not in private but in front of the Imperial Princess. How could he do that to me?”

As Uriel pleaded through her tears, Countess Bettia’s heart felt as if it were being torn apart.

“The Imperial Princess knows what kind of relationship I have with His Grace. And yet she pretended not to know and deliberately tormented me. In front of all the servants of the ducal house, she treated me like a subordinate, forced me to kneel on the floor, and struck me.”

As she spoke, the emotions from that moment resurfaced, and her voice rose.

That day, Heila had intentionally gathered many servants in the reception room, making them watch from a distance.

Having suffered such humiliation in front of the lowly people she once commanded, it had become difficult for her to even set foot in the ducal residence, even without her father stopping her.

Just thinking of them secretly gossiping about her made her blood boil.

“That woman kept flaunting that she was from the imperial family with every word. Even after getting married and becoming part of another household, she still seems to think she’s royalty. Even if she is, does that give her the right to torment others without reason?”

Pain lingered on her battered face, and every time she looked into the mirror, she couldn’t suppress her anger.

The memory of that moment kept resurfacing, making her chest burn with fury.

“Father is so frightened by that woman’s words that he won’t even let me go out. Not that I could go out looking like this anyway, but just thinking about her strutting around while I’m stuck here makes me feel suffocated.”

Though the swelling had gone down, the deep bruises remained on her cheek, making it painful to look at.

Seeing this, Countess Bettia’s heart ached.

“I understand how wronged you feel, but your father is firm in his stance, and it will be difficult to persuade him. Moreover, since the Imperial Princess is very wary of you, it would be better for you to refrain from visiting the ducal residence for the time being.”

“Mother!”

Hearing even her trusted mother say that, Uriel’s face filled with a mixture of resentment and disappointment.

Countess Bettia continued in a calm voice.

“That doesn’t mean you should distance yourself from His Grace. If you cannot go to him, then you can simply make him come here.”

Looking at Uriel, who blinked her large eyes, the Countess smiled—a face so similar to her own.

“Your father said that His Grace will be visiting the house shortly, so you are to dress yourself beautifully and wait.”