Chapter 2 – Part 3

Since then, Rose and Elena didn’t interfere with Kristin’s feelings until the wedding day.

Even when Kristin came down to the kitchen or sipped tea in the drawing room, Elena only glared at her, unable to act.

Rose feared that he might dismiss them both if Vernon noticed such behavior.

While Rose obediently followed such words, Vernon couldn’t see her true intentions.

Having become nobility through difficult means, he knew Kristin wouldn’t easily leave the Edith household.

“The wedding is about to begin soon, My Lady. You should prepare to head to Grace Hall.”

Lenci, the maid who doted on Kristin, spoke to her cautiously.

Since Kristin’s residence was some distance from Grace Hall, she would need to get ready faster.

Kristin had already made all the arrangements in her mind.

The one who would have the last laugh would be herself, not Raphael.

“I should get going then. Thank you for everything.”

“Oh, My Lady, please wait a moment. I have something for you.”

Lenci, a seventeen-year-old girl with cute, round eyes and freckles, took something out of her waist and gently hung it around Kristin’s neck.

It was a flower necklace made of white roses and lilies, which Kristin had always loved.

“Oh, my God! Lenci.”

Kristin remembered that necklace.

She remembered how it shattered into pieces when it caught Rose’s eyes.

Rose wanted to use Kristin but also envied everything she had. She believed, her daughter, Elena, should have only the best, even if it meant taking away even the smallest thing Kristin had.

She messed with the necklace for that simple reason:

“It’s tacky and unsuitable for a noblewoman. The bride will be receiving wedding gifts anyway, so get rid of this.”

“It’s the last gift I’ve made for you. I couldn’t give you an expensive necklace, so I prepared the best I could. You know, right? Our brother runs a flower shop.”

“How could I not know, Lenci.”

Kristin remembered everything.

Lenci’s older brother, Oliver, ran a flower shop on the shopping street. Even the royal family and nobles often used his flower shop for parties.

And Kristin, having known this fact beforehand, had already used some of the wealth she had received from Raphael in her previous life to support Oliver’s flower shop.

It was also a gift for Lenci, who had always supported and looked out for her.

Elena, however, did not take kindly to this and began to accuse Oliver’s florist, claiming that rotten insects had been found in the flowers he sold to the nobles, that he was reusing flowers that had already been used, and that he was deceiving them by mixing in wilted flowers and selling them at exorbitant prices.

At first, Kristin thought the incident would be easily resolved. But as rumors spread among the nobles, the people of the Union Empire turned their backs on Oliver’s flower shop.

Oliver’s florist shop was quickly destroyed, and Lenci was so traumatized that she was unable to speak for a time.

Kristin didn’t want the past to repeat itself. She had to come up with another way to help Oliver and Lenci.

“Lenci, soon I will help your household, but you must keep it a secret. Don’t let Elena hear about it.”

“You don’t have to do that…”

“No, Lenci. I have a plan. Anyway, I’ll gladly accept this flower necklace. Thank you so much.”

With those words, Kristin put the necklace in her bag.

Seeing this, Lenci cautiously spoke to her.

“Won’t you wear it around your neck? It’s a beautiful flower that would look so good on you.”

“If people knew I received something so valuable, you know there are those who wouldn’t just sit idly by, don’t you?”

“Haha, of course.”

Lenci realized what Kristin meant.

At the tender age of seventeen, Lenci was intelligent and often acted as a sounding board for Kristin.
She comforted Kristin by bringing her leftover snacks to comfort her when she was crying alone, and she placed flowers in her room from her brother’s flower shop.

For Kristin, Lenci’s presence was as precious as a cherished younger sister.

“I’ll take good care of this necklace.”

“Thank you, My Lady.”

“Then shall we head out?”

Kristin gently patted Lenci’s shoulder and walked down to the first floor.

All the servants were already lined up, bowing to greet Kristin one last time before she left.

Amidst the servants, the haughty Elena strode towards Kristin, speaking.

“How fortunate, to be having a wedding at the Grace Hall, the best hall in the Empire,.”

“Elena.”

“Father, I’m envious, you know. As your daughter, how could I not be jealous of my sister?”

Pouting like a child, twenty-year-old Elena, on the verge of her debut, was speaking.

As if to comfort her, Rose slowly spoke up.

“If your sister Kristin is getting married, you’ll have matchmaking offers coming your way soon. Wouldn’t that be enough?”

“Mother, I am not interested in other nobles, only in the Marquis of Winston Zenon.”

“Marquis Winston Zenon, hahaha, that’s a pleasant sound I’ve heard.”

The Viscount, who had been solemnly silent, burst into laughter as if pleased with Elena’s words.

“I knew Elena was greedy, but I didn’t expect her to be this ambitious. Yes, very well. If my first daughter marries a Duke and my second daughter marries a Marquis, there won’t be any noblemen who can tarnish our family, the Edith. Hahaha, that’s a good idea.”

“Isn’t that right, Father?”

“See that, My Lord! Our Elena is like this.”

Resisting the urge to laugh at the sight of the three, Kristin spoke to them.

“Thank you all this time. I’ll go ahead and start preparing. Take your time coming.”

“Yes, Kristin. We’ll be following you soon.”

Vernon patted her on the head, and with that, she walked out of the manor, bidding farewell to all the servants.

To everyone else, this may have seemed like any other bride going to a wedding, but to Kristin, this day marked the beginning of her revenge.

* * *

As she walked from Edith’s mansion to Grace Hall, Kristin had to plan for what was to come.

If today’s wedding turned into a divorce, the ones who would not remain silent would be her father and Raphael.

The Duke would probably arrive at Grace Hall unaware of anything.

Kristin recalled scenes she would soon witness at the wedding.

Nobles from all walks of life would come to congratulate her, and even those who envied her would extend their congratulations to Kristin, who was to become the Duchess.

She paused for a moment as she pictured the Marquis of Winston looking on in horror.

Her return from death might have been a divine revelation to not live as she had before. This time, she had to somehow survive.

But where else was she supposed to live if not with the Edith’s?

Kristin opened her suitcase.

She didn’t have much in the way of possessions, so she had nowhere else to go but to Edith’s mansion.

But then she remembered her past.

She hadn’t done anything wrong.

And still, she had been used by the people around her.

She had even been betrayed by Raphael, to whom she had sincerely given her heart.

On top of that, she had been killed in a carriage accident by a mysterious killer.

‘Why? Why should I run away from Edith’s mansion? Why am I still trying to run away?’

She no longer had a reason to run away from Edith’s mansion.

Instead, she should be the one evicting them.

If she left the Edith mansion, her stepsister Elena and her stepmother Rose would be given the title of Viscountess and live happily ever after.

“I can’t just endure and watch that happen. I know exactly who would be happiest if I fled the Edith mansion. I have no reason to run. Somehow, I have to…”

She had to survive, no matter what.

And she had to find out who killed her and make them pay for their crime.

For now, at least.

Today’s wedding must go according to her plans.

Kristin recalled her conversation with the Duke.

After the wedding was over, when they returned to the Duke’s mansion, Raphael had clearly said:

“I didn’t marry you because I loved you, Kristin, I just used you.”

His words were so cold and heartless that Kristin could only cry on the spot, despairing and crying all night.

Even now, rumors circulated that there was no noblewoman happier than Kristin within the Empire.

Married to the Duke with the greatest wealth, Kristin was nearly envied like a princess.

Elena, too, was sneering and enviously jealous of Kristin, albeit sarcastically.

But all of their envy and jealousy had become nothing in the face of Raphael’s words.

They had yet to realize how pitiful Kristin had become, even until the moment she was killed.

In the past, Kristin had no choice but to continue her married life with Raphael, despite being hurt, for fear of his reaction. But it turned out the one who should have feared that reaction was not her.

‘What would the reaction of the nobility be if the bride ran away at the wedding?’

If she were to bring unspeakable embarrassment and humiliation to Raphael at this wedding, it might even bring trouble to the Edith House.

But still, she couldn’t just let it happen to her again.

Kristin clenched both of her slender fists hard.

She clenched them so tightly that blue veins sprouted on the backs of her white hands, and she closed her eyes, repeating to herself.

‘There will be no more weddings, I won’t live as the Duchess next to Duke Raphael anymore. I can’t be used again.”